Speaking Pohnpeian and Chuukese

June 20, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!!!!!!(and Grandpas) haha I laughed as Dad went through all of the memories we have had. We had a lot of good ones. I remember all of the ones that dad talked about except for the one with the snake. I have heard that story quite a few times though so I can put myself there pretty well. It sounds like you will have an awesome Father's Day there at home with everyone else. Next year I will enjoy it with you more. For now this is the sacrifice we all have to make.
So another really good week has gone by on Pohnpei. Our member work in Palikir is going so well. We have some recent converts who are such studs. They are still coming with us and helping us and I get to speak a lot of Chuukese here. Sometimes when we go in at night I feel like I spoke more Chuukese than I did Pohnpeian. It is fun being able to speak them both. Sometimes when we are talking to some of the Morchlokese people in Pohnpeian I will randomly switch on them and they will get all surprised. It is fun to listen to what some of them say to each other when they think we can't understand. I haven't met any yet that talk bad about us yet but when I do I will sit quietly and patiently until they are done then I will chime in in Chuukese. That will be a fun day to see what they do.
Work has still been going great. We have a few people who are doing well right now and progressing towards baptism but not very many. One is a woman named Selerihn who is trying to quit smoking. Once she can kick that habit everything will be good. She has come to church a lot already but she just needs to be more prepared. Other than her we have a few people who have received answers to their prayers and want to be baptized but their families won't let them. Approval of family members is a big part of the culture here. We just need to help them go forward with faith and follow the answers that they have received. The Lord will prepare the way and help them they just need to do it.
I haven't had the chance to do any splits yet. This week we will go on one with the Kitti Elders. I'll be going with Elder Sandvik again in my former area. This last week we did have our district leader council. We basically just have the two district leaders come to a meeting and we discuss what we heard at zone leader council and we get them to then take that information down to the individual companionships. The way information goes to all the missionaries is really a pretty cool thing. We had a lot of stuff that we needed the district leaders and other elders to do. We will follow up on that at a future time. Being a zone leader has given me a much different perspective on being a good example. If we tell the other elders to do something that we ourselves aren't doing we are being hypocrites. We have to make sure we do dot all the "I's" and cross all the "T's".
We haven't had our zone conference yet. That will happen in two weeks. This week we will be going around to both of the district meetings and we will be giving a short training. It is nothing very big but we will talk about obedience. We felt that that would be a good thing to really hit on since we have so many new elders in the zone right now. That is the most important thing for a missionary to stay on top of and if they learn that early it gives them a much better advantage.
The language is still coming along well. I can teach and talk to the people. I don't think I would call myself fluent yet but I know everything that is being talked about and I know how to talk to them about most things. I am still learning better ways to say particular things and I still have a lot to learn in terms of vocabulary. It is coming along well though. I really can't complain I just barely hit three months on Pohnpei during this last week.
That sounds like your trip to Alaska is going to be great. Take pictures of all the cool animals that you see along the way. I would love to go to Gold Beach again for the 4th of July next year!
The pictures that mom put in the email are of the Palikir house and of the Kitti fridge. That fridge looked really bad on the outside but it was a champ. The Palikir house is pretty nice as well. I like it a lot. I figure I will be here for quite a while.
Mom organizing Dad's mission stuff for Father's Day is really exciting. I'm sure dad loves going through all of that stuff. I know I will love to go back over everything from my mission and think of all my good memories. I don't know how everything is being put together but when everything is done I would love to put everything together that way too.
So that about covers this week. I hope you are both still doing great back home. Happy Father's Day again! Tell everyone else Happy Father's Day for me as well. Thank you for everything you do for me.
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South