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
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