Another Week in the Books

There really wasn't much that happened this week. A lot of rice, a lot of teaching, a lot of driving, a lot of rice...you know the drill...

This week I went on an exchange with Elder Sheffield, whom I trained in Onotoa! he's the district leader down there right now. I never thought I'd be working again in Betio, and I never thought I'd be working with him again! He's doing really well. He can speak the language with no problem right now, and he's got a lot of solid investigators. So that was cool.

Also, this week we had a baptism!!! Her name is Nei Tekimwa. She's 38 and married to a less active man. I would attach some awesome picture of us doing the baptism in the ocean with a beautiful sunset, but...I'm working in Tarawa. We had a nice baptismal font, printed out programs, and refreshments afterwards. It was really fun! I was a little worried at first though. We showed up at 5 (when it was supposed to start) and nobody was there. At 5:30...still nobody. At 6:15, the lady getting baptized came. Everyone else came around 6:45. When you mix Mormon Standard Time with Kiribati Time, you get some horrifying hybrid standard time that strikes fear in the hearts of all missionaries. It's like the saying my dad always said: "If you're five minutes early, you're five minutes late." Here, it's more like "If you're five minutes early, hopefully you brought a pillow and some snacks because you're going to be waiting for a few hours." Same idea, I guess.

Also! I thought I would throw out an invitation. If anybody has any questions about what it's like being a missionary here, what we do, what the culture is like, what my beliefs are, or what my favorite candy is, feel free to send them! I love answering questions!

Well...that's about all I can think of the say at the moment. I'm sure something brilliant will strike me right as I sent this email. Have a great week everyone!!!!!

Elder Barker