Tiabo Abaokoro...Mauri Buota/South Tarawa

Hello Everybody! How's it going out there? This past week a lot has happened, I moved areas, got a new companion, and  cut open my hand and have an eye infection haha. 

I'm now serving in Buota which is in south Tarawa (the main part of Kiribati) and it is pretty awesome. We can bike our whole area in about 8 minutes so that's a change but there are lot of people. My new companion is Elder Aiu from Hawaii. He's way awesome and is one transfer younger than me. All I can say is this is going to be a fun transfer. It has a lot more work than my last area because 1 there are a lot more people and 2 there are just a lot more people here haha. From Wednesday to Saturday we have had 12 lessons and have gotten 2 baptismal dates. So the work here is awesome but as a result very tiring haha.

Friday night was very awesome. I had just got done showering and was putting on my clothes when all the sudden Boom cut open hand. I totally forgot that there was a metal fan about a foot and a half above my head so my hand went up perfectly fine and it came down bleeding. Sister Kirk the Mission nurse came over cleaned it and closed it up. But I woke up the next morning with an infected/swollen hand because no matter what you do in this country everything will get infected. I also got an eye infection so double the fun haha.

Well that's pretty much all that has happened this week. Area and companion are awesome and so is the mission. Love you all

I Tangiringkami

Elder Jeppson

Elder Johnsen and I 

Elder Aiu

Our Backyard

Kiribati Beach 

Inside tour of a more well off Kiribati House 

Sunken Car 

Awesome dinner with the Walkers

side note Mom:  Hunter shook someones hand while he was talking to us and I saw his arm!!! He told  us about his hand and his eye but didn't mention his arm so I asked him to show me his arm and he didn't seem to think the way it looks was a big deal because this is normal for Kiribati!!! 

Mauri Ingkami!

Mauri Ingkami!

 How is everyone one doing in this fine month of January?

The wedding sounded like it was a success! I still can't believe that Brandon is married, it blows my mind. I definitely wish i could have been there for the wedding, but I am happy i got to call and see them come out of the temple. All the pictures look super awesome! I'm glad that it all went really well.

I was reading D&C 31 the other day and it talks about how when your on a mission, he promises that your family will be watched over and blessed. And when i called you guys on Saturday I saw that that was 100% true. Although it was a bummer not being able to be there for the wedding, i know that I am supposed to be here right now serving.

Nothing crazy happened this week. My companion and I spent the week tracting trying to grow our teaching pool. I will give you all some highlights from this week.

We found this guy named T who is happy to lesson with us because right now he doesn't have a religion and he would like to have one. The only problem is that all of his family are from other churches, so he told us were not allowed to come to his house to teach him when his family is there. This week we got lucky though. All of his family went down south, so it was just him and his cousin that came to visit him at the house. It was an even bigger blessing that his cousin just got there because she is actually about to leave on her mission to Hawaii next month. It was very helpful having her there because she helped us teach the lessons. 

Also, some sad news we were told this week is that the Catholic Lady we were teaching told us she couldn't lesson with us anymore. It was pretty sad because she was progressing really fast and she knows that this church is true, but she just scared of everyone judging her if she joins the church. So that was pretty sad.

Here's a quote that I think is super awesome,

"If our lives and our faith are centered on Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on The Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever go permanently right."

- President Howard W. Hunter

I would like to invite all of you to take this quote and apply it to your lives and then watch the blessings that will flow in.

I love you all

Love Elder Jeppson

Elder Jeppson gets great reception in his neighbors hut 

Wedding Day FaceTime 

Dinner With The President of Kiribati, What?!

How is it going everyone back in America? If anyone was wondering what I was doing right now, i am currently sitting in a hand made fish net hammock underneath palm trees on an island no one knows about in the middle of the ocean. Sorry if that made you want to go on vacation haha but thats just the life here. Anyway, not a lot happened this week because my companion was pretty sick which meant basically house arrest haha. Here is the rundown:

Tuesday and Wednesday: Well Tuesday i did absolutely nothing because I was in the house all day long due to my companion being sick. For those of you who have served missions and have been stuck in the house all day, you know that there is only so much studying and entertaining yourself before you start to lose your mind. And then do that for 4 days in a row haha. Wednesday though was better because my companion felt good enough to go walk around and get out of the house. Wednesday was proabably one of the best nights i have had here so far because we got invited to have dinner with the President of Kiribati. The President was having a welcoming party for the high commisioner of New Zealand and my companion and 2 other Elders got invited because they are from New Zealand. And since we couldn't leave our companions, we got to go as well as 2 other Americans. Let me tell you that i thought i was back in America because it was a really fancy dinner, with tons of food and desserts that were made by good cooks. It still didn't even come close to the goodness of American food or even MTC food, but it was definitely the best food i have had since being here.

Friday: We spent the day boating back up to our area, and since it was stormy water it took a long time. Super exciting day but thats all that happened haha.

Saturday: The first half of the day was super awesome. We visited a lot of members and less actives, and even found a new person to start lessoning with. Then around 2 pm a massive storm hit us. My companion and I were crossing this bridge over the water and we looked out to the ocean to see this basically black storm headed right towards us. So we turned back around and started biking to our house and wow i have never seen a storm move so fast because it hit us 2 minutes later and nearly blew us off of our bikes. We finally got back to our house, closed all the windows and put logs on the pieces of sheet metal so the wouldn't blow into our house. 15 minutes later we hear a huge bang! We opened the door to see half of our neighbors roof blown off haha. So we went to help them fix there roof while in the middle of this huge storm. Stuff was flying everywhere from the crazy wind, and the rain was stronger than i have ever seen. We finally fixed there roof, went back in our house, and stayed there until it stopped. Thats definitely was of the most adrenaline rushing experiences i have ever had.

Well that was our week, full of sickness, dinner with the President and storms.

I love you guys

Love Elder Jeppson

My companion and I found these super cool Buias

An expensive but tasty burger in Kiribati

Birthday party for  a 4 year old little girl 

This is where the dinner with the President was held 

Some of the food we ate 

Elder Merito and I

The President of Kiribati 

My arm.  This is the blister caused from a "pee bug".  We don't really know the names but when they land
on you they pee and it burns like acid and leaves a blister

Tracting, Tracting, Tracting

Hello Everyone! How has it been going over there?! Well this week was full of excitement and tiredness. Here's the rundown:

Tuesday: Since we have 1 person in our teaching pool right now we spent all of today tracting. We left the house around 10:30ish and came back around 7 ish because our dinner appointment got cancelled. Anyways, we went up to Nooto  and started tracting. The first couple hours we got shut down pretty hard haha. Then it started raining very hard which meant we couldn't visit anyone until it stopped. One of the last houses we went to was a success. We found a father and a son who were happy to lesson. It helped me realize that hard work and embarrassing moments not being able to understand what others are saying pays off.

Wednesday-Friday: We also spent all day these days tracting as well. I have never been so tired and exhausted from talking to people haha. But it was all worth it because we got a couple more people to start teaching. Also we had 2 dinners this week because #1: People kept canceling on us and #2: There are a lot of people gone from our area. So we ate lots of noodles and lots of canned pineapple because thats all there is to eat.

Saturday: Today was very crazy! On Friday night my companion got really sick and was in a ton of pain. So Saturday we called the mission nurse to tell her about his status and she told us we needed to get down south. But the problem was that the waa (boat) didn't leave until Sunday and all the boats we usually hire were busy. I was explaining this situation to our neighbors in the way good Kiribati I speak haha, and they told us they will go and try to find us a boat. I asked a member of the branch to help me give Elder Merito a blessing which actually meant just me because the member decided he was too shy to give a blessing.  Our neighbor came back 3 hours later and told us she convinced the KUC church (Catholic) to take us down on there boat which was an answer to prayer. The boat however broke down and took us 45 minutes to get it started again.  Also, to add on to this we were in the middle of a big storm. That was very exciting because I was trying to do what the mission nurse was telling me to do, and at the same time trying to talk to people to figure out how to get down south. Welcome to Kiribati haha.

Other news I  just finished the Book of Mormon on Wednesday. I have definitely learned a whole lot from actually reading and studying it.

Well thats pretty much all that happened this week. 

(side note: we were able to talk to Elder Jeppson on Sunday. Elder Merito is on antibiotics and doing better.  Hunter also got sick from raw chicken Saturday night but seems to be doing better but maybe will never eat chicken again :) 

Love Elder Jeppson

A Bwai ni Kiribati Planner cover a member made for me

A sick Elder Merito toughing it out on the boat ride down South 

New Year, New Decade, New Companion

Happy New Years Everyone! I hope you all remembered to study for that test you have this week haha. I still can't believe its already 2020, 2019 went by way to fast. Anyways I am finally back in my area with a new companion, so here is the rundown of this week

Wednesday: I got my new companion! He is from New Zealand and his name is Elder Merito. He's a pretty cool dude and a hard worker, and he is only one transfer older than me in the mission. We both know enough of the language to get around and talk to people, but when it comes to tracting, oh man its hilarious. There are definetly a lot of really awkward moments, and a lot of moments were we both have no idea whats going on. We spent most of the day boating back up to our area and walking into shore. Since it was low tide and since the boat was really heavy, we had to put our bags on our head and walk about 3/4 of a mile into to shore in about thigh deep water. Wow thats a workout because its not like you can set you bags down to take a break. If you do drop your bags then all your stuff gets ruined haha.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we spent showing my companion around our area, meeting members, and tracting in an all Catholic town. Let me tell you that trying to tract an all Catholic town with 2 Elders who are alright at the language is definitely an experience. We played a lot of Sorry with people hoping to get a lesson out of it. Let me tell you about the childrens game your all familiar with and how intense it gets in this country. So basically you have a normal game of Sorry going except all the people you play know how to count cards which means they know all the cards in your hand and the can keep cards you need away from you. So basically if you don't know how to count cards, you might as well go home haha. That is what my companion and I are trying to learn how to do right now.

Well thats pretty much it for this week, not a lot happened because we have only been here since Wednesday. 

Love you all

Elder Jeppson

Me with another amazing sunset

Elder Merito

A quality dinner

White in Kiribati equals brown

Sunsets on Sunsets 

Here's What Happened These Past Weeks

How is it going everyone! Since you haven't heard anything from me the past couple of weeks, here are the big things that have happened.

Week Of December 16: Goodbye Elder Wright. We went to the airport in the morning to get him checked in and to get everything settled for his travel home. We spent about 2 hours hanging around the airport until it was finally time for him to leave. I'm going to miss that man, he was a good missionary. This week was also Zone Conference and Thursday was the day the new intake came in. So I spent most of Monday and Thursday at the airport which was pretty fun. When the new intake of missionaries came in we took them to Moroni High School and did their orientation. I did get a new companion whose name is Elder Higginson and is from Arizona, but once transfers happen he will get his real trainer. I am basically "babysitting" him for 2 weeks down south, not in my area haha. 

Week Of Christmas: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Half of Tuesday were spent in the house because Elder Lenthe (one of the zone leaders we were staying with) got pretty sick. So i got a lot of study time in, and I got pretty good at playing solitaire with cards haha. Tuesday Night we had a really awesome Christmas Eve Dinner. The YSA made awesome food, we played fun games, and they made us gifts. It was really awesome and it made it feel more like Christmas. Christmas did not feel like Christmas hahaha. The senior couples threw a Christmas brunch for us which made it feel a little more like Christmas, but other than that it felt like a normal day. But it was really good because it was very simple, and we were able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

That is really all that has happened these past weeks because I haven't been in my area haha. But i will be back out in my area next week.

Love you Guys

Elder Jeppson

Saying Goodbye to Elder Wright

Christmas Eve dinner and party 

Baptism with Elders Barkett and Young 

Always Sing Karaoke

What is going on everyone out there in the Christmas themed world! We got a good amount of stuff done this week, so I will give you the rundown

Tuesday: We started teaching one of our neighbors whose husband went on a mission to Florida and wanted her to start taking lessons from the missionaries. So when we asked her if she wanted to take the lessons she was more than happy. After the first lesson we gave her a Book Of Mormon which she glady took and said she would read it. After we went and taught another lesson to Nei Berita who of course is always super excited to see us. She is such an awesome lady. You know we couldn't go a day without gardening, so thats what we did for the rest of the day haha.

Wednesday: We started off the day with a quality garden build for a store keeper that lives down the road from us. Elder Wright and I cranked out that garden pretty fast because thats basically our profession out here in the islands of Kiribati haha. Basically from 12 to 7:00 we were walking around trying to find new people and visiting people. Our dinner got cancelled, so on our way back to our house we stopped by the "hotel" and grabbed something to eat. While we were there they pulled out the karaoke machine and wanted us to sing, so us being us you know we couldnt pass up an opportunity to let people hear our garbage voices haha. So we ended up singing for about 50 minutes and Wow my voice was tired. And guess what, the store keeper said she wanted to take lessons with us. Karaoke always pays off!

Thursday: We had a branch picnic basically all day long. It was a way awesome activity because a lot of people came that were both members and non members. There was a lot of food, games, and of course some sweet kiribati music.

Friday/Saturday: We went back and had another lesson with our neighbor and we found out that she ended up reading a good chunk of the Book of Mormon which is super happy. We had a couple other lessons with some more people. I have to say i am definitely starting to speak and understand a lot more because of the lessons we are teaching.

Sunday: It rained all day long and didn't stop once until 10pm. So from when we left our house in the morning till we got back at night we were completely soaked. We also got pretty muddy because the whole road is basically one huge puddle. But it was still a solid day, we taught 2 lessons and church was great.

Well that its for this week, not that much happened but we still got a lot of work done.

Love Elder Jeppson

Name tag picture

Who said you can't hold a turtle 

Another awesome sunset

I bet America doesn't have bananas this big. 

My favorite little kid 

Can you find the Kiribati kid? 

Elder Wright and some Kiribati Kids 

This is what keeps the mosquitoes away 

Talking to Emma who just got home from Brazil on Wednesday