Good ole District 52C
Well, I leave on Tuesday to the Islands!!!!!! I’M SO SO SO EXCITED NO JOKE!!!! It’s going to be so awesome.
The more I hear about the people the more I love them and cannot wait. Like in one experience to describe the culture, a Kiribati family will kill a $300 prize pig they have been nuturing forever just to feed a stranger. $300 to a Kiribati person is like $10,000 for us. That’s what the culture is like. The Kiribati kids here are unrealistically nice they always come up and try to help us with our Kiribati and they are super funny folks too so thats nice as well!!! Its just gunna be wayyyyyyy to awesome to handle. Apparently one missionary only had to tract 4 times his whole mission. 4. They were so lined up for lessons all the time so that’s what it came down to.
So pumped!!!!!
Well what have I learned hmmmm?
For one I’ve been thinking about how an eternal perspective can really change your outlook on life. When you learn and understand the purpose of life, it all becomes so easy. Give your will to God and develop charity. Charity is something I really want to fully develop. Just the ability to love everyone no matter who they are fully and completely is the best thing I think you can offer the world. I have been trying to be better and turn outwards instead of inwards more lately and it is so much better. The second we forget about our own needs and sacrifice a little for someone, the reward is so much greater than the little we sacrifice. It’s going to be so sweet to try to forget myself and my needs for two years and just try to make others happy through the joy the gospel can bring into our lives.
Here’s a proverb I thought of the other day.
"God created breeze that we might have joy"
Of course off of that you can insert anything into it. Trees. Soft grass. Dirt. Bugs. Birds. Clouds. I especially enjoy a little chilled soft grass (freshly cut of course). A beautiful shade of blue that makes up our sky.
The world in itself is a testimony to how God wants us to be happy and receive joy in this life. In the world it’s so easy to get caught up in me me me and get distracted by all the noise the world makes. But instead of trying to get more more more as you stop and appreciate what you have, you realize you already have everything you could ever want right in front of you. I also came to the conclusion that I want my mission to be unbearably hard. Of course in a way that everyone will take lessons and everything it will be nice in that way, but I want to feel the refiner’s fire. Jesus went below it all so he could rise above it all. I think in a way that can happen to us to. When we are broken down and completely just beat into the ground, that’s when we are humble enough for God to teach us a precious truth about life. Humility is everything I realized. Humility can make us happier because we start realizing how little others have and how much you have. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of that in Kiribati as I see people living in the dirt with absolutely nothing. A place where a baseball cap is the best gift someone could ever receive in their whole life. Life is a beautiful thing. We have so little time to decide who we are going to be. What it is we are going to stand for. Are we going to focus on ourselves, or follow the Savior and reach out and help others feel his love through you. The church is true. Anyone can find the truthfulness for themselves. The church accepts and love everyone and anyone no matter who you are, who you were, or what you have done. Eternal perspective makes everything easier. When they day comes when we will have to stand before God and be accountable for who we are and what our actions were, I want to live so I know exactly what I will feel on that day.
A awesome phrase in the scriptures is "Prepare for justice.” "Awake my soul, no more droop in sin, rejoice my heart, and give no more place for the enemy of my soul" "arise from the dust and be a man" some of my favs from this week probably. The Atonement can change us and cleanse us of anything. God WANTS to forgive everyone and anyone and he WANTS you to find joy in him. This is my testimony. Peace out
A little back and forth extra comments for you to enjoy….
yeah!!!! It’s crazy to think I will only get AC for like 4 more days;/ i will miss it dearly:/
yeah it is!!! That letter isn’t totally accurate/clear in some parts because it’s Marshall Island Mission. Kiribati is way different in a lot of ways than the Marshals. Like not as many people speak English and it's way poorer therefore--- better in my opinion!!!
I might not even meet my mission president until after a couple of transfers. He is in Marshalls 50% and Kiribati 50% apparently sometimes he takes missionaries out deep sea fishing on his fishing boat hahahhahaa. that’s rare but he took one of my teachers out like that!
So there is no real toilets in Kiribati. Basically you just find a private little spot in the forest or wade into the ocean will do!!! One new teacher we have is deaf in one ear because of parasites so that’s cool!!!!
n....... no toilet paper...... sometimes people wipe with hands....... I’M SO PUMPED KIRIBATI ROCKS!
of course that’s the only time it’s ever happened, but everyone gets sick a little at first as their body adjusts
Cara's note: Thank you to all his Boy Scout leaders who encouraged Cody to do hard things. Dirty things, uncomfortable things....obviously you did a good job since Cody is eager to enjoy physical discomfort for two wonderful years. Can't wait to hear more 3rd world experiences!
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