Elder and Sister Patten's Mission in the Marshall Islands

June 12, 2008
Our new missionary came and we’ve had an opportunity to get to know him. His name is Elder Tupou from Australia. He’s Tongan by decent but he was born and raised in Australia. His grandmother joined the church in Tonga so I guess that makes him a third generation member of the church. He has a twin brother who is serving in Tasmania. He’s 21 years old and is just a great missionary. He’s a hard worker with a lot of good common sense about him. He has really had a positive influence on his Kiribati companion, Elder Reireita. It has made such a difference in this young man. He has really blossomed.
Our new kithouse has arrived in Christmas. We are hopeful that the contractors will arrive next Wednesday to start it’s construction. We expect that it should be completed within about three weeks. We ordered new appliances, window ac, fans, microwave last week and they should arrive on the air freighter on the 27th of June. We will lay linoleum down before it is moved into and have it all ready to go hopefully within a month. I think we may move into it ourselves and let the elders move into where we live. It would be a nice move up for both of us. Sister Patten says she would like the smell of a new house even if it’s only 300 square feet. We hope the solar water heater gets here so we can install it on the roof of the new house before the contractors leave.
Our plumbing has been repaired. We finally found the water pipe that drains the water from the washer, sinks and shower. It was further toward the front of the house and deeper that we expected it to be. When the house was built they installed the pipe so that it runs a little uphill to get to the septic tank. We thought it was a blockage where the shower, sinks and washer all came together but it was blocked clear to the septic tank. We were going to hook into the main pipe but the pipe laid to low to do that. We finally cut it and dug a big hole, filled it with large rocks , then small coral and covered it with black plastic and finished it with topsoil. We cringed when we heard the first load of wash water go down the pipe but it seems to be working pretty good for a town this size.
We have initiated some real efforts to help find the “lost sheep” We have called two sets of branch sister missionaries and one set of branch elder missionaries. We are using a returned missionary sister who served in California to work with the sisters and the full time elders are splitting with the branch elders. We are committed to clean up the branch membership records that have accumulated over the last nine years. We will have another returned sister missionary home later this month. We need to especially teach the young sister missionaries how to be missionaries and what will be expected of them. The Area Presidency will not accept any more sister missionaries in Kiribati. We have all we can handle. Some of them are really a handful. Some of these kids think a mission is a great 18 month vacation, expenses paid. That is really changing. If a prospective sister can’t speak English she will have to wait until a current sister comes home and then maybe fill her place. If they can speak English well enough to serve in an English speaking country they can be called when they turn 21.
The Lords work goes forward but it is sometimes slow and it’s not always easy.
We got some flour the other day that came from Tarawa. It was from China. Flour has been in short supply for the past month. John, the storekeeper watches out for us and he put back five bags to make sure we get some. Our daughter in law, Janae gave us a great French bread recipe and boy does everyone like our French bread. We tried several regular bread recipes and one day wondered what the French bread would do if we baked it in a regular bread pan. The French bread is wonderful and we have discovered that it’s just as good baked in bread pans for a little variety.
The other day we were in fast and testimony meeting and at the end of the meeting Sister Patten got up to bear her testimony. I guess we are really going native because here she comes barefooted just like the rest of the Kiribati sisters.
I have mentioned Abba a time or two in the blog. He’s 77 years old and can still run up a coconut tree. He went to the temple on the last temple trip and is a wonderful man. He came to me last Sunday and told me he was moving back to Tarawa. Maybe it’s because we are older but we have really bonded with him. Monday, he showed up at our house and wanted a picture of him taken with us. He wanted to sit down and tell me something so we did. He said “Pat, I very sad to leave Christmas” “You and Sister Pat are my friends” “Please don’t forget Abba” “Don’t forget this Christmas people” “This Christmas people love you and Sister Pat” “They look in eyes and know you love this people” “You are kind to them and they never forget you” “I take my temple clothes with me and not see you again.” He then tried to tell me that we would meet again someday and he would put his arms around me and call me brother. He was trying to talk about after this life. Of course as you can imagine by this time my shirt was wet with tears.
Jeff will be coming in less than a month. We keep asking him to bring just one more thing. We are looking forward to his visit. Hopefully the kit house will be finished but if not he’s going to go native and sleep in the extra kia kia. We have a mosquito net and a wood bed frame with a twin mattress up off the ground for him.
Occasionally we get a little lonely and feel like we’re far from loved ones. We have found that all we have to do is get up and say our prayers and ask to be led by the spirit and we have always been led to a great experience. Last week we remembered a lady that we had seen at church and stopped in to see her. We said that we had enjoyed seeing her at church and she said that she loved church and wanted to be a member someday. We thought she was already a member. She needed help getting a divorce from her first husband who lives in Majuro so we will help her with that. The man she is “married” to now “Kiribati marriage” just came from Tarawa so we went and talked to him. He speaks perfect English. He has been baptized so we told him we wanted him to come back to church. He said I can do that but It does ’t feel good in my heart when I can can’t partake of the sacrament. We talked to him about changing some of his lifestyle choices and he said he could do that. Is there anything else that would hold you back from coming back into activity? Well, he said I have another pretty big problem. Yes, we said waiting. I just got out of prison in Tarawa. We will see what his church status is and go from there. Something new comes up everyday. Maybe we won’t make our prayers quite so an
When Jeff goes home we’ll only have nine months left. The CES couple in Majuro, the Simmons went home yesterday. He promised to eat a New York strip steak medium rare at the Outback in Honolulu for me. The Randalls in Majuro who work in the office extended for six months. I asked Sister P what she thought about that and she just rolled her eyes at me. I said where else can you go on a mission and wear dockers , sometimes a tieand flip flops and go to church barefooted. We’ve got it made. She just rolled her eyes at me again.
June 16th – (Sister Patten)We had the Moroni Reunion last Saturday and it was great, about 50 people came and we were able to talk to each person that had become inactive. I talked to about 6 women and they told me “I would come to church but I married a catholic or KPC and he won’t let me, or there would be an argument.” I told them who did they want to please, the Lord who has the truth or their husband who don’t. They all said the gospel was still in their hearts and they had not lost their testimony. We played games, danced, ate kiribiti donuts with jelly or peanut butter on them and it was a good night. We visited a man a few days ago who went to Moroni and still has a testimony but has been drinking Kava, he told us that he believes in priesthood blessings and wanted to come back. Wouldn’t you know it, his little daughter was sick as we were there, she had a boil on her leg and was crying. Elder Patten gave her a blessing and she was quiet and laid so still – after the blessing we went home and got her some medication for boils and candy for the kids when we got back, She was already feeling better. Last Sunday at church she came up to both of us, took our hands and kissed them. She is about 5 years old and you know what that did to our hearts. We will keep visiting this man and urging him to church and give him a calling.
We finally got a new YW pres. and so I will start working with her on the Personal Progress Program. The Young Single women are so great in the branch but the younger girls and boys need some structure and a program that will help them grow. So I guess that will a new project very soon. The work goes on and there is so much to do in the next few months.
My legs, well, I will just have to live with the little outbreaks, I think it is a fungus here in Christmas island and I hope it goes away when I get home. We miss all of you, love you all so very much – we need your prayers and we pray for you each day. Take care, love from us