Touchdown-- Sept.13, 2015

We got the exciting phone call from Cody in LA before he connected his flight to Fiji and then back up to Tarawa.  These are the Elders from his "intake".  There was no hotel stay over that I know of just a lot of hours of traveling.  As you can see from the picture these Elders are allowed to wear Crocs because they will be traveling through a lot of wet swampy areas.  I could hear a lot of excited voices behind Cody as the other Elders were saying their goodbyes to their family as well.  Cody sounded like Cody and yet it was almost like he was trying to be his old self but realizing he is a new self.  Does that make any sense?  He had a deep calmness.  It was nice.

Wow. What to even say sooo much has happened. First off the coolest thing ever was seeing this tiny little island pop up in the ocean from the plane. When we stepped off it was crazy!!! Huge heat wave and the fence was just lined with these kids. Kids are everywhere. So we got picked up and it was so fun because we literally pile into the back of the truck all the time and just drive through Kiribati. Kiribati is so crazy. I’ve never seen a more beautiful color of water in my life. IT’s insane for real though. Like we were driving through the island and like its just shacks made out of idk what everywhere and it’s so so so greeen. Palm trees and just the most tropical feel EVER. I would send pics but apparently like all computers are corrupted so if you plug in your stuff you risk losing all your pictures, which I’m not sure I’m willing to do. but at Moroni High School they are safe so after i get a bunch of pics before I go to an outer I will for sure put them on a flash drive and send it! If you get the chance could you send me a ton of flash drives/ a few SD cards for the Go Pro and camera. The camera is a standard and the Go Pro is a micro. Not too many but I heard its a super good idea to space out your pictures so you if you lose one flash drive it’s not all gone. Anyways. So my companion is Elder Miller he’s super cool. He has been out a year but he’s been on outers the whole time. Everyone just craves outers here. I seriously can’t wait to go out because that’s when it gets crazy.

Sitting cross legged is so painful sometimes. Like after sitting on hard ground cross legged it burns hardcore. Everyone is so friendly and no one ever turns you away. THE FISH IS SO GOOD. It doesn’t even taste like fish. The first night dinner was so good we had raw fish bathed in coconut juice, fried fish, tons of rice (always rice) and a ton of stuff. It was funny, they made us all get up and freestyle dance for the mat dinner. There is a funny video out there somewhere. The kids are always all over you. It’s so awkward when a nude child is trying to climb on you you’re just like what? 

The most awkward thing was during a lesson a lady just started breast feeding. IT has happened multiple times. 

The first real day with Elder Miller was actually so hard. I feel asleep in probably 10 seconds that night. IT wouldn’t be so bad if I actually felt productive but I don’t understand much so it’s hard to contribute. I usually bear my testimony and say as much as I can though every lesson. Yesterday I fasted and my understanding went wayyyy up. It’s so fun though. It’s just a process of getting used to missionary work but it’s super awesome. There is sooo much work to do here! WE have three people preparing for baptism and we have a few people we tracked that apparently seem really awesome (My companion always fills me in on what occurs after the lesson).

The food is unreal.... There is so much exotic seafoods IT’s crazy. Tell Peter he’s never had a real fish. American fish is gross. Fish is delicious. SOOOOO GOOD. WE had the fish caught from the ocean 30 minutes prior and fried and this leaf spice on it. WOW

I figure if I work hard and I’m obedient the language will come, that’s the promise!!! Until then I keep plodding along getting better everyday!!.... I hope!

OK GOTTA GO 40 SECONDS I LOVE YOU ALL I’M PARTYING HARD PRAY FOR ME SHARE THE GOSPEL IT IS TRUE AND SO WONDERFUL PEACE OUT. SEND AMERICAN SNACKS

* things to notice in these videos:  driving on left side,  the strong solid building I think is our church building and the Moroni High School.  The houses nearest the water on the right is on the lagoon side that is why you see people in the water.  The ocean side is probably too dangerous with rocks and sharks. (that's what I read in the book earlier this summer anyway)  Elder Kennedy sent me a flash drive at the end of January 2016 with all the pictures I have using for this blog.  The next week he mentioned that after looking at the pictures again he realized that he didn't take pictures that really show Kiribati.  These videos are on the strip from the airport which would be more industrialize if you can imagine that.  Most of Kiribati isn't like these videos.  In the post to come you will read how they flag down cars to drive them places....which sounds natural for Cody since he has always loved waving wildly to truckers to honk in the USA.