Week #7: Elder Buhler is Going to Marakei!

Countrymen,

Well I have been here for 4 days now and I just got assigned to work in Marakei, which is an outer island and one of the few that still doesn't have internet. So this will be my last group email for awhile. Super pumped though! To immerse myself in the culture and stuff. Don't know much about it though, just that there is lots of crabs and no email. There is no timetable for my return, but I actually feel pretty safe here so no worries. I will be able to receive handwritten mail though, so it would be awesome to receive some if any of you have time.

Here is the address:

LDS Mission
PO Box 400
Bikenibeu, Tarawa
Republic of Kiribati
Central Pacific

Well anyways I will tell you what it's like here. I actually love it right now! I stay with the Zone Leaders and so we have a dinky little van and the room we sleep in has a/c. But I won't be living that way for long. I love the kids, they are always running after you and naked or clothed are always hugging your legs. Super chill, we have already given probably like 10-15 lessons while I have been here. They are not crazy long, and they always ask about me so I begin by introducing myself and I have come to learn to bring pictures with me, they love it! I can understand the general ideas of lessons usually, the vocab is hard to distinguish since they sometimes slurs words and speak really fast and also kind of mumble, which is the hardest one for me because even when they're saying things I know I still don't understand them! I would say 80% of the time I say the opening prayer and then either during the middle or end I kind of say a few thoughts of my own and testify. But the coolest thing is yesterday we were at a lesson on Tuan te Itiaki (Law of Chastity) and Elder Raika was talking and I was trying to figure out what I would say about that, when suddenly out of the blue he turns the lesson over to me. Like the entire lesson. I had never taught it in English or Kiribati so I was nervous, but this was the type of moment I was hoping for. E. Trussell told me he would fill in the gaps and just to go for it. I only had to ask what the word for sex was, wene ni bure (the laying sin) and then I slowly went to work and it was super tough, but I found out after that the message was conveyed and most of it made sense so that was super cool. I also had my first dinner here. It was for the Bday party of this old lady with one leg. They textures were super weird and I gagged a few times and tried everything except for the sausage, because I don't even eat it in the U.S. and I can only imagine how awful it would be here. The food is super bland or has weird flavors. I tried sheep, chicken, fish, cabbage, papaya, raw fish with this curry sauce, rice, and some sort of drink. The food is definitely going to have some getting used too. And apparently that was some of the best food I will ever have. And I won't lie, it was pretty awful. Lessons are in this run down neighborhood hut thingies and I am awful at sitting cross legged.

Loving it here, I am already way close with the ward here on Tarawa. My favorite family has this 13 year old girl that thinks Jared is cute. And i'm super stoked to be headed to Marakei, this is me signing off. For an unknown amount of time. Ready to get to work for real. Tiabo Ngkami!

Elder Buhler