WEEK 53 SKYPE worked!!!!!!! pictures and detail of missionary life in Kiribati Islands

This week was a very successful week!

I put together a blitz (a tracting combination of all six Elders on the island to tract in my southern area).
I hoped to try and find us more people/investigators so we could build the wimpy teaching pool. We went crazy all day. House to house to house finding people. We were very successful and all of us elders in total got 16 new investigators!! that putting our teaching pool at 29 investigators! When I first got here our teaching pool was 8. Super happy that the blitz was so successful and now we will be very busy teaching people that want to hear from us, rather than tracting all day.

Service this week: we cleaned and put in a well. When you clean out a well you have a few buckets and literally pull all the water out before it flows in. It's way tiring but fun. When it is high tide it's way harder because the water flows in way faster.

This Sunday literally like nobody was at church. Me and my companion Elder Hanks go and 30 minutes after the time it's suppose to start, nobody was there. Then some people came so we had church for about an hour as usual. There was about 6 people at church that day. It's because there was so many cultural parties going on and also a funeral. So that kinda stunk....!

Story: me and my companion were at this store (tiny little room made out of sticks) and we were talking about this canned ham. About how it's so good but way more expensive. We asked this man if he's had it and he said no all he ate was canned fish because it's cheep. So I was thinking that everyone deserves a treat every now and then. So, me and my companion bought a canned ham and said to the man, " it's yours man!" Then he gave me that look and sincerely thanked us. I've seen that look before. It was the Same look when I bought that guy some shoes. And that same look when I bought that marriage when I was on Tarawa. I love that look that they give you after giving kindness. It's the look on their faces as if a miracle just happened . I love it! I love blessing people with the money that we get. It's so awesome.

Anyways, way flipping successful week. Super blessed!

Next week we are taking a boat to this island that's really close. You can see it perfectly from here.

Stay fit

Love, Elder Big Man/1 year/ Bowen

Sunday, July 29 SKYPE summary!!!

Connection was very poor loosing him many times over a few hours just waiting. He was all ready to Skype

and lost WiFi before evening beginning which led to calling someone to fix taking a few hours

and not knowing if Skype would even occur. He was so disappointed but little miracles, it

finally worked off and on as we patiently waiting throughout the night. (19 hours ahead).

This island is shapped like a giant 'C' and I took Elder Walker spot serving the southern end with my companion Elder Hanks. He is cool! I alsoLove being here with my brother, Elder Guiles who was in my original intake, he is so cool!

The kids all run around naked

Everyday I work out but it is hard as I don't eat much...we have a nice show of his muscles!

(so cool to hear Carson speak a full on conversation in the native Kiribati language)'A-Yong' means YES

On the island they listen to both Kiribati music and American music.

The showers consist of a pipe things that pumps the water to a container. OR we bath in the ocean and toliets

are rare of the Golden Doodie occurs on the beach!

Emailing is hard as we use (showed us like a very small phone) this tiny phone to type each email. Really

stinks as it takes so long with my big fingers.

Our house is a hut where we leave and sleep still on the floor with a mat. Sometimes I use clothes as my pillow

We were robbed of all our food the other day. We came home and our food was all gone.

We eat bananas as our only fruit....I MISS FRUIT!!! I MISS FOOD!!! Tiny bananas eat in two bites.

One year mark we burned a shirt

FROGS...lots of them here. There are two islands that have tons of frogs and Carson is on one of them.

No eating the frogs! We eat JELLYFISH by scraping the cooked insides and spreading them on

crackers. Gross but it is food and protein.

This is PARADISE here but really HOT!!! Stop in the sun for one minute only and you start to sweet.

Soooooo pretty. He just wanted to show us on Skype so many times

wishing we could see it but could not walk with computer as really bad connection.

Lots of people come from Australia here and they are very rude.

Rain storms occur often here as this is the season. They are huge and scary sometimes. A storm comes

then stops with super winds then clouds come back and storms all over again each day!

I have no shoes as they broke but I dont need them and go barefoot like all of the other people here. When

I return to the main island in a couple week for conference I will get the spare in my luggage.

Cool wearing no shoes....really feel like an island boy!!!! It will be fun to return to conference

at main island shoe-less!!!! haha There is just sand everywhere here to walk on and bike on.

Rich people here have shoes and the poor do not.

We wear bay islands skirts sometime here.

There is a one branch here on the island so we travel alot on Sundays. On first Sunday fast Sunday we hire

a little bus like car to go around and pick up most members.

Favorite Food: turtle!!!! and coconut trees are everywhere!!!! We are not allowed to climb them unless it is

considered an emergency. No snakes here but there are eels.

We store our food in buckets so the rats don't get into it. They are everywhere and in the houses so

protecting our goods is way important!!!!

Yes there are school here...Form 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 is how they do it which is different levels.

We fish all the time and use the butts of hermit crabs.....(HILARIOUS as Carson gave us the best

demonstration of this...we laughed so hard...but it is survival to him! He was so funny!)

Missionaries: about 30 on the Marshall Islands. about 100 on the Kiribati Islands.

Biking: it takes 3 hours and 43 minutes to bike from one end of island to the other. We bike 15-16 miles daily.

Money: $270. allowance (Australian) or $200 allowance American money each month.It is plenty and

have not spend any money from my personal account. Not much to buy!

The store here is made of sticks and is one small room where peanut butter, gross crackers we eat every

morning for breakfast with no taste, and can fish like sardines are sold.

(Of course his brothers showed him on Skype chocolate, fruit, cheese, FOODDDDD which

left him screaming for more then didn't want to see, then wanted to see more. So funny!

"No chocolate, no ice-cream, no brownies, no candy" he said....NOOOONNNNE

It is a luxury to each chicken and chicken on rice is so good. Only salt seasoning here.

In the south of island where Carson is there are no crackers in the stores so he has to

bike to buy them. There is pumpkin and zucchini here to eat too but not very often.

Mosquitoes everywhere and we sleep in nets every night. There is a Dengue fever in the islands all the time.

We try and smoke the mosquitoes to get relief sometimes.

Pigs are everywhere!!! little one and some as big as me. That is the food used for parties. We have killed

the pigs used for the partied....the sounds they make are crazy loud.

Nikanou....my favorite island!!! it is the prize for the beauty and smallest of islands being least developed.

Everyone seems to know everyone who has been there for a long time on the different

islands.

Some people work here and some do not and just live off the land. They have little gardens but it doesn't

grow real well since mostly sand. The big job here is a fishing salesman where they

leave for one year commitment and catch fish in China or Japan to get paid then return to their

families.

To get married here, legally to then get baptized, the people tell the zone leaders and it is a 3 week process

to get the legal paperwork. Then it gets approved and paperwork gets sent to bishop.

Then bishop marries them. Then it is legal and can further be baptized. It take money

to do this. Many people here are not married legally but live together in families.

When someone dies, everyone on island goes. When someone has a party, everyone goes!

Church house is a big hut. They use crackers for the sacrament.

Carson is a new uncle and was shown baby Weston and all he could keep saying and looking was

"he's sooooo white - that's cool he is so white. White baby Weston" laughing

BEST SKYPE here!!!! We could get a much better glimpse of his world he is experiencing and the good

people and members on the islands. Carson has certainly become an island boy and

completely loves his mission and this humbling experience as he shares his light of

Christ and the message of hope and truth. One year down and ONE YEAR TO GO!!!!!!

The ISLAND BOY MISSIONARY

Device used to email every week (tiny!)

Playing with his new nephew, Weston!! The WHITE baby!

Common houses

Demonstrating how they kill the fish before cooking. Description words were used such as oozzzing, dripping blood, 'crack', wiggly, you get the idea!!!!