Thanksgiving & Zone Conference

Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Kiribati, but it is a tradition for the Senior Missionaries to cook Thanksgiving Dinner for the full time missionaries.  Most of the ingredients are sent from Majuro by President and Sister Shaw such as turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, pie filling and other tradition Thanksgiving condiments

Many of the missionaries from the Pacific Islands have never had turkey, stuffing, or gravy on their potatoes.  Having pumpkin pie was also a new experience for many of them.  But they were able to really put the food away.  It was a wonderful meal and the missionaries got a little taste of home to begin the holiday season.  The senior couples also enjoyed many items you can not purchase here or the price is so far out of reach such as ham at $75.00 for a small shoulder.

Elder and Sister Youngberg uncovering the dishes while the Sister Missionaries got to eat first.

The sister missionaries trying to decide if they dare eat some of the food and trying to figure out what it is.  Currently there are four Sisters in Tarawa and two in Christmas Island.  They are good missionaries.

Sister Sister Balenacagi from Fiji is a great missionary who has many baptisms during her first year in Kiribati.  We met her family while we were in Suva, Fiji this past July

The Elders test how much their plates will hold

There was lots of good food available

Sister Thorne delivering rolls to the missionaries

More Elders trying to start a food shortage

Quit taking photos and let us eat!  Piling food high and deep is part of Thanksgiving

Four of the Sisters are from Kiribati and the other from Fiji

Enjoying the meal and conversation

There was a great selection of pies from which to choose

Sister Youngberg and Sister Bonnemort showing the pies they baked

Elder and Sister Thorne in their missionary aprons sent by the Richfield 2nd Ward Relief Society

Zone Conference

On Tuesday November 27th Zone Conference was held.  Elder Walkola of the 70, Sister and President Shaw were the speakers.  All did an excellent job.  Sister Bonnemort gave a presentation on health to help the missionaries stay healthy. The arriving and departing missionaries all were provided an opportunity to bare their testimonies.  The Spirit was very strong during the Zone Conference and we all learned many new things.

With the change in missionary age, thousands of new missionaries will soon enter the mission field.  The Marshall Island Mission currently has 85 missionaries it will soon grow to 120.  A set of missionaries will be assigned to each ward and branch to work closely with the Priesthood leadership.  There primary focus will be on rescuing less active members.  It is going to be an exciting time during the next few years to see the growth of the Church worldwide and in Kiribati.  Currently their are two stakes in Kiribati but enough members to have 6 stakes, the problem is a lack of Priesthood leaders.

For lunch the missionaries prepared their own turkey and ham sandwiches - left over from Thanksgiving.

Sister Thorne bearing her testimony.  Newly arriving and departing missionaries are asked to bare testimony at Zone Conferences

President Shaw is leading a simulated exercise on how to do planning to begin each new day