Birthday Celebration and Dinner on Yacht

I’m having to rewrite this email a second time because of the poor
internet connection. If I ever miss a week for emails, it’s probably
because the rain was messing with the internet connection.

So my birthday celebration was a lot of fun. Elder Osborne had been
telling a bunch of members that my birthday was coming up, so a bunch
of members threw a party for me after Family Home Evening. Several of
the young women danced in front of me to a popular song, which
probably sounds kinda bad, but it’s the culture so I went along with
it. They even made me a birthday cake with actual frosting.

Speaking of dancing, something interesting has happened to me. If you
remember, I mentioned there was dancing at the botaki about the war
last Saturday. As part of that, women are given the opportunity to go
up to a guy and dance with them. Only old women do it because they’re
the only ones not shy about it. I ended up getting asked by one and
had to dance in front of everyone. After that, gossip got around and
now apparently half the island thinks I’m a really good dancer. I
should say that by American standards, I’m absolutely horrible, but
apparently not to the Kiribati people. Random people tell me that
they’ve heard I’m a good dancer. Hopefully this doesn’t lead into
anything haha.

We also had a really fun time eating dinner on a yacht with an
Australian couple. It was weird eating white people food with forks
and knives and having cold drinks. I doubt many elders can say they
ate on a yacht.

The work has also been going great. We’ve gotten several new
investigators. One of them actually found us on the street and asked
if we could start teaching him the next day at a certain time.
Throughout the day, every time he saw us, he would remind us about our
appointment with him the next day. He has seemed really interested so
far.

Thank you for all your prayers and support! I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

- Our dinner with the Australian couple

 Me with my flower crown thingy that I got to wear during my birthday botaki

Our thanksgiving chicken that an investigator family cooked for us

for our dinner with them 

 Our dinner with the Australian couple

The yacht we ate dinner on

Upcoming Surprise Visit

First off, thank you for the birthday wishes! I'm still not
outstanding at the language, but I've heard hints of something going
on tonight during Family Home Evening that is likely related to my
birthday. I'll let you know next week how my birthday turned out.

So a few days ago we found out that apparently both of us had tickets
to fly to Tarawa in about two weeks, which was really strange and
unusual, so we made a phone call to find out what it was about. It
turns out a member of the Seventy is flying out, so our mission
president payed to fly all the Kiribati missionaries to Tarawa, even
from Kiritimati. Sounds like it's a pretty big deal. I'll let you know
how that turns out. We'll be staying in Tarawa for a week or two
before heading back to Butaritari.

We were also able to attend a huge botaki, or party, this past
Saturday. Every year, the people of Butaritari put together a huge
party to thank America for what they did in WWII. Apparently, Japan
had taken over Butaritari and was having all the men dig pits and then
shooting them in the hole. The Japanese' plan was to essentially have
the next generation be half Japanese. At one point, one Japanese
person who loved the Kiribati people found out the Americans were
coming, so he told the Kiribati men to dig slower. America then came
the next day and was able to defeat the Japanese.
We originally didn't plan on being able to attend, since we were going
to Kuma for the day, but the gear shifter of the motorcycle we were
renting broke off. It would have been pointless doing work in the area
since everyone would be at the botaki, so when we were invited to
stay, we agreed.
It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of food and dancing, and the
elementary school kids performed a fun little skit about the war. The
school kids also sang the Star Spangled Banner, which was really cool
to hear. Even better, we got to see actual white people, two older
couples visiting from Australia. One of them even invited us to dinner
tomorrow on their yacht. Funny enough, Elder Osborne and I were the
only Americans in attendance.

The work has been going great! We have a family scheduled for baptism
this Saturday, so that's really exciting. We've also realized we could
probably expand our investigator pool, so we've started working on
tracting more.

Thank you and I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

 Two Kiribati sea birds. What's great about this picture is not only

how majestic the bird on the left looks, but also the awesome face the

bird on the right is making.

 A view of the beach on a windy, overcast day.

  The awesome Sorry! board E. Osborne and I made. The Kiribati people

have their own really fun version of Sorry! that uses playing cards.

 Flags hanging up at the huge botaki memorial thanking the US.

I finally ate one!

To start off, I can officially say I’ve eaten dog. Not too bad, but
don’t expect me to eat it again when I return home. I still have yet
to eat cat. I still have to say probably the best thing I’ve eaten so
far is sea turtle, but don’t spread that around, since it’s probably
illegal everywhere except Kiribati.

I also have to say another reason as to just how unique this mission
is. Normally missionaries aren’t allowed to ride motorcycles at all,
only mission-approved cars. Because parts of Butaritari extend out to
the point where it takes unreasonably long to bike there, our mission
president allows us to rent a motorcycle in order to get there. I’m
pretty sure we’re the only mission where missionaries can ride
motorcycles, which is pretty awesome. I attached a few pictures as
well.

It’s also been interesting how much the Kiribati people talk about the
election in America. The people here get their news by radio. Since
we’re white, they’re always asking us if we’ve heard anything. They’ve
been pretty interested in this election, mostly because there was a
woman running. It’s a surprise to them because here women have next to
no rights. We were also asked how a man who has never worked for the
government could become president.

On a more spiritual note, it’s been humbling for me seeing these
people with next to nothing and yet so happy. It’s also been
interesting to see, despite how different the people and the culture
are, that the gospel of Jesus Christ still rings true, and the Spirit
works in people just the same. It’s going to be a great two years!

I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

 Me after my first motorcycle ride (pre-haircut)

 One of the passages we take to get all the way to Kuma, a far away

village that would normally be close to a two hour bike ride

Us riding the motorcycle we rented. Chinese engineering at its best!

Huge Church Attendance

Not much happened this week since I was sick pretty much all week. Pretty
bad headache with nausea but no throwing up luckily. My companion says he
thinks he had the same thing at the beginning of his mission. I rested at
our house while Elder Osborne went on splits with someone else. I'm
completely recovered now, though.

I was able to attend church yesterday which was an incredible experience.
Every Fast Sunday the missionaries rent a bus (basically a pickup truck
that everyone piles into), and pickup all the members on the island to
attend church together. We had 70 people attend church yesterday, the
most there's ever been here in Butaritari.

Elder Osborne told me about it later since I couldn't understand, but
someone got up and bore his testimony. He said how when he was born,
he was deformed and the doctor said he would only live until he was
10, but he's 36 now. He said he thought the reason he's still alive
today is because the Lord wanted him to see all these people and the
church. We had no idea, but this guy hasn't even been baptized yet,
and he attends church every week. The Lord really does prepare people.

Instead of leaving you with a rather short email, I'll finish off with
some things about the Kiribati culture. One thing they do here is for
meals, they always have the guests eat first. After we finish, the
father eats, followed by the mother and children.

The children also love 'imatang' or white people. They yell it out as
we bike by. In America, we say 'bang' for a gun, but in Kiribati they
say 'dice'. The kids love 'dicing' back and forth as we bike by. They
also like to stand in the road to give us a high-five as we speed past
them.

Thank you! I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

 It's really hard to tell, but we have a cheshire cat moon

 out here in Kiribati

 A picture of our desk after we cleaned it

Our sleeping situation with our mosquito nets