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.
No comments:
Post a Comment