Elder Jared Schoeny: First Week in Nikunau!

Mauri!

It's been a great first week here in Nikunau! The members here are
amazing, considering the island has only been open to the Church for
about two years. A branch is being organized here in a few weeks,
which is really exciting! Thanks to a camping thermometer my family
sent me, I can now tell what temperatures I'm living in. It's a lot
hotter here than Butaritari, with highs reaching usually about 110
degrees in the sun, 95 degrees in the shade. Lows usually get no lower
than 80 degrees, which feels surprisingly nice to me now. Other than
the weather, the culture and the accent are pretty different from the
North, but not enough that it'll be hard to adjust. (Butaritari is
part of the northern islands, Nikunau is part of the south).

A lot of this past week has been getting to know members and
investigators. They threw together a little mini bootaki (Kiribati
party) for me the evening of the day I arrived. We also had a bootaki
this last Saturday celebrating the two year anniversary of when the
first elders arrived in Nikunau. They spoiled us with a lot of good
food from Tarawa and the recent cargo. Nikunau doesn't get much cargo,
so once it runs out, we'll be living off of mostly just rice (and
fish, as long as gas doesn't run out for boats), at least until the
next cargo ship comes. Not much of a concern for me, though. I'll
happily eat anything.

We also had a really cool experience with a new investigator. We went
to a house, hoping to get directions to a referral we had. The lady
there had thought only Mormons could listen to the missionaries, and
seeing that we were trying to get to a non-member, she asked why we
didn't teach her. We scheduled an appointment with her, and when we
taught her, she was just soaking everything up. Having introduced
ourselves, we asked if she had any questions, and she was just like,
"Why are there so many religions? Which one is the true one?" Long
story short, we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon in the first
lesson, and she gave us food and then started reading it while we ate.

I'm so excited to be working out here in Nikunau, especially at such a
critical point in time for the Church here. I know the Gospel is true
and have seen how much happiness and change it can bring. I can't wait
to share that message with a new people on a new island.

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

Elder Schoeny

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