Chamorro's and Chuukese

Ran Allim ami!

Man sounds like the summer is already packed full of stuff! Go ahead and sign me up for all those appointments and stuff mom, I'm pretty sure I only have one cavity... Dumb.

They're still practicing at 5:00 am in Spanish Fork!? Are they crazy! I can't believe they're still doing that! That makes me want to cry! ha I'll wait til I get home to reply to that question. And what is Tim doing holding practice at 2:00? Does anyone on the swim team work? Or are they all just bums? My goodness swimmers are not normal! ha

We are still teaching Chuukese people. I would go insane if we didn't! Just last night I met Macky Felix's (branch president from Wichap/aka best friend) older brother! He looked exactly like him! Man! It made me want to go back to Chuuk so bad! I love Macky! He's a super stud! Anyway, I'm pumped to continue to see his brother, he was really nice and if we had more time I would've talked to him for three more hours! There is breadfruit in Guam but nearly as much as in Chuuk. Most of it is on land owned by Chamorro's so that means it just goes to waste. Not many Chuukese own any land on Guam, there are a few, but the majority live in apartment complexes, usually the really really beat up ones. There are some huge apartment complexes here that from top to bottom, left to right are just full of Chuukese! So you walk into that area and it's like stepping into Chuukese paradise! Unfortunately none of those huge complexes are in my area, but there are some smaller complexes that are similar to that.

The few Chuukese that do have land and own breadfruit pound it like they do in Chuuk, but there's not too many. They even sell the pounded breadfruit "kon" in some Chuukese marts but it is way expensive! I have eaten a little Chamorro food. It is pretty darn amazing! Super super super unhealthy but I could care less... I'm just not around a lot of Chamorro's so I don't eat it to often. Their food is way good! The best party in the world would include Chuukese and Chamorro food, and probably some Tongan food. But that's kind of all the same thing so... ha. There is a Chamorro member down in the South named Hafa Henry and he is putting on a "Last Supper" for all the departing missionaries that served in the south with him. But he once catered Chamorro food for our zone conference and I ate so so so much food because it was sooo good and he's loved me ever since! So he invited me to this "Last Supper" with him next Monday and he's going all out for this thing and I think I'm going to be fat when I come home from how much I'm going to eat! So yeah McKenzie I'm going to be fat when I come home just from that one day! I'm pumped for it!!

Well most of you didn't e-mail me today... not that it matters too much anymore... ha!

Love you all, stay safe don't die!

Tong mi wachemuk,

Elder Wells "Ito"

P.S. Ran Allim, is a greeting. "Good Day"

Trunky for Chuuk

RAN ALLIM!

Thanks for e-mailing early! P-Day is switched permanently to Monday so (not that it matters for too much longer but...) keep e-mailing me earlier!

That's way awesome that you got to speak with Elder Christopherson dad, he's the man! Were you nervous? ha Every time President Dowdle received a call from him, before he came to Guam and Chuuk, you could tell that he was calling because President Dowdle would become real serious and walk into another room. That's neat though... I've told you what President Dowdle thinks and he thinks that you might be called to be a Mission President... You never know... Just released from BYU ward, speaks spanish, works for the church, kids are leaving home...... I don't know.... ha ha Just kidding. Have you heard anything about the Cranney's? Didn't he get called to go serve in Russia? How are they doing? Are they back?

You'll all have to tell me how Zach and Doug's talks went, that's so neat that they get to speak together!

Zach those are some killer shoes man! Those are way sweet the only problem with them is that they are Nike and not Adidas... someday you'll learn. I am on Moroni 10 in the Book of Mormon. That is the last chapter in the book (in case you didn't know. ha). I'll finish it tomorrow.

You all couldn't wait for me to come home before you had the Wells family reunion!? What is that? Just kidding, I hope you all have fun down there in St. George. Elder Hatch and I looked up our apartment on Google Earth from here in the office. It looks great! and so does Glenwood! I could care less, although I am pretty pumped about it being close to the Richards Building so that it's a short walk to practice.

I talked to Brother DeValle again today about translation. He was pumped as ever about having me join. He reaffirmed that they'll shove as much stuff as they can at whoever can handle it. ha He's going to send me a translation test before I leave so that they can evaluate me or something like that... (Ironic that I'm going to be evaluated by another returned missionary instead of a local hmm..... I guess that's just because there aren't any on the team. ha) After all that is done I'm pretty much good to go. I've completed all the applications that he has given me, the only thing left is that I need a worthiness interview with Bishop Dyer when I get home, which he sends to Brother DeValle and then I'm good to go! So maybe you could mention that to Bishop Dyer. I'll just get Bishop Dyer's info. when I get home so that I can send it here to Brother DeValle who will then send an e-mail to Bishop Dyer to confirm worthiness. That's it! Coolness!

What's going on with summer swim training? What are the UVRays up to this summer? Do you know anything about the training Tim will have going on during the summer?

We're pushing hard for Zone Leader Council next week! I think we're going to blow it out of the water! I'm really excited for some of the ideas that we've come up with. Orientation is going to be better too! We've added some new things to it and it's going to blow everyone out of the water! President Dowdle is going to love it! (he already does like the stuff that we changed but he's going to like it even more now!) I do know where Tanner's friend is going! But, if I told you I'd have to kill you... and I love you too much for that! ha

The new Assistant will be coming with us at the end of this week... which will be odd because I will kind of be the third wheel for the following weeks! It's cool, as long as we keep meeting Chuukese! I love them so much! The one thing I'm most scared about going home is not being able to be around Chuukese people. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself... I think about it and it doesn't quite make sense in my brain because I don't want to accept the fact that it's going to happen.

Lot's of people ask me if I'm "trunky" (ready/wanting to go home). I respond to them........ YES! I am very trunky!..... I am very trunky for Chuuk. That surprises them. ha

I don't know what else to say. We did a lot of finding last week with little success. I don't really enjoy finding all that much in Guam. In Chuuk it was great! We got into every house we went to! Here in Guam we can go all day without making it into one. (Unless we run into some Chuukese... which fortunately is often, as long as you know where to go) I'm not complaining! No way! Don't get me wrong. People like Jason Bodine are inspirations to me, because they can do that! They are amazing! For reals I look up to those guys. But it's rough coming from what has happened for the past 20 months and then to something totally new. It makes you grow a lot, so I take some comfort in that fact. ha

Yes, Chuukese are great! You are great! I love the Lord and His work and it is great!

Peace and love like a dove!

Tong me kinamwe ussun emon muro!

Elder Wells "Ito"

Photos of New Chuuk Chapel - The Nicest Building in Chuuk!

We got the following photos from Elder Christopherson. Scott had called him before he left for Chuuk to dedicate the new chapel and meet with government officials. He talked with his Secretary to let him know that we had a son in Chuuk and to say hello to him. It was nice of him to call Scott back and report that he had spent a couple of days with Elder Wells and that we was doing well. He then forwarded these photos on to us that he got from President Dowdle who got them from the Duncans, the Senior Couple on Chuuk! The second photo is the new basketball court that is lighted and right next to the chapel.

New Chuuk Chapel

Thoughts from Elder Chistopherson

Ran Allim ami!

Wow! Two weeks of e-mails that is intense! Fun to read though... Thanks!!

The coaching job sounds great!! Count me in I'm all for it! Thanks for suggesting my name to them! I'm stoked I get to pound Zach into the ground! ha Packages take maybe a week to get here, sometimes faster. It's pretty easy here in Guam.

That's crazy that you're released from being in that Bishopric dad. It seems like you've been in that thing forever! What's your new calling going to be now!? Good work Syd on going undefeated and keep playing aggressive it feels good to knock someone over... ha Is Sydnee swimming this summer? Or is she just going to be a soccer girl? I think she made a good choice to play soccer over dance... I was getting a little worried there...

Ok, I'll share some thoughts from Elder Christopherson. The messages he shared were very different in both Chuuk and Guam so it was interesting to be there to listen to both and feel the difference. A question was asked in Guam about what we can do to keep our faith doubt free. I loved his response, it was interesting. "You can't!" He then went on to explain that from our peephole on the vision of eternity to keep our faith free of doubt was impossible. Not until we are exalted and inherit the Celestial Kingdom when every jot and every tittle... everything will be made manifest unto us will we be able to know everything and by knowing everything be free of doubt. I think that surprised plenty of the missionaries... but he continued. He held up the Book of Mormon and he said "But you can know enough that your doubts will not hold you back." He explained that a spiritual witness of the reality of the Book of Mormon will keep your faith more than strong enough to withstand the doubts and enabling us to continually progress spiritually. If we do not have a concrete witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon then our doubts will plague us and hinder us from progressing all our lives. On the other hand if our witness is solid and we know the Book of Mormon to be true our doubts will be resolved one by one as we progress to exaltation where we will know all things.

I enjoyed that. He's a stud. The meeting in Chuuk was just different all together. The spirit was stronger there and the spirit witnessed to my soul over and over as I sat and listened to him that he was an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was more personal in Chuuk. The Chuuk Zone has always been a band of brothers and you can feel it. It feels different than any zone I've been in or visited and it was felt by Elder Christopherson and has been felt and remarked on by General Authorities in the past. Because of that, I believe, Elder Christopherson spoke on a different level to us and the things he said to us there I take to be very sacred. I'll share them, maybe, sometime when I return.

I wanted to personally ask him what he thought of Chuuk, but we ran out of time. So I asked President Dowdle what he might have mentioned to him. President Dowdle said that Elder Christopherson was very humbled in going to Chuuk. (and everyone is) He said that Elder Christopherson was impressed by the wonderful spirit that he found in Chuuk in general and especially amongst the people. He'll give a good report on Thursday in his meeting with the 12 and First Presidency in the Temple. I just think that's so cool! They're going to talk about Chuuk in the highest councils of the Church! Hopefully they'll send more missionaries! There is just not enough Chuukese speaking missionaries to help the greatest people in the world!

Ok, I don't remember anything else. Oh, when we were in Kosrae we went to some ancient ruins of a city that was built out of these huge basalt rocks! It was intense! I have no idea how in the world they piled huge huge rocks on top of each other. It was pretty amazing... I'll just have to show you the pictures.

Ok, now I've run out of things to write, or at least forgotten most of the things I was going to wirte..... Oh yeah.... I love Chuuk and Chuukese people!!!!!!! I think that about covers everything. ha

Tong Ennet fit Jaiwak,
Elder Wells "Ito"

These Last Few Weeks are Packed

Ran Allim!!

Thanks so much for your letters, and I 'm sorry that today will have to be short. We are in Kosrae right now and don't have much time so I'm just e-mailing you to tell you that I'll be calling you all on my 17th which is your 16th at around 12:00 my time... So be there at sometime around then and I'll call. We'll be in Chuuk on Mothers day visiting the missionaries so we probably wont have time, but don't you worry... I'm going to call you all!

Elder Paton and Colemere say hi! Ok so it turns out I just got a lot more time because the other elders got on and now we're going to be here forever! I think we're going to go see some Kosraen ruins. It should be pretty cool. I just came from teaching a Chuukese member... He was a stud!

Ok, so we'll be on tour until next Thursday and then we fly back! I'm sad because that will be my last time in Chuuk as a missionary but I'm happy that I do get to go back! Elder Christopherson is flying in to Chuuk on Wednesday and having a member meeting/dedication followed by a missionary meeting! That missionary meeting will have 12 missionaries there plus the Duncans and the Dowdles coming out to a whopping total of 16 people meeting with Elder Christopherson! Yeah it's going to be intense! I'm pumped about it! Then on Thursday he's going to meet with some government officials before he flies back to Guam. We'll be flying back on the same flight as him! Then Friday he will have another missionary meeting in Guam! There will be a few more missionaries there... only like 24 though, so I'm pumped out of my mind to be to all these meetings with an Apostle! These last few weeks are getting packed with stuff going down!

We have Zone Leader council the very last week of the transfer and that's always madness with getting all the ZL's in from their islands and then having crazy long meetings and a bunch of other stuff that comes along with Zone Leader Council. The new assistant usually comes a week or so early so that I can show him some stuff that he has to do, so that will be the last week of the transfer, right along with Zone Leader Council! Guam District Conference is happening after Elder Christopherson takes off. The two weeks that are sandwiched between Tour/Elder Christopherson and Zone Leader Council are packed as well. We need to go on four exchanges with missionaries in Guam, prepare everything for Zone Leader Council (which is a lot), the FINAL interview with President, and go to a final testimony meeting for departing missionaries! It's non-stop action for the next month so hold my breath and hope it goes well! Plus I have to train Elder Colemere in assistant stuff... Which really isn't all that much but he seems pretty overwhelmed to have me leaving! ha What he doesn't know is that I don't know what I'm doing half the time... I'm just making it up!!ha

What else..... Erevin Benjamin, the chuukese guy we baptized, got the Aaronic Priesthood last week and he's so pumped about it! He comes teaching with us 3 to 4 times a week and would like to come with us everyday if we could! I love him!

Happy Mothers day mom!!! All you kids better take care of mom well or I'm going to pummel you when I get there!

Zach Miller is coming home! That is insane!! You all better give him big huge hugs for me!! Same with Jason Bodine if you see him hanging around.. Give him a hug for me too! As well as Brady Hafen!! Better yet hug everyone that I know for me! THanks

Ok, that threw me off my train of thought... I've lost it... I'm coming up blank........... Yeah ok, I give up.

Oh, so translation is looking pretty good! Brother Devalle has had me do some stuff already and he liked it, which is odd because he can't read Chuukese. He's really excited about me helping out with translation, he says there is so much stuff that needs to be translated and they have no one to do it! Translation is based in Guam, but Interpretation is in Salt Lake. Interpretation does the General Conference and any other broadcasts that are translated in Chuukese. Brother Devalle said that Interpretation is full of a bunch of RM's that have been off their missions for 10-15 years. Translation on the other hand just wants anyone and everyone that is knew and fresh. Getting hooked up with him and the translation department is the way to go and I'm stoked about it!

Oh, something else that's cool. President Dowdle is making a formal request to the missionary department that all missionaries assigned to the Micronesia Guam Mission be taught Chuukese in the MTC!!! He says because the Chuukese are everywhere and they are, right now, prepared for the gospel and they are accepting it full on! If they learned it in the MTC they will no doubt use it at some point on their mission and even if they go to Pohnpei or somewhere they will use it and it will help them learn Pohnpeian or Kosraen or whatever it is. Then he talked about how if it was approved they would have two RM living together in BYU that could get the class started............. Elder Sorenson and Me! How sweet would that be!!!! Gangsta!! We don't know yet, but all the missionaries have agreed that it would have helped tremendously to have learned Chuukese....................! What can I say Chuuk is the best!! But you all already knew that............................. right?

Ok, so what was going to be a short letter turned out to be a really long one!

Ai tong ngenikemi! Love you all! Akkaeuin ngeni inach nan! First to mom!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elder Wells "ITO"

I Love Working with Other Missionaries

Ran Allim!

Ok, I'm going to answer your questions right now.... The birthday was good, I made two pans of apple crisp for breakfast and everyone dominated it! The Chuukese class at church somehow found out that it was my birthday so they all sang to me.... I love that class! There were 34 people at the class this past Sunday once again meaning that if you count all the Chuukese kids running around we're pushing 80 Chuukese probably more at church.... That's half the branch!! Later that day Cheech, one of my good Chuuk pwipwi's here in Guam gave me some tuna sasimi (that's raw tuna which is the bomb and a half!!) So I dominated that and called it good!! I did get the box that you sent, thank you so much for sending that dictionary I really appreciate it. Thanks for celebrating my birthday back there in Utah... I bet it was hoppin!

I'm doing good on the answering questions phase right now.... A typical day is pretty much just like any other missionaries day. The only thing a little different is that we have meetings with President Dowdle every week (if we both are in town), we go to departing missionary dinners, we conduct Orientation for new missionaries, we plan and conduct Zone Leader Council, and any other random things that President wants us to do and.............. we travel the islands! ha Other than that stuff not much really. We proselyte pretty much the same hours as all missionaries. Being Zone Leader in Chuuk is much much much more hectic than being an AP. Zone Leaders in Chuuk solve crime! To be honest, I loved being ZL more than AP because it was like I was on the front lines with all the missionaries. I loved it! AP is less hands on with the missionaries, which I do miss. I love working with other missionaries........... and Chuukese (of course).

There is a group of 10 missionaries coming in today and tomorrow and so we will be orienting them on Thursday... I'm pumped about that! Brand new missionaries look so cute and innocent! ha I can't believe that I ever looked like them! ha I'm pretty stoked about it! Especially because I had this sweet idea, and we're going to bring in a projector and do a high tech Power Point Presentation. Orientation had always been known as super boring and I was not going to put up with that, so now we're going to blow everyone's mind with pictures and videos and all sorts of stuff! I'm so pumped about it!!!!

I am 3/4 handicapped right now and there are thousands of missionaries in the office talking to me right now and I can't concentrate or think of anything else to say. Oh yeah, transfers are this week. Sandvik is going back to Pohnpei and Elder Cohlmere is going to be the one who kills me off.ha

Ok I love your faces off! Ai tong ngenikemi esap much, ese tongeni kuch, iwe mei jok pwan ekis nennan uuch!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elter Wells "ITO"

Another Baptism

Neolawas Allim!

Another week gone, man it's flying now! ha Thanks for getting a hold of Elder Sorenson's mom he is so pumped about it!

We had a baptism last week! Erevin Benjamin. Another Chuukese!!! He's 15 years old, although he looks 18, and he's the son of a mom and dad that we just recently helped come back to church! He's a stud! He wants to come teaching with us everyday and he already came with us last night! He's great! One of my favorite things to do is is visit a recent convert the Monday after the convert has been baptized and received the Holy Ghost. I love seeing them that Monday back at their house and see the visible difference in their appearance! It is clear that the Holy Ghost has taken up residence in them and it ,literally, lights them up. They are different people and that might be my favorite part of all! I love it!! And my whole desire when they reach that point is to help them keep it going!

There was another Chuukese woman that was baptized with him! I translated her baptismal interview and she had the sweetest most sincere spirit about her. I know I may be bias, but Chuukese carry a sweet spirit with them, it's discernable sitting down and teaching a lesson with them how much they revere God. God and religion is woven so thickly into their culture that it shows in most everything they do. I think that's amazing! Even those not of our faith are "different" from the majority here in Guam because they honestly want to do God's will, and having that desire changes them and makes their whole life style different. I love it!! I think that for that fact alone is the reason so many Chuukese are baptized.

Last year there were 78 baptisms in Chuuk (the most in 8 years), about half of the baptisms in Guam last year were Chuukese, a portion of Pohnpei's baptisms were Chuukese, and in Yap all outer island Yapese have the same customs and culture as Chuukese (Yap just wanted to claim them) and the majority of Yap's baptisms were those people! I know there was at least a couple Chuukese baptized in Kosrae and Saipan last year. I've told you all before but Chuukese are the greatest! Just the other day Elder Sandvik and I had an experience that proved that point again.

We had a bunch of free time to go "finding" (tracting). 3 hours to be exact and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. ha We had been in it for about 2 hours, just loving life, when we knocked on a door that opened to me hearing a bunch of Chuukese music! I got pumped!! I started talking in Chuukese and we were in the door in about 10 seconds. We sat down and they were offering us ice cold drinks. We had a wonderful lesson with lot's of good questions and they agreed to pray and have us come back. As soon as we were done they brought out plates and called to eat "Sa monga!" We sat down with huge plates of rice and turkey tail and we were talking and joking like we'd been friends for years! We talked all about Chuuk and their families (who I knew) all about anything Chuukese. After we were done eating they brought out packages of cookies, bottled water, bottled juice and anything else they could find to give us before we left. We left with smiles from ear to ear and me looking at Elder Sandvik and saying: "Chuukese are the best... or what?" He agreed (which is a big deal because he served in Pohnpei and pohnpeians don't like Chuukese). Yeah I love Chuukese so much it's almost ridiculous! ha

I love you all that much too, don't worry! Sorry after typing that story all I can think of is Chuuk thoughts so I'll end if off. Love you all take care!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elder Wells "ITO"

Translation, Palau and an Apostle in Chuuk!

4/13/10

Ran Allim Ami!

I gotta tell Zach that you are the best sibling writer in the family. Yep, no question about it. Where are you at in the Book of Mormon Zach, you better not be behind man!

Thanks for getting everything and sending that stuff mom. I went to the Translation department today and filled out the rest of that paper. I think, but I'm not sure, they're going to give me some test in English now and then a test in Chuukese... something like that. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all set up while I'm here so it will be super smooth when I get home. It's interesting, the translation department for all the languages in this mission is located in Guam so there are a few translators that work in the actual building (none for Chuuk) but the great majority work from the United States in coordination with the translation department in Salt Lake. It is something that requires a computer and it works around your own time which, like you said dad, works great for a schedule with swimming. I'm pumped to do it mostly because there are more Chuukese than any of the other islands and they know the least English out of all the islands so it definitely can do a ton of good I'm down for anything to help out my Chuukese pwipwi's. If I get everything set up over here President DeValle(head of translation) could have me trained in the program that they use and after that anything he asks you to translate you work on it. He said it's mostly Church Manuals (there's like two translated ha) First Presidency and Relief Society Messages and a few other things on the side. But that seems to be the majority. I talked to President Dowdle about translation and he was pumped about me doing it because he says that he requests stuff to be translated all the time but the Chuukese translation can't do it because they only have three consistent people and so they do the bare minimum, but when he found out Elder Sorensen and I wanted to translate he got way pumped because then he could get a ton more Chuukese material translated and published. Apparently there's been one returned missionary for the past five years that has done the bulk of Chuukese translation and at times he's the only one. Everyone on Guam knows about translation stuff and when they hear me speaking Chuukese at church they always talk to me about doing translation. There was a fireside more than two months ago where I translated for a couple of speakers and I had at least five different people at General Conference come up to me and compliment me on my Chuukese and how I sounded like a Chuukese person way back at the fireside. I'm always like: "Thanks" but then I'm thinking: "you're Chamorro you don't know Chuukese" or "you're Pohnpeian you didn't have a clue what I was saying". There were a couple of non-Chuukese kids who looked at me, afraid, and then turn to their parents and say: "There's that Chuukese guy." ha ha.

Ok, sorry about that whole thing. The rest of the trip was great! Palau was a part of the FSM but separated and became it's only Republic and is doing really really well. It's really really nice and I guess it's a popular place for celebrities to go visit. Palauan is a crazy language and the missionaries try to learn it but they struggle. Most everyone knows English so the drive to learn the language isn't all there. They always teach in English except for Elder B who knows the most Paluan. I went with him and I told him I didn't want to hear one thing in English from him.... He did great and I was surprised at how well he did. I guess there has been only two or three missionaries who have learned Palaun enough to teach all the lessons. Elder B got through the first lesson three times and I think he took courage after he did that and got excited to really go after the language and tackle it. I think he'll be one that will teach all the lessons in Palaun. Palauns all know English but it's not good English, it's poor and so teaching them in a poor 2nd language it's hard to tap into the emotions of the people. Hopefully it works out. Palauns and Yapese are the most similar looking. They are both really really dark and really really short. I thought I was in Jamaica at times they were so dark. The missionaries were doing great and it was fun to work with them all. I would have to say my favorite island after Chuuk would be Yap or Kosrae. Yap because the outer islanders are really just Chuukese, and Kosrae is just nice. The next time we leave island I'll be going back to CHUUK!!! I'm going to be able to make it back for the dedication of the Mwan Chapel!!!!!! And guess who I'll be going with? You know how Elder Christopherson is coming to Guam, well.... he had a nephew back in the day that served a mission in Chuuk, and he wants to go check it out! So he'll be going to Chuuk and he'll actually dedicate the Mwan chapel as well! That is so cool!!! An Apostle going to Chuuk!!! That's insane! He's only coming to Guam and Chuuk, man Chuuk is so cool! Now I'm started on a Chuuk jimboree I better end soon or you'll get 30 more lines of Chuuk! ha

Since Elder Sorensen is in Chuuk and doesn't have e-mail............. I have his mom's phone number....... He said that she would be up for getting him all signed up if she knew about it. The other guys are here on Guam and I told them about it. They can hook it up with their parents. Her name is........ I can't remember..........Sister Sorensen? ha Sorry I would e-mail her but he can't remember her e-mail address.

General Conference was way good! The talk you liked dad was definitely a good one. The priesthood session in general was outstanding! It was cool to watch all of general conference!

Ok I think I forgot like 36 things I wanted to tell you all but I can't remember them any more!! I'll probably remember as soon as I leave the office! ha

Ua fakkun ennetin unusan tongeikemi!!!!! "I really truly wholey love you guys!!!!!"

Don't die

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak

Elder Wells "Ito"

Yap is Crazy

4/5/10
Ran Allim!!

Thanks mom you're stud! This is random, but you know my pillow with all of you on it? Yeah well everytime an elder sees it they always think that mom is like my older sister or something! When I tell them it's my mom they always comment on how young mom looks, but you all already knew that right? ha And I must say dad that you still look great which is a bonus for me because you know the whole what your mom looks like is how the daughter will turn out and how the dad looks like is how the son will turn out, well I'm in for sure with such great looking parents! Whatever girl sees how good looking my parents are will want to marry me before even seeing me! ha

Ok mom here is my driver license #. Anything else let me know. Thanks again for doing all that you're amazing! I have a question. Do I have a bank account #? If I do could you possibly e-mail that to me. President Devalle needs that information so he can get me hooked up to the translation department. Before I leave they're going to get me trained on the computer program they use so that I can go home and get started. Elder Sorensen first name is Colby. The other two talked to me about it and I was like for sure pwipwis and there names are Mitchell Hatch, and Chandler Walpole. I hope they'll get on it.

I'm in Yap right now and they have internet that works pretty darn good! We don't have a lot of time so I'll hit you all up with the news of the trip when I get back. Yap is crazy! The people are way different than Chuukese! But they have outer island Yapese that live on Yap and they live exactly like Chuukese! Their language is closer to Chuukese and I could understand them when they spoke to me! The outer Yap islands are way close to the outer islands of Chuuk and Chuuk in general. They're nothing like the main island Yapese and Yapese and the outer islanders don't really like each other so I think that they should just become part of Chuuk! Palau is the last place in the mission that I haven't been to but of the islands that I've been to they should just call this the Chuuk mission because Chuukese are everywhere! There was a Yapese guy that was talking to me yesterday and he said that Chuukese are like the Philipino's and the Mexicans... they're everywhere!! ha I think that is an exaggeration but it's pretty close! Chuukese are the bomb!

There are almost as many outer island Yapese as there are Yapese on this island and since their languages aren't close at all (they're hardly related) it's a struggle in church. We went to church here and it was all in English, it was good they have a very nice chapel here and all the missionary houses are all very nice! It's been super fun and we'll be flying out to Palau tonight at 10:00 pm. Short night. We'll be back in Guam this friday!

Peace I gotta go!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!!

Saipan is "islandy"

3/28/10

Ran Allim ngenikemi ika neran nge nepong annim ika nepwin!

Man, so we're having Zone Conference tomorrow, which means that P-Day is today.... Yeah bad idea whoever came up with that idea! So I don't know what to say to you guys because you didn't say anything to me, but we went to Saipan and that was really fun! Elder Mafile'o is a stud!! I love him! Saipan was nice, similar to Guam but not as big and it was a lot slower which I enjoyed a lot! It had a more "islandy" feel if you know what I mean. It was really fun to work with the four elders up there and I even taught three or four Chuukese lessons so that was the bomb! There were quite a bit of Filipino's and there is a Filipino elder up there so I sat in a bunch of Tagalog lessons! Which is kinda nuts. I go to Pohnpei and Kosrae and sit in lessons where I don't know anything that is going on... Then I go to Saipan and sit in a bunch of lessons where I don't what is going on because it's all in Tagalog! ha

Ok so now I got a big favor... ha Elder Sorensen got accepted to BYU!!!!! He went to Boise State before he came out but he didn't want to go back so he got on the ball and applied for BYU after I talked him into it... and he got accepted!! So this is the favor! Since he just barely got accepted he doesn't have anywhere to live or anything soooooooooo when he called in for numbers on Sunday from Chuuk and he told me all this I was like brother I know a woman who does work like no other human being can and she can get not only you hooked up but me as well and whoever else is in on the party! So if you haven't guessed yet I was talking about you mom. ha Because you see here is the plan. Elder Sorensen and I know Chuukese like we were born there (something close to that) so Bro. Devalle (head of translation) is trying to get us to do translation stuff when we get home. I could talk a lot about that but anyway the real fact of the matter is that there are only three people on the Chuukese translation team and they honestly don't know that good of Chuukese because Elder Sorensen and I read their stuff and it doesn't make sense, but anyway, doing translation means money! And that is something that I will definitely not have a lot of when I get back! ha So translation is the way to go for some kind of date money. ha ha But Elder Sorensen and I are going to work together to translate everything they can throw at us! Yeah so you see where this is leading? I told President Dowdle and he was more than fully supportive of him and I translating and even more so on us living together. So what I would like to do more than anything is to be able to live with Elder Sorensen somewhere. That would be my number one choice over anything and anyone (except if Zach Miller could room with us as well that would be number one!) So I know I've asked for a lot of stuff recently but this one and a Chuukese dictionary are the only ones that really matter, and a room with Sorensen is the number one. Soooo there it is, I feel bad because I just say something and then leave you all hanging. But I love you all so much!

Thank you Mckenzie for writing your letter early so I had some letter to read! You're a stud!!


Love you all!
Tong Ennet fit Jaiwak,

Elder Wells "Ito"

More baptisms!

Ran Allim ami!

I don't know if I'll be able to pull another letter out like last time. Man that thing was long!! But so much good stuff happened I just had to let you all know! Well last Saturday Sampo got baptized! It was a wonderful service, and a lot different than any baptismal service that happened in Chuuk! It seemed so organized and everyone was on time... I didn't know what to do with myself. His whole family is Chuukese so it was pretty much a Chuukese baptismal service and I was asked to give a talk on baptism again so I gave it mostly in Chuukese and threw in some English because I felt bad for the branch president and the other missionaries that were there! Enrik baptized him! Enrik is another studly Chuukese guy from Toloas that is preparing to go on a mission! He should be getting it this week! He's amazing and is already so ready and focused to go on a mission! I love him to death and being able to work with him definitely keeps me sane! We're promise brothers so he's always got my back and he'll feed me a lot and I got his back and help him out with whatever it is that he wants! Yesterday he spent the whole day teaching with us! Which was awesome because me and him just tore it up teaching all the Chuukese here Guam! He's a stud and is one of the best parts about being in Guam. Him and another Chuukese guy named Cheech. He's my brother too, and he comes and helps us teach a lot as well!

Just yesterday Me, Cheech, Enrik and Elder Tew (I was on an exchange) went and set up four chicken traps for a member. The member's name is Tavita and he's a blind Samoan that wants to eat chicken way bad! ha ha So I told him that I got some Chuukese friends that could help him out! We went to his house and set em' all up and he's going to be eating fresh chicken by tonight! He's a stud, and he wants to learn Chuukese so that he can come to the Chuukese class on Sunday because he loves Chuukese people too, especially Enrik and Cheech. He just calls me "the Chuukese guy" and I call him pwipwi (which is like sole or si'i in or brutha) in Chuukese and he loves it! I'm pumped to call him and see if he caught a rooster because if he did he's gonna give it to Cheech and Enrik. Yeah they're studs!


There are two more Chuukese boys that we are teaching that came to church last Sunday and should be getting baptized on the 17th of April! I'm pumped for that as well! I might say it too much for you all but Chuukese are definitely the greatest people ever! Oh yeah so transfers happened and Elder Sorenson is going back to Chuuk!!!!! He's so lucky! But Chuuk needs him! He needs to get the missionaries there whipped back into shape. I just wish I could be more apart of it. I wish I could be in the front lines with Elder Sorenson kicking trash and taking names. ha (figuratively) But he'll do a great job! Those definitely had to be the three greatest transfers ever! The three transfers Sorenson and I were together were amazing! I miss his guts. He's actually extending so he'll go home a transfer after me which means I'll be at his homecoming! Yeah!

Ok, before I forget could you send me the memory cards back please? I'm out of room on the one that I have right now and I need to take lot's more pictures! And one other huge favor. If you could find time could you look and see if they sell any Chuukese dictionaries online? I know there was one that was published because I saw it in Chuuk but if there's one online that would be sweet. The guy that did it was named Ward H. Goodenough. He lived for like 60 years on Romalum and then wrote a dictionary with the help of University of Hawaii. That would be so so so awesome but if you can't no worries.

We're flying to Saipan tomorrow morning and we'll be back in Guam on Friday. Elder Mafile'o is in Saipan so I'm pretty pumped to go see him and work with him again. He and Elder Mabey are companions now. They're studs! And I love them.

Anything else I need to do for school or for swimming? Tim knows I'm coming right? You can tell him that I'm going to blow him out of the water! ha Anymore news on BYU swimming? I'm working out extra hard in the morning now. ha Well as much as I can in 30 minutes and it's a lot easier to keep off weight here in Guam because I don't like this food that we get here that much, and they don't have parties where you eat until you fall over and go to sleep. ha So I'm looking good. Watch out!

Hey don't forget I love you all! So don't be going anywhere! Mckenzie guess what!? I had a dream that we raced.... I can't remember who won but it must have been me because my brain can't dream up something that is impossible! ha ha ha

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elter Wells "Ito"

I Still LOVE Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae are pretty cool too.

This one is kind of long but we didn't get one last week and he was updating us on the new islands he went to which is pretty interesting. ---K


Fakkun Ran Allim Chapur Ngenikemi!!

Ifa ussen ekkana inis? How are those bodies doing? ha Man! It was so good to go back to Chuuk! It was so good and all the members and Recent Converts were doing so well! They are all amazing and were so beautiful! Chuukese are the most beautiful of all the Micronesians by far and I was reminded of that again as I went and saw them! I love them so much, and now I'm homesick for Chuuk. ha We went to all the areas that are open in Chuuk which right now is only Romalum, Mwan, Mechitiw, and Sapuk. Not too many but it was so good to see everyone! It was so great because after being Zone Leader for a while I knew tons of people in every area so each area I went to there was always someone that I was just dieing to see and it was so good to see them and talk to them! It was really overwhelming and I am a girl so of course I cried a lot, but definitely the happiest part of the tour and one of the happiest moments in my life was to be able to be at Mensi's baptism! It was amazing! To have found him and his family, to teach them, and work with them to baptism only to get pulled out of Chuuk the Thursday before they were getting baptized was rough, but the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen and it was indeed a very tender mercy for me to be able to attend the baptism of the father (his wife and daughter had been baptized on that week that I left)! Samone and Marsine and their family were at the baptism along with Matasio and his family and Estino and Mensi's wife and daughter were there as well!! I was asked to give a talk on baptism and I was pumped to do so! When I got up in the front of that rickety old chapel and looked at all those people that I loved so much, that I had labored with so much, with Mensi all in white (along with Matasio who baptized him) was too much for this heart of mine to handle and I, physically, almost fainted. I cried a good amount and talked about baptism and how this choice Mensi and his family had made was going to change their lives forever, just look at Samone and Matasio's families. He got baptized and it was studly and everyone was pumped out of their minds and I was just running around like a chicken talking to everybody. ha Mormon's abridgment of Ammon's experience with King Lamoni and the queen (Alma19), to me, is descriptive of what I felt. Except for in Ammon's account he was overpowered with joy and did in fact faint. That is definitely not a play on words or any other weird concept but it literally meant his body and mind was full of so much joy that his physical frame couldn't take it. It is real, I have felt that way. I honestly was at the brink of being overpowered by joy and sinking to the ground. The only thing that kept me going is I had a talk to give:) ha. Ok I could talk about that forever but I'll move on.

Chuuk was the first place we visited. Pohnpei was next on our stop. It was crazy!! It was similar to Chuuk but at the same time not similar at all. It was huge!!! It was a sprawling metropolis compared to Chuuk!! The roads were nice, stores were nice, all the houses were very nice (especially missionary ones). It blew my mind! I had imagined it being similar to Chuuk seeing that they are both apart of the FSM but it was not. Much much much more developed! It was crazy!! Lot's of people knew English and even crazier is that there are about 4,000 outer island Chuukese that live in select areas on Pohnpei!! The first day I got there I taught four lessons in Chuukese on Pohnpei! It was nuts! In Chuuk only Chuukese are there and I thought that was how it was everywhere. Guess not. Pohnpei is really really green! Lots and lots of thick dense trees in Pohnpei it’s more jungly like than Chuuk is, but I suppose that that is due to the fact that all the islands in Chuuk are way too small to have a jungle! ha The whole island is surrounded by mangrove trees so you rarely see the ocean which was odd. They have a nice road that goes all the way around the island with a bunch of other roads that get me all confused. The mountains are really quite tall in Pohnpei and they have insanely steep roads going up them that are impossible to bike up and a pain and a half to walk up! ha Pohnpeians, I guess, like to live more in seclusion and while I was there we did some finding and we’d get on a trail and walk 45 minutes not seeing a single person until we got to the end of the trail and there was a house there. It was nuts! Similar to Wichap but multiplied by 5. We worked with all the elders and drove all the way around the island, we went to a district meeting and they have four sisters on that island as well which was cool to hear them speaking Pohnpeian. The elders were all very nice and seemed to be doing great! Oh yeah, it was kind of overcast the whole time I was there and I guess that is how it is all the time. Apparently it’s the 2nd most rainiest place on earth. I road on a bike for the first time in probably over 2 years and that was weird… I wasn’t too good at it, especially being with an elder that had been riding bikes for the past 8-9 months on his mission! ha We got there on Monday and stayed until Friday. Friday morning we took off to Kosrae!

Kosrae was very very pretty! I really liked Kosrae but I have no idea why a plane would fly into that place! No one lives there! ha Well I believe there’s like 8,000 people on the island but it’s the second biggest island in the FSM so it feels like no one is there. It is really nice though. They had a nice restaurant that we ate at that was on a plank path out into the mangroves! You can see the ocean a lot in Kosrae and I enjoyed that because in Pohnpei and Guam I didn’t or don’t see it that often. Chuuk you see it all the time like Kosrae so it reminded me of Chuuk. There are four missionaries on Kosrae along with a couple and all their houses are way nice!! I was blown away! If you were to take the worst living conditions/ apartment/ house, out of all the islands except Chuuk and then took the best living conditions of missionaries in Chuuk it wouldn’t even compare. The best conditions in Chuuk are light years behind the worst conditions on any other island. ha Here I thought all this time that all the missionaries were living like me on Chuuk (with the exception of Guam and Saipan) when in reality they have been living in luxury! It’s insane the difference! Chuuk is definitely not for the faint of heart. I honestly was dumbfounded. But then again I’m a Chuuk thug. ha Kosrae was great! The language didn’t sound anything like Chuukese or Pohnpeian (which do have some similarities) but the elders seemed to have it down pretty good. The road is really nice and flat and smooth there as well. We rode around on beach cruiser bikes the whole day which was sweet! I would have like to spend more time on Kosrae but we took a flight out of Kosrae Midday on Saturday. We just taught a bunch of lessons and had a good time talking about the mission. The ZL’s house was way cold, it reminded me of Guam. If someone were to ask me which island in the FSM they should go vacation at I would say Kosrae. It's a little tropical island with beautiful beaches, clear water and they had some really nice hotels. Don’t get me wrong Chuuk is definitely the best of all the islands by far. It puts everyone in the dust. But because tourists aren’t usually up for the craziness of Chuuk (not tough enough) Kosrae would be a nice place because nothing big ever happens there. It’s just peaceful. President says it reminds him a lot of Kauai(Hawaii).

After the tour my love for Chuukese people grew even more because they live, in general, in more humbling circumstances than the other islands. I love Chuuk so much! So this Saturday Sampo should be getting baptized! ha We just found some more Chuukese that are great and they’ll be getting baptized soon as well! If I can’t be in Chuuk and baptize I guess I'll just baptize Chuukese in Guam! Next week we’ll be flying to Saipan to go work with the missionaries there! And then two weeks after that we’ll fly out to Yap and then Palau.

Congrats Zach on winning your tournament bro. But I gotta tell you that Chuukese are known for being good at basketball and volleyball and I dominate in both of those now! ha Sorry this is a long one and I can’t remember what you all said but I really do love you guys a lot and I pray for you all to do well. Kelsey keep training hard! McKenzie you’re a stud! Zach keep trying to be like me! Syd you’re the cutest of us all! ha Mom and Dad I hope you have a super stellar time in Palm Springs!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elder Wells “Ito”

P.S……………..Ummm I can’t remember anymore ha

Never a missionary in February again

Ran Allim!!

I'll never be a missionary in the month of February again. Weird that I can say that every time we leave a month.ha You can e-mail to either e-mail address, the church has changed the e-mail service and my lds mail is now powered by google and is exactly like Gmail and runs a lot better apparently. I wouldn't know the difference seeing as I just started but hey it's cool. I actually think that anyone can use it but I don't know. ha The old account will just forward everything to the new one so either or.ha

We had a good week of teaching lot's of Chuukese people which only enhances a good week into a marvelous week! I love them so so so much! It seems that anytime I ever write anybody I tell them how much I love Chuukese people but it's pretty much the number one thing on my mind all the time so I think that's why it comes out so frequently. Anyways they're all studs and I love their faces off and I'm so pumped out of my mind because this Friday we are going to CHUUK! We are going to go to all the islands on the west half of the mission so we'll visit Pohnpei and Kosrae as well but we could skip those and just spend the whole time in Chuuk and I would be happy as a clam! We'll be gone for a week and half or so, and mother I don't know if we'll e-mail but if it's possible I will. The only place it's not possible is in Chuuk because Chuuk is for thugs!ha I'm excited to see all the members and Recent Converts in Mwan and Romalum and I'm going to stuff myself full with all the Chuukese food in the world because I'm going through withdrawals without it here in Guam, man! It is so good! Oh and guess what the best thing is!? Elder Kuss and I found a family before I left Chuuk and they were going to get baptized on the Saturday of the week that I left for Guam (lame right) Well the wife and the daughter got baptized but it turned out the husband needed to be interviewed by President Dowdle and he is supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday!!!! So I should be able to see it because we are spending Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday in Chuuk!!!! I'm so crazily pumped out of my world I'm so excited!!!................Yeah so life is good here no complaints! ha

Kelsey, Elder Mabey, my MTC comp is living with me and he is way into Triathlons!! He's pumped that you're doing them. He said a great way to train is 3,3,3. 3 swimming workouts, 3 biking workouts, and 3 running workouts a week. He said spread it out nicely to give your knees time to recover from those workouts. He said it's just an idea but he's pretty hard core so I would do it. ha

Thanks for all the sweet updates about the Olympics, I hope you have recorded all that.... And dad I tell all the missionaries about how you just get to listen to General Authorities all the time and they're all way jealous. ha That's so gangsta that you got to listen to Elder Bednar and don't go forgetting those stories because you bettcha I'll be asking you about them! Which reminds me Elder Christofferson is coming to Guam in May!!! Crazy! President Dowdle is way excited about it but he says they haven't said for what reason he's coming out. Everyone is hoping that he will create a stake but it's all up in the air. Either way he will be having a missionary meeting and a member meeting so it's going to be awesome!! Missionaries here from Guam say that when General Authorities come to Guam they usually interview the Assistants. I don't know about that but they said it happened to a couple of Assistants the last time one came...... Yeah so that would be intense, but that's far away. Hopefully Guam will be able to become a stake because that would be super neat to be here for!

My dearest little pwipwi (Zach) I am afraid that you will never be able to beat me at anything, including basketball. It reminds me of a Chuukese saying "Ese wor namwotan kapas, ika ese fiti foffor." Which says " There is no need for words if your actions can't back it up!

Mckenzie I love you and I love dancing! You should too!

Sydnee you're so pretty!

Love you all like nothing else!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elder Wells "Ito"

Chuuk, Chuukese, Chuukese . . . . . . . . . . . . I love them!

2/22/10
Fakkun Ran Allim chapur ngenikemi!!

Man, that was a good week of e-mails!! Thanks everyone! I'm still kicking around out here in the middle of the Pacific all systems are go! Sometimes I forget I'm on an island... Guam is sooooo big! But on a map it looks super teeny tiny, but after being in Chuuk for so long I can hardly classify Guam as an island. ha

Alright I'll give you the low down on my comp before I forget. His name is Elder Sandvik, he's actually a convert of about 2 1/2 years now. He is from Portland, Oregon and is the only member in his family, which is pretty neat. He served in Guam for 4 months then in Pohnpei for about a year and he's been back in Guam for about 4 months. He's a good guy, really dedicated.

Me being from Chuuk everything is very laid back and you have to adapt to that or you will definitely go crazy (especially on an island of 600... Romalum), and I had no problem with that seeing as I started out in Romalum.ha But it seems everywhere else in the mission is go go go all eight cylinders all the time! ha Which is good but I'm from a different world and getting adjusted to that is crazy. ha

This week I had another funny experience with my Chuukese. We ran into some Chuukese that knew really really good English, which is very odd. Anyway, I spoke to them in English and they looked at me and asked me if I was from Romalum. I told them that I served in Romalum while I was in Chuuk for about four months and then they just gave me this dumbfounded look. They said my English sounded like I was from Romalum! I didn't know that was possible but I won't lie I was stoked about that! Then a missionary serving in Palau that is from Chuuk said the same thing when I gave our Zone Leader Council training that I sounded like I was from Romalum the whole time I was training and so I started listening to myself and you know what? I did! ha It's crazy but it makes me happy! ha

Our Zone Leader council went well except for the fact that only half the ZL's showed up. ha The flight that picks up Pohnpei, Kosrae and Chuuk just decided not to come. So they stayed on their islands and they'll be flying in next week so that we can do another ZL Council for them! Gangsta! I'm so pumped to see Elder Kuss! I love his guts and I miss him a ton. We trained on Chapters 8&9 in Preach My Gospel and so we kind of took the needs of the mission and trained on how Chapters 8&9 can help fix those. It went really well with a lot of input from the Zone Leaders which always makes it better. The best part is thinking of sweet ideas and activities that we can do so that the Zone Leaders don't fall asleep on us. I came up with some good ones! ha The idea behind the activities is like what you talked about dad; about remembering the spirit and what we felt from the Zone Conference or the Zone Leader Council. The activities are easy to remember and it will bring back the feeling and emotions that were tied to that activity and to that conference, so the more memorable the better!

It looks like we'll be flying out to Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae in two weeks. We'll spend a week and a half visiting the islands and the missionaries on them and I'm pumped out of my mind to be going back to Chuuk! Speaking of Chuuk, the Zone Leaders got kicked out of their house by a mob of men Friday night! ha The new church is almost done and the Chuukese men are getting antsy and they really want the old church and the missionary house for their own. So late Friday night they came to the missionary house and told them they had to leave. Poor Kuss and Cherrington. Kuss was able to talk them into sleeping the night and then the next morning they took off to go live in Wichap with all their stuff. I'm sad I missed out on that! Now I'm not saying that they couldn't handle themselves but Kuss is a very humble very submissive Chuukese man. So a group of men coming to their house would equal Kuss agreeing to whatever they wanted. If I was there it would have been a different story... there is no way I would've been kicked out of that house! They would have had to physically remove me from the house if they were serious and I'm not just kidding! As soon as I heard that they got kicked out I had about ten different approaches I would've taken to the men and I'm positive we would've stayed in that house. Now I'm not boasting, don't get me wrong, but I've already dealt with people trying to get me off our land and I worked them over, all except for in Paata (But to be fair Paata people are a lot crazier than those from Weno). Yeah so anyway I was pretty disappointed about not being there for all the excitement it would have been a blast!!

The box came!! Thank you so much for that blanket!!!! I can survive at night now! Thanks for those cookies too! They were soft, and all the missionaries loved them! Oh man! Nerisa, the girl we baptized from Paata along with her Grandma and Grandpa came to Guam and the missionaries found them!!!! She is living with her real mom and dad and with all her brothers and sisters and I just talked to the missionaries and they said they're all golden and will definitely get baptized!! I'm so pumped about that!!! I'm going to have to work out an exchange with those missionaries so that I can go see her and her family and get them baptized!! She is so cute and her family is going to get baptized because they're all the blood of Abraham! Man! I love Chuukese!!

Ok, I gotta brag about the Chuukese real quick. The Chuukese in Guam are the people that missionaries have the most success with. Why? Because they are the most humble of islanders and they always want to learn about God! They're studs! There are Chuukese young men here in Guam that are preparing to serve missions, one actually just sent his papers in, and they all are just the most amazing investigators!! Every missionary here in Guam will tell you that Chuukese are the most humble and most accepting of the gospel! They just don't know english and most of the missionaries here don't know Chuukese so they progress slowly! There's just not enough Chuukese speakers! So yeah Chuukese are the bomb and my new Chuukese family here in Guam fed me some mai "breadfruit" the other day and it made my world! I love them so much!

Ok this is a really long one. Wow! Ua fakkun tongeikemi seni anonnonen puei! "I love you all from the deepness of my belly button!"

Keept it real my pwipwi's

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!
Elder Wells "Ito"

I'm Half Chuukese

2/15/10
Ran Allim ami!

I'm alive! But I guess that's not any real surprise now that I'm in Guam.ha Last week when I got on e-mail I had tons of e-mails and that was exciting! This week There was two! From mom and dad, but they were the only ones who sent me letters anyway... So to all you siblings who said that because you could e-mail it would be easier to write, you kinda lied. ha I'm kidding it's all good, but definitely not as fun to get e-mails. Letters in the Post Office Box are the undoubtedly best!

I haven't seen the box as of yet, but I'm sure it'll get here. I mean I'm on Guam, what could possibly go wrong? Those recruits to BYU sound good, keep me updated. Sometimes I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about going back and swimming, how much it's going to hurt and how it's going to drive me crazy that those young guys will be beating me because of two years out of the water!ha

President Dowdle tends to feel that it's better to go home and then come back, that way the missionary could do things that he couldn't do on his mission, especially in these islands. But I'm cool with whatever you guys are cool with. I kind of think it would be cool to come home and that be it, and then come back at a later time (if at all possible). Because then it would have been a longer time since I'd seen all the people and I think it would be a sweeter reunion. And I'm not gonna lie I definitely want to swim in the water!

Ok, Sampo is the name of the Chuukese kid that will get baptized in March and he's being studly as of now! He came to church last week and enjoyed the Chuukese class. In our branch there is a Sunday School class that's just in Chuukese! Chuukese are the most populous people in Micronesia and they are everywhere. At least that's what it seems like when you talk to anybody who's lived in Guam for a while. So he went to that, and I usually go as well because I get so darn happy when I get to hang with all Chuukese for and hour. He's a stud!

I am able to use Chuukese every day. Usually one lesson a day is average. But there have been some days where I've taught 4-5 lessons in Chuukese and those are bomb days! The Chuukese are in certain areas and the Assistants before Elder Sandvik and I never really went to those areas because the Chuukese in Guam have limited English. But ever since I got here we've been spending more time in those areas because I speak Chuukese. That's actually the reason my companion is learning Chuukese because we actually spend enough time in Chuukese areas where there are sometimes hours on end when all spoken is Chuukese and he doesn't like being out of the conversation and not knowing what's going on, so he's learning it so he can know what's going down!

I have a thick Romalum accent and everywhere I go in Guam all the Chuukese look at me way funny because once I speak they hear my accent and they look all confused because I'm white.ha It's so funny! Then I always tell them that I'm from Utah but I'm half Chuukese and that my dad was from Romalum, and they believe it! Just sometimes really confused about how I turned so white. It earns a lot of respect that I have an accent, because it means I don't sound like a white person with a crazy accent trying to speak Chuukese, rather I am a white person that speaks Chuukese. Most people fall into the white person, crazy accent, trying to speak Chuukese category but Elder Sorenson and I broke it. I'm not boasting, this is what Chuukese themselves have said, Elder Kuss (and others) in specific.

Yesterday I had my first Guam Zone Conference. We trained along with the Zone Leaders. We didn't have to train nearly as long as I did in Chuuk as Zone Leader and it was interesting and enjoyable to be sitting and listening to the majority of the training. Our training was supposed to kind of spice things up so everyone doesn't get bored of listening to the Zone Leaders for hours on end, so I got up and rocked their socks off Chuuk style! ha They didn't know what hit them.

Tonight all the Zone Leaders are flying in from the other islands for Zone Leader Council tomorrow. We will be training the Zone Leaders all of tomorrow and then go bowling (my idea). Guess how long we get to train for. From 9am to 5pm! With an hour lunch and a President Dowdle presentation. But the great majority is us!! I don't know if I have seven hours of things to talk about!! ha It'll be great! We have lot's of activities that will keep everyone moving so no one will fall asleep on us, which is actually my biggest worry.ha

It'll be super! I love your faces off!

Don't die!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!
Elder Wells "Ito"

"English, Elder Wells, English"

Wonei! I checked my e-mail and there were so many! I was blown out of the water! It was insane! Thanks a million and a half it was great to here from you all again. I think the last time I heard from everybody was way back when I started this whole thing! ha

McKenzie that article about you was way cool!! You look very pretty in your picture as well. I really like the part about me in there... ha You're amazing, those times sound fantastic! Speaking of times, I had my best times posted above my bed for my whole mission as goals to achieve when I returned but when I left Chuuk I forgot the paper. Could you get a list or something of my best times so that I can make a new goal sheet here? That would be awesome.

Kelsey!!!!!!!! You're alive! Thanks for your letter, and you're going to buy a car... that's nuts! You can just continue to tell everybody that I serve in Chuuk because that's definitely where my heart is, so just tell people that. There are actually lot's of Chuukese on Guam and my love for Chuukese people has exponentially grown over these two weeks!! I love their faces off!! Every time I see them it makes my day and I go into Chuukese mode and just sit and talk with them for a good amount of time, while my companion sits and looks bored. ha... So now he's learning Chuukese! I'm teaching him Chuukese and we only speak Chuukese when we're in the car, so pretty much I'm just talking my head off to him so that I can remember Chuukese and he just sits in a half smile stupor. ha ha It's great, and we actually teach quite a few Chuukese people and so I teach them in Chuukese which is so much more comfortable. Actually when we're sitting in English lessons it has happened multiple times where I'll be teaching and I'll be getting all excited while I'm speaking and than Elder S will tap me on the knee and say: "English, Elder Wells, english" Than I realize that I've been speaking Chuukese to the people for 15-20 sec. depending on when Elder S decides to stop me. One time he didn't stop me and I guess I kept going for minutes... ha It's hard to think in English again, and if I can put some cohesive English together it's usually a Chuukese sentence that I translated into English which sounds funny! ha ha It's good though and I'm still doing wonderful missionary work.

Changing from Chuuk to Guam was shocking for my body. I'm freezing every night. (my bed is a mattress that feels so cold and I'd rather not sleep on it so I tried the ground but that's just tile and even colder than the mattress so I just end up freezing either way) I keep getting bloody noses because... I don't know why. I think it's the aircon but Guam is definitely not as humid as Chuuk. It's not nearly as hot either, even when I'm outside I don't sweat, but man in Chuuk, you step out the door for a minute and you're sweating away. I don't see the ocean every day, and that's very disconcerting. I've seen the ocean everyday of mission until I came to Guam, it's weird and I don't really like that. I like the water! But there is this 50m racing pool that's close to our apartment and I stare at it the whole time we drive past it. It's so beautiful I never thought a pool could look so beautiful, but it does!

So my new job I get to plan sweet trainings for the Zone Leaders and other missionaries and have meetings with President Dowdle where we discuss transfers and a bunch of other confidential information, we go on exchanges with missionaries and once a transfer we go on tour to half of the mission and the next transfer we go to the other half. So yes, I will see all the islands in Micronesia and yes I will return to Chuuk twice which I'm pumped out of my mind about!! I'm surprised that mom knows all about that! How do you find all that out?!

We have a Chuukese boy who will be getting baptized the beginning of March and he's a stud! I've been asking everyone and their dog for breadfruit "Mai" here in Guam but I haven't had any yet. I'm going through withdrawals going without breadfruit, taro, tapioca, and fresh reef fish. Going insane is a better word for it, I don't know what to eat here! ha I have so many options and all I want is simply delicious "kon" pounded breadfruit with a "sashimi" style reef fish. Wonei!!! That's good!

I love missionary work and I do like Guam, but Chuuk is the bomb I'm not going to lie. Oh yeah, there was a family that Elder Kuss and I found and taught in Chuuk that was baptized last Saturday!! I would've been there but I was uprooted from Chuuk and placed here. ha But they got baptized, that's what really matters and they're straight up studs!

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for your letters and support! The mailing address is correct mom so you can send boxes here. I miss getting letters!! Letters are much more exciting!! But boxes are always exciting no matter where I am... at least I'm pretty sure(you should probably send one and try)ha

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak!

Elder Wells "Ito"

A Fish Out of Water

I will definitely be doing e-mail here seeing as that I get free e-mail here in the office because I'm in here part of the time. Wonei!

I don't know what in the world I'm doing here in Guam, I feel like I'm a fish out of water and it blows my mind! I could tell you all so much but it would take pages and pages because everything I do is a new experience! Like knocking on doors! I knocked on my first door of my mission the other day, and that was nuts, I also gave my first door approach and that was a memorable one! I'm still getting grief about it. You'll have to remember to ask me about it when I return.

Right now I'm with Elder Sandvik and Elder Brown, I will be replacing Elder Brown and let me tell you all, they are experienced Guam missionaries. I'm an experienced Chuuk missionary but that accounts for jack squat here on Guam and I feel as if I'm centuries behind them. I'm just on a steep learning curve.

I live in an apartment with the office elders. The Ap's and the office elders stay together because they work together a lot. The apartment is huge by the way! I think if you took every house that I stayed in in Chuuk and put them together that this apartment would be quite bigger! It blows my mind!. There's so much room everywhere! It's fun though to have four elders all the time. there is a real weight bench in the apartment and that's gangster so I can still lift so I'm pumped about that!

I'm now cruising around in this sweet minivan and I'm freezing all the time because the aircon's are insanely powerful!! I keep expecting power to go off at any minute but it never does and I sometimes catch myself wondering why the power company does such a good job here. Guam definitely isn't as hot as Chuuk, it's definitely not as green as Chuuk either, but their are quite a few Chuukese here in Guam and it makes my day whenever I meet one because then i can just speak all the Chuukese I want and I feel like I know a little bit of where I am. Then when I'm done talking to the Chuukese person my head is in a whirlwind again and I don't know what I'm doing. They do missionary work at night which is weird and I need to get used to. They wake up later because they don't need light to do missionary work here like in Chuuk. My shirts never seem to get dirty. They don't have sweat stains or anything like that at the end of the day and so I feel that I can wear my shirts for 3 or 4 days... so I do! Oh man and pants never get dirty here I could go for weeks with the same pants. I was actually thinking that I could go 3-4 weeks without doing laundry here, but I guess I'll follow the crowd and do it every week. I'm convinced that my clothes would get dirtier in week in Chuuk than 5 weeks in Guam and I'd be fully willing to go that long without doing laundry. Don't think I'm weird or uncivil but that's really my honest belief after having served in Chuuk.

Thank you so much for those pictures of the Josephs they absolutely loved them!!! It was so fun to see them look at those pictures!! It blew them away they were so pumped!! Thank you so so so so so much for doing that! They will remember you all forever. They said to give an extra thanks to you from them, they wanted to do something for you all but I said that if they just remembered that they had family that lived in Orem Utah that would be enough. They agreed! Which means that you all have a family in Chuuk!! That's something special let me tell you. That poster was so cool!!

Ok, i could go on forever and ever but I gotta stop because I need to go play some sweet volleyball!!

Tong Jaiwak!!,
Elder Wells "Ito"

oh man no one is going to call me that anymore.

Elder Wells leaving for Guam

Practically Rips My Heart Out

19 January 2010

Ran Allim ai famini!

Sorry about missing a week, Elder Kuss went to Guam to get checked up on for his sickness and I spent the next week and a half out of my area in Sapuk and that threw just about everything off, then when Elder Kuss got back we had to cram for Zone Conference that same week, but all is well and I’m alive and loving life!

Zone Conference went really well, I think after 9 months I really got the hang of it! ha It was spiritual and many good things were discussed and in my interview with President Dowdle he said in his own words: “I just LOVED Zone Conference today!” So that was great.

Speaking of my interview with President Dowdle I guess it’s a good time to inform you all that this will be my last letter from Chuuk. . . . . .

The time has come, my number has been called, the future is set, I’m going to Guam. That was the outcome of my interview with President Dowdle. Funny thing is I knew it was coming. Since the start of this transfer I had a feeling my time was short. As the end of the transfer got closer I became more worried about this feeling. ha I started praying for long periods of time trying to appeal to the Lord that I should stay in Chuuk longer; I even fasted for it but the feelings and promptings I received from the Spirit confirmed my nervousness, it was solidified when I heard it come from President’s mouth, but I already knew. It’s everything I never wanted but . . . . . . I am supposed to be in Guam. And that confirmation received from the Spirit is the only consolation I have . . . . I am supposed to be there.

I’m crying as I write this because the thought of leaving Chuuk practically rips my heart out. It’s already the hardest thing I’ve done and I still have a week left. No offense, when I left home I knew I’d see you all again in two years but leaving these Chuukese I don’t know when I’ll see them again and it hurts to think about that. I love them so darn much!

Anyways, I’m done writing about that, that took too long and I cried too much. I have a week left and I ‘m going to make the most of it! :)

Yep so that crazy interview with President threw me for one! It threw me even a little further as we talked about what I’ll be doing in Guam. I guess it turns out that I’ll be an assistant to the President, so that will definitely bring some new experiences.

Today is Elder Lange’s birthday, whom I dearly love, and Elder Tuaitanu’s birthday was on Sunday so today we are getting together and having a Chuukese feast!! Pounded breadfruit, fire roasted chicken/meat, fish cooked in coconut milk, rice and coconuts!! Woneii!! It’s going to be good and I’m going to get so fat and I don’t even care!! ha :)

Ok, love your guts take care and don’t die. Ai tong esap much ngenikemi!
Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak,


Elder Wells “Ito”

Taketobi (bottom) Pokocho Chief, his wife Kisako making tempura

Elders Coming in from the Outer Islands

How they Shower in Chuuk!

Check out the food he's eating

Sending Sorenson off to Guam

The Craziness Continues

29 Dec 2009

Ran Allim sefon ngeni kemi!

It was great to talk to you all I hope you all had a super duper Christmas and are ready for school again! ha

On Saturday after I talked to you guys I saw my kids off to their islands, I cleaned up our nuclear bombed house, got a transfer plan of sorts finished, and then had two lessons and another Christmas party to go to! I’ve eaten so much food in the past little while I don’t know what to do with myself. The amount of food I have eaten is amazing, but Chuukese food just makes me keep eating and eating until I have to lay down and rest. ha

This week is already pretty crazy, on Monday during our District Meeting Elder Mitton caught a boat into Weno and called us from the dock. He had been throwing up for the past five hours and was wreathing in pain. We had to leave the District mtg early and get him and go to “death” hospital. He was in so much pain and there seemed to be not much we could do for him. The hospital gave him pain shots and stuck an IV in him but nothing helped. I was busy calling Guam and relaying all the information on to President Dowdle. They admitted Elder Mitton into the ward, which means more work for us. This hospital doesn’t provide anything but medical needs for the patients which means we have to provide meals for the two missionaries, we have to provide sheets, pillows, sleeping mattresses, shower things, toothpaste, toothbrush, water, just everything that someone would need. It’s literally like taking care of two babies! because we have to do everything for them because they can’t, well they can go to the bathroom but the Chuuk hospital bathroom is without a doubt the worst most unclean, dirty, horrid bathroom on this planet. :) I could not have dreamed, in a nightmare, a more disgustingly scary bathroom than the ones in Chuuk hospital! ha Anyway, they deal with that. It looks like he may be ok and won’t have to go to Guam. Unfortunately for Elder Kuss he will be going to Guam.

Last week on the 23rd Sirimino came to our house at 12:30 in the morning and asked us if Elder Kuss could donate blood to his wife who was in need of blood. We called President who had to get authority from the Area Presidency so that Kuss could donate blood. Once we had permission we rushed up to the hospital so Kuss could donate and that’s when the madness began!

They drew his blood and tested it to make sure that he was the right blood type and ran some quick tests to make sure he had no sicknesses, but when the results came back they weren’t good. The tests showed that his blood was carrying something not good that would be transferred to the patient if donated.

We called President to pass on the word and President wanted to have an answer immediately which Chuuk hospital cannot do, so President booked Elder Kuss a flight out of Chuuk to Guam so that he can get a full physical so that they can create a plan to help Kuss and to try and do what little is possible.

Elder Kuss is worried and didn’t sleep at all the night we found out. He forgot about it in all the spirit of Christmas and when he learned that he was going to Guam this week it brought back more waves of worry and fear. I just try and make him laugh and keep him happy so that he won’t think of it too much, but every night I can tell he doesn’t sleep well because he’s always very late to wake up. Please keep him in your prayers, even though you’ll get this after he’s already in Guam.

Life here in Chuuk is as crazy as ever but I’m loving every minute of it and wouldn’t ask for anything else! Bring on the crazy!! :) I’m a speeding bullet in my new shoes by the way, I feel like I’m 8-years old again thinking I can run faster because I got new shoes, if only they lighted up . . . . . I really think I run faster and jump higher with them though, and the Chuukese covet them and want to steal them right off my feet! To bad I’m too fast for them. ha

There should be two memory cards coming close to this letter, one of mine and one of the Joseph’s temple trip! So make sure to keep an eye out for those.

Ok, this is definitely the longest letter I have ever written so I’ll just picture my beautiful young mom giving me a big hug because I wrote such a good letter. :)

Love your guys’ guts keep up the good work of staying alive.
Tori sa mak fengen sefan, ounennom!

Tong Ennet fiti Jaiwak,

Elder Wells “Ito”