Missionary Hard at Work

September 5, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
We just got back from Guam a couple hours ago. Guam was fun. We found out last Thursday that we were going. We left on Saturday morning and did the same routine as last month. The zone leader council was really good as always. I love getting the training from President Dowdle. It was such a good training on the Spirit and how it works to help us. I am super excited to teach about it in the future. This last week was transfers so there was a new zone leader there from Saipan. It was Elder Shuler. It was awesome getting to see him there. He goes home next transfer which is sad but I will get to see him again on Oct 2 when we go back again. There will be a pretty big group who goes home then. The mission is going to take a pretty big hit. With this transfer we even took a big hit. Elder Parker and Elder Sandvik left for home. I miss them both already. The zone just isn't the same. There are two new elders who rode on the plane with us today. One is from Alaska and the other from Logan Utah. They are both good guys. Elder Standage and Elder Cook are training them. Right now there are 10 elders in our zone and we are struggling on language speakers. There are only 4 right now. We have two companionships here who have barely any language experience. The most within them is 2 transfers. The zone here is really young. It is hard but the Lord is the one who has it this way. There were options for people who already know the language to come back from Guam but the Lord made it this way. Things are going to work out good.
It sounds like your trip to Alaska was a blast. I have gotten 5 postcards from you already. They are awesome to see. I can't believe you planned that trip while I was out here though. I feel so cheated! haha jk. It looks amazing up there in Alaska though.
I am glad to hear that BYU won their game and things are going good for them being independent now. I am more happy that we will get to watch their games on ESPN a lot more now. That is awesome news. What ever happened to Boise State? Are they in the MWC now?
The Gallen family is still doing good now. Patrick has taken it pretty well. The wife had a hard time but now she is better. We went over one day and she started talking to us about how she found him and what led up to it. It was kind of awkward to hear from her because she told us in the actually house where he had died. She pointed to the closet and said that was where she found him. I felt so bad for her and didn't know much about what to say. She didn't cry though so I think she is getting a lot better.
We have some really good stuff going on in Pohnpei right now. In Palikir we have 10 people with baptismal dates in September. I am so excited to be helping them and working with them. We have a goal to get 4 of those people baptized. It can happen and I think it will. We have some great families and individuals right now who want to be baptized. As a zone we have a goal for 22 people to be baptized from now until Oct 2. That is huge. I have faith that it can happen.
Well, I hope you are both doing great still. Thank you so much for all you do. I love you tons!!!
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South

p.s. In mom's email none of the pictures made it. It may be better to just send hard copies of them because it costs more to receive those in emails. We get charged by how much memory we use on the computers so that consumes a bit. Thanks.
p.p.s. Dad, don't get too comfortable beating the younger guys in golf. That won't be the case for much longer... hahaha jk.