Sunday, September 19, 2010

Harvest Time

The picture below is a Pohnpeian Stove. In the following letter Kevin shares that people in Pohnpei make "neat" things to fulfill their needs.

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, another week has gone by now and it was a great one. Yesterday we had 9 investigators attend church. That is the most I have had there since I got transferred to Palikir. JR did not get baptized last week but he came to church yesterday so it will happen this Saturday. He is so ready for it now. He just needs to hear a couple more principles and commandments and then he is set. Our other investigators are doing well too. Selerihna's daughters, Donna and Synthia, both came to church and are doing well. They should be baptized on the 2nd of October and then we have another 12 year old girl who is in a part member family set for Oct. 9th. She is Morchlokese so I get to teach her and her family in Chuukese. It is a lot of fun over at their house. I am excited for the rush of baptisms coming in now. There is a lot of good stuff going on in our area. There are some other people we have been doing a lot of work with who are really good investigators too. Dad asked about the possibility of me being transferred and it seems to be about a 50/50 now. I really hope that I get one more in Palikir though because I want to be here for the harvest. I have been working hard here and have really come to love all the people we see.
Before I forget as I have many weeks in a row now, Can I please get pictures of the baptisms that were sent home on the last camera chip? People have been asking for some and I keep spacing it. Thank you in advance. Oh, and about that picture with the wooden contraption on the tree, that is a Pohnpeian stove. They cook all their food on it. There are some really neat things they are able to put together here. I will take more pictures of some as I see them for you to see. JR's family has a cool one that is in the basin of a wheel barrel.
This week we had the leadership training here on Pohnpei and it was really good. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ again and at first I was disappointed because I had been trained on it about three times before. It was sooooo good though. I am glad that was the topic. I needed to hear it again because I had stopped focusing on the Doctrine of Christ as much as I should. It is the basis of EVERYTHING we do out here and if I'm not focused on it then I am not fulfilling my calling. It gave me a renewed urgency to help people work towards baptism and confirmation. The days before and after the leadership training were crazy here. We had to take around 9 extra elders and also help President Dowdle get around island so he could work with a couple of the companionships here. We drove so much. In one day we drove over 100 miles which on an island that has only a 49 mile circumference is a lot. We started about 8:00am and didn't finish until about 3:30pm.
So I am sad to hear that BYU lost again. That really stinks. I hope they pound UNR though. I still bleed blue!
As for some of mom's questions: Pohnpeian is not a written language. They have a Bible, a poorly translated Book of Mormon and a few other religious materials from various churches and peace corps. type organizations. It is only a spoken language which presents the challenges in learning it. The kids do go to school but it is not mandatory. Most do though because they know they need it. School is taught in English which is required by law. The kids do not really know any English though. I think the teachers are too lazy to teach in English so they just do it in Pohnpeian.
Well, that is all I have got for this week. I hope you both have an awesome week. I love you tons!
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South

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