...but as for me and my house, we will eat desserts

Mauri ni kabene!

This past week at the MTC has been pretty good! Everything is pretty routine. That being said, there have been some awesome spiritual moments. This past Sunday we sang in the choir for the devotional where Brother...something (he is the president of the seventy) came and spoke. This Tuesday Brother Nattress of the seventy came ans spoke as well. Both were very uplifting. I wish I could take a video of their messages and share them. But it's not allowed...

The language is still coming. We revamped our study efforts this week and got a lot accomplished. We memorize 40-60 words a day, study grammar for half an hour, role play for half an hour, and read a chapter from the Ana Boki Moomon each day outside of class. Then we have two hours of formal language instruction from our teachers! It's pretty awesome how much progress one can make when they really focus on something. When we read from the Book of Mormon, we can actually understand the majority of it. There are still words here and there that we haven't had the chance to learn yet. For example, here is a word I learned recently that has been incredibly useful in everyday conversation:

Bungarungaro - you have no teeth.

See what I mean? Anyways, yesterday we had an SYL (speak your language) day where we could only speak Kiribati in and out of the classroom. We slipped up a couple of times, but overall we made it without too may rounds of charades.

Also this week we were able to teach about eight lessons. We committed two investigators to baptism (which was really exciting)! Also, we were able to teach members in something called TRC. We taught two twenty minute lessons to some returned missionaries. We talked to them for a bit, then were able to give them messages that we felt would really apply to them. Really cool stuff.

The food here is really catching up to me. I've been running and exercising, but my mile is up to around 5:25 (the altitude makes it hard too). I thought about laying off on the food a bit, but then I was studying in Joshua 24:15 and found my answer:

"...but as for me and my house, we will eat desserts."

Or something like that.

Anyways, things are going well for the most part. Just remember, the church is true. E koaua te ekaretia. The gospel really was restored through Joseph Smith. E bon kaokaki rinanon Iotebwa Timiti te euangkerio. it is so important to study the scriptures and pray every day. E nang kakawaki bwa ti riai ni wareaware inanon koroboki aika tabu ni katoabong ngaira. It will build your faith in Christ. E bon karikirakea ami onimaki iroun Iesu Kristo. If you have any questions, just ask!!

Bungarungaro,

Elder Barker