Maiana 28 Dec 2015 Snail Mail letter arrived 29 January 2016

Monday, December 28, 2015

Watsup?

     not much

          yeah me either

               cool

                    yeah

                         soo...?

                               IDK?

                                    We're about to throw down at this new year's party we're having at the                                                   church/now at the local village manieba (still haven't figured out how to

                                    describe what that is in English

    

Way stoked I got to talk to all of you on Christmas, way fun. It all started cause we were trying to help Elder Aru call his family and so I decided to try and boom. I hear mom trying to figure out who was calling speaking some random language. Haha "Mauri! this is elder Pettingill!" Classic :)

Just listened to Jefffrey R. Holland's 2008 general conference talk "Safety for the Soul" about the importance/truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Loved the part about how Joseph Smith and Hyrum would not read from and "take solace from" a book that they had fictated hours before their death if it wasn't true. Elder Holland's a real great teacher!

Uhm not sure where my comp went, one sec...Haha he was just helping bring some food into the manieba...islanders, right? You'll all probably see some stuff like that in me when I get home. ; ) Well we will see, it's hard to tell if I'll switch back or not. Not obedience wise but things like being laid back and sharing everything and stuff. 

Oh and I've finally conquered mosquitoes and speaking in front of large groups of people (well at least in Kiribati) is easier. I really enjoy being "marurung" or active/productive. Love reading the bible. 

We're about to start. Love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Tekeraoi nte ririki ae bou!

ao nte kiritimati aei

Love, Elder Pettingill

Tarawa another quick email before leaving

For the package, maybe like 1-2 little bit smaller shirts...(hate to admit it but I'm smaller :/) and razors for shaving and I just filled out a form for my flight itenary Sacramento airport is what I said and should be coming to you and Dad  may 12th is our departure date? let me know when yall get the itenery Gosh darn   oh and a another flashdrive maybe would be nice

Love you thanks for being so awesome!  

Wednesday flight was busy so we're leaving on Monday FYI

Missed flight! Tarawa on the way to Nonouti

Turns out Nonouti might have good internet (we'll see how long that
lasts if at all?)

oh yeah and I kinda missed my flight today whoops so we'll see wednesday

Elder Vaai will replace me once I go and replace him on Nonouti :)

 I'm realizing that as all of my english encounters with
the missionaries have left some kind of awkward pause where no one
really knew what I was trying to say...and I don't know.. and I'm
still in Kiribati haha at least I'm going to have an American
companion now in Nonouti so that should get my english back up to par
I hope

Also Elder Young (an elder from Australia that served in my district
soo long ago in Bikenibeu) and I saw each other again after a full
year. Had some Deja Vu and some fun time Reminiscing and then I
realized He's one of the only elders I know on Tarawa along with a
couple others that I've seen a time or two here and there haha
#onlyinthismission

Love you talk to you all next week hopefully.

Email from Tarawa: off to Nonouti

I received this email at 12:45 am, when I woke up to turn off Pandora. 

Hey Mom.

I'm back :)

for now. I'll be headed back out to a different island, Nonouti tomorrow so...?  

Haha love you

I quickly emailed back and was able to catch him before he got off. Here were my questions and his answers: 

Who will your new companion be? Elder Larsen. 

Any email? Sounds like there isn't email but we'll see. 

Was it hard to leave? It was hard but different than leaving Beru and Christmas that's for sure.  Haha we held a combined church before we left cause otherwise it wouldn't have gotten done and almost missed our flight cause our car ran out of gas and then the person that went to buy more gas didn't bring any money so we ended up saying a prayer and hitching a ride with a random dude who turned out to be a way long LA (less active) member haha.  I'll try to get on tomorrow morning before going and talk then. 
  
Here is what I found out about Nonouti from an Elder who served there previously:

Nonouti! 2nd biggest outer island in Kiribati, with a roughly 2 hour bike ride from the airfield in the center to the farthest village. Pronounced No Nose, with a hard s as in ice at the end (big joke before I came here was that people felt sorry for people from Nonouti, because they didn't have noses. Kiribati people love an English pun.) Reopened for missionary work in 2014 after 20 years. House has no running water, no electricity, no bathroom, but there is a kerosene stove. They get fed all the time by everyone, members and non-members. There are little stores all over the island. They usually ride 40 miles per day to get all over the island for teaching. Lots of rain which makes bike riding hard. 

His companion, Elder Larsen, entered the MTC in September and arrived in the country at the end of October.

Maiana 14 Dec 2015 Snail Mail!!! arrived 12 Jan 2016

Hey Guys. Coming up on 3 months out here on Maiana. Time has seriously gone by so quickly out here. Quick apology that no letter came for last week. We were way busy past Monday and could never find time to make up for it until now. Sorry. :)

But seriously, my brain is so full right now. Let's just say there's a lot on my mind. Our Christmas Party is next week (Monday & Tuesday) so a lot of figuring out and reminding for that (mostly reminding :) ). Then you have typical member problems to figure out, missionaries we're trying to send on missions, other minor problems, oh and all of the typical missionary workload on top of it. And funny thing is, I'm not complaining. I like giving my all to help our people here. It's a nice spirit. Keeps my prayers real too. ;)

Elder Aru and I are getting along great. He's getting more used to/adapting to living on an outer island and things are going smoothly. Dibs on Jamba Juice when I get home BTW.

Recently I've taken to the "kabuti maan" or the cultural way of asking for someone to wife/husband and doing it for someone else. Don't worry, most of the ones that I've found have been for other people. ; ) Just kidding. No one has to worry about me taking home a Kiribati woman or any kind for that matter, but I have found/kabae'd (set an engagement) for quite a few wives for Adam and a couple husbands for Beth. You're welcome! Also a sister for Anna and nothing for Jeffrey (sorry bro, wrong age group.) Again apologies if my letters don't make sense. Too much Kiribati nowadays!

Spiritual Experience: Assigned one of our recent converts, Kamaraia, who is 9 years old, to speak in one of the Sacrament Meetings, giving him two weeks to prepare. Well apparently he went home that day and read ABM (Book of Mormon) until he found a verse in Alma 9:18 and then wrote his talk. He applied it pretty impressively with some help from his Dad. By the time his time came around he gave an excellent talk on changing our lives from bad to good and had a good amount memorized. We were all impressed (about 15 of us) and it was pretty cool. Also, we had the chance to interview a different RC (recent convert) to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. Hard work but tons of blessings right? I'm sure you all will attest to that!

I miss you all and can't wait to hear/talk with you all again.

Love you guys!

Elder Pettingill

Maiana 22 Nov 2015 handwritten letter arrived Dec 14

Peace, chill, swag, Dawg

That's pretty much our life our here nowadays. Haha not. But seriously though how y'all doing nowadays? Sitting here with one of my Maiana sisters Nei (respectful way of addressing girls) Teitiranga (Tayee-gee-rah-ngah) who is same age as Beth. Weird making comparisons like that when the Beth I remember is what like eleven...

So what's life like in America nowadays For us here on  Mwaiana we are stoked for our baptism this Saturday with some of our favorite people including Teitiranga so that's exciting (This paragraph was written in different handwriting.)

P.S. She's the one that wrote that part for me. Writes better than I do huh?

Also this past week I learned/gained the finishing touches on my building Kiribati houses. Including building walls out of coconut branches and make rope out of decayed coconut husks which is called "Taokora". 1001 uses of coconut trees right? People can survive on just that tree and its fruit. Or in other words WE survive on just that tree and its fruit. :) I'll have to bring one home and show you all how it's done.

Yeah so other fun news. We're starting/started a temple class for the members here to get a few families ready to head out and the eventual goal is obviously all of the families here. We have one sweet RM named Johnny and his wife Rereiti (recent convert of Elders Klatt and Loe) who I think will be farshore ready to head out in a few months. Different RM is teaching the class for us, named Tebwi (from Beru, taught his dad while I was there) who's going to do a great job teaching the class.

School's different here and summer break is starting now so all of the kids who go to school on Tarawa aka Moroni HS are coming back for break. So that's fun. Also Christmas package showed up this past week. Geesh Mom. That thing is huge! But way thanks. Stoked to give all the toys to kids at our Christmas party! It's going to be rough not to open the presents and stuff before Christmas. Big thanks for all the gifts for my comp since he likely won't get anything from his family for Christmas but you all gave us more than enough for both of us.

Sorry. Email hasn't been working so I guess letters will have to do for now!

I love you guys tons of buckets full

Elder Pettingill

These pictures were posted by a member last week on Facebook. I believe they are from when Daniel was in Tarawa before he transferred to Maiana. The older man is President Weir, the mission president.

This pictures does not include Elder Pettingill but look at that amazing view!

Maiana 16 Nov 2015 handwritten letter arrived Dec 14

Hey Guys

Fun Fact: the humidity here seals shut any envelopes that don't have a peel off for their sticky part. So I have different ones I found on Christmas.

Wasup? Yeah much not here either, just got back from checking the internet...Not working again. Hey but the fact that even has been working before was more than anyone expected. So I'm chill with it. I like writing letters anyways. I always feel very relaxed (optimistic) afterwards whereas emailing just drains me. Not used to handling electronics anymore. : )

So this morning we ate home cooked chicken. We biked through the pouring rain to a northern village to pick the chicken up. We were soaked. It's been raining pretty nonstop lately. Haha kinda lost my train of thought just met this guy next to our house our age who's way chill. He's been kinda friends with all the elders here on my Maiana since they came almost 2 years ago. Also these way nice members (one is our investigator) came and washed our clothes for us. We got a volleyball sent out to us. So stoked to use that on P-days nowadays.

Spiritual experience: One problem I have seen time to time is I get a prompting/random verse come to my mind to share with investigators but I won't know where to find it/it would take too long. One thing I've really been working on is recording/putting it in easy to find place every time I find a lesson that would be helpful. Well, this past week I asked an investigator what he thought it meant to be saved, following a prompting. The answer to my own question came in a verse I'd read a week or two ago. Alma 11:37 I thought it was cool and it really clicked with our investigator. His name is Teinatoa (Te enan toe-ah ). I think especially since he was the first one to church on Sunday with his little daughter, even though it was his first time coming. Way sweet. We are working long hard days out here trying to do our very best obediently and leading this unit/branch. Nice to see fruits of your labors/tender-mercies every now and then.

Lesson we got in an email from Pres Weir a couple of weeks ago. Talk of Pres Hinckley's to missionaries and how we "should get on our knees and plead with the Lord" every morning in prayer for specific blessings. That includes weaknesses. We can pray for specific weaknesses to be strengths.

Love you ALL

Elder Pettingill

Tatangiringkami