September 6 - 29, 2012

September has flown by!  We are back in Majuro again and I have almost the whole month to cover.  On September 7^th Elder Cherrington came over to eat at the mission home as he was leaving that evening.  He has served as a zone leader.  He left that evening at 8:30 to go home.  We will miss him.  He left on Friday and was going to start school at BYU Idaho on the following Monday!  We wish him the best in his future. 

Saturday we had a baptism in Ajeltake.  A young man about 22.  He had been attended school in Hawaii.  His Aunt who was not a member called and told him that he needed to come home right then.  She said she didn't know why but she knew he should come now.  He had been drinking for quite some time and his health was being affected.  He had seen Missionaries and he knew that different ones had tried to get him to take the discussions, but he never did.  When he got back he was drinking and he was in a bar and he saw a set of missionaries pass by on the street.  He looked at his bottle and said I shouldn't be doing this.  He was very depressed and life was not good for him.  A couple of days later those same Elders found him and asked if they could teach him.  He said yes and then he knew the church was true and he got baptized.  His Aunt is now taking the discussions.  He now knows why his Aunt told him to come home and he has a firm testimony.  The Lord definitely works miracles and puts people or missionaries on the path where they need to be.  Parente and Elder Watson were those two Missionaries.

On Sunday, we attended Laura Ward so that we could introduce the Elder & Sister Barlow to the ward they would be working with.  It’s a great ward and it is where Badger’s attended while they were here.  I know that they will love it there, and that the people will love them.

On Monday, we had Elder Rigby and Elder Jensen to dinner as Elder Rigby will go to Ebeye to finish out his mission.  He has served there before and he will be a great asset there once again.  Elder Bradshaw from the Kiribati side has taken his place, and he arrived a week ago in Majuro.  He has been a zone leader in Kiribati.  We look forward to his service in Majuro.  

Tuesday, Tom started interviews with the Missionaries on the Majuro side.  We started in Laura and Ajeltake.  He has found that it is easier to do these personal interviews on different weeks then the week of zone conferences, because that is already such a busy time.

On Wednesday, we attended the Long Island District Meeting.  We then had interviews with the Missionaries serving in this area.  The next day we went to Delap to interview the Delap and Uliga missionaries.   

On Friday, we went to Rita and finished up the interviews with Jenrok and Rita.  They all seem to be doing well and I love the chance I get to talk to them while they are waiting their turn.  We have a lot of admiration for our Missionaries.  That evening we had a farewell dinner for the Perkins with all the senior couples.  They are supposed to leave on September 28^th, but have heard that the plane may not be flying that evening.  Sister Perkins has been the nurse in Majuro and Elder Perkins has been over the cars, the flats, and the bikes.  They will be missed and we appreciate their service.

 

On Sunday, 16 September, we had Sisters Bauro, and Kalanise, and Elder Teriba over for their final dinner.  They are all Kiribati and they will be greatly missed.  They slept over that evening in the mission home and we had to have them to the airport at 4:00am to catch the Air Marshall Flight back to Kiribati.  We had checked their luggage in and had been waiting for two and a half hours till they came out and said that Air Marshall was not going to fly that day.  Surprise surprise Air Maybe strikes again! This was the 5^th week that they have not flown-amazing!  So we got the luggage back and went back to the mission home.  Of course everyone was pretty tired so they took naps and then we sent them back out to the field until Thursday.  That evening we left for Hawaii on our way to Kiribati.  We were feeling bad that we could have maybe taken Air Marshall because they said they would fly.  But, of course, they didn’t-that is why we don’t fly with them because they are so unpredictable!  

While we were in Hawaii we met Sister Fanga, a former Sister Missionary in Majuro.  We were able to take a gift she had someone make for her Mother’s Birthday.  She looked great and she is going to college and working part time. 

We left the next day for Fiji.  We took the flight that goes thru Christmas Island and then on to Fiji.  That evening Sister Katene, our Elder in Kirbati Mother to see us.  She had brought a package for her son and also candy for all the Missionaries.  We thank her for looking us up.  We arrived there in the evening and then we left the next day at 5:00am for Tarawa.  The three missionaries who were coming back to Kiribati actually flew in that morning from Majuro?!:)  We were picked up by the Bush’s and we stopped at a few missionary flats on the way back to Moroni.   

Later that day we had some leadership training with the zone and district leaders.  They are all great and we now have another two new zone leaders who are taking the places of Elders Bradshaw and Turner.  They are Elders Norman and Whippy.  We are happy to have them serving as zone leaders.  

The next day we had a short zone conference.  It was about two hours as we had some training and some testimony bearing from departing Elders, and one sister, and Elder & Sister Ogborn who will be gone before we are back in Tarawa again.  The Elders and Sister that were leaving are Elders Turner, Gittins, Anderl and Staley.  The Sister was Sister Valo.  She was supposed to already be gone but there had been a mix up in the travel visa.

 

That evening we went to a program in the West Stake in conjunction with their Stake Conference.  They had dancing and competition between the different wards and Branches.  It was wonderful and they did a great job.  The main reason we came to Tarawa was to attend the West Stake Conference.   

The next day we did some auxiliary training for the stake and wards.  The next day we had a new convert meeting at 8:00am which we both spoke at.  Then we had stake conference at 10:00 which we spoke at also.  Then that evening at 6:00 we spoke at a Missionary fireside.  It was a full and eventful day!  We also did final interviews and Tom did some Temple recommend interviews.   

The next day we left to return to Majuro.  The five Missionaries went with us to Fiji.  Elder Bradshaw also went to Majuro on the same day on Air Marshall.  This was a shorter trip as we had been in Tarawa just recently.  We love to go there and see the missionaries there and the senior couples. 

When we arrived in Fiji we had lunch and the younger missionaries went to downtown Nadi to look around.  They arrived back and the Elders were picked up by the Fiji Airport Assistants in the Fiji Mission.  So they slept over night with them.  That evening we took Sister Valo to the airport to catch her flight.  She is from Papua New Guinea.  

The next day the Elders came back in time to eat dinner and then go to the airport for a 10:00pm flight.  That flight took them all to Los Angeles.  Then Elders Gittins and Anderl flew to Utah, Elder Turner to Idaho and Elder Staley to Alaska.  These were all some of our first missionaries and it was hard to believe that the time for them to leave was here!

We headed to Hawaii on the 12:00midnight flight to Hawaii and arrived there at around 10:00 in the morning.  We went shopping first thing so that we would be ready to leave the next day at 6:00am.  We were excited to meet up with three new missionaries who would be on our same flight back to Majuro.  Elder Aaron, and Sisters Mahit and Bulkley came from the Provo MTC the day before.  It was great to meet them.  Elder Aaron is from Kiribati and Sister Mahit is from Vanuatu.  Sister Bulkey is from St. George and she is going to be taking the place of Sister Perkins as the nurse in Majuro.  We had an orientation and some pizza for lunch at the mission office.  Then the younger missionaries were taken to their trainers and Sister Bulkley came to stay with us at the mission home until she can move into Perkins apartment.  As far as we know now the Perkin’s won’t be able to leave tonight because of some problem with a gas line here in Majuro that refuels the United plane.  We hope they fix it quickly as no flights will be leaving here until it is repaired! 

We are getting so excited for this Wednesday October 2^nd as Paul and Kellie will be having their new baby, Kenzie!  The doctor has told them that he will start her on that day.  We hope that skype will work and that we will see her right after her birth.  Our prayers will be with you and we look forward to Wednesday.  Probably not quite as much as Kellie is as she has been uncomfortable for a while.  We love you all.  You are such a support system for us.  The Lord is blessing us all we know that without a doubt.  All of you please give this new little granddaughter a squeeze for us.  We wish we could be there in person.  Hugs and kisses to all of you.  Love Mom & Dad / Nana & Papa, President & Sister Shaw