funeral

Funeral for the baby of Kikitea and Maria that Sister Patten wrote about in the blog. The big man bringing out the casket and singing at the gravesite is Kikitea. He's a policeman here on Christmas Island. If we don't have any other success while we are here getting him back to church was worth the mission. We really clicked with this family and he could easily be the new branch president out here. When we first met him he told us that he smoked three or four cigarettes a day. Sister Patten asked him if he had served a mission. He had and then she asked him to tell us about it. "Did you bear your testimony to the people?" " Did you tell them that the church was true?" "yes" "How did that make you feel?" "Good" "Do you want to feel that way again?" "yes" He committed to work on his cigarettes and a bit later I called him to be in the elders quorum. "I still smoke one cigarette a day." "I'm calling you to be in the elders quorum so stop." "O.k., he said, I can do that." and he's been fine since. He's such a strength in the quorum and in the branch. This is the reason that we're writing about our experiences. It's mostly for us you know. When we quit going on missions we can sit in our rocking chairs and read about our wonderful missionary experiences.