God Answers Prayers

Hey,

   So yeah I still have not received any packages. We will see what ends up happening though.  Hopefully I get them sometime. 

 

 I am glad that Thomas could come home for a bit so Sarah can have somebody to chill with.  Sounds like the Peak Christmas party went well.  I won’t miss the one in 2017.  I definitely want to go. 

  

Congratulations Lindsay on your mission call!!  I guessed right that you were going to Germany, Elder Johnson is my witness.  You will be a legit missionary.  I am so happy for you!!

Here are a few experiences from London this week. 

We were supposed to have a baptism for this next Saturday but she slept in and didn't come to church. The 2nd of January though we should be having a 3 person baptism.

Well, another lady passed away. That's not the experience but we visited there for a bit. A random old person there wanted the Catholics to be in charge so we didn't do much we just visited for a minute. It is good when we visit and bring comfort though. 

The experience that I have for today is about testimonies. We gave this girl (her name is Kabwebwea)  the practice interview for baptism she failed.  She said she didn't yet have her testimony of our Prophet Thomas S. Monson. We explained that we really just put our faith in God and then we pray about it. So she did as we asked, and when we had our next lesson with her she said she believed in him. All we have to do is pretty much just pray about our question asking in faith and we will receive the answer.  God answers prayers.

 Sorry don't have much more time but that was just something cool I wanted to share.

Remember Christ in this Christmas Season. 

Keep doing good things

Love,

Elder Dinsdale

I dreaming of a hot Christmas!!

Hello,

   Well I guess it sounds like Christmas is all around home.  In London they don’t have many Christmas traditions that I know of.  Everybody has like parties and stuff in their religions but the problems with most is that they just take a lot of time out of work and they end late and such. No lights on trees or anything like that. JMB (the only store in London) has some lights up and at a rich guys house in London they have a tiny little Christmas tree with some lights and such so that is pretty chill I would say. It doesn't feel like Christmas when it is hot and humid with coconut trees everywhere and the ocean all around you. But I suppose it is still Christmas.  Elder Johnson and I bought a little string of Christmas lights and set them up in our house so just thought I would let you know that.

Here is a little more information about my home here.  We currently have a rat in our house or something living here with us. We are trying to get it, but no luck yet. A lot more rats in Tabueron (London) then when I was in Banana one kept trying to eat our pancake mix. Let’s say it was very successful. We don't have a fridge right now. Well, we do. But our freezer is a fridge and our fridge doesn't have any temperature difference. So the freezer is our fridge and the fridge is a storage place at the moment. I do not sleep with a mosquito net but we light little mosquito things on fire that keep them away pretty good.

I am really enjoying London it is going good.  We have been getting new investigators and we had 3 new people come to church. So that is more than London has had in a very long time I am pretty sure. A lot of people (investigators and less actives) have problems with the Word of Wisdom, but we are working on it.

The Branch is pretty good here. It is the smallest branch out of the 4 on Kiritimas Island even though I think it has the biggest population. In Kiribati it is more like the Branch Presidencies go home teaching once a month to a couple less actives. I am hoping they will figure it out though and assign people to home teach and I think that will really help. It is just hard with the few numbers of people in church.  But they are working on it. 

 

Honestly the work is getting better here and the more we work and the harder we work things are paying off. I can see change happening in people life’s so things are going good. Just little by little.

I will tell you about one guy who just came from Tarawa.  He has some Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity issues. He was taught just a little bit by Elders in Tarawa and then he came here. We have been teaching him and we felt like he was ready.  So we challenged him to prepare himself for baptism and I think he is really going to change and prepare himself. He seems like a legit guy.  I will keep you updated on him.

People here are very good to us missionaries and this week we had some stew that was good with some rice.  I have not eaten really anything weird since I have been in London.  It is wealthier than the rest of Kiribati. (Not wealthy though at all, but for Kiribati they are).

You said that there have been articles on the climate changes on Kiribati. Haha we heard a little program on a radio in some person’s house about how it isn't fair for the children that live in Kiribati to experience climate change. I don't honestly think anybody in Kiribati could care less about climate change. A lot of families have laptops but they pretty much only use them to watch movies at night. Kiribati people generally watch movies, play volleyball or soccer, and drink. Those are pretty much peoples hobbies here. Also sleep.  People sleep a ton here. Not many people listen to the radio though I don't think. People do listen to a lot of music on these little music player things they have though. 

One more experience I forgot to share that was pretty cool was a funeral a few days ago. Elder Johnson and I went to this house to teach a lesson and the house next door called us over and thought we were going to visit them. It turned out somebody had died. We went back to the house later and we covered up the man with a cloth and placed him in the back of the truck.  We then went with them to the grave yard.  It was interesting.  I found out that the man that died I actually knew a little.  I sat next to him on the boat ride home from Tabueron. It was sad that he died but I suppose it is ok, he was very sick and couldn't move much at all.  I think he was ready to die.  After we got to the grave yard I helped carry him to the grave and we placed him in it. We then all just sang a bunch of church songs while they covered the grave. It might sound different but it was a great experience.

My mom said that many of you have given me money for Christmas.  I want to thank you my new 7^th ward members and grandma and grandpa.  By the way grandma, thank you for the notes you put in my socks.  I do still wear socks when I can! And good job Sarah on your Christmas concert, and for making the play!!

I have not gotten any packages yet. Don't know if I ever will, but we will see. The Tarawa packages that Holly and Karla sent I should get when I move to another area or when someone comes here which will be good.  As far as letters, they should be brought to me probably early January. I have still only just gotten 1 letter since I got to the field. We will see though I hope more will come in January.

Well, things are going really good here. Been healthy and I have been having a good time with the language and the work.  I hope everything is going good at home!

Elder Dinsdale

Note from Jen:  Please pray that Scott will get his packages which include a small Christmas tree with lights and of course salsa, instant potatoes and gravy!!

Not sure if this would be considered a ice bucket challenge or not!!

Cold Drinks!

Heyo,

   That is great you got the Christmas lights up!  Did you put up that star on the cement?  That is probably my favorite to see when I would come home at nights and such.

So my new area London is cool, a lot more people and the houses are closer together and such. London is probably the richest area that I have seen in all of Kiribati I would have to say. Not at all rich compared to America, but for Kiribati it is pretty good. The roads are always flooded with the rain so that doesn't agree with my socks when I ride through 1 to 2 feet of deep water on my bike. We live in what is known as the Hot House but it isn’t too bad.  I did some serious cleaning to this new house in London when I got here and it is pretty good now. It is less biking here than in Banana so I am going to have to start working out more so I can stay in shape There are some good members here and some good investigators, but we have the smallest branch in Kiritimati.  My goal is to change that.   

My new companion Elder Johnson is good.  We are getting a lot of work done.  We have some good investigators that we are working with.  I don’t know all of them well yet but that will come.  I have noticed that a lot of them don’t want to come to church.  The biggest issue here I would probably have to say is the Word of Wisdom. A lot of bars for alcohol and a drink called nankona or whatever it is. That is one of the things against the WOW here and it isn't good.  Our place for church is in a little building that is pretty decent, but super small. We definitely need ourselves a bigger building. 

We have had some opposition in London. People from the Catholic Church haven't been too happy with us and from the Seventh Day Adventist church.  They keep trying to bible bash with us so we just always leave or listen and then leave. We are working hard and will get more going here though it just might take a while.  We taught a decent amount last week but this week should be even better.  We have 1 new investigator with 9 referrals so that is good.  

The language is coming along good. I can get through most things now speaking Kiribati, my only issue on occasion is that I have trouble understanding what people are saying. But I am getting better every day so things are good.  We don’t have any baptisms scheduled in the next week, but hopefully 2 or 3 investigators will be ready soon.  One of the greatest things about London is that some people have cold drinks so that is chill!!  Yes it is still HOT here.

You asked if people here travel to other places (Fiji).  So, almost everybody here stays where they are and they don’t leave the Island unless they are going to school or to the Temple but that is not very often.

You asked if we ate Thanksgiving dinner with an American member.  No, he is a great man but there are no Americans here.  Well, I guess there are a few of us.

So as far as my vitamins go I brought some of them to Christmas but now a bunch look funny so I don't take too many. But I eat pretty well here... I will start taking them again.

I still haven’t received any packages.  You said that one was supposed to be delivered on November 5^th but I have not got it yet.  Please send me the tracking number and I will ask around.

I will end with my Testimony.   It will be in Kiribati though because that is how I always bear it.  Sorry you can’t understand it. 

I ataia bwa ngkana ti kataia ni katoa bong n rairinanora Te Atua na anganira kabwaran ara bure rinanon Ana mwakuri ni kamaiu Iesu Kristo. I ataia bwa ngkana ti karoia te bwai te burabeti e a tia n tuangira bwa ti na karekea te kakabwaia aika mwaiti.

I know Jesus is our Savior.

Love

Elder Dinsdale

Off to London

Hello,                                                                                                      

Hey I am doing good. I sent you an email when I got back from Tabueron so I am not sure why you didn't get it. But I am back safe.

I will explain some about Tabueron. So it was a 24 hour boat ride both ways.  It is a flat boat and everybody sits on a platform made up of grass mats in the middle of the boat. When we got to Fanning (Fanning Island is the same thing as Tabueron) it was just like the movie The Other Side of Heaven where nobody knew we were coming. We just kind of chilled and waited there to get all of our stuff. Eventually somebody from the church saw us and got our branch president. We got settled in to our stick hut home and then pretty much went to work. Our main thing we did was we tried to find people prepared for baptism. Since people rarely go there we just tried to see who the people before us had taught. We baptized two teenage guys while we were there so that was good. Also while I was gone two other guys in Banana had their baptisms so that was also good.

There are two parts of Tabueron. And we traveled on a boat to the second part and stayed there for a couple days. There is a guy there who is a member and his name is Beto. He is way legit. We get there and he has an earring in his ear, and he is an amazing member. He took us to all the different houses and we taught the people. Pretty much all of them were Catholics but he didn't care, he wanted them to hear what we had to teach. He took us to these places and taught with us and bore his testimony and it was so cool.  I noticed that it didn't matter to him what religion people were we taught them anyways.

Fanning Island is very green. There are Bananas there and a lot of papayas and such. So we ate a lot of fruit. I got sick while I was there for a little bit, but it ended up working out in the end.

So I am being transferred as of today. Tonight I move to the village London and I shall be working with Elder Johnson.   Johnson is from Arizona originally but he lives in Spanish Fork. At least I think that is right.  He is the same intake as Elder Whitehead so he has been out over a year.  I will miss my birthplace of Banana, but it will be good working in London as well. London is more of a city than Banana. There aren't a whole lot of people in Banana most of the people live in London.  I will live in a little house that we rent from a member. It is decent, but super hot inside.

Here is a little information about my mission. 

I think there are like 150 missionaries. There are 80 missionaries in Kiribati and 70 in Marshalls. I am not sure though exactly. 

In my area there are chickens running around everywhere but people do not use their eggs. In fact I am not sure where the eggs actually go.  The chickens just wander and then when they have a party they will kill and eat them. 

When we went fishing a few weeks ago I held a shark (pictures are coming) but we didn’t eat it.  The Kiribati people who were with us took the sharks home to eat them and sell them.  I did eat sea turtle a couple of weeks ago though. I do try everything and I like a lot of it.   

Funny story, I have a picture of the mountains and the snow.  One of the converts told me that she is scared of snow and mountains since she has never seen them before.

I am glad Thanksgiving went well. We had a small celebration at Tiim’s (a rich fisherman) house in Tabwakea and they made us way good food including turkey. He had most everything imported in from Hawaii for us. Elder Hungai had never heard of Thanksgiving so that was good he could experience it. I did miss mashed potatoes and gravy though but it was all good stuff.

As for packages I did not get one. But I am hoping soon!

Other people have been getting them so we will have to see if I will soon!

Yeah I am healthy. I am doing just dandy.

Thanks for everything.

Elder Dinsdale

Dist serving on Christmas Island Thanksgiving 2015