Fishers of Men

I will make you fishers of men.
Mark 1:17
The Lord will remember those on the isles of the sea.
1 Nephi 19:16

 These scriptures mean a lot more in a country like Kiribati, where their life depends on fishing.  They work to find the fish.  So do we.  But our catching is to bring them to a better place in this life, as well as the next.

Nets are two types: those you string out in a line and those you throw.  The yellow floats keep the top of the net at the surface, the    dark little lead weights stretch the net to the bottom.

 Elder Bush demonstrates the art of throwing the other kind of net that is a circle with weights all around the edge.  The net falls on top of the fish, with the edges wrapping around them.
A fisherman who showed us how to fold the edge of the net into the left hand and put folds of the net on the left shoulder made it look easy.
It took a couple of tries, but I got a good cast.

 Elders Whippy and Mickelsen get back on the boat after visiting North Tarawa.  Penisula, carrying the sleeping mat, was the boat captain and is the materials management manager at the service center.  He is also a bishop of one of the Teaorereke wards.

We have to wade ashore from the boat and back out.  Depending on the tide, the walk through the water can be 20 yards or 400 yards.

Elder Bush carries the bag for one of the elders as we brought Elder Falke and  Elder Kakau in from Abaiang.

A local fisherman in his homemade fishing outrigger, with sail. 

Below, we see the "garage" for a fishing boat.

 Elder Mickelsen found the boat trips to islands aren't always drenched in sunshine.  It rained the whole way back from North Tarawa.  With rough water, it took about 1 1/2 hours.

 Elder Whippy enjoyed even the rain.

 Sister Tieke and Sister Balenecagi  had their investigators baptized in the ocean right in back of our flat at low tide.

Some fishing is the familiar pole and line fishing we are used to in Idaho.

Whether one at a time, or families, we fish for the souls of men to bring them to Christ in a fuller way, with eternal progression for them as the reward.

After a long day, fishermen return with fruit of their labors to sustain their families.  Fishing for men, we help them sustain their families for eternity with the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dancing in Kiribati

Four of our missionaries are from New Zealand and performed the Haka for us on P-Day.

Sister Bush taught the missionaries a Kiribati sitting stick dance Christmas Day.  You can see by the smiles that they enjoyed it.

Sister Bush and Turian Banimone, the Stake Relief Society President

Four Kiribati dancers just before the performance-Sister Judy Bush, Turian Banimone, Otomie Uakitera, & Rusila Mwea

Elder and Sister Bush after the performance.
  It was a great night and so FUN to share their culture.

Senior Couples' Christmas picture-Youngberg's, Bush's, and Bonnemort's

Sister Bush taught the youth  the Virginia Reel and square dances at Temwaiku to the side of their church.  Notice the four little boys who are enjoying and imitating the older kids.

The youth enjoyed all of the practices!!

These boys told us they were using all four of them to be a bicycle.

Tarawa West Stake Culture night, where they were doing a sitting stick dance.  They sang the song and enjoyed the movement.  It was a great night!