Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I want to make a huge impact here 10-5-2013

Dear Mom,
This week has been good and I’m glad you got my letters home finally!! The card was filled with way good pics and I hope you like them as much as I do!! I never know what to take pictures of… so I just take pictures of things that are cool to me… so I bet a lot of them don’t make sense.. haha just someday I will get to sit down and explain them all out to you and tell you stories after stories of this place!!  Hope you get some cool ones out of it!!
 
 
 


This week was nuts… a member asked me why I was serving here and like what is my purpose and I told them the classic answer… and they just seemed not satisfied with it. And I asked what kind of answer that he was looking for and he just told me, seems like most missionaries come here, learn the language, teach some people, take some pictures and gather together some stories to tell their friends and just leave. That hit me like a brick wall. I’ve just been thinking about that for the whole week and just thinking to myself how much I don’t want to be like that. I want to make a huge impact here. I don't care if I'm remembered or not, but the work I do and the people I can help are what matters. Duiriba told me this week he was baptized when he was 14 years old and now he is out on a mission teaching people the gospel. It's weird to think about how we are out here preparing future elders and sisters. We are planting the seeds. Its not all about the pictures.. that hit me really hard this week. Obviously I came here to do that stuff, but never thought it would take me 9 months to really have it sink in how important what I’m doing is…

Anywaysssss I enjoyed your email also!! Very informative and keeps me up to date :) So what is Logan's plan? Does he want to go to the business college or what? And whats up with him and Ashley right now? He emails me almost every week which is way tight and I enjoy it so much. Its fun to hear from the fam individually! And Tanner emails me quite a bit as well. He's funny and always tries to convince me that he’s getting girls at BYU… haha lets be honest they are waiting for me.. haha I promise to help him get married some day :) even if it kills me! I have hope for the kid!! 

Conner he sounds like he's figuring it out. I hope he can get hired at Walmart and work with Logan. That would be so good with him. He just needs time to think and make a goal. If a mission is his goal he needs to make a game plan for it. If getting back to school is his goal he needs to make a game plan for it. And what's Ricky up to these days?

Elder Duiriba is better. I was pretty sick this week and didn’t get out to work that much but we tried. I’m feeling way better now. I lost about 10 pounds though and I weigh just under 150 pounds right now… haha but im gonna lift harder and get back into shape. Still ripped…. But definitely lost a ton of weight this week from just no appetite and being sick, but no worries though, I’m alive!
 
 


Okay Question and answer time with Elder Ingalls:
1. WHY DID YOU EAT THAT LIZARD???? I still don't get it - this is the kid who wouldn't even eat PEAS!!! I can see eating it at a members home because they were serving it, but you just ate it for fun and it was ALIVE!!! I told you like 2 months in advance that I ate one and I was going to send home the video…. I thought you would have been a bit more prepared for it!! Haha and like I said, the Lord loosened my tongue so I could speak the Marshallese language and some taste buds died in the process!! Haha it was probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever done!! Haha and I caught it and was joking around with the guys saying to them to eat it and they wouldn’t… and I told them I have no fear and that I would do it. And they told me to put my money where my mouth was… haha and I never back down. So yeah… yummy! :)

2. Why are the seats and visors in that minivan wrapped in plastic? Haha it was because the van was brand new and they hadn’t had the time to take it off!! But we kept it on for a long time just to keep in nicer and were always wet and such! haha

3. Why were there old rusty pieces of cars in the ocean? Because where else would they put them? Haha at least that’s what they say… they dump a lot into the ocean and into the lagoon! Garbage is a real problem here…. Its crazy there are some cars that were made in 2012 and they are completely rusted out pieces of junk… haha
 


4. Why were you cleaning up with the yellow Mormon helping hands shirts on? What happened? That was a mess! And a couple months ago the island had a small 15ft wave crash into the side of it and it just flooded and wrecked that place of the island so we all went to help and President Shaw said we needed to wear the vests I guess.. haha and that clean up sucked because they didn’t have good equipment to do it haha 
 
 
 
 

5. Were those sharks out in the ocean that you took pictures of?  They were dolphins!! They were feeding and jumping for a couple hours that day!! Way cool! I never got any way good pictures of them but they were so fun to watch!! Haha I should have taken a video!! You don’t really see that too much in town!

6. What happened to the turtle? You took a picture of it and it looked like it was upside down. They ate it! And they turn them upside down so they cant move or anything. The way they kill turtles here is crazy…. They bash the neck of it with a hammer and then do some other stuff too… but its their culture and tradition… if I ever go to an outer island they have Elders do it out there as a welcoming party… haha yikes. Turtle tastes way good though!!!

7. Were you really going to the bathroom in public out on the beach? OF COURSE I AM IN A PUBLIC PLACE!! Would expect anything less from me??? And out in Arrak that’s the only place to go. When you need to go to the bathroom and you're out of the house… its either lagoon or the ocean haha plain and simple haha [I will not post the pictures of this! - MOM]
 

8. What's with the tattoos? We played a prank on the new elders that came in last intake. Haha the ap’s brought them to our house and we acted like we were investigators and stuff. It was way funny to see what they did! And one of the elders here was a tattoo artist before his mission and we had to look convincing…. Haha probably one of our more stupid ideas! haha
 

9. What are the pictures of the earrings about?  An investigator of mine made a ton of earrings for me and I plan to send them home in a package I'm putting together. Haha someday I will send it home….

10. You went to wedding and you actually enjoyed it? Wow! I'm so impressed!  I think I only enjoyed that wedding because I was the elder that made it happen! I taught them all about love and marriage and how we can be together forever. Without our work, they would have never got married. They are going to get baptized soon too!! 
 
Well, this email is short, but im gonna try and get you a ton of pictures!! I hope you enjoyed the q and a time - you are the best Mom and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the love and help of you and Dad!!! I’ll do work this week, you guys be strong and do work too!! Love you. Hi Conner :)



Love, Elder Ingalls

 

 


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