Gone Swimmin'

November 1, 2015

MAURI MAU-- Who am I kiddin' I still suck at Kiribati.

BUT... How is everyone!? As you can probably tell from the subject, either 2 things happened this week. Either I was a highly disobedient and went swimming (it's highly tempting), or I had my FIRST baptism <3 I'm proud to say that it was the latter :') It's crazy to think that it was Halloween this weekkkk. Mine and Elder Musser's Halloween consisted of buying 8 suckers and 2 sticks of gum <3 TRICK OR TREAT. 

As I said, this week I had the opportunity of performing my first baptism. On Saturday (Halloween) I was able to brink Tebaaia Nakebwe to the waters of baptism. It was an awesome experience. We went to his house at 4:00 (when the tide was right), and held a small baptismal service on their buia. Elder Musser and I both gave talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost. We then proceeded to walk across the street to the ocean where I performed the Baptism. What a great feeling <3 Definitely one of those things you don't feel yourself gettin' used to. Also they might need to add it to the Word of Wisdom because it might have a little bit of an addictive nature :') 

As for the rest of this week, it was solid. We were able to see the 2 elders headed to Tab South off on Wednesday. We found out that there is a new district in the mission called the "Tabiteuea District" with Elder Musser serving as DL. This basically means that for 4 or 5 days a month we will fly down to Tab South and go on splits and training's with the Elder's down there. I'm excited about that.

Unfortunately, this week was our lowest lesson total since being here. We still hit 20 lessons but it was a tough week. It consisted of a lot of biking in the HOT sun (don't ask about the chaffing lolz) and some fallen appointments and even a couple lost investigators. However, the Lord has a way of providing new investigators when new investigators are needed. We have about 5 people that we have found or received this past week that we hope to start lessoning with this week. We are super excited <3

Also, with Christmas only a few months away and the shipping here a little sketchy I'm going to go ahead and give my Christmas List :')

-Mini Fridge

-Pocket A/C

-Water bottle that can make any drink cold <3

But for reals, after having a rainy few weeks it has been BLAZING hot. It's a constant battle of leaving behind WANTS for things I actually NEED. I have a tan line on my fingers from where they curl to hold the bike handles haha. We had a service project this week that consisted of digging holes to place tree trunks in for a man named Timoteo's. I wanted to die. I just felt TRAPPED by the heat. It's 24/7, 365, for the next 2 years. There are so many times where I'm like HOW but then I start to think... I'm alive-- I'm hot, but I'm not going die. There's no cold water, but there's water.

All in all, it was a solid week :') A baptism and some new people to teach. Another week in the books that I'll never get back. 1 day at a time. 

I hope everyone has a great week! As I improve in the language and continue to adjust to the culture and climate, i feel myself catching glimpses of falling in love with this place. This is the best thing I could ever be doin' and I'm grateful for the all the support! I hope everyone has a great week <3

-Elder Parrish