Home in less than a month

(from a texting conversation with Elder Farner)

Not a great connection today. It is not very sunny and the island is still short on gas so the solar powered cell tower and the backup generators are useless.  I was finally able to get a haircut however so that is a positive.

I have a new companion, Elder C, from Hawaii.  He is a solid missionary and he's getting used to our area which is bigger now that the other set of missionaries were transferred.  He also brought with him the package you sent. Thanks!

We do a lot of biking.  In one week I figured we did about 160 miles.  Yesterday we talked to a guy named R.  I know his son from one of my previous areas which was cool.  He is our main focus now.

Frankenstein

Hey Everyone,

Sorry it’s been a while... just getting distracted talking with my family and haven’t sent out a general email.

So last week was a lesson about the importance of maintaining.  Both our bikes lost their ball bearings, but luckily our Mission president came out and brought the parts with him.  We were ready to go!...and then we tried to unscrew the pedal to get to the bearings to replace them and due to the rust we continued to try...for the rest of the day.  The next morning we finally fixed one but the other wouldn’t unscrew, so we had to use another old bike frame and Frankenstein it back together.

Spiritual lesson:  Don’t let your testimonies rust over.  Periodically check them and you will save yourself a lot of grief, frustration and worry.

Doctrine and Covenants Section 10 verse 5:

“Pray always, that you will come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan, that do uphold his work.”

Elder Farner

Abaiang

Elder Farner was transferred to Abaiang  (Abaiang means "the land to the north"); this is the only outer island that has Sister missionaries on it and there are a total of 4 missionaries serving there. The Elders serve in the tips of the island and the Sisters serve in the middle of the island.

His new companion is Elder Wright from Spanish Fork, Utah and he has been out on his mission since January 2018.  They bike about 20 miles a day and live at the hotel.  He has a thin mattress to sleep on but doesn't use it as he says it is like lying on an oven, so he just sleeps on a mat.

In this new area Elder Farner communicates via text on a phone borrowed from a member.  He is doing well and heads home on June 13th, 2019.

3.3.19

Hey Everyone,

So apparently I am being transferred this week, not sure yet where to, but I will find out on Wednesday.  Pretty surprising as this has been the fastest area I have been in since my first area  Going on the number 8...  It will be an interesting change, especially this late in my mission.

We had an investigator come to church!!!!! He walked a good distance to get there too!  We will follow up with him on Tuesday but it was cool that he came!

As of Friday this coming week, my intake (group) will be the oldest intake in the mission, which is weird, time continues to move along.

Hope you all are doing well!
Love,
Elder Farner

Te Kawai aw Boou

So I am working in Te Kawai ae Boou ("The road which is new"= new road). It is near the airport but is actually a really trashy road, lots of potholes and it is just a dirt road. We just went to random houses asking if people wanted lessons... We have like 14 potential investigators which is awesome- hoping they pan out this week

Still on Tarawa, still in the East Zone (every time I have been transferred to Tarawa I have worked in the East zone) My companion is Elder Gutierrez, he has been out for 5 months, from Utah, nice, patient guy- never complains.

Have a great week!
Elder Farner

I tangiringkami ao ti a manga kaitibo rimwi!

SOOOO..... Another bout of chicken pox has struck the house of Eita wherein I reside and so my companion has it and he cannot leave until he heals so that he does not infect everyone.... Which means if I want to go out to work I have to split with the other missionaries in my house.... All is good though, the work is tough still but I am used to it by now... haha I bet that I will be eating some humble pie after making that declaration.

I tangiringkami ao ti a manga kaitibo rimwi!

The flood actually wasn't as bad as I anticipated, everyone returned to normal like the next day...But some of the outer islands were hit pretty hard, and that is why they sent out the supplies. I had dinner with the guy that organized most of the efforts to obtain the supplies and he bore testimony of it on the following Sunday..

That's all from here this week. Transfers should be known by next Monday as to whether I will be staying or going so we will see.

Tiabo

tekeraoi ngkami

Crazy week this last week. On Wednesday we felt some of the effects of the cyclone that is near Fiji. It rained for like 14 hours straight, and most of the time it rained HARD. I went with an elder from my house in the afternoon to check up on some people in the pouring rain and some of the people’s houses were flooded like knee deep. But instead of crying and complaining about how hard life can be and how terrible it was.... We walked up to their house and a lady was sitting on an inner tube inside her house just relaxing and another lady was using the flood water to clean the windows! These people are the best!!!!!!

Other than that I am working on a map for our area- it is pretty fun. 

Time is flying by. Sorry for not emailing last week, the email places were full. 

We had 2 investigators come to a baptism to watch with us, so that was cool.

A theme of sacrifice has come up in this last week:

1. Liahona article about Mary and how here life completely changed- it wasn't her will but she did it anyway
2. Jeffrey R. Holland talk about "Remember Lot's wife"
3. In Church we talked about the Rich Young Ruler

The Lord requires a lot of us IF we want to be exalted. If we want to just kick back and do our own thing then we can, and we won't receive the training and experience necessary to qualify for exaltation.
Helaman 10- Nephi gets rejected so much but he grows a lot closer to God and receives many blessings.

tekeraoi ngkami!

Elder Farner

Photos from our call on Christmas