Time is going by and we have been busy. We feel pretty settled here. Elder Patten has completed most of the maintenance on the cottage. The drinking water is now clean and fit to drink. He thinks he has fixed the generator which we need for emergencies. We have learned how to get along without turning it on each day. We just get up early, shower, get the sink full of water, brush our teeth, blow dry our hair and put some toast in for breakfast, if we can do that before 6:40 we can get along for two hours until the power comes on again. The power goes off each morning and again each afternoon at 4:00 for another two hours. Its great how you can learn to adjust when you have to.
We have been working with the inactive men on the island, those who have been baptized and especially those who have been on missions. We have been blessed to have two men back into the fold and Elder Patten has made them counselors in the Elders quorum presidency. One was smoking and Elder Patten just told him to stop because the Elders Quorum needed him and he said o.k. and he has. There are many more to see and we will do at least one or two a week. One that we worked with last week, Kekesee invited Elder P. to go fishing with him and so he went and waded into the ocean with two expert fishermen who just coached him and guess what? He caught some fish, of course he has the “one that got away story”, but he had a great time and can’t wait to go again. The man who took him invited another man to go and they didn’t even take their poles, they just taught him what to do and make a little fun of him but they all had a good time. Elder P was standing on the reef with water to mid leg and kept seeing these sharks about four feet long ease around him. They were babies. He hooked a nice fish that was keeping him occupied and all of a sudden both men yelled "big shark" and started for shore leaving Elder P standing there trying to pull in the fish. After nearly fainting and slipping and falling in the water, they both started laughing and thought that was really funny. Actually it was and they all got a good laugh out of it. Elder P. is hoping to get Kekesee interested in coming back to church. He attended Moroni High School and BYU Hawaii and needs to get back to what he knows is true.
We went into the bush last week with the missionaries to a woman who had two children and a neighbor child with her. It’s hard to describe the living conditions there. Whenever we go anywhere the people think they have to feed us and so we saw her go to her little place with an open fire to fix us lunch, right away Elder P. and I knew we were in trouble. She opened a can of mackerel and cut up some onion in a pan and the flies were everywhere around her and the food. I don’t think I have ever seen so many flies and flying bugs in one place. She served it with rice which is part of every meal, the Elders (who will eat anything) ate it but I just couldn’t do it this time. We just had trouble accepting her hospitality and really wanted to feed her instead of her us. So we turned our attention to the three children holding “bok an moomon” and we talked about remembering to pray. We had them get a prayer rock to help remember their prayers, gave them a hug and left. They live such a hard life out in the bush, gathering copra (coconut husks) and trying to sell them. She did have a raised kia kia to sleep in and that is where we sat but the rest is dirt, bugs and flies. Last week we sent Elder Lortz with some canned food for her.
David Wilson visited us from New Zealand, he is the facilities project man. We will be getting a new kit house here which will house two more missionaries. The missionaries baptize about 8 people a month here and if we had more missionaries there could be three times that amount. The people are so willing to listen and accept the truth. They are wonderful, sweet, humble people. Anyway the kit house is on the ship from Tarawa and should be here in two or three weeks. Then the work will begin, we need to be on solar power here because we can’t trust the power on this island and think that before long there may not be power. They don’t know how to plan ahead for a new generator and parts and so it is only a matter of time before the generators go down and that is all she wrote. It’s beginning to happen now and that’s why our power goes off each day. The people here can get along without power because they live off the land each day with fish and coconuts but it is a different story for us. There are actually two solar panels on our roof that are not being used, why we do not know. We only know that the system needs to turn to solar so we can be completely independent and certainly the new kit house needs to have that done. So we have a lot of work ahead of us and a lot to talk to the President about in the next few weeks. Anyway we did get a FAX machine from our local store (ha) actually someone had ordered one and we were able to get it for some reason so that problem is solved. It is an HP, Ryan and Brad and copies, scans, and faxes we just have to learn how to use it. It was nice to see another Imatong (white person) when David W. came and he also brought chocolate. We are getting 100 more chairs for the church, partitions for the cultural hall, so we can have some class rooms in the church, and some furniture for the Branch Pres. There are many other things that are happening here but we will tell you as they come.
We spoke to the young adults last week in a fireside and that was fun, we spoke from the “For the strength of Youth” book and they are so receptive. There are about 35 of them, all strong and faithful. They love Elder Patten because he teases with them – so they gather around him whenever they see him. We started an English class last week and they all came – I am not sure how much English we taught but they laughed a lot. We went to a wedding for a couple here who have a 5 month old baby and then they were baptized the next week. The little baby is so cute and has more hair on his head than John does. We love a young man here named Nautau, he is about 20 and had his papers in for a mission but was refused because of all the tattoos he put on his body before he was active in the church. He would make an excellent missionary but can’t go – the church is really cracking down on tattoos and especially here where everyone has one or more. We are trying to help him through that disappointment and perhaps help him to get a really responsible calling in the church. I think we sent you a picture of him earlier, he was climbing the papaya tree just behind our house.
There is also a 15 yr. old girl here that is just beautiful, I saw her at the baptism last Saturday and noticed that she was crying, when I tried to communicate with her, she showed me her foot which had a dirty rag wrapped around it. When we unwrapped it - it was hard to look at, I really can’t describe the sight. Lets just say that her toe was open to the bone, swollen, infected and she had no feeling in part of her foot. We have been soaking her foot in alcohol, and wrapping it with an antibiotic cream and bandaging it. She has been here three times now and it is actually looking a little better on one side. I really don’t know what else to do. There really are no doctors here that I would ever go to. She has seen one and he has done nothing for her to help. She will probably lose her foot eventually, and then what? And How? We will just try to do what we can. Our door is open here and John laughs because I gave a woman gas-x for her husband who has ulcers – I don’t know how to treat ulcers. I just use what is in the cupboard here.
Most of the above was written before Mike had his heart attack – so this past week has been full of worry and a lot of prayer. We are so grateful that Mike is okay and doing well. We have talked to most of you this past week and have been grateful for that communication and for your love and care for Mike. Thanks Brad for taking over and thanks to all of you for everything you did. I had an experience while praying for Mike just as he went into surgery – I wrote Mike about it and he can tell you or I will tell you when I can see you and just talk to you kids. I am grateful for all the prayers that were offered in his behalf and the Lords love and care for each of you. You are watched over by more people than you can see on this earth.
Pres. and Sister Bleak called us yesterday morning concerned about Mike, their son Jeff works for Mike in St George. I want all you kids to take care of yourselves and stay safe and happy.
There are some problems on this island and in the branch that we need to work on but we just plug along each day doing the best we can. Sometimes I feel like we are not doing enough fast enough but I have to remind myself “one day at a time.”
Thanks kids, for the boxes, they will come one at a time for the next few weeks but it is great to get them. Please know that we love you all and pray for you each day. We will post some pictures for you. Take care. Mom and John, Dad and Lois, Grandma and Grampie
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