Feb 2 -14, 2012

On Thursday, we went to see Elder Abakite thinking he would be gone when we returned from Kiritimati (Christmas Island). He is from Kiribati and so we will get to see him when we go visit Kiribati. He has grown so much on his mission we will miss him.
We left Majuro to go to Hawaii on the 3rd of Feb at 9:00pm. Arrived on Friday Hawaii time and slept a little bit. I had some follow up doctor appointments so I think I am finished with those. Sister Fanga our former Sister missionary bought us some lunch and had a hotel worker bring it to us, which was so sweet of her.
On Sunday, Feb 5th we went to Laie to go to church and to eat lunch with the Wheelwright’s, he is the President of BYU Hawaii. They had also invited the President and of Dixie college, and his wife. Also a counselor from the Hawaii Temple Presidency, and a couple who are teaching at the college and their wives. They were so kind to invite us to their home so that we could have a fireside with the Marshallese people who are attending BYU Hawaii and some of our former missionaries who go to school there. It was fun to be with them and to talk to them. President Tibon and his wife and son were there as he is a student right now at the college. Also we had four of our former missionaries there, Elders Wright, Swain, and Sisters Hasu and Cummings. They are all doing well and are happy to be there. It was fun to attend one of their student wards, it brought back memories of when we served in a singles ward a while ago. We stayed that night with the Wheelwrights they were so gracious and nice.
We did our shopping at Walmart for the missionaries and left on Tuesday the 7th for Christmas Island. When we landed it was then Wed. the 8th! We were greeted at the airport by Brother and Sister Mabey, the new couple serving in Christmas Island. They have been on the Island since the middle of December, and they have already fallen in love with the people and the missionaries. It was so great to meet them and to get to know them they are super. We are working on getting the internet in their home and we hope we have made some progress. They have had workers from New Zealand here who have been working on the lighting, put in new ceiling fans and redid the bathrooms. They also built a new pulpit that is on wheels so it can be moved around. They have waited a long time for these improvements. That evening we had a dinner with the auxililary leaders in Christmas Branch.
Thursday for my Birthday Tom took all of the missionaries out to eat. He had the lady there make a cake and they sang Happy Birthday to me. Then Elder Taorobua danced for us! Thank you for your wonderful emails and Birthday wishes it meant so much to me.
Friday we had zone conference. Elder Gittins is the district leader. The missionaries here are Elder’s Faulk, Turner, Gittens, and Taorobwa, and the Mabeys. They are all doing well and love serving in Christmas. They have two branches here, the Christmas and the Banana branch.
Saturday they held a party with both branches in the cultural hall. We had lunch and then we had entertainment. They danced and the youth sang the song “Called To Serve” one of my favorites. We always love to watch them dance. We all danced a little and they had some games for the people to wait for everyone to get there. It was Kiribati time, it was supposed to start at 10:00 and it started at 1:30! I know they just love getting together so it doesn’t bother them to wait.
On Sunday we attended the sacrament meetings of both branches and then we had two firesides, one for Christmas and one for Banana. We spoke at both of the sacrament meetings and also the fireside. They are wonderful people and they make you feel so welcome. All the meetings had beautiful musical numbers. They all love to sing and they have great voices. They sang the songs in English which was wonderful for us. Tom issued a goal to both branches to get more people ready to go to the Temple. They go to the Fiji temple because it is too hard for them to get Visas to go to the Hawaii Temple. We hope many will take that challenge and then come back and strengthen the branches. They are all first and second generation members and they are still learning much about how to fulfill their callings and help their children to learn about the gospel so that they will stay strong.
Monday has been a slower day. In the evening we went to a teaching appointment with Elder Turner and Elder Faulk. Then on Tuesday we went with Elder's Gittens and Taorowba. The spirit was strong in both lessons. The Elders taught so well and this man committed to being baptized. Tom had some interviews for missions and we are trying to help the Mabeys in any way we can. I think I have mentioned before that it is fun to come to these smaller islands with fewer missionaries because you get to know them better.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you, we hope you have or had a great day. We love you all so much and are so grateful for each and every one of you. You make our life so fulfilling and you all mean the world to us. Please continue to put pictures on photo bucket we love to look at them. Love, Mom & Dad / Grandma & Grandpa / President & Sister Shaw