Pray for Kiribati!

Mauri te koraki!

So...I didn't get the chance to email last Monday, and for that I apologize. Allow me to explain.

This past week we had the assignment to visit the Elders working in an outer island called Nonouti (No - nose). That is exactly what that island is known for; everyone makes fun of them for having no noses. I'm not exactly sure where that comes from, because everyone I saw there seemed to have pretty normal faces. Ngkam.

The trip went well. We were able to split with Elder Shaner and Elder Roberts and work with them for a few days. They are both doing great! They are truly top-notch missionaries and I learned a lot from them. They have a ton of work out there and are really busy. And get this - they both just finished their training! Way impressive. Feel free to tell that to the infamous Mom Facebook gang.

Nonouti is actually a lot like Onotoa. It's dry (as in no rain) and dusty. The sun is hotter than it is in Tarawa. How hot is 44C in Fahrenheit?* I'm not sure, and I haven't been in a math class for long enough that I don't trust myself to put it in my email to everyone. But I know that it's hot. Also, it's very long. We didn't even see either tip of it in our five days there. We borrowed two bikes to use while we were there. The people were nice enough to let us use them the whole time. The only problem? One of them had a tire that wouldn't hold air for more than 10 minutes, and the other one had a broken seat. I was lucky enough to sit on the broken seat, which I was able to fix up in a very Kiribati way. Take a look at the pictures for that. But yeah...those bikes made for a very long day on Sunday. We biked 64 km to go do sacrament meetings in all the villages. I slept like a coconut that night.

Things were going well until it came time to leave. The plane was supposed to come in the morning, so we showed up to check in at a little past 1030 (on Monday). We sat their and waited...and waited...and waited. We thought for sure that the plane wasn't going to come and we were going in for Nikunau round two. But finally, at 6:30 pm, the plane came and we got on. Whew! Landing in the dark was kinda sketchy, but we made it.*

THIS week was good as well. I'm not going to try to hide it - sometimes being a missionary is hard. This week I was really feeling it. I was tired and discouraged and I didn't know why. A few days were really difficult for me. But my whole outlook changed on Saturday.

Enter Katenriki and family. A family that we waved to hundreds of times before, then decided to give them a Book of Mormon on a whim (or was it...). We followed up a few days later and found out that they have been staying up until 2 am listening to the mother read to them after she gets home from work (she's the only one in the family that can read). They just came to church for the first time as a family to church yesterday.

Enter Reengata and family. A family that we ended up visiting because she lives next to one of the old ladies that just got baptized last month. We had a few weeks of lessons with them, then they moved to Bikenibeu and stayed there for 3 weeks. They just came back last week. They were at church last week without us even visiting them! They came and got mad at us for not being at church (because we were in Nonouti). They are awesome!

Enter Tinai and family. We found him and his family a few weeks ago off of a random street contact. It turns out that they are more golden than Michael Phelps in the the 2008 Olympics. He is 62 years old and paralyzed from a stroke that he had two years ago. It turns out that his doctor his one of the most solid members in our ward. We got the church truck to come and pick him and his family up before church this Sunday. Three men helped us lift him up onto the truck, then lift him to the chapel and other classes. I've never seen them smile so much!

The best part? This week was all three of these families' first time at church. And even better? THEY ARE ALL FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER! They were so surprised to see each other in sacrament meeting! Any and all shyness that they had before has ran away ao karabaa iaan aia Nei Marias (only Elder Miller will get that). I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father placed these families in our path. There's no way this was a coincidence! I truly believe that this work is far above our abilities as 19 and 20 year old guys (I mean, let's be honest here). There's no way we could have orchestrated that! I know that this is the Lord's work, and that he watches over his missionaries!

This made me realize how selfish I had been being the rest of my week (um...the week...cough cough). It made me realize that all I need to do is what I have been asked. I don't need to do everything; only He can make the stars align! All I need to do is get lost in the work!

Tekeraoi ami wiiki aei!

Elder Barker

*44C=111F

*Before receiving this letter from Kaleb, he emailed asking for information from the internet on a boat that had gone missing in Kiribati. We quickly sent him the latest news articles. Then he then sent this information:

"We left Nonouti the day the boat got there. We met with two families that had fathers working on the boat and at least 4 of the kids that were getting on the ship that day. What the news doesn't say is that that ship was hired by the government to bring kids from outer islands to Tarawa for school that is starting this week. Most of those 50 were kids. Our plane was seven hours late to Nonouti. It landed at 6:30 - it gets dark at 7. The plane can't land in the dark in Nonouti. If it were 30 minutes later, it wouldn't have come. Elder Murri and I were already talking about getting on the boat and getting back to Tarawa two days late instead of waiting for the next plane four days later. I'm so glad the plane came when it did."

News reports are now saying there were 88 on the boat. Please keep the families of those who are missing in your prayers! This is a tragedy that is being felt by so many in Kiribati.