A New Companion

This picture shows the missionaries serving on Pohnpei. I was able to get this picture from Kevin's mission president's blog.
July 25, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! I cannot believe it is already your birthday again. I feel like it was just last month that I was writing you from Chuuk telling you the exact same thing. I guess time flies. Dad told me about you looking at the picture from the mission blog and getting emotional because I have grown up. Don’t worry mom. I am still your son. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t feel any older. I still feel like the crazy teen running around Reno in my mustang. Now I just run around Pohnpei talking about Christ instead of blasting rock ‘n roll. Hahaha.
So another eventful week has gone by. Transfers came and for the fifth straight transfer I have been directly effected. Elder Larson got transferred off to Guam and will finish the last two transfers of his mission there as zone leader. My new companion is Elder Brandenburg. He served on Pohnpei for 9 transfers before going to Saipan for 2. Now he is coming back to be with me. He will be coming in on the plane in about 2 hours. Right now I am with Elder Parker again. His companion will also be coming in today. For the last few days we were left without companions so we teamed up. We had fun covering both our areas. We mostly stayed in Palikir though. Next transfer will be crazy with everything going on and I feel like it will be a lot more overwhelming now that Elder Larson is gone. Elder Brandenburg didn’t go to the last zone leader council so he really doesn’t know what is going on and I will have to teach him all the ins and outs of zone leader while preparing him for all the big meetings and such. We leave in two weeks and that is the start of all the crazy stuff. Before we leave we have to have zone conference done and get everything ready for 10 missionaries to come from the other islands. It will be hectic along with all the other things we do. Everything will be fine though. Oh, and to answer mom's question about the meetings, I don’t think that I will ever go to a different island for the leadership training. Pohnpei is the most suited place to have a big meeting like that. I would love to go to Chuuk for it though and spend 4 or 5 days there again. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for other meetings.
The missionary work in Palikir is going really well. We have a lot of good member work going on and they are helping to fellowship all our investigators. We had a family come to church yesterday who we have never met yet but the members were the ones who invited them and now we are going to try to meet them at a member's house to teach them. That is the best way to do missionary work. I am so grateful that the branch has such a strong desire to do missionary work and help us out. We also had Selerihna’s daughter come to church yesterday and it was the first time I had seen that particular one there. We have been teaching her for a while so she is making good progress. I imagine she will follow her mom and get baptized sometime in August. Unfortunately, the English speaking couple didn’t come to church yesterday. They woke up and got all ready and then their parents called them and asked them to pick them up from Kitti, which is a good half hour drive away from their house. They said that next week they’ll come.
I will send off a camera chip today so that should get to you soon. Mom asked about the license and I think they will send that to me if I read the form right. I haven’t gotten it yet but I will keep my eye out. I am the assigned driver now so I need that soon. If I don’t get it by next week I will let you know so you can ask them about it. I haven’t gotten the package mom send a little while ago yet but it should come soon.
Your quad trip sounds like it was a lot of fun. I love Lake Tahoe and how beautiful it is. We saw a lot of really beautiful places on the quads with all our adventures. I am looking forward to a camping trip on them like dad talked about a little while ago. That will be awesome. I am looking forward to seeing what your trip to Alaska is going to be like.
Well that is all for this week. Oh, mom had a few questions about conditions here. All the missionaries have power here and most of the locals do too. Most cook over fires though and use the power just for light and night and fans to cool down their houses. There are a few televisions here too. Women do wear the scatos but they are called urohs here (urohs is single not plural even though it has the s at the end). Some women wear jeans or pants though. It is more American here than Chuuk.
Well, I hope you are doing well. Thanks for all you do for me. I love you both tons!
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South