Sunday, October 1, 2017

ingainga

Well there goes September. Started it off on Tarawa and finished it here in Marakei. It is weird how essentially you just live a completely different life in such a short amount of time.

Anyway, we set a goal about 2 or 3 weeks ago to get 80 people at church and then have a picnic to celebrate. The first Sunday we had 60 people at church, the next Sunday we had 62; the following we had 66 and then this last week, according to the count by the branch presidency, we had 78 people. So close!   We also had a service project last week and about 25 people showed up which was cool too.

There are also 7 families that will potentially be going to the temple in the next couple of weeks so that is cool too.

Some information about Marakei that I have yet to share- 
Population: about 2800-3000
Villages: 7: Rawannawi, Raweai, Tekarakan, Bwainuna, Noorauea, Tekuanga and Antai

I would guess that most people here are Catholic,- then Protestant and then LDS. There are also some seventh day adventists too.

Marakei is shaped like a circle and I think it is about 18 miles around. There are a couple things Marakei is known for and being good at dancing is one of them
There is also something about some people randomly having really fair complexions sometimes, something about a recessive gene but I haven't seen it.
And the food it is known for: bwabwai which to me tastes a little like chalk and elmers glue mixed together.... haha But I will get used to it, everyone loves it here.

That's a little bit about Marakei. It is a pretty cool place, I figure I might be out here for a several more months but you never know. The Elder I replaced was only here for 6 weeks and he thought he would be here for months.

Another thing that's pretty cool is that I baptized someone, a child of record who turned 8.  The water in the font was too low so I had to do it a second time and kneel and he also knelt so I could get him under the water.

Word of the week: ingainga - Means "excited" as in we were excited for our Fast Sunday yesterday because everyone could come to church together, as we rented a car.

So that's about it. 
Miss you all, keep on keeping on,
Elder Farner

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