I guess dolphin is food too

This week was much better in terms of health. No limitations there.

So first off, I have another animal to add to my list of things I've
eaten: dolphin. I guess there must have been a bunch of dolphin that
were caught last week, because I've had it several times this week. I
was even given some dolphin jerkey this morning. Pretty good.

It's been exciting looking back and seeing how much I've progressed in
the language. I also had a pretty cool experience where I got a boost
in my determination to learn the language. We went to dinner at the
house of one of our investigators. Her older cousin was there, and she
had attended Moroni High School, so she knew fairly good English. She
told me, in English, how she had joined the church when she was
younger and had submitted her mission papers and application to
BYU-Hawaii back in 1997. When she was accepted to BYU and received her
call to America, her uncle refused to let her go to either, so she was
never able to serve a mission. She's been less-active ever since
because of restricting family members. She asked me several gospel
questions and I was actually able to answer. This helped me realize
just how much I have to contribute and helped increase my desire to
improve in the language.

We have a few baptisms coming up, which I'm really excited about. It's
not easy getting baptism in outer islands, especially since Butaritari
is predominantly Catholic. We've had a few investigators that were
close to baptism fall through just because they had family members who
decided to start refusing to allow them to have lessons. Hopefully
another missionary will at least have the opportunity to baptize them.

Something pretty cool that's also happening this week is the AP
missionaries are coming to organize a branch in Butaritari. This is
truly evidence that the Lord's church is continuing to spread and grow
across the world. I love this gospel and am so happy for the
opportunity work where the seeds of the gospel have just barely been
planted.

Thank you everyone for your love and support! I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

Pictures

 Me with the motorcycle I've been driving

One of the few mango trees in Butaritari. We buy mangoes from its

owner from time to time

Caught a quick picture of a Kiribati sailing boat, my guess is for fishing

I finally did it

Sorry I wasn't able to email last week, the internet was down once again. But you're never going to believe what I did. So we were going to use a motorcycle to drive to Kuma, and Elder Bataua had said beforehand that he knew how to drive them. We got on the motorcycle, but he couldn't get it started, and he explained he had never driven one with a clutch. After a little bit, I convinced him to let me try. Keep in mind I have never driven a motorcycle before in my life, and had never ridden one until a few months ago. I was able to get it started, and we took off with no problems. And don't worry Mom, I drive very, very carefully.

My language has also been improving a lot, mainly my listening skills. Part of this has also helped me realize just how much of a celebrity I am being the only white person on Butaritari. Little kids salute you, high-five you, find any excuse to touch you. Teenage girls whistle at you on the streets. The adults always make sure to treat me with greatest respect, giving me food and drink and their best mat to sit on. Of course, this is of no concern to me, as I'm here to serve, not to be served.

The Lord needs humble servants, and it's been evident that this past week was my time for humbling. I went from getting pink eye, to getting a nasty cold where I was really tired and had a bad cough and fever, to getting a swollen eye because of a mosquito bite, to getting some really bad canker sores. I haven't let any of this stop me from serving others and helping them come unto Christ. The Lord will give you the strength you need to serve him when things are looking down. All you need to do is ask.

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

Elder Schoeny

Pictures

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  Playing with puppies

 A cargo ship off the coast of Butaritari

 My swollen eye because of a mosquito bite. It cleared up after a day

My awesome tan lines

Back in Butaritari

Mauri!

It was great spending time in Tarawa for Christmas with all those
missionaries, but now Elder Bataua and I are back in Butaritari
working with our own people. This past week was a little slow just
because we both just returned and are getting back into the swing of
things scheduling lessons and such. It’s also interesting that Elder
Bataua and I have both been working in the field for about only 3
months now, so we’re both at least somewhat fresh.

It’s been fun new experience having a native companion. No longer can
I relate through my American culture.  We get along just fine, though.
I’m excited to see how the coming weeks turn out. What’s also cool is
that Elder Bataua is from Butaritari through his father’s side. He’s
been finding a lot of cousins, aunts, and uncles, and his goal is to
convert all of his family in Butaritari.

The language is also coming along well. I'm slowly getting better at
understanding people. It'll also help a lot being with a native who
speaks English almost fluently.

Not much else to report on since we’ve just recently gotten back.

I tangiringkami! Thank you!

Elder Schoeny

 A map I found of Butaritari in a building in Tarawa

 The airport of Butartari

 Another random sunset picture

Me trying to be cool

Pictures

 Christmas Tree in a member's home in Tarawa

 Elder Bataua and I at the President's house before dinner

  Dancers that performed for all of us at the President's dinner for us

All the missionaries getting their dinner at the President's house

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's been a crazy past couple weeks, and I don't have too much time, so I'll try to be brief.

Christmas was a lot of fun. President Larkin came and we had a Christmas lunch with American food made by the senior couples. It was a lot of fun seeing so many missionaries. They also gave us our packages as our 'presents'.

It was also cool getting to meet and hear from President Haleck of the First Quorum of the Seventy, our Area President.

Also, something pretty crazy happened. The President of Kiribati invited all the missionaries, President and Sister Larkin, and President and Sister Haleck to a special dinner on New Years Eve. There was lots of really good dancing and food. President Haleck, during his speech, said nothing like this had ever been done in the history of the church, which was pretty cool.

In between all this, I've just been going on splits with the elders in our apartment. I should be returning to Butaritari this Wednesday.

Thank you for all your support! Happy New Year! I tangiringkami!

Elder Schoeny

I'll upload pictures when I can.