This week was really good. We started off the week going to Ejit for p-day, Ejit is a smaller island in the lagoon and which you can wade from the end of the main island to it. It was fun we were getting coconuts and drinking them and also eating yu. Yu is like the inside of the coconut after it hardens it turns into like a sponge like texture. Marshallese people love but I personally think it just tastes like coconut flavored styrofoam. It only takes about 15 minutes to wade to Ejit, and it is in my proselyting area so Angilau were talking about going out there one day. It was really fun and just a good day to start off the week.
Right now Elder Angilau and I and the other elders in the Rita ward are little by little raising the sea wall at the end of the island. The member's we are raising it for showed us how last year around this time the end of the island flooded a few feet. The crazy thing is that most people don't know what the Marshall Islands is and pretty soon it might disappear. The flooding has a lot to do with global warming and Marshall Islands is slowly sinking. It is weird to actually see the effects of global warming in real life and to be personally affected by it.
Angilau and I were able to start studying with a guy in English this week. He's from Tuvalu which is half way between Tonga and Samoa. There is quite a bit of other races here there's a lot of Chinese, Filipinos and some people from Kiribati. There are some other white people but all of them either work for another church or teachers. It was nice being able to speak in English and it's cool because most of the foreigners don't really have interest in the Church. One of my investigators for this whole week we've studied will bring me his iPad and ask for me to help him with it. It's funny because he's 25 but he doesn't understand English so he doesn't know how to use it. It's good there's a few people out here with smartphones and so what I've been doing is getting them to download gospel library app. It's really cool because they like how they can read it in Marshallese. I think it's so cool how widespread and diverse the Church has become.
One of our lessons we were studying with a woman about the Book of Mormon. She's a really solid investigator she will just be waiting for us outside her house every time we come by. As I was telling her about the references she just starts going to scriptures about the restoration in 1st Nephi 15:13-18 that talk about like grafting the branches to the olive tree. It was challenging to explain things already in English but the explain them in Marshallese. Luckily I have an iPod so I will like look up the scriptures and read them in English so I can better understand them. It can be hard because a lot of people expect missionaries to like explain scriptures and other things to them even a lot of church members ask for our help to understand things.
Another guy that we are studying named Gabriel is doing really well. He used to drink a lot and use beetle nut. Beetle nut is basically this plant you chew to get high but it stains people's teeth bright red.
He's been studying with us and it's really cool to see the changes the gospel is making is his life as well as his girlfriend's and young daughter's. Angilau have seen him from like drinking at night to spending more and more time with his family. It's hard with him because he knows the church is true he's just scared to be baptized because he think he will backslide. Gabriel grew up in the church but was never baptized because his dad who was a former bishop apostatized from the Church. He is scared he will end up like his father and just screw up so it is hard to convince him he needs to be baptized. Little by little we are working on it and it is making a big impact in his life.
Angilau and I have a lot of good people we are given the opportunity to teach with. A lot of people are very religious and accepting of the gospel. This place is great and full of God fearing people who are ready to accept the restored gospel. I am having a great time. The work can be hard but that's what makes it worth it.
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