October 27 Letter
Dear Friends and Family,
So this week has been crazy, but has been awesome. Don't have much
time, but there's one story I really want to share.
Rosalie, awesome lady who's going to be baptized soon, stepped on a
nail. They're building their house, and everybody goes around barefoot
here. She stepped on it, and it went up into her heel. We came for a
normal check-up visit, and she was sitting on the ground weaving some
leaves for her roof. We talked for a little bit, and then we were
going to go over to her buia (small raised platform) for a quick
lesson. She didn't tell me that she was hurt until she asked for help
over, because to put any pressure on that heel put her in a ton of
pain. I got her over there, she explained what had happened, and she
showed us how it hurt really bad to touch anywhere on her heel, ankle,
or calf all the way up to her knee. I think that it was infected. We
taught her about priesthood blessings, and we gave her a
blessing. I explained to her that her healing depended on her faith
and ours, and then we left. The very next day, like, 16 hours later,
we saw her walking down the road! No limp that I could see! She was
totally ok! It was a miracle wrought by the priesthood and faith, and
I'm grateful for it. The church is true, and we're helping people! I'm
so glad to be here!
Love you all, look forward to hearing from you next week!
[For those of you unfamiliar with priesthood blessings, it's a practice that goes back to New Testament times. James taught, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." James 5:14. Our missionaries and priesthood holders always carry a small vial of olive oil with them and are ready at any time to bless the sick or the injured. It's done by the elders placing a drop of oil on the head of the person who needs to be blessed. Then they gently put their hands on the person's head and pronounce the blessing that the Spirit inspires them to give. Often the blessing is that the person will be healed. Sometimes the person is meant to have the affliction and is just given peace and the strength to bear up under the trial. I have personally administered to the sick hundreds of times and have witnessed many miracles that way. I have have also received several blessings in that way, and I know from personal experience that the elders can and do call upon God's power to heal. As you can see from Spencer's experience, blessings are not limited to members of the LDS Church. However, one must have faith in Christ (or at least a desire to have faith in Him) to be blessed.]
So this week has been crazy, but has been awesome. Don't have much
time, but there's one story I really want to share.
Rosalie, awesome lady who's going to be baptized soon, stepped on a
nail. They're building their house, and everybody goes around barefoot
here. She stepped on it, and it went up into her heel. We came for a
normal check-up visit, and she was sitting on the ground weaving some
leaves for her roof. We talked for a little bit, and then we were
going to go over to her buia (small raised platform) for a quick
lesson. She didn't tell me that she was hurt until she asked for help
over, because to put any pressure on that heel put her in a ton of
pain. I got her over there, she explained what had happened, and she
showed us how it hurt really bad to touch anywhere on her heel, ankle,
or calf all the way up to her knee. I think that it was infected. We
taught her about priesthood blessings, and we gave her a
blessing. I explained to her that her healing depended on her faith
and ours, and then we left. The very next day, like, 16 hours later,
we saw her walking down the road! No limp that I could see! She was
totally ok! It was a miracle wrought by the priesthood and faith, and
I'm grateful for it. The church is true, and we're helping people! I'm
so glad to be here!
Love you all, look forward to hearing from you next week!
[For those of you unfamiliar with priesthood blessings, it's a practice that goes back to New Testament times. James taught, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." James 5:14. Our missionaries and priesthood holders always carry a small vial of olive oil with them and are ready at any time to bless the sick or the injured. It's done by the elders placing a drop of oil on the head of the person who needs to be blessed. Then they gently put their hands on the person's head and pronounce the blessing that the Spirit inspires them to give. Often the blessing is that the person will be healed. Sometimes the person is meant to have the affliction and is just given peace and the strength to bear up under the trial. I have personally administered to the sick hundreds of times and have witnessed many miracles that way. I have have also received several blessings in that way, and I know from personal experience that the elders can and do call upon God's power to heal. As you can see from Spencer's experience, blessings are not limited to members of the LDS Church. However, one must have faith in Christ (or at least a desire to have faith in Him) to be blessed.]
October 21 Letter
[Here's the latest from Spencer's letter to Sharon. Spencer sent Greg a letter about catching a shark. I keep forgetting to get that from Greg, so I'll have to post it when I get it.]
Friends and Family,
Ya, it's good to do well with the language. Just today I was walking
with my comp and a member, and he asked us how long we'd been in
Kiribati. When I told him two months he was super surprised! He lives
in Tabwakea, so the missionary he knows that's been here two months is
Sister McDaniel, who isn't as good as me. He was very impressed, and
told me so. Little bit of a pride thing I need to swat down there. :)
How we get our packages here is that they get sent with missionaries.
So my new comp brought a package for Memea, and mine will
probably arrive when the traveling AP comes at the end of the month. Could
you add an order of beefy nail clippers to that? I just broke mine on my
big toenail today.
Also, could you send me the lyrics to "Hark Listen to
the Trumpeters?" I've been craving that song lately, but only remember the
first vere. :) Thanks!
YES!!! MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!!! Holy crud, I
have NO idea what I was even DOING with my life!!! Members have it so good!
Friends! People they know! They speak the language better! :) Yes. I vote in
support of it. :)
As far as here... Ya! Just got a new companion, Elder Wells/Mwanibwa
(Mwanibwa is the kiribati word for a well, and he wears a nametag that
says it.) He's definitely having to make an adjustment coming here
from Tarawa, but he's figuring it out.
We baptized Terenga this Saturday, which was AWESOME!!!
She's been waiting for MONTHS to get married, and it finally
happened!!! :) SO proud of her. Our problem now is that we baptized
all of our people! We've gone from 13 progressing investigators to 6,
and I don't know how to find more people on Kiribati! So this'll be
interesting. :)
Even MORE exciting, ROSALIE CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!!! She's this
AMAZING lady, who I love very much. She's been taught for months
before I came here, and she's always very happy to help walk me
through and learn new words. It's partly her fault that I'm as good at
the language as I am. :) She's been taught all the lessons several
times, she's read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon and knows that
it's true, but she's always been too shy to come to church because all
her friends are from the Kiribati Protestant Church. But I told her
straight up that if she came, I'd sit by her, and I also arranged to
have a member come and pick her up, and she came!!! SO FREAKING
AWESOME!!!!!!!! Like, beyond an email's power to convey. Like, jumping
up and down turning in circles yelling awesome. SO great. :) Ya, I'm
happy. :)
The work here is going great! My new companion is very set on being
obedient, and we're being awesome! Besides that, I'm working
in Banana, the best village on the best island in the best mission region in
the best mission in the world! So I rangi ni kukurei! :)
Love you lots,
Love,
Elder Marks
Friends and Family,
Ya, it's good to do well with the language. Just today I was walking
with my comp and a member, and he asked us how long we'd been in
Kiribati. When I told him two months he was super surprised! He lives
in Tabwakea, so the missionary he knows that's been here two months is
Sister McDaniel, who isn't as good as me. He was very impressed, and
told me so. Little bit of a pride thing I need to swat down there. :)
How we get our packages here is that they get sent with missionaries.
So my new comp brought a package for Memea, and mine will
probably arrive when the traveling AP comes at the end of the month. Could
you add an order of beefy nail clippers to that? I just broke mine on my
big toenail today.
Also, could you send me the lyrics to "Hark Listen to
the Trumpeters?" I've been craving that song lately, but only remember the
first vere. :) Thanks!
YES!!! MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!!! Holy crud, I
have NO idea what I was even DOING with my life!!! Members have it so good!
Friends! People they know! They speak the language better! :) Yes. I vote in
support of it. :)
As far as here... Ya! Just got a new companion, Elder Wells/Mwanibwa
(Mwanibwa is the kiribati word for a well, and he wears a nametag that
says it.) He's definitely having to make an adjustment coming here
from Tarawa, but he's figuring it out.
We baptized Terenga this Saturday, which was AWESOME!!!
She's been waiting for MONTHS to get married, and it finally
happened!!! :) SO proud of her. Our problem now is that we baptized
all of our people! We've gone from 13 progressing investigators to 6,
and I don't know how to find more people on Kiribati! So this'll be
interesting. :)
Even MORE exciting, ROSALIE CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!!! She's this
AMAZING lady, who I love very much. She's been taught for months
before I came here, and she's always very happy to help walk me
through and learn new words. It's partly her fault that I'm as good at
the language as I am. :) She's been taught all the lessons several
times, she's read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon and knows that
it's true, but she's always been too shy to come to church because all
her friends are from the Kiribati Protestant Church. But I told her
straight up that if she came, I'd sit by her, and I also arranged to
have a member come and pick her up, and she came!!! SO FREAKING
AWESOME!!!!!!!! Like, beyond an email's power to convey. Like, jumping
up and down turning in circles yelling awesome. SO great. :) Ya, I'm
happy. :)
The work here is going great! My new companion is very set on being
obedient, and we're being awesome! Besides that, I'm working
in Banana, the best village on the best island in the best mission region in
the best mission in the world! So I rangi ni kukurei! :)
Love you lots,
Love,
Elder Marks
October 14, 2013 Letter
[Well, this one is going to be a little tricky, because most of his e-mail was full of personal stuff. I'll cut and paste what's left:]
I'm really glad to hear that all is going well with the family, and that you're all
becoming better people. That makes five of us. :) I've been thinking a
bit about the Other Side of Heaven lately, and it's really funny,
because there are some things that are so different, but other things
are so similar. It's impossible to put Kiribati into an email, but I'm
excited to come home and try to explain it to you all. :)
We do have a cell phone, but service is sketchy. Which has been
interesting because I work in Banana, half an hour drive from home. :)
I don't use it, though, it's for the senior comp.
We usually go to a small store with an internet cafe. Like, the store
is the size of our family room, with some comps in the back. :) But it
works! Most of the time. :)
Well shoot. I wanted to write home about our fishing trip today, but
everybody else is ready to go. Long story short, we totally caught a
shark. :) Not me personally, I was on the wrong line, but it was done,
and I personally hefted it. :) I'll try to send more about that next
week.
[Sharon asked about how he's doing with the language, and he said]
SO well! That's actually the biggest thing I wanted to report this
week. It's starting to get to the point where I can get through
conversations with people! Not everybody, because some people talk
fast or are hard to understand, and there are usually words I have to
ask on the meaning of, but I'm getting to the point where they can
explain words in Kiribati and I get it! :) I also had a guy come up to
me yesterday and tell me I was doing really well with the language. He
said most imatang (white) elders, when they say Mauri, sound like
imatangs, but I sound like a kiribati! That's good, cause I'm working
on that. So I'm happy. :) Definitely have a VERY long way to go, but
it's really starting to come!
I'm really glad to hear that all is going well with the family, and that you're all
becoming better people. That makes five of us. :) I've been thinking a
bit about the Other Side of Heaven lately, and it's really funny,
because there are some things that are so different, but other things
are so similar. It's impossible to put Kiribati into an email, but I'm
excited to come home and try to explain it to you all. :)
We do have a cell phone, but service is sketchy. Which has been
interesting because I work in Banana, half an hour drive from home. :)
I don't use it, though, it's for the senior comp.
We usually go to a small store with an internet cafe. Like, the store
is the size of our family room, with some comps in the back. :) But it
works! Most of the time. :)
Well shoot. I wanted to write home about our fishing trip today, but
everybody else is ready to go. Long story short, we totally caught a
shark. :) Not me personally, I was on the wrong line, but it was done,
and I personally hefted it. :) I'll try to send more about that next
week.
[Sharon asked about how he's doing with the language, and he said]
SO well! That's actually the biggest thing I wanted to report this
week. It's starting to get to the point where I can get through
conversations with people! Not everybody, because some people talk
fast or are hard to understand, and there are usually words I have to
ask on the meaning of, but I'm getting to the point where they can
explain words in Kiribati and I get it! :) I also had a guy come up to
me yesterday and tell me I was doing really well with the language. He
said most imatang (white) elders, when they say Mauri, sound like
imatangs, but I sound like a kiribati! That's good, cause I'm working
on that. So I'm happy. :) Definitely have a VERY long way to go, but
it's really starting to come!
October 14, 2013
[Sorry, I didn't get last week's letter posted until now.]
[Writing to his mother, he said:]
Oh, don't worry about the sickness. I'm healthy now, and I got a water
filtering bottle at the MTC. We figured it out, there were mosquito
grubs in the rainwater that we thought was clean. Sorry, thought I
added that in. I've got a bit of a cough now, but I can work, and I'm
feeling fine.
[Writing to his mother, he said:]
Oh, don't worry about the sickness. I'm healthy now, and I got a water
filtering bottle at the MTC. We figured it out, there were mosquito
grubs in the rainwater that we thought was clean. Sorry, thought I
added that in. I've got a bit of a cough now, but I can work, and I'm
feeling fine.