Kantus is Baptized

10-27-09
I've got some exciting stuff to talk about this week! We got the General Conference DVD's finally! Elder Ako and I were so pumped to get them. We haven't had a chance to finish all the sessions but the couple we have watched are awesome. Looking back to past years of conference I regret all the amazing information that I took for granted. I've come to value the words of the living prophets and apostles much more than ever. Elder Ako and I are hoping to watch more today.
Kantus was baptized this week. His baptism proved to be a big challenge for us, but it is done now and we are really happy for him. The baptismal service was held at the church here. About 10 people came and a few of them spoke. After the talks were done we went to the beach area by the church and Kantus and I went into the ocean. It was about 4:30 in the evening so the sun was just starting to make everything look amazing with different colors. It was an amazing experience and Kantus is really happy. On Sunday his confirmation went really well. Elder Ako performed that. Since his baptism and confirmation we have had time to meet with him and talk about receiving the priesthood. Hopefully he will get that in about two weeks. He is going to be a really strong member and I am happy to have been able to be a part of his conversion.
Other than that, there is not too much to say. I have not heard from you for awhile so I don't have anything to respond to. We haven't gotten any mail on Romonnum for awhile because no boats have been out recently. Hopefully soon though.
I an sending my camera card in this letter. There are a lot of scenery pictures in there. I know, Dad! I know you are saying that you want some pictures with me in them!
Love you both! Take care!
Elder Kevin South

Carson Sears Leaves for Guam

This picture is one that Elder Brady Wells sent to his family. The Chuuk missionaries are at the Weno airport to say good-bye to Elder Carson Sears who was transferred to Guam.

Birthday Missionary on Weno

11-4-2009

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, it has been a while since I have had the chance to email. Last time we came in there was only one computer working andthe local teenagers were using it on myspace. We waited for hours and they never got off. We had to get back out to our islands so we just had to leave. Sorry.
So I am glad to hear that you finally got some of the letters I sent. Sister Duncan told me that you commented on her blog it had been a while. I promise I have written every week. I don't have control of the mail service though or when I get to go into Weno to send stuff out so it is diffucult to get it to you consistently. I am sending you a camera card and a letter tomorrow though. The camera card has a lot of fun stuff on it.
OK, so news for Chuuk now... We are in Weno for zone conference and district conference. We will be here for like 5 days! It's crazy. It will be a blast though. Romonnum has still been going great. I wrote about everything in the letters I sent you, hopefully those arrive soon.
Nothing to exciting to write about now that I haven't already told you in the letters. I will get to answer all those questions you had though.
The water pump is still broken which is a bummer and is really annoying but we do have light now! We don't have to study by candle light anymore. ya!
I did get the birthday boxes and thank you so much for all of that. I cheated and opened them early. It was yesterday. I had to do it then so I wouldn't have to carry them to Weno with me to open them on the official day. Sorry. Thank you for everything though. It is all really awesome stuff. I am going to wear the new clothes for zone conference so look for the pictures on President's blog.
Don't worry about the boxes going through customs ever. I don't know if any of them actually ever have been. They never have said anything like that. I did get the watch you fixed back from you...unfortunately it is on its way back home again. When I got it back the adjusting pin was broken.
My knee is all good now so no worries. It was sore for a couple days but it was nothing serious. No other injuries to report either!...knock on wood!
As for the email from Randy, I don't think I ever got that. Tell him to send another one and then I will respond to it.
Your trips to Utah sound like they have been a lot of fun. Give Tori and them all my love. I haven't heard from them in a while so I don't know what's going on with them.
I hope you are both doing great and all is well. I love you!! Take care.
Love Always,
Elder Kevin South

A Happy Romonnum Group

This picture was sent to us by Elder Brady Well's mom. It was taken on Rommunum. Elder Brady Wells and Elder Sorenson are in the front and Kevin and his companion, Elder Ako, are in the back.

Interiges

10-21-09

Dear Mom and Dad,
I had the chance to go to Weno yesterday for zone p-day but I didn't have the chance to e-mail. The computers were all down.
Zone p-day was a lot of fun yesterday. We hiked a pretty big mountain on Weno and then played football. It was nice to get to hang out with the other missionaries again. I had been on Rommunum for a loooong time and hadn't seen another missionary besides Elder Ako. Elder Ako is great and we get along great. Don't think I view being with him so long as bad thing. Getting to hang out with all of the missionaries though is just fun. We also did a little shopping while we were in and then the Duncan's fed us. It is amazing and always tastes so good.
I am figuring I won't be on an outer island for much longer (3 months max) and will have a way healthier diet on an inner island. (or possibly Guam) :( It is a guarantee that at some point in my mission I will have to leave Chuuk and I really don't enjoy that thought. I want to spend the two full years here, but I will go where I am needed.
So, news on Rommunum for the week..... Kantus should get baptized this week. I'm really hoping so. This baptism has been a big hurdle for us and it needs to be done with soon. After Kantus, we have one, possibly 2, kids being baptized. They are kids of an investigator trying to get baptized. One is a 12 year old boy, named Door, and the other a 12 year old girl named Marinta. They are both good kids. I will keep you posted on everything with them.
This week I had the chance to attend a remembrance event for a person who passed away a year ago. It also included a family council called an interiges. I think I actually told you about the possibilty of me attending in the last letter. It was a really interesting experience. A lot of leaders from the Catholic and Protestant church were there and we sat with them at the tables of honor. That was weird. They spoke briefly of the deceased person and then started the council. The council mostly talked about people wanting to get rid of alcohol on the island, but the leaders said that there was no way they could ask the companies not to send alcohol to Weno and that is where most of the people get their alcohol from. I was not given the opportunity to talk at all.
Well that takes care of my week on Rommunum. I am looking forwrad to hearing from you both soon. Take care!

Foson Charame

10-13-09

Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, you get another double lettered envelope. I hope the increased distance between letters hasn't bothered you.
So how have you both been? Hopefully all is going well with you both still. I haven't heard from you this last week so I assume all is well still. We haven't been to Weno for three weeks now so it is hard to get mail. I did get two boxes from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Helen for my birthday last week which was fortunate. The zone leaders had just picked them up at the post office when they ran into one of the members from Romonnum so they gave them to him and he brought them to me. All the birthday boxes I have been getting are great! Maybe by the time you get this, I will be 20! That's weird!
So this last week has been fun. I tried a new food which was awesome. Turtle eggs! I had two raw and three cooked. One of the members fed us turtle thay had just gotten and it was full of eggs when they killed it. The Chuukese love them. The eggs are really soft so you just tear them and suck out everything inside. They were pretty good. The members gave us some of the turtle meat too and it was sooooo amazing! Turtle meat is one of my top favorites now. At least how it was cooked. I could eat it for the rest of my life. I also had lobster today too which was okay. I bought it for $2. I got it on camera for you. I know mom is jealous!
We also just had a cool drunkard experience too. Two guys were drunk and yelling and were trying to fight. We had to step in and get them apart. The drunks here can get away with almost anything thay want. Rommonum doesn't have nearly as many drunks as Tonoas which is good.
So news on Kantus. He did not pass his baptism interview this last week which stinks. He wasn't completely honest with us this last week and started smoking again. I was really disappointed, but we'll keep working with him. We'll shoot for two weeks. Our other investigators are still doing well. Some of them are still struggling bodily, but we are helping them and praying for them. Please keep them in your prayers as well.
I have started learning a new style of talk here as well called foson charame. (sweet talk) haha. It is awesome. It is used mostly for flirting, but don't worry. I won't use it for that. I like it mostly because there are a lot of deeper words involved. It is like a Chuukese poetry. I've been coming up with a lot of good stuff on my own and people say it is pretty good. The people on Rommunum think the zone leaders are great sweet talkers. They are like professionals. They are better than a lot of the locals. Well, mostly all actually. I want to keep learning the foson anunnon (deep talk) as well. That talk is awesome. It is the old language. When people use it, only a few people can even understand it. People get respected for knowing that stuff.
So our water pump is still broken which stinks. To shower we still have to do our tower showers which is awkward. We attract crowds of Chuukese who watch me climb to the top, pour water down on Ako and then on myself. Yesterday, the Duncans, the senior couple, came for an inspection and they came right as we finished a service project so we had to shower and they got it on camera. You should check their blog and see if you can see me. Elder Duncan was surprised how we shower and couldn't believe it.
The service project was interesting we did yesterday. It gave me a huge appreciation for lawn mowers. We went to an investigator's house who asked us to "ottot" or help him to cut back the grass in his yard. It isn't a lawn but it is a big patch of grass between his house and cooking hut. What did we cut it with you ask? Machetes. Dull ones too. We had to hack at the grass. You hack at it at about a 60 degree angle to cut the grass. It is monotonous and takes forever. It is unproductive as well. We hacked for two hours and it didn't look much better than when we started. We got really dirty doing it all too. The hacks make the dirt fly and we were sitting and kneeling. It was really sunny so we sweat a lot too. It was good though. Anything we can do to help is great and we are willing. Afterwards the investigator invited us to his "interges" which is like a family meeting where big important stuff is talked about. It is a big thing for Chuukese so it was cool we got invited. We haven't decided if we will go or not though.
Well, that is all of my week. I hope that you are both doing great and that all is well.

PS I am enclosing a letter for Sister Wilson's seminary class. Please give it to her to give the students.

Twenty Foot Waves in the Lagoon!

10-7-09
Dear Mom and Dad,
I can hardly believe it is October already. September was a good month. There were a few letdowns but mostly it was good. October is going to be a really good month. We are expecting about 5 baptisms this month. The baptism with Kantus was pushed back again. It hopefully will happen this week. He made a pretty direct commitment for this week. He went fishing again this last week rather than being baptized because he doesn't want to lose his house and then be forced to divorce his wife. It was disappointing. He had an experience while fishing that taught him that God should come first. This last weekend was a crazy one with extremely stormy weather. I am even a first hand witness that the waves in the lagoon were the largest I have ever seen in the lagoon. We estimated them about 20 feet. We had a miserable boat ride during it all on the way back to our islands. Kantus' brother- in-law felt it appropriate to go fishing regardless though. While out there, the waves were too much for their small fishing boat to handle and it ended up sinking a long way away from any island. Kantus got thrown from the boat just before it sank and had a hard time staying afloat. Luckily he was able to grab a gas container that he emptied and clung on to. He says that for 4 hours he floated helplessly praying for help. In a very unusual circumstance, help finally arrived from someone who didn't want to go out but felt the need to. Kantus is grateful for his life and says he made the wrong decision to go fishing rather than be baptized. We talked about his experience for awhile and then I shared Revelations 3:20 with him and told him to open the door and get baptized this week. The spirit worked hard on him during the lesson and he has said he will. I will tell you all about the baptism this next week.
Everything else here is going great now. Our other investigators are doing well and still preparing for baptism. We finally got one named Tison to come to church and he liked it. He was slow to come because of persecution from friends and neighbors. We talked to him about it not mattering what others think, but what God thinks. I gave him Mosiah 4:9 to read and told him that God knows everything and that we don't. That is why we need to put our trust in God and do what he wants us to do. I thought to myself how horrible it would be to stand before God to be judged and have to say that I was afraid of what others would think so I made the wrong choices. I'm glad that Tison won't have to experience that.
Nothing else very exciting has happened this week. The weather has been bad, but it hasn't been too bad. A lot of the people have been circulating rumors about a typhoon coming from Guam and they are really scared. We did hear news of a typhoon by Somoa, but don't know which way it is moving. I'm not worried though. A few years back Chuuk was hitting hit by a typhoon every year. A general authority came and blessed Chuuk to not get hit by typhoons anymore. I believe it has been 7 years since that happened and zero typhoons have struck since then. The power of the priesthood is real and that is one of the millions of things that can testify of it.
Oh, I got the boxes you sent me! Thank you so much! All the food is awesome! I can't wait to open the presents! I am tempted to open them now, but I'll wait! :)
I can't believe my birthday is already here! It was just yesterday that I said good-bye to you at the MTC. Time has flown. I'm about to hit the "snowball effect" soon when they say things seem to start going faster and faster. I can't imagine it being faster than now though. Next transfer I get to talk to you for Christmas. I am really looking forward to that.
I will send you a camera chip soon. I have been trying to be mroe active with taking pictures. I can't wait for you to see Romonnum. It must be weird not being able to find out much about it on the internet. The pictures will blow you away.
I am looking forward to hearing from you. I hope you are both still doing well. Thank you for everything you do!
PS I got dad's letter about the Dallas stadium and the Cougar VICTORY! I was sad to hear about the Florida game though.