Elder Jared Schoeny: Crazy Week

Mauri everyone!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

So a lot happened this week.

First off, Elder Veresoni, in our district finished, and there's was no elder to replace him, so Elder Sagapolu was assigned to work with us as a trio. His area is in a different ward (Eita 2). We planned everything out just fine, working in each area every other day. Then, an elder from Bikenibeu got sick and had to go to Marshall, so instead of having two trios, they asked Elder Sagapolu to replace the sick elder. Now, Elder Ulas and I are working two areas. It's pretty hectic, but we're making it work.

It also meant that yesterday, we had to stay for 3 sessions of church. Eita 1st at 8am, Moroni Ward (it's an English ward, which was really weird) at 10am, and Eita 2nd at 12pm. Usually we just attend Eita 1st in the morning, but now that we cover another area, we have to attend all 3.

Also, crazy story. So we taught one of the investigators from the other area. His name is Tiotii (pronounced So-see), 19 years old. He has a girlfriend who wants him to get baptized and go on a mission, and she's waiting to send her mission papers until he does. His only problem was coming to church. He's been taught by sisters and elders for 2 years, and he had never come to church. We came to teach him, read in the Book of Mormon with him, and found out his back story. Turns out Elder Ulas has the exact same backstory as him with him and his girlfriend who is currently serving a mission in England. After telling his back story, Tiotii said he would come to church, and he did! All the sisters were freaking out haha.

I've also found out I'm totally not ready to readjust to the American culture. It's so easy for me to small talk in Kiribati, but I found out I completely lost that ability in English talking to some BYU students from America. They asked me where I was from, and I said "America," and they all laughed and said "Of course we know you're from America. What part?" Literally, my first thought was "Kam ataa Virginia?" (Do you know Virginia?) just because I'm so used to saying that to Kiribati people, but I caught myself. I've also realized I still used the word "ngaia" (the equivalent to "ok" "yeah" "alright", that kind of word) when talking to white people. I'm not ready for America.

Thank you all so much for everything! I tangiringkami! Wish me luck on my last few weeks! Sorry for the sudden long email.

Elder Schoeny

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