Disclaimer: This email was titled "naked and afraid." It came from Grandma's email so I was so confused why she would title it that way. Then I read it to discover that Grandpa wrote it, but I was still confused. My kids had to tell me that it is a TV show.
This morning I really was naked and afraid. e got here yesterday (landed on a dirt runway) and this morning I knew I had to face the music and take a cold shower. All we need to make hot water in the shower is a couple of D batteries but there are none on the island. I WAS afraid but I learned when I was in Chile to rub yourself hard when the water hits you and it doesn't take your breath quite so bad.
We are stuck until our luggage gets here which could be tomorrow or who knows when. Meanwhile we walked to a store and bought a loaf of bread, some hard rolls, a pound of butter, and some dry milk powder for $59.00. There are no eggs or Spam or anything on this island so I really need to get out the fishing pole and go catch something. There is one thing in abundance here though and that is wonderful people. The branch president and his wife picked us up at the airport and she had made these leighs for us. I'll bet she spent 4 hours on each one of them. They bought new sheets for the bed with their own money and cleaned the place up. Last night she brought over a cover for the bed so we would be warm. (It got chilly last night) Yesterday someone dropped off a bunch of bananas and someone else gave us some donuts (not like you think of) and some mango. So far we have been treated like rock stars.
This place is beautiful. It is as pretty as Christmas Island was ugly. There are only 500 people on the whole island and it is very quiet except for these obnoxious roosters that start up at 3:30 and never let up.
Before I go I need to tell you one more story. On the way to the Salt Lake airport we stopped at a Subway for one last bite. Julie didn't want anything so I went in alone. I ordered a sandwich and tried to pay for it with a 50. The young man asked if I had anything smaller and I didn't. I offered to go get some change and he hesitated a bit and then his co-worker, a 19 or 20 year old young lady stepped in and said to him, "Don't worry. I'll cover it." I said to her, "you can't do that. I have more money than you. Just let me go to the car and get some money from my wife." She insisted on paying and then I had the thought that I should let her do it. So I did. I thanked her profusely and then as I opened the door I turned to thank her one more time and the tears came out of nowhere. How often do you go into Subway and come out raining tears? The thought later occurred to me that it was the missionary nametag I was wearing with the name Jesus Christ on it...….It happened again when I offered to pay this dear sister for the new sheets for the bed. "NO NO NO, she said, pointing to heaven. Jesus will bless me more. What a tremendous blessing to wear a missionary nametag. Those who never go will never know what they missed out on. Miss, would you forward this to the rest of the bunch, especially our compadre Elder Erik? I hope he is having as much fun as we are. Erik, you are the MAN! I love you all.
Elder Papa Bear
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