Hello everyone!

This week wasn't quite as crazy as last week but it was still pretty interesting. On Saturday, my comp got his flight plans to leave Sunday afternoon to go back to Tonga. So on Sunday he went to all of the church meetings to say goodbye to everyone- so we were wheeling him around in the wheelchair (it was like an XL size). So we had to ride the elevator, and 2 other elders from my district and 2 more from my zone went on the elevator. Two missionaries thought it would be funny to jump a little bit- it wasn't really too funny when we got stuck - 6 missionaries, one of which was sick and sitting in a giant wheelchair. And apparently not too happy to be stuck for about 15 minutes- he actually started tearing up the carpet and punching the walls- he also hit the call button like 3 times even though we had already called them. It was pretty intense- I would not recommend it for a Sabbath day activity.

On Tuesday we had a devotional where Elder Bednar spoke and 9 other apostles sat on the stand! It was pretty cool. He talked about how we need to plant in our hearts the word of God, and the Word of God actually is Jesus Christ, which he proved using like 10 different scripture references. Just a cool experience.

MTC class

Probably the most spiritual thing that happened for me this week was when we went to teach the member at TRC and the TRC coordinator informed us that he had accidentally requested Marshallese speaking members rather than Kiribati speaking members. So we got to teach in English! And it was kind of weird to be honest- but I talked so much because I could actually answer the questions- when we started talking about the Book of Mormon, I could really feel the Spirit and it was pretty cool.

Read the Book of Mormon every day! It is the word of God, and He wants to answer your prayers!

Other than that, no ER trips and no surgeries.

-Elder Farner

Mauri!

This week has been one of the longest and strangest of my life. After my last email not much happened until Sunday when we had our devotional, when Donny Osmond spoke...To quote Elder Mann (who I have been able to talk to quite a bit which has been cool) "he talked about missionary work, the Gospel and Donny Osmond" and the order is not indicative of the amount of time he spent on each.

So I have my companion who doesn't speak much English, and I was feeling pretty selfish and asking why no one seemed to understand that I don't speak Tongan so companion study is pretty much impossible, especially because he doesn't seem to like doing it. And then we watched Elder Bednar's "character of Christ"devotional where he said pretty bluntly to stop whining and asking for pity,and then said "who cares what you want for your mission", its not about what I want,but what the Lord wants for it. So that was pretty straightforward... I'm still not fully following that counsel, I am still selfish, but we can chalk that up to being human and this being the first week in the MTC. 

and now to the strange part:

A sister in our zone who has been here for about 4 weeks has been sick the entire time with some stomach issues that the doctors can't figure out.And she is from Tonga. So you guessed it, about Monday morning, my companion's stomach started to hurt,and on Tuesday night, we were in the ER because his stomach hurt so bad- for 5 hours. We brought the other sister who has the same sickness to translate and her companion, who is actually from Kiribati, so I talked to her about Kiribati, and she knows Elder Openshaw (her name is Sister Beria). So they did a CT scan and an ultrasound and found nothing wrong, just like the sister with the same stomach problems. So we went back to the MTC, and my comp said he was too sick to go to class, so we stayed in the room until exercise time, at which point he said he wanted to go watch volleyball. So his idea of watching is playing, I learned. I then told him that if he would play volleyball he could go to class, but we haven't been to class since or volleyball because he threw up blood that night,and then again the following night. So he had a procedure to check his stomach, involving him drinking a large cleansing solution the night before (like 2 gallons)- that was fun tottry to get him to drink it- he got pretty mad at one point- luckily some elders had received some packages and they came back to put them away so they helped me.

Anyway, he is still sick, and they found nothing during the procedure which was yesterday (which is why I am emailing today).

We still made it to the temple while Elder Ma was recovering in sick bay. But all in all I think I have missed like 5 classes (15 hours) and at least one investigator lesson. 

Now Elder Ma will be going home and getting better, at which point he will be recommended to return on his mission once he is better by his stake president.  He is pretty bummed and still in pain.

I don't know what the record is for the fastest a missionary has managed to lose his companion, but I think I am in the running. He says there is a Tongan traditional medicine that will cure him, so hopefully he gets better.

That's been my week.

Tia bo!

Elder Farner  

First days in the MTC

The MTC drop off

Things are going pretty well but it has been a little difficult because my companion is from Tonga and doesn't really speak too much English, at least I think or he might just be quiet. It is a struggle to communicate, so we just keep repeating the same phrases we have been learning in Kiribati:

ko uara? (how are you)

I marurung (I am well (healthy) Ao ngkoe? (and you?)

I marurung. Karabwa (thanks)

We are a district of only 5! We are the smallest one in our branch. Our district leader is Elder Ferguson (from Alabama), his companion is Elder Rogovakalali (from Fiji, his name literally means "sounds like a drum"), and my companion is Elder Ma.  We have a solo sister, Sister Paletua, who is also from Tonga which has been a blessing because she can translate for Elder Ma. I don't have a picture with me but will have one next week.
We have our first lesson on Saturday with Biiri who doesn't speak English... Elder Ma has missed both of our language classes so far because he was late the first day and then getting immunizations. He also has been getting bloody noses because of the dry air and I think he thought he had TB or something because he was filling out a form for the triage unit. But instead, I told the nurse that he actually had bloody noses and that's why he was coughing up blood, so they gave us a humidifier instead. He is a very humble person, and so it will all be good once we both can speak Kiribati together and actually communicate. I am pretty sure I have one of five companions in the entire MTC who doesn't speak English enough to communicate very well. So I am a little worried about the lesson, especially since Elder Ma has missed the lessons about the investigator. 

Talk about a small world, I have run into so many people from my BYU YSA ward, Washington, etc. Crazy. It's kind of stressful to have p-day already because I would rather have everyone just tell me what to do, because I think I am doing it wrong. It's tough to do companion study especially.

I have some improvements to make, but I have definitely felt the Spirit here, so things are looking up.

Ti abo!

Elder Farner