I am in Palikir Now

June 13, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
So another week has gone by and a lot has changed. I am in my new area now with Elder Larson. It is a lot of fun. Elder Larson is a great guy and Palikir is doing so well. The member work here is exploding. We have a man who was baptized in January. Prior to his baptism, he was a teacher in a local protestant church. He went to Bible school for over 7 years before receiving that calling. After meeting with the missionaries for a LONG time and overcoming a lot, he was baptized and now is a like a tornado going through Palikir. He teaches people in a way that us as white boys really can't. His testimony is great and he really likes helping people do what is necessary for them to progress.
Another recent convert we have was baptized in April and is a huge help too. He was taught for only a month and within that month dropped every single word of wisdom problem imaginable, got married, and came to church every week. Even more amazing than all of that too is that the missionaries started teaching him about 1 month after he had a surgery on his leg that he had broken badly. He uses crutches and just limps around but he always wants to go out teaching with us. The best part about him too is: he's CHUUKESE!! I have so much fun talking to him. We teach some of the local morshlokese people and he lays down the law about the word of wisdom and is getting people baptized. Between the two of them we are going to have some big baptisms coming up soon.
Dad had a lot of questions that I will try to answer now:
I have talked to Elder Larson about the connection with his grandpa and grandpa Duane. All we really know though is that they were "blood" buddies back in the days. We don't know if that means they did the sharing the blood thing people used to do or something else. We thought it was really neat that they know each other though. Mom had asked which one Elder Larson was from the picture title God's army that Sister Dowdle had taken. Directly to the right of me is Elder Linzey (now home) and then to his right is Elder Larson.
The Branch in Palikir is amazing. It has the strongest Priesthood leadership I have ever seen in a Micronesian branch. We have a handful of members that are temple endowed and many men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. The whole branch has a strong Spirit. There will be a new church building build in Palikir that will be started in January. I'll never get to see much of it but it is going to be great. The building we meet in is really small right now so we need a bigger one. By the end of the year though it will only be more cramped and the branch will have a much more desperate need for he building.
The apartment is good. It is not as nice as the one in Kitti but it is still nice. We have everything we need and then some more. We have a Toyota truck that we drive around. It isn't 4 wheel drive so we call it the Polly Pocket truck. It gets stuck in some pretty pathetic conditions. I haven't had any problems with it yet but it has had some in the past. Elder Larson is the designated driver. It usually goes by senior companion and he has been out longer than me so he gets that title.
We do have a full Pohnpeian translation of the Bible. It is a Catholic version that has small differences in it.
Being a zone leader is nothing special really. I just have a lot of extra little things to do. We have to take care of all the vehicle reports and do all the balancing for the zone's bank account and other than that we just are errand boys for the zone. We don't have to do very much ever though so it is fine. We will be doing a training in zone conference and we also do a district leader council which will happen this Wednesday. Apart from that, we do a training in each district once a transfer and then do exchanges with all the other elders. We haven't done any of those yet but as they come I'll let you know how they all go.
This week we got a lot of new elders in the zone. We had 3 new to the zone, 2 of which are "greenies" and we also have one new sister who had been on Guam for 1 transfer before coming here. We were suppose to get 1 more "greenie" but he got injured in the MTC so now he won't be coming until next month some time. His companion -Elder Parker- is pretty bummed about that. They are doing pretty well getting into the zone and the zone is doing a great job helping them to feel at home.
I got the box that Grandma Helen and Grandpa Bob sent. I will be writing them a letter today to thank them for it.
I was excited to see that Tori and Lewis' house is going up now and that everything is going well.
I can't believe that all of those people graduated this last week.
Did you ever hear anything else about Elder Mitton? I think he writes to the Chuuk zone occasionally but I never hear anything. Can you get an address for me?
Tell Uncle Roland that I still keep him in my prayers and that I hope everything goes well with his surgery. Also give Grandpa my love and let him know that I still pray for him.
I hope that everything is still going great for you both too. I am glad that the weather is getting a little better for you there. Hopefully it gets warmer soon. Were you still planning on going to Elder Well's homecoming talk?
Well that about covers this week. All is going well here in Pohnpei and I love everything that is going on. The Lord's work is going great here! Thank you so much for everything that you do for me.
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South