Old friends from far away places

August was a chance for us to meet Elder Pearson of the Seventy.  He came to reorganize the East Stake Presidency.  He also spoke at our Zone Conference.  What an amazing General Authority.  He told us he was going to reorganize a bunch of Stake Presidencies all around the Pacific Region in 15 days.  As with every arrival in Tarawa, it begins at the airport.  Below is Elder Pearson greeting Elder Bush.

Sister Bonnemort wanted to get close to a General Authority

We were able to bring all the missionaries from the outer islands to attend the Zone Conference.  Also coming to Tarawa were the six missionaries we have on Kiritimati (said Christmas) Island.  This island although part of Kiribati is located 2000 miles to the east of Tarawa.  It is a long journey and takes 2 days via Fiji to get here.  Sister Bonnemort is greeting Sister Valo, who is from Papa New Guinea.  With her is her companion, Sister Babo, who is from right here on Tarawa.  They have been on Kiritimati for the past four months.  

It is very difficult for these missionaries who have family here on Tarawa, many who live just down the road. Above is local islander Sister Babo greeting her father (with President Shaw's permission).  With the island being only 12 square miles and one road, they are bound to run into each other in two years.  

Speaking of running into each other.  Above is Elder Eneri.  He was our Zone Leader, but is now on Kiritimati.  He came home for the conference also.  We really do miss him.  He says he loves just being a regular old missionary.  He is from Tarawa but his family is away at BYU-Hawaii.  He will be ending his mission in November, just in time for his family to return to Tarawa, so no trip to Hawaii for him...bummer.  

Elder Hosler has been Elder Eneri's companion on Kiritimati.  He only made a short stop here as he has departed for the outer island of Marakei.  

And finally arriving were Elder and Sister Mabey who are the senior couple on Kiritimati.  They are truly troopers.  They live in a little tiny church owned flat.  Imagine a single wide trailer and chop it in half.  

Just a picture of a few of our Elders chillin' at the Bonnemort Flat.  Elders Turner, Maddy, Bradshaw and Enderl.

Our Zone Conference Feast.  

Elders Hosler, Packer, Puleiku, Tuihalingingie (Tui), and Maddy

Feeding a cast of 70 isn't very easy, but with a bunch of  tubs and crock pots, one can make just about anything work.  

Elders Wells and Gawkoski enjoying the dinner

Elders Simpson, Staley, Saksak, Sister Balenacagi, Elders Raisor and Taorobwa

Elders Norton, Saksak, Hosler, Wells, and Atata

I know I have said how hot and humid it is here.  Well here is the evidence.  I accidentally left a vitamin and stomach pill in my pants pocket during the zone conference.  The top is before, the bottom is after the meeting.  The power went out half-way through the meeting, so even the ceiling fans were off.  I don't ever remember being that hot.  

Elder and Sister Bush are teaching a piano class.  I wanted to snap this photo as it was not anything I thought I would ever see....grown men learning how to lead the music.  They are so dedicated and want to lead in their own wards.  

This is Sister Bonnemort with our neighbors Kate and John.  They came over to make cookies.  Kate has "perfect" English...with an Australian accent.  

Of course, what is an event without dancing.  We all were treated to dancing by two wards.  I took this picture of President and Sister Davis from the Fiji Temple (foreground) .  

The Church begins in Kiribati....

President Davis spoke at our Stake Conference.  He told the story of when he was the Fiji Mission President back in 1972.

There are no records of missionary activity or visits by any Latter-day Saint members prior to 1972 when the Church was first introduced to Kiribati. During that year, Waitea Abiuta, a school teacher and headmaster of Auriaria Kokoi Ataria School (A.K.A.S.), a small secondary school, asked to have graduates from his school attend the Church-owned Liahona High School in Tonga. Then Fiji Mission President Ebbie L. Davis visited Kiribati in September 1972.  When he arrived the first time, he was disappointed to learn that the government pretty much made it impossible for the church to get started, as you had to have 30 members to start a church you couldn't preach the gospel unless you had 30 member...kind of a catch-22.  President Davis returned three times before the government finally let the church in.  Twelve students were selected to be enrolled on a trial basis. Twelve more were enrolled the following year. By the end of 1976, 60 Kiribati students had been enrolled at Liahona High School. All of these students were non-Latter-day Saints when they arrived in Tonga; however, all but a few joined the Church. Six of these former students were later called to serve in the Fiji Suva Mission and assigned to labor in their native Kiribati, arriving in Tarawa on 19 October 1975.  Thus the beginning of the church in Kiribati.

We said goodbye to Elders Norton (pre-haircut) and Mills who have completed their missions.  We always have a goodbye lunch.  This day we served enchiladas with homemade tortillas.

Is this a new hairstyle or a bad haircut?  Elder Norton came by for his "homecoming" haircut.  He was leaving for home the next day.  I have cut many Elders hair over the past year, and have never made this mistake before.  I got all done with the cut and saw some stragglers.  So I picked up the clippers again, but didn't realize that I had taken the #2 guard off the clippers.  I made the first cut and realized my mistake.  This is what happens.  Now it wouldn't have been so bad, but gosh he was going home the next day, so we had to make the back really short.  I hope his mother will forgive me.  It turned out ok, and Elder Norton was a real good sport about it.  And to make matters even worse, Sisters Valo, Babo, and Balenacagi were there to witness the mistake.  Sister Bonnemort said this was the second time this has happened, but the last time she caught me just in time.  She has great trust, cause I cut her hair the next day.

Elder Anderl who has been on the outer island of Abemama with his ukulele.  We have missed him, he will be going home in September.  He said he will come by when we are home and play us a tune.  

Kiribati independence Week and more...

 July 12 was the Nation of Kiribati's Independence day.  But in Kiribati, it isn't just a day of celebration, but an entire week.  There were all kinds of competition, from sports, to choirs.  Most of the activity was in the town of Bairiki, which is their capital city.

 On Thursday, July 12, all the couples went down to the celebration in Bairiki.  They had rides just like you would see in America  There were food booths by the hundreds.  

 I don't know about anyone else, but it is no wonder there were nobody on this Ferris Wheel.  It looks about as rickety as anything I have ever seen at a carnival.   

 This is Elder Kidder and Elder Jared Whippy in front of the "safe" Ferris Wheel. They promised me they did not get on this thing.  

 The missionaries manned a booth at the festivities.  Pictures, front to back.  Elders Jared Whippy, Mickelsen, Falke, Kidder, Gawkoski, Foust, Bradshaw, Turner, Teira, Norton

 This was an interesting experience.  They were holding boxing in the Maneaba and there must have been 200 people watching, but there was no cheering, it was silent.    

 We were invited to the State Dinner in celebration of 33 years of Kiribati Independence.  This took place on the Presidential grounds.  "Mauri" means hello.

 All the guests lined up to be greeted by the President and First Lady.  The food was served in this huge Maneaba.

 Elder and Sister Bonnemort just before sundown 

 This is the winner of the choir competition.  They sang all night and boy can they harmonize.  Singing comes very easy to the Kiribati people.  I have never heard a sour note from anyone.

This was kind of a funny situation.  The Taiwanese were invited to dance for the crowd.  There were 7 dancers.  Well, their dance lasted about 15 minutes and was very slow and almost prayer like.  Certainly not the Kiribati style, which is very fast and loud.  The audience became quite uneasy because the dance kept going on.  The MC also tried to interrupt them multiple times, but they kept on going.  Finally it ended.  Next came the winner of the statewide dance competition.  Well there dance lasted the same amount of time, but the audience was just fine with that.  

 Sister Bush can join the "boy's club".  After the celebration dinner, the van was hemmed in something awful.  But Sister Bush just jumped in behind the wheel and after about 50 turning maneuvers was able to get the van out without a scratch.   

Sister "nerves of steel" Bush

These Elders are quite ingenious.  Here they are using a tire tub patch kit to plug a hole in the bottom of their Crocs.  The fire makes the final seal.  

This is Elder Katene from New Zealand.  He has been on the Outer Island of Beru for the past 4 months.  He is quite particular about his hair cuts.  In fact, he is known for his "Katene Cut" around these parts.  I just had to snap a picture of his long messy hair.  He is our new Betio District Leader.  

Elder Falke, our new Zone Leader behind the wheel.  I always get a picture of them behind the wheel for the first time, but it wasn't really fair with Elder Falke.  He had been on Christmas Island for months and had been driving on the left.  He has been on outer islands since we arrived, so we haven't had a chance to get to know him.  He is from Turlock California.  

 New Missionaries arrive.  Elders Puleiku from New Zealand, Raisor from Blanding Utah, and Elder Atata from Vanuatu.  Elder and Sister Bush are providing necessary instruction on how to keep a flat clean 

 Sister Bonnemort showing Taraia Tebanimarawa how to decorate cakes.  Note the red mixer in the background.  This is the British version of the Kitchenaid.  It was missing the paddle.  It took many long searches and a few bad paddles, but we finally got one from England.  

 Pioneer Day in Kiribati  

The members here are very happy to have a reason for a "Botaki" (party)

Pioneer day was no exception.  It started with a meeting the night before where they had talks by Kiribati pioneers, or those who were the first church members in their family.  Then on July 24th, a walk from the Bikenibeu chapel to Moroni.  After the walk it was time for entertainment.

 The dancing started with the "Grand March"  Elder and Sister Bush are long time square dancers and had spent the last month teaching the Moroni Ward students and our Stake Presidency and their wives.

 Here are the Young Single Adults with Elder Bush doing the square dance.  The Bushes said that these kids learn so fast and have such good rhythm that it was a joy to teach them 

 The boys had made these "cowboy" hats out of coconut leaves.

 The students dancing the "Virginia Reel"---a long dance where every head couple takes a turn.    

 Elder Bush found time to play his harmonica.  I'm not sure that the audience knew what it was

 These people just love games.  This was the game of balloon pop.  Many adults participated and then even the little kids had a try at it.  They just get so into these games, it is fun to watch them make something so simple into a fun activity.

 The stuff in the top bucket is called porridge.  It is made from Breadfruit, but a favorite here.

 Sister Rebeta and Sister Gardner say goodbye.  We lost two of our sisters this past week.  Sister Rebeta has been serving on Tarawa, but she is from Kiritimati Island.  Sister Gardner left for Las Vegas.  Now that is going to some HOT weather.  We will miss Sister Gardner's smile.  She always had to be in every picture.

 Welcome Elder Mickelsen, our new Zone Leader.  He is from Rupert Idaho.  We are getting far too many Idahoans.  I remember the first time I met Elder Mickelsen, he was just the opposite of arriving missionaries...he talked non-stop and had a million questions.  It will be fun serving with him.  

 The couples got together to plan for the upcoming Zone Conference with Elder Pearson.  After the planning, we played a game of Catch Phrase.  

 Elder Thorne (with the game in hand) was having a "senior moment" every time he had the game as he pushed the wrong button. 

 This is something I have never seen in America.  Grown men taking a music class from Sister Bush.  They are leading the music just like the old singing lady in the ward used to.  I can't believe the enthusiasm of these members.  They love to learn and have no stereotypes.  

Is there a dentist in the house?  Elder Butterfield's retainer on the front bottom had come loose.  There is of course no Orthodontist on this island.  Well we all know the Lord moves in mysterious ways.  Our dentist had sent us a dental tool to scrape the plaque from our teeth.  But this tool also came in very handy when I became the orthodontist.  

 With Elder Banks providing the light and Sister Bonnemort as the dental assistant, I began to pull the retainer off Elder's teeth.  It seemed to work just perfectly and I didn't even take any teeth with it.  

 Who needs a dentist, send them my way

 We have a tennis club at the tennis courts at Moroni High School.  Every day we go for our evening walk and there are usually at least about 30 kids hitting tennis balls.  They even use ping-pong paddles to hit them.  The little girl in the middle was just about 4 inches taller than the racket

 The Red Cross lives on in Kiribati.  Sister Bonnemort next to the red cross van in Betio.  It sure reminded us of Grammy

 Sister Bonnemort in her matching gloves and Tibuta.  It is all about the Tibuta.  She has made one in every color.  She says it is therapy to sew.  Just like those washcloths and hats she used to make by the hundreds.  

I took this picture to show how humble these people are.  This is the landlord's house for the Bikenibeu flat.  It was a closed store out front, but the landlord moved it back from the roadway and moved in with his wife and 2 kids.  There is no running water, no electricity, no plumbing.  And it is 8x8.  He is very protective of the elders and put a fence around their flat and is making things nice for them.  As you can see, it is all about others helping others for this fine family.  

Matthew 25-40

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.