First of all thanks for all the packages, all the stufd is way
useful, already eaten or currently in use. In terms of things, I haven't
been this excited during Christmas for awhile
Even though a bunch of this last week was spent in Tarawa, it was quite
an eventful one. So we took an airplane to Tarawa on Sunday, but they
didn't have any of our tickets, so I had to drop like 200 big ones for
us and the sisters to get on the plane. Good
thing I hardly ever even use money out here in Abaiang I guess. It was a
cool flight, but it was literally ten minutes long, Abaiang is pretty
close to Tarawa. We stayed with the Elders in Buota that night, and
surprisingly most of them had worked in Abaiang
before. Basically they related to us how there is hardly any work...
which we didn't need them to tell us that. They did give us some good
tips and surprising information about the people though, so that was
good. The next day was combined pday, which was
alright, I played rugby for maybe the first time, and we watched 17
miracles. We realized at the end of the day that our Christmas calls
were way early in the morning and Buota is on the other side of Tarawa
from Moronai Highschool, were we would be calling.
So we stayed in the Eita house that night with like none of our stuff,
which we had brought over from Abaiang in cracker buckets. We woke up on
Christmas and did our calls and yadda yadda, which was way fun, I just
wish they were a little longer. But after
that we had a huge lunch and they had all sorts of food, mashed
potatoes, turkey, ham, an Australian rendition of stuffing, and ginger
bread. It was really good, and I found out that they don't usually eat
turkey in Australia and New Zealand. Poor guys. Anyways
that night we were staying in Eita again, and the elders there invited
us to their district Christmas party. That was way fun, the food was
different though, all we could buy was Kiribati food, so that is what we
had. Very different from the party President
Larkin put on. Somewhere in all of this fancy food eating, my stomach
got destroyed, but that's a story for another time. Before our flight
the next day we figured out that our big suitcases were actually being
stored in the Eita house, so we grabbed a bunch
of stuff which was nice. On the way back we had way to much stuff, but
we were way determined to bring it all back, so we used the duct tape I
got for Christmas and did some ghetto packing. Air Kiribati is pretty
lax on their restrictions on what you can take
on the airplane so we were all good. Fast forward a couple days and we
were just getting back into the normal schedule, and we get a call
saying that the sisters in Tuarabu (1 hour away from Tabontebike via
bike) were moving to Tarawa for a week or two and
that they wanted us to move into there house. So we packed up all of
our stuff and moved down the next day, which included bringing a bunch
of our stuff down in the morning, helping the sisters all that day,
returning, tying up some loose ends in Tabontebike,
and returning with our suitcases on our bikes in the dark, which was
fun. So the last couple days we've been picking up some of the Sister's
people, who are way more solid than any of our people, and basically
figuring out that everything is way better and
easier here. They have like seventy people that come to church and
their Branch Presidency doesn't smoke and drink so that is cool. We got
final approvals to move into the newly built house near Tuarabu, so it
looks like we might never stay in the chapel again,
which is weird. Feels like I've been transferred almost.
Anyways, tekeraoi te waaki
Elder Cubby
In our phone call we learned that he buys soap for the village to do laundry and in return they do his laundry. I asked who was going to do it if they moved....
I had to do all my laundry today, Nei Temouti is the lady who used to do it. I tangirngkami and have a happy new year!
Did you play tackle rugby?
no, it was just touch rugby. A bunch of guys from Samoa and Tonga were
playing and I think one guy was kinda frustrated that he couldn't outrun
me.
Ben asked if he was able to bring his new football to Abaiang
I did bring it. Sometimes we do sport based workouts so it'll be used.
And the little kids will be shocked to see a brown rugby ball
Do the mosquitoes bite the natives and what do people do for money?
The mosquitoes do bite the natives yes. They just don't have crazy
reactions to the bites, and they use bungas as well. And the people
collect coconuts and split them and dry them out. They then sell them to
some sort of factory for a standardized price
per pound. We help them split sometimes for service, it's like cutting
wood.
Are you doing anything for new years?
Mauri kain abau!
And we're having just a big dinner with the branch later tonight.
Also I realized that I'll beat y'all to the new year and that on my
Birthday I won't be 19 years old.
We sent a christmas box that included a small air bed. We asked about it...
I could not fit that bed in my bucket or get it on with duct tape, so I
left it in Tarawa. A lot of the Elders there sleep on the ground, so it
will be well used eventually. As for stuff... I'm not sure, I got all
the stuff I've ever wanted here and more
for Christmas. Me and Elder Wright have already eaten all the cheese
plate stuff, I'm not sure he's eaten cheese as good as that even in
America. I think the cheese plate actually made me miss you guys more
than the call did, which was an odd feeling. Yesterday
we biked back to Tabontebike for church because the Stake President was
coming, and we wanted to finish up the Temple Class. We're going to
this other branch this week I think though
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