It's not our work we're doing - it's His.

Mauri mauri kain te koraki! Kam ai toka ma uea bw kam bon teimatoa ni wawareki au emaire n te wiiki ae koraki. Ngkana kam aki ota n au koroboki ni kiribati ngkai, kabwara te bure moa. Ngkana arona bwa iai to Google translate, e kona n reke otami iai. Tao n te tai teuana kam na ota ngkana tao arona bwa kam a weteaki ni mwakuri ikai...

On that note...

This week has been pretty standard as well. It was a pretty satisfying week because we had a lot of time to get out and work. There were a handful of our solid investigators that moved this week, so we spent a lot of time tracting/finding. Missionaries have been working here for years, but they surprisingly have not been to a lot of places before. We spent this week trying to find new people. That means a lot of walking up to random houses and just chatting with people. Most of them weren't interested, but we were able to get one new family and two new couples to teach. One of them was so glad to see us that they gave us two cucumbers that they had grown in their garden. I haven't had a cucumber for...I don't even know. I just ate it plain like an apple. So good...

On Sunday morning we got up early and went to remind our investigators about church (which starts at 8). We were a little disappointed to see that one of them got upset with his wife and cut up the dress pants we gave him with some scissors. I wasn't really sure what to do. Give him some more? I guess we'll figure that out this week.

Another one of our investigators has a pretty cool story. His name is Iuta (Judah, in English). He's about 40 years old and his wife is a member. He's scared to join any one church because of a dream he had years ago, in which one of his ancestors told to him to be careful of organized churches. He has already been a member of four or five churches, and none of them really worked out for him. He keeps telling us that all he wants to know is which church is true. Sometimes he can't sleep because he's so worried about it. He says that once he finds out the true church, he will join it. It was really cool to explain to him that we aren't going to force him to believe anything. Our purpose as missionaries is not to get more people into our church. We simply share things that we have come to believe and have faith. We have already seen blessings and happiness in our lives and in our families after following the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we believe that it can help others to receive those same blessings. We don't force anyone - we simply invite them to see for themselves. All they have to do is listen! When I explained that to him, there wasn't any uncertainty or doubt on my part. I wasn't worried that it "wouldn't work" for him. I had a perfect confidence in what I promised him. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Although this week was a little tough, I feel really lucky to be a missionary. Not because of the experience of going somewhere new, but because of my chance to be a part of something bigger than myself. Although this week was a little tough, I feel really lucky to be a missionary. Not because of the experience of going somewhere new, but because of my chance to be a part of something bigger than myself. It's not our work we're doing - it's His. I'm just a small part of it.

Have a great week everyone!

Kam na tekeraoi n te wiiki ae imawaaimi!

Elder Barker