Yes, you CAN get pneumonia in a place where it never goes below 80...

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On Tuesday we woke up at 5:15 and drove down to the Betio wharf. After weeks of asking around, weeks of going up to random government officials, weeks of canceled trips, and two unseaworthy ships, it finally happened. Banaba came in!

Banaba (Ocean Island) is probably the most unique island in Kiribati. It's 300 miles away from the Gilbert Line. There are about 200 people that live there. There is no electricity, internet, or phone service. What makes it difficult to work out there is that the geography doesn't allow for and airstrip, so the only way to get there and back is by boat. Last year two Elders went out there for about a month and a half, then came back. Four months ago, we sent two more Elders out there, planning for about a month and a half of work there. One of the Elders finishes his time in December, so it was very important that they came in on time.

HA!

We have been trying to get a boat to go out there for two months now! We've been told probably a dozen times that a boat was about to leave, only for them to delay it once again. We were about to hire our own charter boat to go out and get them ourselves (which would've been ridiculously pricey, but also pretty cool), but we kept holding off. FINALLY we got a small shipping boat to go out there. They brought our Elders back in! Whew!

This week our district has been doing a "language fast," where we don't speak ANY English for an entire week. In the house, in the car, at meetings, and even to the senior couples and President Larkin we speak only Kiribati. It's been pretty fun actually. We've gotten a lot better at charades and writing on random bits of scrap paper. Oh, and speaking Kiribati too. I thought it would be really hard, but I was surprised at how easy the switch was. After a day or so, my brain just switched modes. I debated writing my entire email in Kiribati this week, but that just wouldn't be fair. So...you're welcome.

Apart from that, I went to the hospital for the first time in my life (not to visit, but for myself). I've been sick for the past four weeks and the mission nurse was getting pretty worried. She asked me if one of the symptoms was periodic confusion, and responded with something random about puppies and spongebob, then assured her I was not confused. It was pretty funny once she realized I was joking. She gave me a bunch of medicine, and I started to feel better. I stopped by on Saturday to return the extra medicine and she wanted to check my one more time. And...I had a fever of 103. What?!?! So my visit to thank the nurse for her help and assure her that I was healthy again turned into a trip to the hospital. I got a chest xray and a whole bunch of tests for pneumonia and a few other things. It was pretty funny because all the nurses and doctors kept asking me in broken English if I understood Kiribati. I would respond with something like, "No, I actually am awful at Kiribati and don't understand anything. You'll have to speak in English to me," but I would say it in Kiribati. It always took them a few seconds to realize, then they would laugh. Apparently you CAN get pneumonia in a place where it never goes below 80. You learn lots of new things on your mission...some of which you never wished to know...

Honestly, though, I have not been super worried about this sickness. I got a blessing from my companion, Elder Miller, and my previous companion, Elder Veresoni. During the blessing, I felt peace, like I shouldn't worry about it. I've been feeling about 450x better yesterday and today, so I have no doubts that I'll be back to full health soon. Priesthood blessings WORK!!!

The work this week has been really...really...slow. We have a had a LOT to work on in the office, so that ate up a lot of our time. We set up times with almost all of our investigators, but they almost all fell through. Pretty discouraging.

There is one family that is going REALLY well though. Their times never fall through. They live on the other shore of the island from our house (which is about a 2 minute walk). We found them on accident while we were asking for directions to a referral we were tracking down. While we were chatting with them, we do what we always do and throw out a quick invitation to set up a time. Usually people just tell us some lame excuse, but this family didn't hesitate to set one up. That was about two weeks ago. Now we lesson with them every other day, they have family prayer/scripture study nightly, and family home evening as well. They even leave work early so that they can make it to the appointments (which are at 8pm anyways). They are progressing so well. I can see a new light starting to shine in their home! It's all because of their willingness to accept one little invitation. A little bit can go a long way!

That's it for the week (and my internet time)! Not a whole lot, but something. I love working as a missionary. I love helping in the church. I love helping people. I love helping families. Why would anyone not choose to do this? There's nothing that compares! Even though I do miss a lot of stuff from home, I'm so grateful for this chance that I have!!!

Elder Barker