Thanksgiving, Eopwet,and a Hospital Stay

Hi! I have a lot of exciting stuff to report on this week! Things got absolutely crazy. Thanksgiving was good. It isn't celebrated very much by the people here but they do recognize the name of it. We had a big dinner at the Duncan's house and got to hang out for a little bit. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the same as a family one. Two more years until I get another one of those! The next day was Friday and we headed out to our islands again. We got back around the afternoon sometime and we ended up taking it easy for the rest of the day because Elder Ako was having a hard time walking. He had some blisters on his foot that were not looking very good at all. They had been there for about a week and he took really good care of them but they just kept getting worse. We figured they got infected and we planned to get medicine later. That night though he couldn't sleep at all because his foot was hurting him too badly. He woke up and took off the bandage and it was disgusting. Some huge growth looking infected blister appeared that was about the size of a golf ball. We had no idea where it came from. The next morning first thing we called the zone leaders and the boat came and got us again. We wanted to go to a place called the Sefin Clinic because they can give him antibiotics and then send us back out but the doctor wasn't in so we had to go to the real hospital. It was my first time to the place, but I had heard rumors. They were all understatements. It is a joke. It is as dirty as a gas station bathroom and tons of people are crammed into tiny rooms. They are all sick and have had limbs amputated and are just suffering really badly. It gets worse though. They dressed Elder Ako's foot then ADMITTED him! He has been there ever since then in the place. I stayed with him for the first day and night and it was scary. I slept on the ground and the zone leaders brought us food. Right now someone is taking my place helping Ako so I can shower and do other stuff. The bathroom at the hosptial is unusable and so are the showers. I didn't stay with him last night because this morning I had to run out to Romonnum and pick up stuff for him. We didn't bring any extra clothes or toiletries with us so we were both in need of stuff. I feel bad for Ako because he hasn't been able to shower in a few days and just has to lay on a bed there. I am going to go back with him tonight and take care of him again. We are going there as soon as we are done emailing. I didn't bring my camera but Elder Ako has his so I will make sure to kept copies of his pictures so you can see the place as well. President Dowdle came in today for our zone conference tomorrow and he stopped by to see him. He will be going to Guam on Thursday to go to the hospital there. He will be gone for at least a week. I don't know what I'll do for that week but I might have another Elder come out to Romonnum with me. I'll let you know how everything works out there. Tomorrow morning Elder Ako will get discharged though and we will take care of him at the house in Mwan. Don't worry too much about anything though. All is well and the Lord is watching after Elder Ako.
So in other news. Work was pretty non existent this week. I miss it too. I really just want to be in Romonnum talking with the people there and doing missionary work. It stinks being on Weno for so long. It is always so stressful and I just like the peace of being on an outer island. Hopefully soon I will get there again.
I did get the two boxes that weren't flat rate from you this last week. Thank you so much for everything. I am so excited for Christmas so I can open up those presents. I feel so spoiled though. There are so many. You really don't have to do that for me. Elder Ako says thank you for the present you sent him as well. He is excited to open his as well. I also got the card from Aunt Lisa. I wrote a letter that they will hopefully get soon. If not let me know and I will write them again.
You asked about the DVDs for General Conference... we do have a tv on Romonnum. It is the churches tv but it stays in the missionary house for safety purposes. We watch the DVDs on that.
What????????????? Kristen is getting a WEDDING DRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is crazy. Why hasn't anyone told me about this development before? I only heard the guys name the one time. Tell me more about that stuff.
I got the article you sent about the missionaries in Samoa who got hit with the tsunami. That is crazy. Don't worry about that stuff here. The lagoon blocks out all those sorts of threats and there are mountains on all the islands for us to climb. We heard people running around worrying about it but nothing ever came.
That is crazy that the Stake Presidency changed. I like all the new guys though. I had a feeling that there would be a change sometime on my mission with the presidency. Is Dad still going to be on the High Council?
I have some new food news. I tried a local Chuukese dish. It looks like diarrhea, smells like diarrhea and well... tastes like it. It is called eopwet. It is breadfruit that has been buried in the ground for over a month. It just sits underground and rots. After a month they pull it out and cook it in banana leaves and then let it cool and enjoy! I never want to have eopwet again. Only about half the people here actually eat it. That is really good because now I know that not everyone here is crazy.
Well, that covers most of the news here. Maybe you haven't gotten the letter yet so I won't go into a ton of details but I will tell you. We had three baptisms on Romonnum two weeks ago. It was a lot of fun and sooooo many people came. You will get all the details in the letter.
Well, I hope you are both doing great and all is well. Thank you once again for the Christmas presents and all that good stuff. Thanks for everything else you do too. I miss you both tons.