Email 3/27/11

Mauri au utu! (hello my family)

I guess first of all I am back from Marakei (which was obvious since I'm emailing) and I'm healthy and doing good. Sorry
I freaked you out mom I questioned whether I should of written that, I guess I shouldn't have, I probably shouldn't tell you but I have had to eat octopus again but with no ill affects so please don't worry. Marakei was great and i really enjoyed working with Elder Cole so I was pretty sad about leaving, mostly because I will more than likely never go back there and I came to really love the people. But I'm sure its like that for every missionary and I'm sure I will come to love the people in my new area just as much. My new area Bouta is in the same district as Temaiku which has been interesting since I've run into a few people I knew from before. I'm actually emailing from the Slimprice store in Temaiku so that's been cool. My new companion is a Kiribati elder named Elder Tamwe. I wasn't really exited when I found out where i was going and who I was going to be with, Tamwe has a bit of a reputation for being hard to work with and Bouta would be fine it's just that it is the most isolated area on Tarawa so not to much different from an outer island. I've been trying really hard keep a positive attitude things and so far it's been alright. I'm sure I will learn heaps from Elder Tamwe and the branch in Bouta seems like it functions pretty well and I have already met some cool people. One thing that's interesting about my new area is that it takes in part of Tabutuea or north Tarawa which is a separate island so to get there we have to cross the gap. At high tide there is a canoe or waa that ferries people across but at low tide you walk, the water just goes up to your knees in some places, and then there is another smaller spot later on where you have to walk through the water again but there is a bridge its just a long way out of the way. On Sunday we borrowed bikes so we could go to church in the unit up there (its an hour and a half walk) so we got to Carry our bikes through one bit,
I got a big grease stain on one shirt from it, it was pretty cool.
I'm sorry this is just kind of rambling on there is just so much to say and I'm not very good at saying it. So how is everyone there doing? I just recently got a bunch of letters, I'll try to reply to them all but its hard when so many come at once.Please tell people I really, really appreciate all of the letters so please don't stop, it just might take me a little while to reply. Apparently there are also 4 packages waiting for me but I have to wait for the zone leaders to get them to me so I don't know when that will happen but I'm exited. How are things at home? Mattie said in her email that you might get chickens, that's cool. How is grandpa Norton doing? How is dad's work going? I'm sure there are a million other questions as well, I'm really exited to be able to email again, I wish I was better at it. I guess I will close now, sorry this is kind of long and random but I love you all. Thanks for all your prayers and support, I look forward to hearing from you again.
Love Elder Norton