March 5, 2017

March 5, 2017

Dear Family:

Thanks for the emails.  Last week was a good week!  I would love to send you some photos of Fanning, but the internet here is way slow and I think that I would be wasting time trying to send any. I guess that you guys will get to see them soon enough since I’m down to four months left!  It's crazy how time flies.

Nothing too mind blowing happened this last week.  You asked about my area.  Fanning is a big island, but a lot of Fanning is unpopulated and so our area isn't too huge! Maiana and Tab where I previously served were definitely a lot bigger in area than Fanning, but we still bike an average of about two hours a day.

Last week, we did have two baptisms, which was nice (my first baptisms on Fanning) and we should be having some in the next few weeks, which will be great. The two baptisms we had were of two kids whose parents were both members so it was cool to see their father perform the baptisms. He was the first missionary in Kiribati and a former student at the Liahona High School.

We had 16 investigators at church, including a couple of awesome families, but it's difficult because most couples in Kiribati don’t get married and these couples won’t be able to be baptized until they are married.  Even when the couples are happy to get married, the process for getting that done here is not an easy one. And it is a bigger problem when the person who doesn't want to get baptized out of the couple refuses to get married to the person who wants to be baptized.  I guess that we will just keep working and see what we can do.  Missionaries who will be coming after us will be able to see some of the fruits of our work here on Fanning once these marriages are performed.  I guess that's what happens when you spend most of your time teaching adults and families.

My new companion Elder Rowsell is a great guy and we get along with no problems.  He's way laid back and we have been working hard and having a good time together. 

I don’t have much time today because we are going to go fishing.  We haven’t been able to go because there hasn’t been any gas on the island until some just came on a ship.  I'm pretty excited! 

It sounds like all is going well at home! I love you and I hope that you have a good week!

Elder Parrish