Hey Mom!
Thanks for the update. I really enjoy hearing all the things that happen at home each week. It helps me a lot here to know that things are going well back at home. It's just the outer layer of skin on the fish. It's kind of gross. And Congrats on the new nephew. Wohoo! A plane came for the first time in about a month. It came with a Christmas package from Uncle David, Aunt Michelle and Wesley. It had a Christmas card, a letter from Wesley, a stocking with candy and lots of fun miscellaneous things. Besides the card and letter from Wesley, my favorite thing in it was the pack of tissues. It has provided a nice break from water and leaves if you know what I mean...Tell them I said thanks and that I love them!!! My week has been good! My love for the people here continues to develop as Heavenly Father helps me try to serve will all of my heart might mind and strength. I'll write about some of the more interesting things that happened this week. We are teaching a woman named Teraerae who has a daughter serving as a missionary in Fiji. When we first visited her, she was struggling really hard with alcohol, tobacco, and nankona(a kiribati drug). She quickly expressed a desire to change, however, and no longer has any Word of Wisdom problems. She has a baptismal date, but before she is baptized she needs to be married to the man she currently lives with. The previous spouse she lived with is still technically her husband and lives in Bikenibu, the area I worked in for two weeks during Christmas time in Tarawa. Last week my companion and I sent the Elders working in Bikenibu instructions to make a divorce happen and are sending in a request for a marriage license. Elder Baker and I are planning to marry Taraerae to her current LDS spouse before baptizing her in the near future, which should be a fun experience. This past Wednesday we were invited to a huge botaki(a party I guess) in which we were featured as honored guests. We were given woven flower crowns and lava-lavas before some performers danced for us. We were presented with enough fish and crackers to feed the five thousand. We danced for them as well. We were pretty akward and goofy but they thought it was hilarious. Those attending were in total about 75-100 Catholics. Before leaving we got to thank them and bear our testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of my best friends left on a boat today to start school in Tabiteuea North. Her name is Nouoo. She fell inactive during my first transfer for guilt of having been raped by a KUC minister. The island is pretty small however, so I have had lots of chances to express my love to her. She came to our game night, which was a pretty big deal, and volunteered to close in prayer. I woke up yesterday morning with a letter on my bunga from her, in which she expressed her desire to endure in the truth and thanked me for still being kind to her where others were more hesitant to do so. An important precept that I really try to emphasize to those in my Sunday School class is that all of us are children of God, who commands us to love both the saint and the sinner. Meere's condition is improving. Before her father died she lived with her brother. I don't know anything about her mother. When things died down with her Father's death she moved up to Muribenua to a member's house temporarily. We got to meet with her and she expressed a desire to continue lessoning with us and to be baptized. She was noticeably happier in Muribenua. She back down to Rungata, however, but now she is living with the person in who's house we had the giant bootaki, who doesn't have any problems with us coming in her house and teaching Meere. We gave to priesthood blessings this week. We gave a blessing of healing to a catholic woman who has previously been pretty hostile towards us and a blessing of comfort and counsel to one of our members who has been struggling with some family relationships. The sick catholic woman isn't perfect but is doing better and we just gave the blessing of comfort and counsel yesterday so I don't know exactly how things are going with here, but she has a very pure heart and I have faith that things will be getting better for her soon. We had two service opportunities this week, both of which we just koroi te oro bin(cut coconuts). We are hoping to help one of our youth out some more this week in building his house. The work here is coming a long pretty well. In an average week we can usually expect to teach somewhere from 45-60 lessons. We picked up a few investigators this week, including a KUC deacon. A common problem we are having with most everyone is that they are so afraid to make any commitments due to the fear of what would happen if their local minister found out. We are trying to lovingly convey to people here that "...We ought to obey God rather than men"(Acts 5:29). The KUC Deacon we taught seemed pretty impressed at our understanding and insights of doctrine in the Bible. The Deacon had us right down all the scriptures we used and is going to show them to Pastor Teto, the one who we met with but couldn't come to any agreement. The Deacon is probably going to bring Pastor Teto to our next lesson tomorrow, which I'm not really looking forward to, but hope to use the lesson as a way to represent Jesus Christ. I feel as if my testimony and understanding of things that really matter in life are really developing. I love the people here so much and want to do everything I can to do what is right. Thank you so much for the constant love and support. I am so blessed to be your son, Mom. Tell the family of my love for them. Hopefully this sends. I've been sitting here for over an hour reading scriptures trying to get internet. With Love, Elder Morphonios
1 Comment
Steve Lineberry
1/29/2017 06:07:59 pm
Well said. What world we would live in if we all adheared more to this one scripture.
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About MeI'm Elder Joseph Morphonios, and I've chosen to serve a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Join me as I share my adventures about serving the good people of the Marshall Islands, and sharing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Archives
December 2016
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