Good Times in Banana

Mom and Dad
,
First off, I love the pants they are exactly what I needed!  They are so
much cooler and more comfortable!!! I love them thank you so much!!! I
don't need any more pants, I have a perfect amount as of right now so
thank you!! A couple of hygeine things and a couple of other things I
thought of if it is okay, are a toothbrush, shaving cream, index cards
for learning new words, that multi- utencil thing Kaleb sent me at
christmas, and if you can find waterproof playing cards that would be
awesome! One really good way of connecting with people is
playing cards with them!

That is so nice of Mr. Mac, I will definitely send a thank you note
today. He is such a nice guy!

I love my new comp, he is so nice and funny and we literally have so
much in common, it makes the days go by so fast.  We were just talking
about how it has already been 2 weeks since we have been together,
crazy!! The days are going faster, we are working hard, and finding a
lot of new people who are so prepared to hear the gospel.  We even had
2 show up at church yesterday! I love this work!!!

I'm sorry to hear that things were pretty rough this last week, but I
am so glad to hear that it all worked out.  One thing that amazes me
is how well everything works out if we but put the Lord first in all
that we do.  When we do his will first, he is so much more willing to
help us through the things that make us happy!

Thank you for that quote you sent, I've been making some goals for
myself, and haven't been following them too well... so that really
helped me to know that I need the work as much as I need the vision or
the dream!!

Quote we sent to Jeff:  "It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work.  Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier.  Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible."  - Thomas Robert Gaines.

We asked Jeff what he has learned from all his companions so far since he has been in Kiribati:

I have learned so much from each of my companions, from Elder Vula truly
loving the people goes really far, and showing that love by being
goofy goes even further. From Elder Powell, I've learned that hard work does pay
off in the language.  From Elder Seguine, that if you work on your accent 
people understand you better, and that the Atonement is more than just
receiving a remission of your sins, From Elder Kennedy, you CAN be happy even
through the crappiest of situations. From Elder Carrington, that being a
successful missionary is WAY more than getting good stats, From Elder Darm how to
truly love someone. And from Elder Hunter, You can have fun and work hard at
the same time.

Time is FLYING with Elder Hunter, it scares me, but I love it at the
same time, we are staying busy and are finding a ton of new poeple to
teach.  Many of whom are WAY prepared and willing to work!!

We asked Jeff about what he usually eats:

Meals we have a lot of crab, mostly because poeple found out I love it so
much. We have a lot of milk fish and the other day I had turtle.  I am already
set up for my birthday dinner with a family who is toing to feed us
shark!!! I love the food here!! So good! Not a ton of variety, but it
is all tasty!

We cook everyonce and a while, we just bought a huge thing of pancake
mix from JMB so we are going to start cooking breakfast in the
mornings every once and a while.

Most spiritual thing this last week.....Probably when we had District
meeting last week, the day before I was just thinking to myself I was
kind of slacking and in District meeting our lesson was on Effective
studying!  The timing was so perfect... It helped me remember how I first studied in
the MTC and when I first got here and how successful they were.

Funniest is Elder Hunter has a bike curse and he brought it here form
Marekai!! hahahh So during Elder Hunter's whole mission he has had bike problems,
and last Tuesday, my bike got a flat tire at one of the most
inconveinient places ever because it was in between our house
and Banana, so we walked 45 minutes home and took 2 and a half hours
fixing my bike because it was so rusted that we couldn't get the bolts
off.  Then last Saturday Hunter's pedels absolutely froze and he
couldnt pedal, and so he started freaking out.  I just kept laughing and
laughing then he said a prayer that it was boo te kanganga (NEW the
problem) hahaha and I lost it in the middle of his prayer.  Then he
thought by slamming his bike on the ground multiple times it would fix
the problem!! XD the way he acted was so funny and I just laughed at
him the whole time, I'm such a horrible companion!! haha

I love you so much mom and dad, and I continue to pray for you every day!!

Will you do me a favor and have Jason and Audrey email me some dry land

work outs that I can do in the mornings??

I love you mom and dad,
Love your son,
Elder Johnson