Another great week!!!

Mauri,

 

Things are going really good this week in Kiribati! Here are the highlights. 

Last night we taught a lesson with a guy.  We also had a member bring the guys wife to the lesson.  It was sweet because his wife didn’t want to have lessons but decided to come.  Most people that say they aren't too interested in lessons but if they come and continue to learn they realize how blessed they can be from this gospel and things go really good for them.  So, I am pretty excited.

We have 2 couples that we have been teaching let us know how much different they feel having lessons and praying and reading scriptures and going to church then they did before in their old religions. One of those couples would always tell us they were not ready to come to church, but on Saturday after we asked them again they said they were ready to go since they had been feeling so much happier now than they were before. The wife got sick and didn't come but the husband came so we were super happy about that. So many people here are getting testimonies from their Father in Heaven and I am just super excited about it!

We have a guy that moved into our ward from Eita 2nd ward and he has been helping us missionaries a ton. He is constantly fellow shipping people and helping us out in any way we need. Last night we had dinner with him and his wife and one of their kids and you could just tell they were a super happy family. Neither of them have jobs.  They just make money by selling random stuff but even though they were poor, you could just tell they were so happy. He just got baptized a couple years ago in 2012.  Before that he said that he was a drunk and just lived a crappy life. But now he is so happy in the gospel.

People are so much happier and less angry or frustrated living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so glad that I can be a part of helping people receive those feelings.

You asked me about my feelings on Grace.... What I know is that people can be doing horrible things in life or make mistakes like all of us do and when we decide to change and turn to our Savior (even though we don't deserve to be let back into his fold) it is through the grace of Christ He will always welcome us back into his fold.  We just need to repent and turn to him with all our hearts, no matter how bad we were before.

Things are going great here. We have a family home evening tonight with our Bishops family and one of the families we are teaching are coming to it so I am pretty excited for that!

Keep having fun in life and always remember the Lord and all the many blessings He has blessed you with. I hope you have a great week back at home.

Love you!

Elder Dinsdale

You don't need a lot of stuff here to be happy!

Mauri,

Thanks for the email.  It was good to hear that Carrington (Scott’s companion that has since returned home) still wants to be an islander.  He is a good man. I really loved working with him out here.  It was good advice to let him know to bring food though.  That is always helpful on the outer islands. 

I appreciated the message you shared with me from your ward conference on sacrifice and if we value ourselves by the stuff we acquire.  One thing I have noticed in Kiribati is that you really don't need stuff to live. I have lived for months with just 1 plate, 1 spoon, 1 cup, 1 pan, and 1 grass mat to sleep on. Honestly though you can have a great life with very little stuff. The other thing I have noticed here in Kiribati though is how much good you can do if you do have a lot of stuff. There are so many people you can help and support if you use stuff wisely. God gives us stuff for a reason, so we can do good things with it. If you gain money or possessions for other reasons than to do good then we are not using the things God gives us in the way that we should.

This week has been really good!  All of us in our house got pretty sick throughout the week though but we are feeling better now! (Well I feel good so.. I guess that is good for me).

A cool experience about helping the church grow out here in Kiribati happened this last week when we went to our rescue.  This week for the rescue our Stake President assigned some people and families that they would go rescue and then become their home teachers. We had the opportunity to go lead Autin (a man just recently activated this year) and our recent convert Kianteiti to the house of a less active guy and his wife and kid which we are having lessons with. I just felt so good walking away from that house as their new home teachers.  I was so happy to have others with me as well that were now talking to that family.

Another cool thing happened last Saturday when Autin had the opportunity to baptize the mother and son of the less active father (who hasn't been to church in years). He came to church on Sunday and watched his wife and kid get confirmed. It was just super cool to watch.

In our mission we really are trying to focus on teaching families and helping people grow as families. Honestly family is one of the most important things ever. There is so much support that can be given in a family that cannot be given anywhere else.

Things are just going really good out here in Tarawa.  We had one of our investigators tell her parents about her having lessons and they told her they did not approve.  But she is older and living with a return missionary and she just told us she was going to be baptized anyways. 

The Gospel is the most important thing.  If we lose friends, family, things or anything for this lifetime because we choose to follow Jesus Christ we will receive much more in the life to come.

I will share a quote from Gordon B Hinckley that says something like life is not just meant to be endured, but it is meant to be enjoyed.  I hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Dinsdale

I love Kiribati!!

Hello,

 Before I forget Happy Late Birthday Emily!!

So, I hear that you have been having some crazy weather.  I have seen some pictures of the flooding and it seems like in some places it is way crazy.  I guess the Lord decided to give you some water.   Here in Kiribati it is hot and humid.   It’s the same every day in Kiribati, so the Utah weather seems way awesome to me.  Just having a change of weather would be great!!

Our mission President (President Larkin) just came back last week.  His wife has been really sick and so she has been in Hawaii for the last while and he lost his passport while he was there so he had to go to Australia to get a new one so he just came back.

Things are going really good in Banraeaba.  The work has gone well this week.   Our people are doing well and our ward is doing really good overall.   We had a new couple come to church for their first time yesterday and the lady Kuanga pretty much just cried a bunch at church and I think she felt the spirit, so that was pretty awesome.  Her husband came, but then did nankona right after, so we will keep working with him.   We had 16 members at the rescue this week, which is the most we have ever had so that is really good.   We are also getting some new people as well to teach and they seem really awesome so I am pretty excited

You asked where I thought I would finish my mission (I don’t like to think about that)? Well, I have no idea where I will finish out my mission.  The next transfer is in a few weeks I might move or I could stay one more.   I am pretty sure whatever area I go to next though I will stay in till the last couple weeks of my mission and then I will probably be back in Tarawa.   I guess we will just see what happens.   It is weird how fast time goes while you are doing missionary work.  One thing that I have changed while on my mission is my driving.  Out on my mission I have been trying to drive the speed limit and drive safe so I guess that is a good change.

I love missionary work and serving the people in Kiribati. 

 I hope things are doing really good at home!

Love,

Elder Dinsdale

Sacrament Meeting Suprises

Hello,

   This week has been busy but really good.  We have been teaching a ton and it is great!!

 Well, let me tell you one cool story. First I need to say that in Kiribati and other island places education is not always the best.  So, we have been teaching this guy and his wife and he is a really smart guy.  That one obstacle that we keep having is that we will challenge him to read the Book of Mormon but he never does.  He would listen to his wife read though.  We finally found out that he doesn’t know how to read.   So Elder Bonney and I got one of our books that we got when we were learning Kiribati and we gave it to him and now at each of our lessons we have been teaching him how to read. It is really exciting and you can just tell that it is making things a lot better for him.

Another family we are teaching. The husband (Maibi) is super strong KUC (protestant) but he is a less active member of the LDS church from a long time ago and his wife is really strong Catholic.   Maibi has really been a good support for his son (who is 13) to join the church.  He has been coming to church the last couple weeks.   This Sunday we went over and they were not ready so we woke up the whole family for church.   I explained to  Maibi  that if he wants his son to be baptized he needs to support him and start coming to church too.   So, we are in the middle of sacrament meeting and Maibi with his wife and his 2 other little kids all walk into the chapel!!   I was so happy!  That isn’t all...  During Elders Quorum he stood up, introduced himself and started bearing a way amazing testimony of this church.  It was just super great.

 One of our recent converts Utara blessed the sacrament this week and another one Kianteiti passed it.   Seete should be getting the Aaronic Priesthood this next week so that is awesome as well.

We have like 6-8 people I could see getting baptized in the next 2 months. Things are just really good.   One thing people here have a really hard time understanding is the Prophets and Apostles.  All they have ever seen is their pictures.  They have to have crazy faith to believe, but there are still many that have solid testimonies.   It would be nice though if they could see them in real life.

Rescues are going really good here.   (That is when we go with members to visit less active members).  We had a bunch of people come to help.   I just look at the church and I see how much people change and how much happier they are as they keep the commandments of God and strive to follow the counsel of his prophets.   I notice a lot of people here that want to have lessons are just looking at trying to have better families.  For example no drinking, smoking or nankona  (a alcoholic kava drink ) and just other issues in the family.   So many people here are living together and want or are willing to be married to their spouses but they don't have people that are willing to help them.   But missionaries are always ready to help.   That is something I have really enjoyed in Kiribati is just helping people get married.   They always seem to have such a more happy family when they are married together. 

You asked what people do here all day?   Well, volleyball is the sport they play more than every other sport.  Every single day people are playing volleyball and in every village there seems to be multiple places to play.  They have some way good people as well.  Little kids tie cans to string and run around with them or the will push bike tires around while they run next to it.  Older people just play volleyball or basketball if they have a place to play.  Oh and soccer, a lot of people play soccer.  People do like to sleep here too. 

We have some solid people right now and they seem to be progressing. Things are just going really good overall. 

I love the work here!  Have a good week!

  

Love you all

Elder Dinsdale

To the Rescue

Hello,                                                                                                                       

Tarawa is going really good. Our families we have found have been good, and we are seeing good things happen.

One of our favorite families is Temwakei and Kuanga.   At first Temwakei was super into lessons and Kuanga wasn't, but now Kuanga is all for lessons.  They still have a lot to work on, but I have a good feeling about them.  A couple of our other families have been really hard getting times with, but we will keep working with them.

Tracking is going pretty good.  We have been finding some less actives and such.  These last few months we have been really trying to get a lot of people at the rescue for the ward.  Last week at church I got pretty strict with all the men in the ward and told them they needed to be coming to them.   We normally only have like 2 ward members with us, but last week we had 10+ people at the rescue!  And yesterday at the church the man and his wife me and this guy from the ward visited came back to church!   He had an issue with the ward that he has never told anybody until we came and visited him, so we were glad he talked to us.   Another less active guy named Ieremia came back to church after a couple visits with him!  It was really good to see him there.

Transfers are going on right now and during this coming week, and I will no longer be working with Elder Parry.  My new companion will be Elder Bonney. His dad I think is in the military and so he is from like all over the world.  I am not sure where he is actually from but I will find out.  He will be coming from Tarawaieta on Wednesday and Elder Parry will be going out to replace him.   Elder Guy from our house is going to Kuria and Elder Lutz is getting a new kid. So our house will be quite different after this new week.

Thank you for sharing Elder Ballard’s talk.  I completely agree with him.  There are so many members of church that are willing to come to church, but they don't read scriptures or pray or pay tithing or do the things they should be doing.   Back home I never really read my scriptures or prayed much, so I am definitely going to live differently when I get home.  It is so important to keep growing your testimony every day.  There are so many things to learn out there that we don't know so we just need to keep studying and learning.  The church is a crazy cool organization that just works out so well.  Too well that it couldn't be run without inspiration from the Lord.  I know it is the true church on the earth. 

You asked what I do for P-Days.  Well, for P-Days I just do whatever.  This morning we woke up at 4 in the morning, did wash and then went to Betio, grabbed Elder Kaibakia who is going to New Zealand to go to the MTC and then to Papua New Guinea to go to his mission and we took him to the airport.  So I have been pretty busy.    Mainly I spend my P-Day doing wash, I clean and email and then we play volleyball or something like that.  If we have any errands to run we do that as well. 

What do we eat is Tarawa?   We eat a lot of chicken on Tarawa, not really anything crazy like my other areas.   

I wish I had some funny story, but I don't.   I have been having a really fun week overall and I am loving missionary work!

I hope you all have a good week.

Elder Dinsdale