Kam na bane ni mauri tariu ao mwaneu ma au utu ao raoraou!
Well, I've been here in Kiribati without anything in the way of a real email, so we've got a lot of catching up to do. Let's start from when I left the MTC. As we prepared to leave, we noticed that it was snowing. My companion and I both thought "Huh, we get to see snow one last time before we head to the tropics, how great is this!" It was pretty great and the four of us leaving felt that it was our parting gift.
Anyway, we departed the MTC and got on the Front Runner, Utah's public train. We had an interesting experience on the train. We met a less active man and he told us a story. He was a return missionary who had fallen and become less active. He told us that he began straying far from the strait and narrow. He said that he got into some terrible things. He didn't think that he would be able to come back. He then learned that his father had been praying for him everyday. He was accepted back into his family and was able to get his life back together and be married in the temple. It was amazing to watch him bare his testimony on prayer and hear this awesome story. It really got us excited to begin sharing the gospel to people.
After the train and a tacks ride, we made it to the airport. Here there were a lot of people that knew we were missionaries and what we were doing but what was really great was that we got to call home. This was much needed and I was happy and grateful to hear everyone's voice. Then we made it to LA where we got another short call and some food. We also met a family going to New Zealand to pick up their son. And we sat next to them on the plane which was great. Then we flew into Fiji and heard some natives playing islander music. Then we finally flew into Kiribati.
The very first thing we noticed was the humidity, we were sweating instantly. As we went down the stairs right out of the plane, we noticed a wooden shack where everyone was flocking to. This turned out to be the terminal. Here we waited with everyone else from the plane for our luggage and lucky for us, ours were last. The thing is, there was no turning table thing. We just watched the people take our luggage from the plane and put it on a wooden platform for us. There was also no air conditioning, just ceiling fans. It was so much fun. Then we were greeted by the zone leaders with their truck.
It took us about half an hour to get where we were going. I noticed that there was only one street the whole time. After dropping off our luggage at the zone leader's house, we arrived at Moroni high school where the senior couples and our mission president live. Here, we had some introductions, emailed our families, and had a great lunch of navajo tacos and bananas. Then we found out where we were going to serve. I got to serve on the island farthest south from Tarawa (the main island where we landed) called Nikunau. But, I didn't get to leave until Thursday and it was Monday. So, for the next few days I followed the zone leader to errands and teaching appointments. I had real Kiribati food which was mostly chicken, fish, and rice. To drink we had Milo, which was water with essentially Nesquick in it. None of it was truly disgusting so far. And sitting cross legged all day wasn't actually that bad. The houses we went to were very different from houses you see at home. Most are made of sticks with roofs made from leaves. Here on Tarawa, there are quite a few brick houses and many have electricity. But almost all houses have what is called a buia (boo-yuh). I'll describe those more in depth later.
Finally, the day came where I would fly to Nikunau. We got up early and went to the airport. The night before I had frantically packed what I felt I would need and hoped it was only 30 pounds. Unfortunately it wasn't and I had to pay overweight fees, but I figured I wouldn't need too much money on an outer island. So I hopped on a plane with only 14 windows and headed off.
The flight to Nikunau was about two hours. We made two stops on the way before we made it there. I kept thinking we were landing on my island but we weren't so I have many pictures of these islands. Anyway, I made it to Nikunau and felt every bump of turbulence along the way. When I arrived I was greeted by nothing but a small open area that lead to a road into a light jungle. People-wise there was Elder Morley and the member family that I would be staying with. A member took my suitcase with him on his motorcycle and Elder Morley and I rod our bikes to my new home. We rode along this dirt path for about 10 minutes and all along the way there were small children following us and saying "hello". When we made it to our house, I noticed that we didn't have separate land. There were about 4 stick huts (more like awnings with sheet metal walls that only are three feet tall) and two buias. Our house was the buia closest to the road.
Now, buias vary in size and I like to think ours was one of the bigger ones I've seen. But it was still very small. Our floor was about 10 feet by 12 or 15 feet. That was our whole living space. Buias, as a little more description, are raised platforms (3-4 ft) with a leaf thatched roof. All the structure is made of wood and most don't have walls. Luckily ours had three walls.
Anyway, after becoming acquainted with my house, I tried my first drinking coconut. I'll be honest, I really disliked it, but I kept forcing it down little by little. As we drank and ate some fried breadfruit (kind of like potato chips except not) we talked a little more about our living conditions. Our main water sources were rain water and a well. Both usually boiled for us by the members. Then I saw our restroom. It was a tiny stick hut with a cement hole in the ground. We flushed it with a bucket of water. And our shower was four walls with no roof where we used a bucket for water. So anything to do with a bathroom was a great adventure.
After getting acquainted with everything and with the family we went to work. We proselyted all day and made it clear to the other end of the island. When we returned I was exhausted. But our day was not over. We still had my welcome party. Here, they had me open and close in prayer, they had me introduce myself and bare my testimony. We had some fish and rise to eat. And everyone went around welcoming me. And then they had me play my mandolin for them. Then they had three young women do a kribati dance. It was all a lot of fun but I was so exhausted and just wanted to sleep. My bed was a foam mattress on my buia with two pillow, a mosquito net and a small battery operated fan.
The next day, we woke up, did our studies and went straight to work. But just before we left I had a scorpion crawl on my arm that freaked me out for quite a while. We had 12 appointments that day and we went all the way to the other end of the island. (The island is 7-10 miles long) Nothing major happened, but I was exhausted again and I wan't able to eat very much. But, we did see someone who had put their whole house on the government truck to move. The next day we had some cool experiences. First was a man they had tried to get to pray for weeks and the first time I met him, Elder Morley was able to convince him to pray for us. It was awesome. The other experience was a man who had a dream. In this dream he was alone in a white room. And then appeared a man in white. He asked us to see a picture of Thomas S Monson and said that he was the man in the dream. He went to a dream reader that told him it was a vision. After recounting all this to me in English, Elder Morley said that he hopes the dream reader will be and investigator. It was cool to see these things happen.
However, I started to feel very ill. I stopped being able to eat and I began to be very weak. It got to the point where we decided it would be best for me to go back to the main island. So we bought two tickets and flew out on Monday. We showed up at the airport and no one really cared. They just picked us up and took us to Moroni high school. We would have informed everyone what was going on except our internet place had burned down the week before and our radio didn't work so we couldn't have communicated anyway. After some correspondence with my mission President, I got transferred to an area on the main island. And that is where I have been ever since. It's a good thing we left when we did because there has not been a plane to Nikunau since.
Right now I am in Bikenibeu. Our house is a little better this time. We have a couple of rooms and a real bathroom. We have a fridge and filtered water. But we get the water by hand pump. We have beds but they are more like foam pads on a raised platform. We have some plastic chairs and a desk. While I have been here we have had some pretty awesome experiences. Some of the more temporal experiences first. It rains here. A lot. And it isn't just some light rain or rain that is hard and then leaves. It is either exactly 1 minute, or 24 hours. no in between. We had one day where we actually decided to use umbrellas but the wind was blowing so hard our umbrellas had to be parallel to the ground. Then one time we were trying to get to church and a member with a long be truck had us get in the bed and we just rode off. Just the other day we decided to deliver a letter for Elder Morley. It started out with us walking in pitch dark on this dirt road (all the roads are dirt and we had a bright flashlight). We were directed to one house and they told us where the watchman lives. He is the one who lived near the person we needed to deliver the letter to. So after walking through some plants, we came to find the watchman. And a kid took us through this light jungle, we passed an old WWII bunker (which actually turned out to be an abandoned school) and finally made it to the house and delivered the letter. Which was months in the making.
Now for the spiritual experiences. We will start with Muti (muts). After one of our lessons she decided to fast about our lessons. We had never told her about fasting before and when she told us that she fasted, she said that she felt really good about it and wanted to keep taking lessons, it was awesome. Next was Tibi(see-bee). He has been a really great investigator (and now recent convert) and loves reading the Book of Mormon. One time, he told us that anytime he feels temptation, he just remembers the iron rod and he stays strong. Next was an old man. He is a member and had been feeling sick. He asked us for a blessing and we gave it to him. I have no idea what Elder Carrington said but the old man started to cry during the blessing and he was really moved by the spirit. Then our investigator Bita. He is the 12 year old son of a reactivated member and we are teaching him so that his dad can baptize him. One day we taught him the plan of salvation. And the next lesson he had drawn up a sketch of the plan of salvation, from memory, without anyone telling him to do it. Another experience that we had was while we were teaching the restoration. We have been teaching two people (I think brother and sister) Teribuebue and Kaitirere. They have been great investigators who take notes and actively participate in the lessons. While were teaching the restoration and beginning with the Joseph Smith story, the light in the room started trying to come on. We turned it off and on and then it worked perfect. What's crazy is that the light hasn't worked for months. And it turned on during one of our most important lessons. The investigators got really excited because of that and really want to take the lessons now and we are excited to see how much faster they progress after that experience.
Probably our most powerful experience is next. This was the baptism of two investigators, Veronica and Presenta. This started out crazy. We started the service an hour late because the bishop had come and no one was there when it was supposed to start, so he went home, and we had to searching for him. When we finally found him and started with the baptism service, the tide in the lagoon was no longer at it's highest. Here we have two options for the baptism: 1. an actual font we can fill up but it is still outside and 2. we have stairs leading into the lagoon. That day we had planned on using the lagoon and didn't fill up the font so our decision was locked in. When we waded into the lagoon, there was only enough water to reach their thighs about my knees or lover. We had to have them kneel down and then vend their knees back to baptize them properly. It was also by the light of a flashlight, with two elders in the proselyting clothes who waded into the water with us. What an adventure! But what was amazing was the story that was told during the testimonies afterward.
Now, these two had some problems to overcome during the teaching process but they wanted to change and so they did. During Presenta's testimony, she told us about a dream she had two weeks before. In the dream, she was in class and her teacher was handing out colored cards to people. When her teacher got to her, she was told that she would need to wait two weeks to get her card. These two weeks passed in real life, and she had another dream. It was the night before the baptism. The dream was in the same situation with some key differences. Here they told her that she would get her card the next day and that it would be red. She took this to mean that she would receive the card at baptism. Red in this country means to overcome something so she felt that the baptism was her finally overcoming her problems. It was an amazing experience for me to be a part of this. It really helped me to feel better about being here and knowing what my duty is and that what I am going through is worth it.
Over these past couple of weeks I have started feeling a lot better, especially due to these experiences. I have started eating these past two weeks. I've had 3 baptisms and a fourth this week. As I've been here, I have really seen God in my life. I wouldn't still be here if it weren't for help from God and the wonderful people here. I know this has been a long email but I hope everyone enjoys it. I also hope everyone knows that I realize the importance of forgetting yourself in the work. I think sometimes we forget what is most important and we don't focus on others. I also have realized all the things back at home that I take for granted. I would challenge everyone to do two things. 1. Try to remember to think about what others are going through before becoming frustrated or angry and 2. Really think about the amazing things and miracles you have in your life. I hope you realize and see how much we take for granted and try to change that. Any way, have a good life everyone. Tia bo moa! (Good bye first)
Love Elder Hilliard
