Rocky boy, this is a Showdown... too bad Daniel was hot (Ben letter 4/15/2019)

Hello my friends in Richland, West Richland, and Kiribati. Salutations. Such a good word "Salutations" ie Charlotte's Web (1973)

This week in Moldova was quite interesting once again, and I am improving my missionary skillz, whether it be my hops or language study.

I think the only thing that happened this week was that my companion and I are trying to go off any type of eating out for a week. Which is fine by me, but might be a little bit hard for Elder Marshall, but he is an amazing guy and I know he can do it. He REALLY likes the sweets, so everyone at home, please stop what you are doing, drop the iron, put down the dishes, but down the crying infant child, and give this man Elder Marshall a standing ovation. That sounds sarcastic, but I really do mean that from the bottom of my heart, its not easy to change.

Oh yeah, I guess our area did have two baptisms this week, so that is legit. The one guy on Wednesday, Dorin, was baptized by the one and only Elder Marshall. But the coolest part about it was that he received the Aaronic priesthood, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and the calling to be branch mission leader all in one day. The other person baptized was a lady in the Russian branch, and she seemed quite happy.

Well nobody asks me any questions about this place I am currently living, so I don't really know what to write about.

As for the weekly spiritual thought, I really did feel the Spirit a lot this week. I am a missionary, so as any former/current missionary knows, you sometimes set up a promising lesson with someone, just for it to be turned down last min. But this week, the 2nd lady I wrote about, that got baptized in the Russian branch, really made me feel that all the missionary work that all members of the church do everywhere is worth it. She used to bum the missionaries a lot, I dont know all the details because I am still new. But some new sisters came into the area, helped her feel the spirit, and after a long spiritual journey she was baptized into the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. Remember, Tribe of Ephraim, it is your birthright to teach the Gospel. Its part of your purpose, and is your duty! Be willing to work with the missionaries, or even help them out if you're nice enough.

Slide into my DMs if you have any Qs 

(for you older, slightly more handsome generation, this means, ask me some questions so my letters dont bore you)

Salutations,

Vartstnicul Stanfield

In our conversation he said they painted this older ladies deck and after she made him the one of the best meals he has ever eaten! He keeps asking me if I'm making all this food, but when I ask what it's called, I can't even pronounce it so how am i supposed to look up the recipes!

graveyard

Their blossoms were out earlier than ours (this year at least

Beyblades coconut fusion (Cubby 4/15/2019)

Mauri!

Yet another incredibly fast week, and the last full week of this transfer. Super good week, some stuff that is actually different happened. On Tuesday we worked pretty hard and got a couple lessons, and Wednesday we had district meeting a usual, but on Thursday we had a scheduled zone service which was pretty fun. The district leader from the Buota district organized it, and he is like a crazy Vanuatuan dude, so we all knew it was gonna be some good stuff. We "cleaned" this school, which really meant that we moved branches from out of the way of a guy using a "bush cutter" which is a weed whacker that uses lawn mower blades, and setting stuff on fire with gasoline. Fun stuff. We also helped fix one of the Kiribati houses in the school, we just put an extra beam in the roof because the one they used the first time was breaking. We didn't have a saw though so we had to cut the beams with a machete which was fun and quite precise. Besides that, we gotta watch general conference this week, which was really good. It's weird that conference is better now that I am a missionary. 

I have nothing off the top of my head for a spiritual thought currently, but I just wanna say that Ana Ekaretia Iesu Kristo Ibukiia Aika Itiaki Ni Bong Aika Kaitira is led by prophets and in my own opinion I think that is pretty dope.

Hit me up with Questions

Elder Cubby

 

PS Forgot to mention that our neighbor gave us a tuna and we cut it up, and Elder Chun put sauce on it and we ate it raw, tasted like sushi. 

Some members hooked us up with a dope meal

Tuna

A huge 2 year old

We cleaned house

A Tongon stole Bonnie's tie (Cubby letter 4/8/2019)

Kam na bane ni mauri!

So definitely a good week, per usual. No illnesses, which is always good I suppose. I think the people we are teaching are starting to really warm up to us now, when we go to their houses we have a hard time leaving because they want to talk to us. Interesting note about the Kiribati social construct, instead of joking people just lie, and I've gotten into that habit pretty bad. When you meet someone you do something called an "ikikina" and you show how many siblings in your family, where your from, parents names, etc. But lately I've been lying a lot, saying I'm from Africa, I'm in my late 30's, I have 4 kids, stuff like that. It's weird because it's starting to be funny to me a little bit, but only when I speak Kiribati. Anyways I was doing that at a dinner at a member's house this week, and they caught me and said I had to do a dance as a punishment. Yeah so that happened and I have a video. I also gave a bunch of Blessings this last week, I know mom said something about it, and I thought it was interesting that a bunch of opportunities came up. We blessed this one dude who was about to die from diabetes, but I think he's walking out of the hospital today. E bane mai irou, ngkana iai ami titiraki, kanakoia. (I'm out of stuff, send me questions).

I tangirngkami

Elder Cubby

His Bro Tie has taken abuse

The Tongan with Bonnie's tie

See em again at the 4th of July (Ben letter 4/8/2019)

Indeed, another great week here over in Chisinau, Moldova. The weather is getting much warmer, its starting to rain a lot, and I'm figuring out which food to buy at the store. 

This week we had lots of councils and conferences of many different varieties. District council, mid transfer training, zone conference, and then General conference with Priesthood session on top. I forgot to mention the session variety, but I did indeed watch that too. Oh yeah and I forgot weekly planning session. I don't think there are any more meetings that I am forgetting.

So yeah, through all of the conferences I have learned lots of very useful information. I will not share everything of which I have learned, because it takes a long time to explain, and I have a weakness in typing, just like some of the Book of Mormon Prophets.

So when it rains here, it really rains. It probably is just like the random summer stroms we get in the Tri Cities, but the thing is that they have the worlds worst draining street systems here. So the streets turn into rivers and creeks. So Maybe during one of these storms I will remember to take a picture so you can believe me.

So one thing that through all of the conferences that I think stood out to me was the simple and pure doctrines of Jesus Christ. The Apostles laid it out for us very plain and simple: do those basic things that are asked of us, and we will receive blessings. Elder Ballard said that the pure and simple things are the things that bring us happiness. President Nelson taught that making Covenants with God, and keeping them will bring us happiness. In the scriptures, Prophets have continually taught of the basic Gospel principles that we must follow. And most importantly, Jesus Christ taught His simple pure doctrines. Jesus gave us the 2 great commandments to love God, and also likewise, to love your neighbor like unto yourself. However, we have been reminded in this last General Conference that this is THE way to happiness, not a way. This is the only way that we can live with God again. Making Covenants and following commandments is the way to eternal life, the greatest happiness we can have. It is not something that should be taken lightly, whether a member of The Lords flock or not. Many Apostles gave a very stern message that we can be so happy, but only depending on how we will act with what we have been given. Anyway we need to focus on these things much more then whether a minor change in church policy. Living within the Mormon culture is not good enough, and it will not make you happy. Gaining a testimony of Jesus and to live as he taught, and to listen to His Prophets will make you happy. 

Anyway, if any of you have questions about anything, Cubby can help you. If you have advice, I will take it.

te iubesc,

Vîrstnicul Stanfild

Ben likes sleep (Cubby letter/pics 4/1/2019)

Mauri

So again a pretty average week. I'm emailing a bit early today because it is combined pday, and supposedly we're gonna do a touch rugby tournament, so me and Elder Chun are fittina ball out. And the people in my house don't think I'm faster than the sprinters at Moronaai, so we'll see about that. One thing that stuck out this week was that one of our investigators, Taetoka, started really progressing, she asks lots of really good questions and accepts what we teach after she prays about it. Pretty exciting if you ask me. But as for me, I got sick for just about the first time here in Kiribati. Thursday morning I woke up with a headache, so I just took some Ibuprofen and called it good, but when it wore off I discovered I had a raging fever. So I took more and we finished the day, but on Friday, I got totally wrecked to the point where we didn't go out. I think the only times I was awake that day was 7-8 in the morning and 6-9 at night and like a half hour around noon. So it didn't really feel like we did nothing that day, because that day doesn't really exist to me. But I woke up on Saturday feeling fine, so we're back in business.

As for a spiritual thought, I noticed that this ward is really strong. And I finally came to the conclusion that this is because they are obsessed with missionary work. They have realized that they like, even love, living the gospel so they like spreading it with others as well. I guess a testament of how happy this gospel is.

Hit me up with Questions y'all

I tangirngkami

Elder Cubby

Haircut (it didn't last long)

graveyard

Eel

Typical party for a baby's first birthday

They killed the chicken, this kid took the head

Tarawa

Sunset in Abaiang

Typical Bikenibeu

A memorial in Abaiang to commemorate Hirum Bingham

the frozen piglet

Blood Sugar Magik and something else (Ben letter 4/1/2019)

So this week went by in a blur. Not like song 2 but like it went by fast.

I was lucky enough to get a couple lessons this week, the first of my mission. It was really cool, and fun to actually use the lessons I have prepared. They all went well, in terms of being able to convey our message. Only one guy is still interested, but he is super cool, and religiously open. 

 

So that was the good news for this week, everything else has been the same.I have been getting a lot better at studying just about everything. I study and evaluate my studying techniques to make my study more effective to make my teaching more effective. Never thought that I would study the way to study, but it is actually quite enjoyable.

For a spiritual thought, I just wanted to mention the importance of knowledge and whatnot. When we first act on a commandment, we act in faith. We know maybe some reasons as to why it is good, maybe not. But as we study, and live the commandments, we start to understand more why it is so important and how it brings us happiness. So why is it that if the way is simple to happiness, then is it so hard to teach, or for people to understand? Or even when you somewhat understand, why can it be hard to stray off the right path? It is because we don't understand the entire reason. If we truly understood and knew the consequence for every action, then we would never make a mistake. This is why we are here, to learn and grow. The more you learn, then the more you grow, and growing means keeping more commandments, thus making us happier. I want to go and join in on Carl's invitation to you all, that you really should be reading scriptures everyday. And don't just read to check it off. Read to learn and understand how you can use principles to make you happier, and to align your will with God's.

 

Also aside from this thought, I thought I would add more, because Grandpa told me that my letters need to be longer. In learning a new language, you kind of gain another way of thinking. Grammar is the hardest part to get down, because it is the way you think. So I'm learning cool stuff spiritually from Romanian. Not a ton yet but some. Romanian is the most Latin based language in the world, because 2000 years ago the roman empire (which spoke Latin) took over Romania. Then because of the area in which Romania is, it has some influence to change the language, but the least amount of any Latin/Romantic language. Anyway learning Latin (roots) is cool because you can see the origination of many English words and another way to think about said words. Also the translation of words can make you think about that word in a different light.  For example, the Doctrine and Covenants in English translates to Doctrina so Legamintele in Romanian. I want to now focus of the word Legamintele which literally translates to "the Covenants". However with Latin roots involed (which is easy to do in Romanian) you can see that it separates into something like "lega" which means "law" and "mintele" or "minte" which means mind. Not like brain mind but like remembrance or conscience type of mind. The verb "to tie or bind down" is "a legea". So Covenants in Romanian or Latin is more like "the laws in mind". So that helps me to understand more about covenants are all about, and how we really should literally always remember them, and we will be blessed.

Te iubesc 

Varstnicul Stanfield

Ps sorry for any spelling errors, the new vowels are killing me XD

 

Helping Mihai

Olesia, the language teacher

Studying