All I Want for Christmas is.......... a Chuukese Dictionary!

November 14, 2010
Dear Mom and Dad,
This week isn't very rushed so I won't have to cut things short.
So this last week was crazy again here. Work was slow because of meetings but we have a lot of good people we are working with still. There is a part member family who is progressing really well and should get baptized in December. There are three in the family who will be baptized. We have other part member families we are working with too that are doing a lot of really good things. I am super excited for everything they are doing. There are so many people to work with in Palikir. These last two transfers have been so busy. I am going to miss Palikir when I go. That pretty much sums up our work this week. Everything else was just a lot of meetings. We had our leadership training on Tuesday with everyone. It was really good and we learned a lot of great stuff. President Dowdle always gives such awesome trainings. Something about the way he opens up the scriptures just makes it that much more meaningful. On Wednesday we had our zone conference. We gave a short training in it that went well. President's was the main part though that really made it a great experience. He talked about learning by faith and renewed a promise that was given to Pohnpei in 2007 by a general authority. It is up to us to act on it now that we have an assurance. The week overall was crazy because we had so many extra missionaries here. There were 9 extra that came that needed food and transportation and places to stay. We are the only ones with a car that live anywhere close to Kolonia so we had to take them everywhere and do everything for them. It was hectic and stressful but now it's all done so that is nice. On Thursday we had an opportunity to get interviews with President Dowdle. It has been a long time since I have really gotten to talk to him about stuff and had an interview. It was great.
I am glad to hear that Russell is doing well. I am really excited to get to see him again at some point. I really miss him and pray for him often. Tell him I said I love him.
That is really cool that Isaac Olive found someone from Micronesia that he is teaching. In Kansas I expect it will be either a Pohnpeian or Chuukese. There are a lot of them there. Micronesians are mostly focused in Hawaii, Guam, California, Oregon, Kansas, and a few scattered between the Carolinas and Nevada. Most everyone we meet has family between those places. I don't know if you remember but there was a family in our old ward who was from Micronesia. One of the sons went to high school with me and played on the JV team when I was on Varsity. I think that some of his relatives are twins who returned from missions about 5 months ago. I talked with them about it a bit and they said that is most likely their family. I don't know much about them there in Reno though. It could be them or it could be a Chuukese family. They stayed in the South Meadows ward after the split.
You asked about the dog I ate. A recent convert had a dog that kept killing people's chickens so he had to shoot it. He cooked it in the local style oven. He saved a leg for us. It still had the fur on it so we had to take that off and we tasted it. It tasted a little like dark turkey meat.
So no information yet on when to expect me home. I should get the information in a few weeks I suppose but just expect me sometime in March. I will have to work things out with President and do what I can. I'll let you know when I know more.
I have thought about something you could send for Christmas and there is only 1 thing I want. It is a Chuukese dictionary. I have the Pohnpeian one but I would really like a Chuukese one. They don't have a grammar book so don't worry about that at all but there is a dictionary made by a guy named Goodenough (or something close to that) that is really good. He lived on Romonum for something like 60 years. He was part of the peace corps and just fell in love with the place so much that he went and lived there. Elder Kuss knows who he is and remembers him but he was either dead or had moved by the time I got there. He was like the Chuukese master. He spent 60 years figuring out EVERYTHING in that language. The dictionary he made rocks. Other than that though please don't send anything out for Christmas other than like candy. I am fine with everything I have now.
Well, that's about everything. I am glad that you are both doing well. Thank you so much for everything you do. I love you both tons.
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South