Week 22 - Boot Scootin' Christmas

For Christmas I line danced :)

Sister Behling and I have done a lot to keep the branch together, and Saturday was the branch Christmas party. It was a mess of running back and forth and back and forth. It was suppose to start at 5. It started at 7:30. It was just a mess that no one should ever have to live through. The Branch President just came and dropped off his kids then left. So i wont give details ;) But for the Christmas party, sister Behling and I preformed the line dances to Boot Scootin Boogie and Fishin in the Dark, and It. Was. AWESOME. I felt SO normal! The youth loved it too and caught on to some of the dance!

Yesterday for Christmas Eve we went to Pohnrakied and performed the nativity with zero practice. There were many songs and it was quite an interesting experience. I was a shepherd and so was Sister petrus. the rest were all Elders. It was kinda awkward when the shepherds sang the very tenor shepherd song. After the performance we got presents from the local people and they danced for us and it was great :) It's VERY entertaining watching elders try not to watch a hula dance haha

We showered at the Kolonia house so that was great! First actual shower I've had in a while. We've been taking bucket showers cuz our pump is out again. After that, we drove home and listened to christmas music, made chestnuts and had grahm crackers and milk :) I was very happy. Then we read the christmas story and went to bed at like midnight. this morning we slept in and then opened presents!! It was very fun and we felt oh so cozy :)

Chestnuts roasting on an open broiler

This week I've learned SO much about Love. That's really all people need. In the Kitti Branch, there are many things wrong, and there are many unworthy priesthood holders, there are many falsish doctrine ideas, and there are many bad feelings, people are frustrated, people are late, people don't care, and people get offended. For many many years, the missionaries in the Kitti Branch area(s) have seen it like a technician, an engineer I guess you could say ;) It's a problem, and it needs to be fixed. The priesthood isn't worthy, so we need to tell them to be worthy, the people are late, so we need to tell them to be on time. The people aren't being happy, so we need to tell them to be happy. But I don't think that's proved much success.

What Kitti Branch needs, what people need, is just love. So what if the priesthood isn't worthy, that can be fixed. So what if people are late, that can be fixed. So on and so forth, but really, how I've found that we fix it is through just truly loving and showing a genuine interest in the individual. Loving them and supporting them, flaws and all! I had an experience yesterday that really strengthened my testimony and was truly seeing things through the eyes of a loving God. A few sundays ago Sister P's daughter was bawling and bawling through sacrament meeting. She of course smacked her to make her be quiet (that's just what the people here do), but that made the girl more and more upset and threw her into a wailing tantrum. So she stood up and walked just a little ways into the jungle (like 10 yards away) and started pretty much beating her telling her to be quiet. That didn't work so she just left her there to bawl on the ground. Then she got louder, so Sister P got up again and grabbed a long skinny branch from a nearby bush and stripped it and went to start whipping her child with it (she looks about 2 years old). Thankfully, Megan (The strength of Kitti Branch and an RM) Got up and picked up the little girl and the three of them went off a little farther and just talked.

This week, as we were waiting for Branch President to arrive, the same little girl got her toy stolen from her by probably her older brother. and she started bawling and screaming. So the brother hit her and told her to be quiet. Her mother was off somewhere, and everyone was just staring at her. So I jumped up, and I went over to her. I just knelt down and wiped her tears away and gently told her it's okay, we all love her and she doesn't need to cry. It was all okay. Immediately she stopped wailing and just sniffled as I simply loved her. Even the boy who took her toy kinda stopped and stared. But as I was wiping her tears away, I just felt how much God really loves us. so perfectly. Yes, the girl could have just let the boy take her toy and sit down and deal with it, as many children do. and Yes, the boy was wrong in stealing her things. But I didn't address any of that,I just loved her. Everyone kind of stared in reverent awe. Someone handed me a sucker and I gave it to her. I asked her if she wanted to sit down and she nodded her head and came and sat by me. And for the rest of the meeting, there was very much a reverent peace as everyone felt a little taste of the saviors perfect love for us. It was lovely :)

From that experience and seeing the results of pure Charity, I can truly testify that the quickest way to influence someone for good is to love them. Natural man and everything. It makes the missionary work a lot more enjoyable, and it makes the people a lot happier. It's been a darn good week :) I hope you can all feel my love for you!!!

It's been a rainy chilly Christmas!! And I love it :) Elders are waiting to get on the computer.. I'll talk to you all tomorrow!! Love you!!

Better watch out, better not cry, better not pout

Merry Christmas!
Sister Nicole Felt

Week 21 - All I want for Christmas is My Companion

This week was crazy fun! But also it really dragged..

We said goodbye to Sister Bowers and Sister Leslie this week, and boy oh boy were they crying up a rivers worth of tears. When people finish their mission on Pohnpei, all the missionaries go to the airport and sing Koht en Ketremwail Kitail Lau Tu, God be with you till we meet again. Its kinda fun :)

After we said goodbye, the three companion-less Sisters (me, sister Milne from Oregon, and Sister Taunauta from Tonga) joined together to make a trio in Uh. We had a party :) Ate with members, had lots of meetings, and twice we left Sister Milne in Uh with a member preparing to serve her mission, and sister Taunauta and I went to Mand. It was really fun! Honestly, I learned SO much from these two sisters.

Sister Milne wants to study neuroscience, so we had a lot of really fun interesting conversations about how the spirit is really connected to our brain, and that's why there is so much we don't know about the brain. Because the brain is mostly spiritual matter. Kinda fun :)

We got transfer calls. Big changes to our area! So the Kitti area is huge, and like Europe in that everyone hates the Elders and no one wants to talk to them. the kitti branch is fed by the people living in the kitti and pehleng mission areas. But now, kitti area and Pehleng area have become one, and there are no longer elders in the kitti branch. Now we're in Pehleng and Kitti. It's just me and Sister Behling managing Kitti branch now. Two other areas on Pohnpei are closing. It's just that time of year honestly. Not many missionaries out, lots of missionaries going home.

Basically this week was a lot of running around to meetings and going back and forth from one end of the island to the other, and also learning from my cool companions. There's so much to people that none of us really understand, and there's so much we don't know. I love all the opportunities we have to learn and I know that truth is found in this Gospel. It's not always just, I know the book of mormon is true, jospeh smith is a true prophet, jesus christ is my savior. Sometimes the truth is that your brain is spiritual matter, and evolution may not be 100% correct. That's still Gospel truth! I love it :) 

Keep the faith, love one another, and have a good week! Gotta go pick Sister Behling up from the airport now.

Love,
Sister Felt

Week 20 - Ngehi Mehn Uh, Watcha gonna do

Heyo Everyone. So this week was crazy. I haven't seen my companion in almost 8 days. So ya. Wont see her for another week.

Last week, Monday evening and Tuesday Morning, we had Zone Conference on Steroids. Elder Gay of the 70 came :) He's the new guy over the Asia North area and holy wow he's a genius!! He used to be Mitt Romney's business partner and had other business man things and would be a multi-billionaire now if he didn't accept the Lords call to be a mission president and then serve in the 70. It was incredible to just soak up all the intelligence and information and testimony from this man as he spoke to us. He said on Monday Evening, it was Zone conference, but not really. He said "tonight is Family Home Evening. So we'll discuss together. What do you have to say?" And we all just talked. He's so incredible.

After Zone Conference on Tuesday Sister Behling headed off with the Zone Leaders to Guam, and I went to Uh (said like "oo" in 'moo') with Sister Bowers and Sister Milne. Sister Bowers is from Idaho and leaves to go home tomorrow. She's finished her mission. And Sister Milne is a transfer older than me and is from Oregon. I learned SO much from those two good sisters. The Majority of yesterday and the day before were filled with tears and goodbyes. Sister Bowers does not want to go home, she loves these people so much and would do anything to stay a little longer. Her testimony is so strong and it's really given me a lot of appreciation for the time I do have to serve. And Sister Milne is an intelligent soul who still wears make up and makes me feel normal. I learned a lot from her about how to pray :)

Uh is pretty dope :) he he... Uh is like the ghettos of Pohnpei. Everyone lives WAAAY up in the jungle, and there's a LOT of Drunk people and Weed. This guy, Georgie, is super awesome and we went and did service for him and his cute little family and they have a massive weed farm. It's just a bunch of Weed and pot and in pots amongst weeds. I thought it was pretty dope. 😏 But really though, I've never seen a more tranquil beautiful scene in my life. A cute quiet waterfall going through the rocky yard, then a nice hut on the edge of it all, and beatiful marijuana plants all over around the stream. It was honestly quite beautiful. And we just sat there drinking fresh coconut and learning about how much a branch of Dope costs.

After that we had ward mission meeting out by a store on the edge of the road around 1pm. And someone came stumbling up to us. SO flat out DRUNK. I've never seen anyone so messed up in my life. Seriously, of all the drunkards on this island, I'd say he's the worst yet. He was stumbling all over creation and barley weaved his way over to us and stuck out his hand telling me congrats on making it here, or something like that, in Pohnpeian. We finally got him to leave without freaking out, and then the rest of the day whenever we drove by him, he saluted us off. I'm surprised he never passed out and stayed drunk for a good couple of days. There was a few people passed out in ditches along the roads some nights.

Uh branch is incredible. 6 weeks ago it was worse than Kitti is now. and 6 months ago people were getting in machete fights during sacrament meeting. But now, everyone is so so loving and I wish I could stay! I love those people so much and they're all so sweet. It's because Sister Bowers got there with a fire for her last transfer and literally just served all the less actives and members and just loved them. Now Uh Branch is good :)

About Sister Behling, She missed her flight to Pohnpei. So she wont be back until the 18th and transfers are the 17th. I think I'm gonna kick it with Uh until then because Sister Bowers is leaving so I'll be with Sister Milne. I'm cool with it :) Hope Sister Behling is okay in Guam.

Love y'all!!! #MarainSampah

Sister Nicole Felt

Week 19 - Kamadipw en Wau

This week was a hoot and a holler.

Work was normal, I ate too much, and then I didn't eat enough. My body cant decide if it should gain a ton of weight or lose it all. Is it healthy to fluctuate through 6 pounds every week?

We don't have any active members in our area. And no one from our area came to church this week. That was pretty dumb. Sister Behling is going to Guam this week for Mission Leadership Conference. We don't know who is going with her. The other Sister Training Leader is leaving this next transfer, so usually they send the person who is going to be the new STL to MLC before the transfer they become a STL. We'll see how it all pans out.

Olga is doing aight. Jim still tries to attack the Book of Mormon. I think it's in Alma 7 that one of the Prophet writes that Jesus will be born "at Je​​rusalem". I didn't remember it, but in just casual conversation with Olga and Jim I was talking about my Bible reading (I had read Luke 2 that day) and just chit chatting. Jim says "So where was Jesus Born?" I said, "Well in Bethlehem like it says here" and I read the verse in Luke. He said "Yes, so Bethlehem" I said ya. He said in the Book of Mormon it says he's born in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem, so it's wrong. We literally just ignored him and kept going. Then in personal study I found the verse. When I read it I had a spiritually brought back memory of a time I heard a priesthood person talk about the importance of the word "at" especially in that verse of the Book of Mormon. I have no idea where I've heard that, and I don't remember who said it or why I know it. But I remember everything about how incredible it is that it says "At Jerusalem" and not "in". Kinda cool :) At is more of an "around" and a close to location. And seeing as Bethlehem is like 2 miles away from Jerusalem and the prophet who received that prophecy was in america at the time in like 300 BC, I'd say the Book of Mormon is still true ;)

So the Kamadipw. Said like 'comma deep'. Every municipality has a king, a nanmwarki. And he goes to all the towns once a year, and the people celebrate it like Founders Day in Wellsville. We live in Dien and our Land lord is the Cheif of Dien. So the Kamadipw was at our house. So ALL of Dien was at our house. It would be like if our house was at the Tabernacle in Wellsville, and there was only main street. no other side roads. Our car got blocked in, and everyone living within walking distance of our house was at the Kamadipw. So we joined :) Basically, they present the king with all their things. Rice, skirts, food, sugar cane, coconuts, bananas, chicken, water tanks, everything, as a way to show their thanks. But thing is, they literally give it all to the King. He doesn't rule over them, it's just a cultural thing. But they still do it. After they've done that and they've given all the women's things, they give them mens things. Pigs, Sakau, and Kehp. Lots of animal abuse with the Pigs. They don't kill them till they're gonna roast em. So they tie them to a stick and all the strong men present the pigs to the king on the stick. It gets preeetty loud.

When they present the food, all the women in the town make food baskets for everyone with a title. All the high up there people. Everyone else get's Sais food. We got the Sais food. And then people came to us with baskets. Oh my. People are way too nice. Way way too nice. We also had children peeking through our windows and teenagers standing on our porch during the rain. It was a party on Saturday :)

Then Sunday rolled around and everything was depressing. Not a soul from our area came to church yesterday. 2 cars ready. No one willing to come. We don't have a single active member living in our area. Kitti branch needs help. 32 people at church. Mostly kids. 2 preisthood holders (and the elders). It was really REALLY depressing. Something HAS to change with Kitti Branch in order for it to grow. But it's okay. Because I got to read the Book of Mormon and know that Joseph Smith is a real prophet of God who didn't kill anyone. I hate false doctrine. Also, we had fresh fish to eat, and we fasted from Saturday night, till Sunday at 7. Zone Conference starts at 6 today, and then tomorrow morning, and then Behling flies out to Guam for MLC tomorrow evening. I don't know what this week is going to be like. I might be in Guam, I might be in Kolonia, I might be in Uh, I might be with another Sister In Pehleng. I don't know.

Love Yall!! Read your scriptures, fast and pray :)
Sister Felt

Week 18 - Lenger

Hi Fam! We're going to go out to an outer island today with beaches and stuff. So I'll email in several hours. Have a good Sabbath, enjoy the cold, I'll tell you how the beach and the ocean waves are ;)

Hi Fam, I'm back! Sounds like Thanksgiving was a blast! I've heard it's been unusually hot in Utah this year :/ odd. I'll pray for snow for you all ;) For Thanksgiving we had district meeting which was okay, and then at 5 went to have thanksgiving as an island :)

Pohnpei Missionaries - Thanksgiving 2017

Everyone brought a dish, and Behling made killer mashed and augrauten (i dunno how to spell) potatoes. It was really good. There was AWESOME dessert too. Pineapple cobbler, apple crisp, a philipino desert with graham crackers and sweetened condensed milk (everyone here loves that milk.) It was really good. After we all ate, we watched a movie: The Spirit of the Game. People kissed at the beginning and in the middle and it was great. :) People here don't touch each other really. PDA is not allowed in any form. Handholding or kissing. So ya, it was a good movie ;) After the movie Sister Behling and I felt so normal, it was great :) 

Thanksgiving Night

Friday was weekly planning, and Saturday we mweted for this family and I used my machete again. I went on an exchange to Mand with Sister Leslie. She's from Idaho and she's pretty cool :) We also went to see Tontole in the jungle again, and got fresh coconuts again. didn't rain this time though so we were able to survive without a tree umbrella :)

Church yesterday was pretty bad. 33 people at church but only 3 were actually from our area. every sunday morning we're basically the telephone for the driver (President Route) in Kitti who comes and picks everyone up in Pehleng, and then everyone all around Kitti. It's pretty sad and pretty rough. But all is okay. 

Looking a little discouraged at church

So this island we just went to, Lenger, is just a cute $7 boat ride away from Pohnpei. No one really lives on it except for a few people. And we just wandered around through the jungle finding old things, tromping through the jungle, and finding random beaches. 

We found what looks like a really old plane take off/landing point. That's where we got in the water the most :) Stuck our feet in. The water was just perfect. We all wanted to jump off the dock thing and just swim. It was so clean and clear and pure and blue. We were all dying. 

I took pictures and videos underwater of all the beautiful fish! I found Dori, and the black and white fish. 

I saw locals (back on Pohnpei) at the dock fishing with a peice of chicken, a line, and a beer bottle. that's all. No pole or anything :) One of the sisters brought banana bread cupcakes and so we fed a bit to the fishes. They got so close to me, I don't know if they've ever seen people before. But it was pretty cool. 

Two sets of elders came (One was Elder Charlton from my intake) and three sets of sisters. Two of the sisters that came will be going home in 13 days. Next transfer is in two mondays I think? Maybe 3. I dunno. But it was really fun to chat with them and just party on an island!

Love you all! Hope you're having a great week!! I'll get to email more next week.

Sister Felt

Week 17 - Local Umbrellas

Heellloooo Family!! (Spiritually, that includes everyone. Because, ya know, we're all children of God)

How are you all??? Did you have as fantastic of a week as I did?! Maybe that's an exaggeration. I don't really know the difference between one week and another anymore. I was just working.

Writing emails in the Panasong Chapel

Anywho, We taught lots of people! Told Senrick about the word of Wisdom and that he needs to stop chewing Pwuh (beetelnut) and drinking Sakau. He nodded his head and talked about how it was hard and that he could do it and then laughed nervously because really, he doesn't want to stop, but he's trapped now because he knows what we say is true. Haha so ya, we'll see how it goes :) His daughters are solid though. Seriously a very funny family. They all yell at each other and have a super dry sense of humor. It's great.

Peeling bananas

A counterfeit and a real $20 from the ATM

Yesterday we taught Olga again. The American lady. She has a lot of Facebook sites and learns a lot about the Bible from that. She is honestly and truthfully seeking out Jesus and takes everything we say, and that the Book of Mormon says to be the word of God. But her husband Jim does not believe the Book of Mormon, and usually asks us prying questions attacking the faith. It's pretty subtle, but yesterday, he attacked with a fire. So I fired back :)

I said "You can attack me for my mistakes and my short comings, but don't you ever attack the path I am trying to walk. because everything I am trying to do, everything I have taught and testified of is solely to bring me closer to my God and my Savior Jesus Christ. So don't you ever tell me that this book is not true. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other. And I know that if you read this book with a humble heart and a willingness to learn and accept the will of God, you will find knowledge. And you will discover truths that will bring you closer to God than you ever could on your own." Olga felt the spirit, I was on fire, it was great!

P-Day!

But this week we've found all the possibly active members in our area. Not a single person in our area is recorded as active (because they're not) but some are very close. We have 4 priesthood holders who could be active, their wives (who are more likely to be active), and then of those 4 couples about 3 children who could be active as well. And then another lone woman. Those are the members in Pehleng. The ones who live closest to Kitti are 7 miles away from the chapel. And no one has a car. This week, the members talked about bringing a unit back to Pehleng. I think it will happen :) And if it does, we will definitely have a lot more members at church, and investigators that are able to come. No investigators at church this week. But we still have dogs and chickens walking through sacrament meeting :) It's a party.

Learning Pohnpeian

Our house

Our kitchen

Here's a story. We went to go see Tentale (Chawn-chaw-lee) way deep in the jungle on the top of the mountain where she lives, and we had a great lesson with her and all was good. We were hiking back and passed one house along the trail back to the road and it started raining really hard. So we stopped under a bunch of banana trees on our way out to wait out the rain. One of the men at the house noticed. So he walked towards us and used his machete to chop of a giant leaf, and when I say giant, I mean HUGE. The leaf was literally bigger than our car and was all held together. He gave it to us, we said Kaselehlie, and off we went! I just held onto the stem, Sister Behling walked behind me, and neither of us got wet :) It was pretty darn cool.

Just me and my goat friend

Love you all!!
Sister Felt

Week 16

We've had a fantastic week!! Really worked out our baptismal invitation because we're suppose to invite in every lessons. And we do, but it usually ends up in confusion or awkwardness of "I've already been baptized..?" Everyone here is sprinkled on their head as a baby so they're a child of god, and not a child of satan. It's more like a baby blessing, but that's what baptism is to them. thats it. So it created a lot of confusion and not any positive answers whenever we just said "do you know joseph is a true prophet? will you be baptized?" etc. I'm super simplifying everything, but I'm sure you get the point. We'd just be teaching the lesson to teach the doctrine and you don't really teach about baptism in the first lesson. But sister behling recieved an impression we need to work on our baptismal invitation this week. So we did during a companion study :)

Now, a baptismal invitation goes something like this...

When we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ we want to follow Him and be apart of his fold. We do this through making promises with God, promising him we will always remember him, we will keep his commandments, and we will take his name upon us, which means being a part of his church/group/fold/flock (whatever analogy you want). When we promise those things to god, and we keep our promise, god promises us that we will always have his spirit to be with us, the Holy Ghost. This promise is sealed with the priesthood (power and authority of god. Manaman oh mweimwei en Koht). Jesus Christ showed us how we can make this promise when he was on the Earth. We do this through baptism by immersion. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood of God?

Now the end result of our beautiful baptismal invitation is 8 investigators on date this week to be baptized :) Our numbers are CRAZY high compared to the whole mission :) I love it. 9 New investigators and a little 10 year old at church on Sunday.

We had a pretty neat miracle of Divine Design making itself known. Senrick Paul: an older man who used to be a pastor; very well versed in the Bible and great faith in God. His wife Mariuna had a stroke and can't get around great, but she is very coherent. Their two daughters Marleen and Mayreen are on Date for December 2nd with him and his wife, but Senrick wants to talk to his kids on the other islands and in America first and tell them to be baptized before he gets in the water. He said with a toothless grin after we asked him to be baptized, "I will be baptized, but I want to make sure all my eggs are in one basket. All my fish in one freezer." Because he firmly believes and knows this is the True Gospel of God, and he wants his kids to be partakers as well.
We got his kids' names, and one of them lived in Guam; Johnsper. We were going to contact the missionaries in Guam, but we weren't sure how exactly to give that referral to them. This was difficult as we didn't have an address, just Guam. Then on Saturday, Elder Crawford called us. He said they're teaching someone who needs permission from his parents to legally marry his partner before he can get baptized. We asked for names, and he said his name is Johnsper and we need to talk to Senrick Paul. Johnsper was already on date for December 2nd! :) We told Elder Crawford to tell Johnsper that Senrick gives him full permission (he does) and that Senrick wants him baptized ASAP. What else can you call it but Divine Design? :) We told Senrick and he wasn't even shocked. He just nodded his head and said "Manaman en Koht" (Power of God). He's pretty excited to have found the truth. And we're excited to be secondary characters in watching his conversion story unfold.

I don't know what else to write about this week. We made a moat around our chapel to keep it from flooding. 

Also Olga, the online dating lady who received a blessing last week, we taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She says she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet (in her New York accent) but she doesn't like how much I talk about him. She said she doesn't want to talk about Joseph, she wants to talk about God, but she knows hes a prophet. I explained that he's important to know if the book of mormon is true. She said she knows he wrote the mormons, and that the mormons is true. Then we explained it's the Book of mormon, and he didn't write it. We explained and read the intro and she got super excited. She really loves Jesus and God.

Oh. I had a language day this week. That's where I can literally only speak in Pohnpeian. It was a very rough day. I cant describe how frustrating it is to be unable to speak and communicate. BUT the language day taught me a lot, and It was still able to say a fair bit. It was just a lot of the same.

That's it for this week. Love youall! People keep feeding us, everyone is nice, the local kids remember my name and yell at us, and life is good.

Love you all! Feast upon the Words of Christ!

Sister Nicole Felt

Week 15 - panCake by the Ocean

I love and I hate transfers.

I'm staying in Pehleng with Sister Behling though! And she is now a Sister Training Leader :) So my companion goes to Guam once a month (except for December. Because an authority or someone is coming to each island instead). And she already went to Guam for the November month. So really she wont go to Guam during this transfer, but if we're still together next transfer, she'll be gone for a bit. 

Sister Behling and Sister Felt

However, I got to spend some time with the Kolonia sisters this week! Sister Wari from Papau Neu Guinea and Sister Petrus from Chuuk. Holy wow, 4 days with islanders and you start to think you're one yourself. It's all very chill, fun loving, and so SO selfless. These people literally live the law of consecration as a part of their life and culture. As a result, they're blessed with those blessings promised. But I heard AALLLL about what Chuuk is like, and all about PNG :) I feel like I've just been on these islands my whole life, they're so apart of who I am now. I don't think I can live without this culture.

 Kitti Branch girls

But while we were in Kolonia, we walked alllll over creation! It's a huge walking area. And those sisters just go. Granted, at a slow walking islander pace, but still I swear we went miles and MILES all day. Haha I'm definitely not a walking area missionary.

 Beautiful Pohnpei

Monday evening last week after we received the call Sister Behling would be going to Guam for a bit this week, we ran all around our area telling our many investigators we would be gone. And by-golly we had 3 very solid spiritual lessons. Teaching and testifying of the pure doctrine in the Book of Mormon, the miraculous occurrence of the first vision, and committing people who were quickened by the spirit to pray sincerely about the things we taught, and if the Book of Mormon was and is the word of God, and if the Gospel was restored through the latter day prophet Joseph Smith. Holy wow you can really see the light in peoples eyes when their hearts are open and they receive the word of God garnished with the Spirit. They hunger for it and long to keep the feelings with them. Do you hunger for it?

I had the privilege of watching conference this weekend at the Kitti chapel in the small office. It was incredibly spiritual and wonderful. If you didn't learn something from it, watch it again. It was awesome. I loved Dallin H. Oaks talk about Families, because they truly are the beginning of it all. Funny thing though, aren't we all family? I gave a talk about that in the Kitti branch a while ago. Kitail Peneinei. We're all family. Because we're all children of God (Baptized, or not. Kind of an issue in this area...). So we should all love each other and treat each other kindly like the Lovely sister who spoke before Elder Oaks talked about :)

With members of the Kitti Branch

Also, I'm taking the prophets words to heart and reading the Book of Mormon every day :) Of course as a missionary I was reading the scriptures everyday, but not necessarily the Book of Mormon. But I've learned that the Book of Mormon is so sacred because it is pure testimony, so untouched and uncorrupted by the world, that it gives a stronger testimony than any other book. So I'm going to read it every day :) Even if it's just 3 verses, and then back to D&C, Preach My Gospel, Jesus the Christ, The Bible, or whatever. The Book of Mormon comes first. Literally no where else in the world can you find, in more direct letters "this is the doctrine of Christ" and then be able to figure out EXACTLY what the doctrine of Christ is.

Love you all :) Thanks for reading through this crazy long email. Hope you have a spirit filled week!

Love,
Sister Nicole Felt

Week 14 - Pastor Senrick Paul

This week has been so wonderful, thanks to a good P-day last week. It was the first P-day we actually were able to take 5 seconds and enjoy ourselves and not be rushed with laundry and buying produce.

We finally cooked the crabs, but because we're white, we didn't really know what to do with them and they tasted Sais, so we just gave them to our land lady. That's what you do in Pohnpei. You just give stuff away. One of the locals told us, 'Pohnpei is freedom'. And It's pretty true. You're hungry, walk 10 feet and grab a banana, coconut, yam, tarro, breadfruit, mango, chicken, dog, crab. It's pretty cool :) And then you just share with everyone. 

 Attempting to cook crabs

Anywho, we also had a giant hunk of fish given to us, which was incredibly tasty. I got to do the job of cutting the meat off of the bones, and it was surprisingly similar to cutting the meat off of an Elk or Deer carcass. Honestly the most delicious thing I've eaten, so crazy good! I swear that fresh fish meat would be like $40 back home. And someone just gave it to us! I love this place :)

Our hunk of blue fish meat

We got the fish from a man named Senrick Paul; Pastor Senrick Paul. He used to be a pastor for the Protestant church, but stopped going a few years ago because he's really old and wanted to truly learn more about God and he wasn't sure if the truth was in the Pros church (people here call it Pros). We found him and started teaching him, and he wasn't reading the Book of Mormon at all and was just telling us we're super holy because we all love and worship God and Jesus. He wasn't getting the 'only true church' thing. But finally, he read the Book of Mormon. He said it didn't make sense that we're not baptized the way Jesus was, with only a sprinkling on a babies head. So we gave him Moroni 8 :) And he read it. And we came back and he said he was sinning as a pastor and he needs to repent of his wrongdoings and join this church of God. Because this Rongamwahu(gospel) is too important! This Gospel is too real!

Usually he just pawns his daughters off to us (20 and 30 somthin' aged adults) to take to church because church is good. And he told us he's going to call his children in the States and tell them to find missionaries and be baptized. So we asked him if he's ready to be baptized and he laughed and said "now hold your horses" (but pohnpeian style. Cuz no horses in pohnpei) I WILL be baptized, but I want all my eggs in one basket. I need to let my children know and then we will all join together.

Haha I couldn't even believe it. :)

With the language barrier and things I get a totally different impression of people than Sister Behling does. I can understand about 70% of gospel conversations, and I usually know what's going on, but I don't know the details. I can usually teach and testify in Pohnpeian pretty well during lessons. I'm getting better :) It's really cool to see the language begin to make sense to me, and now I can understand people too! So that's great :)

A roadside pool table

Love you all! Hope you're having a wonderful week!!

Also.. We have 18 new investigators... haha there's just too many people prepared! It's so crazy. AND we found someone with a phone! Whaatt?! But that's great because now we can call ahead to see if they're home before lessons! It's so strange. I love this beautiful island :)

Love,
Sister Felt