time flies when you're having fun

November 9th 2008

Happy Birthday Dana and David. I wish we could get to this blog more often, by the time we write we forget what we have been doing.
We have been busy helping a little sister in our Branch with a big problem she has and that has taken a lot of time but I think we have the alternatives narrowed down and she will get the help she needs. We continue to visit in-actives. Tonight we visited the lab. Technicians (a man and his wife who work at the hospital). He is a member and although she has been taught by missionaries she still hesitates. I think we will be doing FHE at their house for them and their children, bring treats and get to know them really well. They have a daughter who is at Moroni and is very active in the church, she will be here in about a month from school that will help. The Father is a RM - one of the first from Kiribati and he told us tonight that he still has a testimony and I think we will get him back into church. Elder Patten asked him what he thought the problem with the Church on Christmas Island was. He didn’t know. You are one of the problems. He laughed and then Elder Patten explained that after being a missionary and not staying active when he returned home hurts the Church and the others who want to serve missions. They speak very good English, so it makes it easier for us and we can go without others to help us with the language. Visiting others and helping them return to church is the most wonderful part of our mission. We love to do that and watch them feel the spirit again in their lives.
Elder Patten has been picking up the blind, old, feeble and infirmed each Sunday and bringing them to church. Some have not been able to come for a long time and so they love being there again and the smile on their faces makes it worth the effort.
We have had some sick missionaries but they are on the mend at the present time. We really enjoy the missionaries, Elder Anderson is especially fun to have around. He hangs at our front door every morning to tell us his latest news, he is always happy and optimistic.
We have also been emailing the reports that the Branch needs to send to Tarawa because the mail is so slow out of here without a plane that will carry it. That has taken some time and we find we are doing more office work than we did in the beginning.
We needed a blood test done for one of our missionaries and the doctor refused to give him one saying that he didn’t have enough supplies so Elder Patten told him he would try to get some supplies for him from the church. He didn’t want any part of that either. He doesn’t like Mormons. He must have viewed all the anti-Mormon films the other churches show often. He also would not sign a paper saying that he was refusing and pretty much let Elder Patten know he was not welcome in his hospital. Actually going to that hospital wouldn’t even be our last choice. We just wouldn’t go there. Although after meeting the lab. Technicians we felt like they knew what they were doing at least they are trying.
We are in limbo at the present not knowing just what is happening to us, but we will keep you informed. A lot is going on but we have to wait for the Presidents signal before coming, going or staying.
I have been working with the YW on their New Beginning program and they presented it in Sacrament Meeting this afternoon. They did such a good job, they were happy with themselves and had spent a lot of time practicing. As far as we know the New Beginning program has never been presented here before. The tears came to my eyes when they sang “As sisters in Zion”, and I realized that someday I will really miss all the people we love so much. We know them now and I think they trust us and come to us with their problems and we feel like they are extended family. But it will all be gone before you know it. I will never forget them though and I know the Lord loves them and sees their faithfulness.
They had their choir competition two weeks ago. All six of us missionaries were the judges and the pressure was on. The program was taped and we will bring it home for you to see. We really enjoyed the afternoon and they had fun practicing and presenting.
The children are practicing for their Sacrament Meeting program to be presented in December and it is fun to hear them sing all the primary songs. I taught all the leaders the song “if the Savior stood beside me” to day after meeting. Brooke sent me her program and so I changed it to fit here on Christmas Island and I think it will work. The children love to sing and they do it so well. If we can get our pictures up on this computer then you will be able to see how wonderful they are. Our laptop was sent to Ryan to see what he could do with it so we haven’t done any pictures for the blog on this computer. Elder Patten has been helping the Elders Quorum repair homes for a widow, and some members that needed help. It is amazing what can be done with a coconut tree. Nothing is wasted, a house built, walls made, roof done all from the coconut tree. The people here know so much more than we do to live off the land. There is a little boy at the widows home that is so cute but he is as naked as can be with sores on his body, face and in his hair. I don’t know when he had a bath last. He loves Elder Patten and whenever he drives up the little boy runs up and just stands by him. So yesterday, John brought food to the men working there and he bought the little boy a bag of food. There was some ice and so he touched the child with a piece of ice and he started to laugh and then he gave him a sack of food with a candy bar and stuff in it. The little boy thought it was for the men but John motioned to him that he belonged to him. We was so excited and ran into his little house with sack in hand, I just hope he got some of it before his family took it.
The Elders Quorum is going fishing this Saturday so I guess they will tolerate Elder Patten being with them again. They know how to fish and they just laugh at him and tell him white men can’t fish. He laughs at himself and so they all have fun together and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t catch a fish, just so he doesn’t fall in the ocean.
The Fanning Island trip has been postponed due to changes beyond our control. More about that later. There is a man on the island an “imatong”, (white man) that has a beautiful sail boat and if Elder Patten goes to Fanning it will probably be on his boat. It is safe and up to standards. We will have to wait a month or two before that gets rolling again.
Some of the people here still don’t understand what the law of chastity means. They allow their children to live in their homes with a partner, unmarried. They need more help on that as well as playing bingo with money. I think we will be giving a talk in Sacrament meeting on those subjects. Yes, there are some problems on Christmas Island. Some things the Branch Presidency still resists doing, too much gossip and two sisters that don’t speak to each other. I hope we can help with all of this before we leave. I sat on the steps of the church today talking to several people with problems – and thought this is too different than home.
Well, that is all I can think about right now. Tomorrow is P day and we will fix the missionaries a big lunch and then they were invited to play soccer with some other young men of other churches, surprise. So I guess we will watch them and hope they don’t get trampled on.
Oh, I forgot, we had 5 baptisms yesterday and one of them was the young man who worked on this kit house. He was the painter and he was very quiet and shy but we got to know him. The missionaries taught him, he has watched them around the church grounds and felt that they were different. He is their age. John had him paint the trim on our house a few weeks ago and gave him some money for his help not because he was having the lessons but because he did a good job and he is a good boy. He decided to be baptized a week or so ago and was confirmed today. His father is a KPC missionary but does not live on this island or he would have a problem being baptized. I hope he will remain faithful, I think he will. You never know who is watching you. We are excited because he is marriage material for our girls.
One of our prospective missionary girls mother had her leg amputated this week. She suffers from diabetes and her heel was about to rot off. We visited her the day before she lost her leg and her husband seemed appreciative. We asked Kaoa, her daughter how her mother was feeling on Sunday and she just laughed and laughed and then said “my mother only has one leg.” Go figure.
Elder Anderson just walked by and we asked him if he had any raw sugar. “Sure do says he” “Can we borrow some?” “Yes, but it has ants and rat dropping in the bag. We just say that it’s burnt grain in our porridge.” We passed on the sugar. They are so used to eating in the villages that a little black or brown in the rice is just that much more protein to them. Sister Patten has introduced them to oatmeal which they call porridge. They can’t get enough of it. Breakfast has taken on a whole new meaning to the elders around here. This is the same elder who uses someone else’s tooth brush as a joke but didn’t think it was that funny when he found out his companion had hepatitis. I told him a smarter thing to do if he wanted to be funny was to just put the toothbrush under the water tap and then put it back. He had never thought of that.
There’s never a dull moment, more elders leaving than coming into the mission so the President is transferring two of our elders back to Tarawa. The Kiribati elder who has been out here almost a year and our district leader. The Kiribati elder doesn’t have a US visa and hepatitis and he can’t fly into Hawaii on a non scheduled airplane. That means he has to return on a boat to Tarawa. We can’t send him by himself so the other elder gets to take the two week boat ride with him. There is one small cabin for rent on the boat so we splurged and rented it for them. They at least will get to stay out of the rain. We’ll try and get a picture but it’s not the “Norwegian Cruise Lines” We think of you often.