Tongoi is one of the Moroni High School Seminary teachers. He also serves as one of our mission president, President Weir's, counselors. We have been looking for ideas for Christmas gifts for the young missionaries, and thought that maybe a tie with a Kiribati flag would make a nice gift. He graciously allowed us to take his picture.
Last Wednesday evening our Young Men and Young Women met together for a lesson on dating. This seemed strange to us because dating is not a Kiribati custom. During the lesson we wondered what we would say if called upon to speak. Sure enough, at the end of the lesson we were asked to talk about our own dating and courtship. We got lots of smiles and giggles as we described our experiences. We were both dating others before we got serious about each other. It was sweet to tell them how we fell in love and decided to get married. It was special to tell them how much we still love each other.
Friday evening was a ward fishing activity. We met in the Maneaba where Bishop Banimone gave out sticks, fish hooks, fishing line, and bait for each person to make their own fishing pole. We knew that they planned to go out after dark into the water right behind our apartment where the sewer line empties into the ocean, so we politely declined to go out with them. Earlier that evening we were invited by Sister Alldredge to have dinner together at her apartment. Just as we were finishing eating, the zone leaders came knocking at her door to introduce Elder Afatasi, who had just arrived from an outer island. It just so happened that they had not yet had dinner, so we invited them in and watched them finish off most of the rest of the leftovers. They then insisted on feeding us spiritually and proceeded to teach us a wonderful lesson from the book of Omni about the power of the Savior's atonement. We count these experiences with the young elders and sisters as a very special and spiritual part of our mission. We can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost they carry with them as worthy and ordained representatives of Jesus Christ.
One Saturday we were invited by Taani and Lailani Lasike and their family to a barbeque on the beach at Taiwan Park just east of Betio. Despite some early rain, we had a wonderful time getting to know them better. They are from New Zealand, and do not speak Kiribati. Taani is here on assignment from his company to work on building construction. They will be returning to New Zealand this coming December. He really knows his way around a barbeque grill, and the food he and his wife, Lailani, prepared for us was delicious. Sister Sumner's baguette of French bread was a big hit, too. There was none left over to take home. :-(
This picture shows Lailani, Sister Alldredge, and half of Sister Sumner (over on the left) as we ate in the light rain.
After a wonderful meal, I got out a cheap Frisbee I had bought last week and, for the first time since coming here, we played Frisbee. The kids didn't mind jumping into the ocean to retrieve some errant throws. In fact, they spent quite a bit of the afternoon playing in the gentle surf on the sandy beach.
This morning Tiotomaia came by for some help with his assigned high council talk. While his English is not too bad, there are still many English words and expressions that need explaining in a typical general conference talk. He is a humble man who carries the spirit of the Lord with him. I feel blessed to be able to help him with his calling. Last week we gave him a solar powered lamp to use in his bouia because they have no electricity. Even those who have electricity know that they can't rely on it because it goes off so frequently. We in the U.S. don't know how blessed we are with material things. On second thought, maybe our material things are a curse that keeps us from being truly happy and close to the Lord as so many here are.
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