Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! TEKERAOI TE KAKIRITIMATI IROUMI!!!!

I hope that you all are enjoying a wonderful Christmas season! I love this time of year and I hope that you are able to feel the peace and joy that it brings. Even though Kiribati is really different, I have really enjoyed the season as well.

Yesterday Elder Murri and I woke up really early, showered, and went around to remind our investigators about church. Seven of them ended up coming! It was a nice Sunday. What made my day, though, is this lady that we are teaching named Taere. She is 63 (which is really old in Kiribati) but is really healthy. We have bee teaching her for a few weeks now, and she just passed her baptismal interview on Saturday, which means that she will be getting baptized this coming week! That's not the best part though - we are also teaching a family that lives right next door to them. Early on Sunday morning Taere went over to there house and invited them to follow her to church. She got the classic Kiribati repsonse: "Go ahead, I'll come a bit late." Of course, anyone that has ever heard this response knows that that is code for "Umm...no thanks, I just don't want to make you feel bad." Taere, however, insisted that she would wait for them and that they would just be late together. They stood on the side of the road together to wait for a bus, but no busses came. They walked 30 minutes to church by themselves! The best part was that they had to walk past their own church in order to get there. A lot of people asked them where they were going and gave them funny looks, but they still kept going. If any of you have ever served a mission, you know that nothing makes a missionary happier than when an investigator keeps a commitment like that!

That was what really made my Christmas this week. We had some nice Christmas dinners this week with members of our ward. We put up a makeshift Christmas tree in our house and we all put our Christmas packages under it. Nothing too noteworthy.

This week Elder Murri and I have been giving away Christmas presents to everyone we meet. We don't have a lot to give away, so we have been giving away Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons? Copies of the Book of Mormon? English is hard...). We have given away so many! It's so easy too. You just find someone that stands out to you, walk up to them, and start talking. We usually explain that Christmas is a time to remember the Savior, and we have a book that really helps us remember Him. Sometimes we share a nice verse or something, and we haven't had a single person turn it down so far! You never know when someone might just decide to read it. Missionary work is the best!

I know that Christmas time is a really busy time for everybody. There are presents and parties and lots of food (oh...the food...). We play in the snow, spend time with family, and enjoy a break from school and work. From an outside perspective, one might think that being a missionary away from home during Christmas time would be miserable; there is no break from the work, no family, and no Christmas celebrations. But they obviously are missing the point! Why? Because I am happy to give up a couple Christmas seasons in order to bring a little of what I love into the lives of others. It's totally worth the sacrifice. To me, being a missionary helps me remember why we even celebrate Christmas. I know that's a pretty cliche thing to say, but it is true. What better way to remember Him than to do his work?

Luckily, you don't have to be a missionary to feel the same way. We all have our little ways of following the Savior's example and being a light to others. I suppose this is my challenge to you: Try to think of what Christ would do during this time of the year (ignoring the fact, of course, that he would be celebrating his own birthday...). Who do you know that he would help? Who would he visit? How would he share his light with others?

https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_24-11-2017_dMIS_fMORG_xLIDyL1-A_

Little things matter! You never know how far they go!

Love you all and wish you a very merry Christmas!!!

Elder Barker