Ebon Week 5-March 16, 2015

I just finished hand washing my clothes and hanging them out to dry. It makes me grateful of so many simple little things. Sometimes it's weird to think about how many things are in America. Hot water, A/C, refrigerators, beds, carpet, cars, 2-story homes, the availability of food-all seems so distant.

This week may have been one of my hardest yet. I almost broke down and lost my mind. One of the couples, "L" and "R", in the branch pretty much hate me. First, I'll start from the beginning of how the problem started. There is a problem out here in Ebon where everyone comes to us and asks for things and just expects us to give it to them. This includes cans of tuna, our bicycles, and to some extent money. It created almost a welfare system for the members, with R and L being the worst about it. Over some time people got angry with me and accused me of being stingy and not helping. Some were saying how the Elders should be helping and how they are going to stop going to church. It is just a difficult and frustrating situation. I feel like I always look for opportunities to help and serve these people. However, because of previous Elders and the fact that I won't just given them things has made these people dislike me. It's good though now we don't have people coming to our door all the time asking for things. It's been hard and I hope the situation will move on.

About some of the people I talked about last week, the booboo (grandma) who said the Book of Mormon is true. This week she's like-Oh, that's nice but it's good there is a God and all churches are good and true. Also, old people will just go off about the Bible. If we study with an old person the lesson will go on for an hour or two. Elder W has read the Bible multiple times and thinks he knows it so it kind of eggs them on. We do have quite a few investigators progressing which is really good. We had 5 investigators at church! It's one of the coolest experiences to see the point where investigators can feel the power of the Holy Ghost and know that these things are true. Work is really starting to pick up and progress in Ebon.

Other things this week...people have been hooking us up with food. One of the members, Judy, made donuts for us. One of the best things is sweet breadfruit. I may be a bit delusional but it tasted almost like apple pie. Ami Tonals are way good as well, it's coconut soup and shredded coconut heated up and made into these sweet balls that are so good warm. Thinking about food is a problem-there is enough to eat but just thinking about American food is just ahhh...I get so hungry.

Well, love you all. Hope everything is well.

Elder Weenig