Also our dog, Zombie,
disappeared for a day or two and she had been looking pretty fat. I was
convinced she was pregnant, and when she came back and she was teeny tiny
Sister Jones and I freaked out. She had puppies! We haven't found them yet, but
we totally will eventually. The people here always hit dogs and their kids. I
think I'm the only one on the island who is nice to the animals. I saw a pig
the other day in a cage too small for it to stand up. It just kinda
leaned up on it's knees to smell my hand, and then fell back over. It was so so
sad. I wanted to punch the man who owned him, but then I remembered he's an
investigator and he's a pretty cool dude. Way nice to us. Let's just say I had
a moment of conflicting feelings and just tried to forget about the pig.
The roads here are
really bad, there's like on main paved road that goes from one end of the
island, and stops when it almost reaches the other end. Everything else is just
dirt and pot holes. I would die for a truck out here. We mostly drive
everywhere except for on Walking Wednesday, then we walk. Our area is just
so huge! And we have twice as much work as we did before (there used to be four
sisters here, not just two).
I think it was Friday or Saturday that
it rained really hard all day, and we went to go contact referrals. They said
they were by the fish market, but we got to the fish market and there weren't
any houses nearby, so we went trecking on a trail through the jungle. With my
Keens and my Frogg Toggs, we splashed through the mud and rocks and made our
way to some houses (huts) and yelled at the edge of the property (it's rude to
walk onto Yapese land, so you have to "woo" or yell (not too loudly
though, because that's rude) to get the owners attention and their permission
to let you in.) They didn't know who we were asking for, and they didn't know
where they would have lived. So we left and treked back through the jungle and
rain to our car and the road. It was pretty cool :)
The Language is coming
pretty well. We have little packets the mission has slowly come up with that I
read through and memorize tense words, verbs, gospel words, and then phrases
like "Today we're going to teach about the Restoration of Jesus Christ's
Gospel" translated into Woleaian by previous missionaries. Sister Jones
says every missionary that comes through is automatically better than the
previous because we slowly get more and more information and words translated.
The Language comes from the island of Woleai which is one of the outer islands
between Yap and Chuuk, they are: ulithi, fais, urabic, woleai, efuluk,
fashilup, falato, lamatric, sadawal. (I just slaughtered the spelling on those,
but whatever) Each island has it's own different little dialect, but Woleai is
the most common dialect. People who speak Sadawalese are the most different
from Woleai and the hardest to understand. So once I learn woleai, then I kind
of pick up the other dialects and adjust my language to where the people I'm
talking to are from. Like when asking someone's name, In woleai I say
"Metta itemwu?" (met-uh ee-tem) but in Sadawal they say "Metta
Itomwu?" (met-uh eat-ohmm). Lots of little things are way different. But
Woleai is close to Chuukese, and Sadawalese is super super close to Chuukese.
None of them are anything close to Yapese though. Don't ask me why.
Crazy cool experiences
lately. So I'm always way nervous about being able to communicate this awesome
message perfectly enough that the people will understand what this Restored
Gospel is all about. But I've been reading in Alma lately and I've been
learning about Alma and Amulek as well as Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah.
Something that has stuck with me is their faith as missionaires in the Lords
ability to use them as instruments in his hands. And just how they give
themselves wholly to the Lord and never lose that confident trust in him. So
during this lesson with this woman Mochien (our mission president's wife found
her when they were on our island) I was so so worried about being able to bare
testimony, and I felt the spirit literally constraining me to speak. So in my
heart I gave myself to the Lord and gave no thought as to what I, Sister Felt, would
say, but I opened my mouth and let Him speak through me. Can I just say, that
is SO much better-and easier-than trying to come up with words on my own! It's
so easy and beautiful when I focus on baring testimony and then listen to what
comes out of my mouth. Because it certainly is not all me. And I often learn a
lot from what I say :) SO COOL.
It happened last night
as well, with our investigator Robert. Robert and Juanita are married and their
Daughter Bentaquen and her daughter Emmee have been taking our lessons. Sister
Jones said Robert has been an "Eternal Investigator" But last night
his relative Emanuel was there and we met him before and he was passive
aggressive with us about how he is "Roman Catholic" and beleives in "one
God". Juanita doesn't really like to be apart of our lessons and the rest
of the family that runs around doesn't really listen. But as we were teaching
Robert about the Book of Mormon, Sister Jones was doing most of the talking.
But then she ran out of things to say and turned it over to me. In my heart I
had been praying to just be an instrument in the Lords hands. Emanuel had been
listening but skeptically, and Juanita was just sitting nearby making food. As
I spoke, I just bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it's the center of
the doctrines of Jesus Christ and what not. Honestly I don't really know how or
where my whole thing went, but I just let the lord teach through me. And by the
end, Juanita was listening, Emanuel was nodding his head saying "that's good,
thats good" Emmee was listening intently, and Robert said he wanted to
follow Jesus and be baptized. Whaat :) It's pretty cool what happens when you
get out of the Lord's way ;)
Love you all so much
and I hope you're getting prepared for the Second Coming. From what I hear the
world is falling apart, so keep your eyes peeled ;) Enjoy your 9/11, God Bless
America, and pet a horse for me.
Love,
Sister Nicole Felt
Yap Zone with President and Sister Poston
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