Centipedes, Ship Wrecks, and Atomic Bombs

Hello my friends and family! First off... Happy New Year! It was pretty crazy being on Christmas Island during this time because Christmas Island is the first place in the whole world that experiences the New year. We are literally a whole day ahead of Hawaii. We all woke up and watched the first sunrise of 2018... in the world. Things are crazy here as usual. Every time I introduce myself to someone new and I say I'm from America and then I say I'm from Chicago. Almost everyone responds with "Oh Michael Jordan!". They literally have no idea what the city of Chicago is but someone everyone knows Michael Jordan. I've even had a couple people ask if he was my brother or dad and one time I went along with it and it was hilarious.... but I started laughing so it gave it away.

I made a new friend this week. We have these things called mosquito coils which are a black stick that you catch on fire and it keeps the mosquitos away... well they were sitting on the ground next to my bag and there was one under my bag. I read down to grab it and it moves.... and I come to realize that it isn't the coil but a giant centipede. This thing was the size of a sharpy and honestly the nastiest thing I've ever seen. The Kiribati people aren't afraid of anything. They will dive with sharks and go kick an angry wild dog.. but these things terrify them! We managed to kill it before it could make its way into our beds.

Yesterday was probably one of the coolest days on the island so far. We explored all the different parts. We saw all these cool old stone churches that were abandoned years and years ago. We drove down to the south end of the island where no one lives. There is a huge shipwreck there that we climbed on. There are these huge pacific birds that live here that lived all over the ship. When we started climbing on they flew away but after a while, they started coming back and just landed right next to us. Not going to lie... there were a couple times where I was pretty close to getting pooped on. Afterwards, we drove all the way to the end of the island. In the 1950's the island was used to test atomic bombs so we actually went to the areas where the ships flew over and dropped the bombs. The ones they dropped over the island exploded thousands of feet in the air so don't worry.... I'm not going to come back radioactive, green, and have 3 heads. It was crazy though because who can say they stood under where an atomic bomb went off??

The language is still really tough but I'm giving it all I got. I can understand people a lot better... and either they are being honest or just trying to be nice, but they say they can understand me too. It is still hard trying to get used eating only a small percent of the food I had back home. You never know how good bread is until it is all you have to eat in the morning haha. I'm adjusting well but there are still challenges, just like there is everywhere! I was reading through the Book of Mormon the other day and I came across a scripture that brought me such happiness and comfort and I hope it does the same for each of you. 
Alma 34:40-41

"And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions....
But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions."

I know life is hard and there will constantly be afflictions, but I also know that there is always a way to overcome them. If there is something that I have learned from this mission so far is you can either let people and situations dictate your attitude or YOU can choose YOUR happiness. Problems are going to come no matter who you are or what you are doing, but if you choose to be happy and endure them with patience, I know that the day will come when we can finally be freed from those burdens. Keep pushing on. I love you all! Tekeraoi n te maiu aio.

Tangira,
Devon




1) My new friend that I found under my bag
2) Old shipwreck 
3) Taking a nap before the giant Pacific birds swooped down trying to take their home back
4) More shipwreck exploring
5) Christmas Island Elders






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