Kam na bane ni mauri kain abau!!
Firstly, forgive any typos in my emails. I'm a little out of practice...I don't think I've touched a computer for a month.
But...despite the complete absence of technology in my life right now (that's a lie, I have a flashlight.), things are going fantastically. The life in Tarawaieta is so nice. We wake up, exercise, do some studying, and then TEACH. We have so many people to teach, we can't even get to them all. We struggled for a while, then finally asked for two more elders to work with us. Last week, Two new Elders, Tiaon and Fifita, came out to join us on our little island. It's awesome. We borrowed one of our recent convert's extra houses (yeah, that's a thing here) so we would have room for us to sleep. We teach 10-12 lessons a day, run church every Sunday (twice), FHE every Monday, and baptisms on Saturdays. We're pretty busy, But Tiaon and Fifita are great elders. They helped us get our baptisms ready for this Saturday...12 people from 4 families. It was one of the most rewarding days of my mission so far!!
Last weekend we had a district conference with all the branches from North Tarawa. If any of you have seen me at church/school dances, you all know that I am by no means a dancer. But...when in Kiribati. So my companion and I did a Kiribati "bino" in front of about 500 people the night before the conference. We dressed up in woven grass skirts, flower crowns, flower necklaces, and lots of other flowers tied to oursleves. I was a bit nervous (imagine that), but it went really well. The Kiribati people loved it. They all stood and yelled and came and lifted us up after we finished. Little different than stake dances, huh?
Also...thank you all for the letters!! I absolutely love getting Christmas cards from you (I just got them last week). The Kiribati people love looking at all the pictures and stuff of you guys too.
There's so much more to say, but I don't have time to say it all in my email. I finally sent some more pictures, so hopefully looking at those can explain a bit more. Just know that the work here is going really well. Why? It's simple: IT IS TRUE! There's literally no other explanation! How could a couple of teenagers from another country show up without knowing the language and convince 91 people (our current sacrament mtg attendance) to completely change their lives. I was watching this 70 year old man that we teach the other day. He is so wise and experienced. But the change that has come into his life exceeds all of that. It's not from us; it's from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe it with all my heart. And it brings me so much joy!
Anyways, I love and miss you all. Tekaraoi n ami waaki ni kabane. Tia bo to aba!
Elder Barker
