Week 12 - Online Dating

Nicole and I were able to message back and forth for a little while last night while she was emailing and we had a little Q and A. I've copied some of our conversation at the end of this email. 

Sister Felt and Sister Behling

What a week. I was in sick on Tuesday again because I'm a white person with a weak stomach. But our water pump is still broken and our tank ran dry as well. So we really had no water for a while. And our land lady has gone Awol due to a scandal that happened. We don't know. Everyone knows her and knows where we live, but she was gone for a while and then randomly showed up and walked into our house (!!?!) and told us to keep the pump off and only plug it in when we need water. But it has a crack in it so I worry it's on the road to the dumpster. And our land lady is still 'missing'/in exile. I have no idea. Anywho, Wednesday was insane. It was walking Wednesday, so we really got to know our area well. We were trying to find this girl Selly (12 y/o who we met randomly but she said she's been baptized. no record. but it's probably true.), and in our area, there's of course the main road that goes around the whole island (it's like half the size of a real road in Wellsville) and in Pehleng there are little side stores and people usually live deep in the jungle, a little hike off the main road, but hang out by the side stores and pool tables. So we were asking people where Selly lives. The first one sent us south, so we went south and ran into a big group of kids playing marbles. Talked and played with them for a minute and then sent us North east to find Selly. So we went north east. We saw someone and they sent us West to go find Selly. so we went West. They said Selly was north. So we turned to each other and laughed and started to walk north and ran into the kids again. We stopped and almost looked around in circles, laughing, when this woman walks up, and speaks to us in perfect english! (!!?!) What?!?! In the middle of Pehleng, Pohnpei, there's an American woman???? We talked to her, and she had a New York accent (grew up there) was from Ohio, is Puerto Rican/Itialian, and is in Pohnpei because she met a man online over Facebook and she came to marry him in June. What. THAT was crazy, not just her story, but the fact we were talking to another American??? That was SO weird, I don't even know. And THEN! While we're talking to her, this white girl walks up!! Totally American!! Sister Behling and I just like blink and look at her and back and forth and what!?! She was from Peace Corps and was all fancy shmancy formalities hello with us. It was weird. I don't even know. So we said hello to those two (they didn't know each other) then goodbye, and went to go find Selly. On our way to go find her, people were blasting Classical music, which was weird and crazy out of the ordinary.

In front of our house

Oh! Also!! Everyone here really loves classic country music!! :D So I hear Alan Jackson, George Straight, all those goodies a lot. The one song "And we danced.. .out there on that empty hardwood floor" that one is SUPER popular and is played a lot. Also, everyone still chews betel nut here too. But Sakau of Pohnpei is this mud they drink. They get the roots of the Sakau plant and grind them up. Then they soak them in water. Then they squeeze out all the rest and drink it. It's basically root mud and tastes disgusting apparently (the american woman from ohio told us that. also told us never to try it. She was so cute and funny and nice) :) but it dulls all your senses and makes you not like noise, and basically it's a weird form of being drunk. we can't teach people when they're 'pounding sakau' (hitting the roots with rocks on the sakau rock to grind them up) or when they're making it or drinking it.

The next day, we hiked up to the top of the mountain in the middle of the jungle away from any civilization whatsoever to find this woman we met in town ("town" is really just side stores. It's almost like an old west version of towns just instead of dry desert everywhere, it's jungle.). She is perfectly prepared to receive the gospel. Honestly, our work is just weeding out those who are prepared and those who are not, because there's so many prepared people! And EVERYONE is willing to believe what we say. It's just getting them to understand that they need to be baptized again and there is only ONE true church. They nod their heads and agree, but sometimes they don't really take it all in. Also Language is a huge barrier. Haha I'm learning patience for sure :) Sometimes you just wish you could shove all the info into someones head like a computer, but sadly, people don't work that way. I have to learn the language, then take the time to educate, and find those willing to be educated. It's a very lengthy process, this salvation thing.

Washing dishes in the rain

We did the dishes in the rain again, due to our lack of water. But we've been eating coconuts as often as we can! And there are SO many different types of Bananas. Did you know there are rectangle bananas? And coconuts are the best thing ever. We have coconut doughnuts and oh my wow. I love coconut! I love it so much here, it's like a constant battle of emotions between: I never want to leave I could stay here forever! and, I cant wait to go home and ride horses and see my family and not sweat all the time ;) It's fun, I enjoy it.

Well, that's most of it. People are ready, people feel the spirit when we teach and when they read, people are smart, and We're going to get some baptisms! We actually had a miracle of two investigators at our tiny church yesterday :) even though it's a 40 minute drive, and most people don't have cars, and there's three churches a 5 minute walk from their house, they came!

That's all :) Love ya!
-Sister Nicole Felt

How are your shoes working out?
I LOVE and cherish my Keens. In THIS area, my crocs are sometimes a joke. But they're still good. I'll just probably need another pair of Keens in several months.

Where do you do laundry?
We do laundry at the Kolonia sisters house. the church bought them a a washer and dryer. So we take a few hours swithcing the laundry when needed

What are you doing without water in your house? Can you shower?
hahah thats a good question! We take bucket showers and sometimes risk it and turn on the pump and take a low pressure real shower. But we shower in Kolonia when we come into town and fill up on filtered water.

Where do you fill up on water and shower in Kolonia?
At the sisters house. kolonia is pretty modern. doritos and such and clean water. It's the city of the island. Our house has a toilet and shower but its outside..? We have a porch, and we go out the side door and into the bathroom in another room on the other side of the porch.

So you DO have drinking water? That's good!
of course. and magic water bottles the MTC gave us to filter everything. So we're fine

How often do you and your companion teach lessons to investigators?
We teach about 3-6 lessons every day. and contact at least 5 new poeople every day. The trick is catching them and making sure they know when your return appointment is. But they're very beleiving and know we're people of god.

Have you been to any baptisms on Pohnpei yet?
Ya! Saturday actually. It was Sais

Sais??
like size except the z is more like an s. It means "whatever. Fine. Idk. idc. its chill". It's a great word.

How long does it take you to drive from your area to Kolonia?
about 38 minutes obediently

Well, I gotta go! I really loved getting to talk to you though. I just need to get so much work done... But I love you! Have a wonderful week!! Also I keep meaning to say. Yap was like Moana, Pohnpei is like Tarzan. :) Love you!

Week 11 - White Like Paper

Another week of hard work and a Zone Conference to get in the way of our proselyting..Haha just kidding, Zone Conference is great!! I really really loved it. Honestly a spiritual recharge after being in a tiny tiny branch and low active member area for a while. It was Stake Conference yesterday and Zone conference on Thursday. T'was grand. It's way different with so many missionaries here. I think there's 8 sisters and a LOT more Elders.

Pohnpei Zone

My companion Sister Behling is incredible and I love her so much. We have a hard time getting to bed on time because we're always talking and laughing and telling stories and making jokes :)

Sister Felt and Sister Behling

I'm not used to the local food yet. on yap we didn't get fed once. But here, everyone feeds you and you eat it all because it shows your love and appreciation for them. Mostly white rice. Soy sauce. Sometimes chicken. Ramen. Fish. I am not feeling great. Haha but it's fine! Oh! And they have Gosners milk here :) Kinda fun because it says LOGAN UTAH right on it! I love it :)

A taste of home!

I love white washing. It's great. So we've got 14 New investigators this week :) WahooOOO. We were pretty proud to report that. Our district is 6 of us. The Kitti(Kitchey) Elders which one is Elder Yamamoto, and Elder Pilimai (Starting Tight End on the BYU football team, freshman year. Solid guy. I really respect him. Also he knows psych and its the best) Then the Wone (wenna) elders Elder Brown (the elder that used to be in our area. hes our district leader and whitewashing his area with...) Elder Newill. He's brand spankin' new. We reported our 14 new investigators and beat their 11 :) So proud of us, we done did great.

The language is coming so well! I have had zero materials to study, but Sister Behling is incredible and has been writing down things and teaching me the language from scratch. I can understand the general idea and topics of conversation now and pray in Pohnpeian. Sister Behling also knows German, and a variation of chuukese and pingalapese, and morchluckese, and a bit of Kiribeti. Today we sat with a woman from another place that spoke another language. So between the three of us, we had 9, almost 10 languages :) (My Woleaian and the little bit of Yapese I picked up.) Pretty cool! The language of Pohnpeian says their T like ch and they roll their R's. also every B has become a P. Kinda cool :) still a lot of the ng sound too like in outer island.

Even though I can understand the general idea of the conversations now, I don't know everything. And on Wedensday (take into account that by Wednesday I had been meeting and talking to people for about 9 days) Sister Behling goes "Oh, by the way, Johnston said that you're a really good teacher, he just wishes you knew Pohnpeian. Also he said you're white like paper." I laughed and asked her to explain. She then said "oh, i probably should have told you. but every person we meet so far has either said something about you being really white, really skinny, or really beautiful. I just forgot to tell you." Haha she legit did!! But she taught me the words for White, Skinny, Smart and Beautiful so now I can pick those up. And she's right. My appearance is literally all people talk about haha. When school gets out and we're outside, I feel like everyone is whistling and hollering at us. It happens a lot. But then sometimes we're teaching someone and those same boys come home to us teaching their family :) Ha! Kinda funny but also weird. One of our--scratch that--our only member present, Megan, told us her conversion story and said that she started talking to the missionaries because she saw they were white and that was cool to her. She laughed and said "I dunno, by small and simple things I guess!" It's true. People are so intrigued by us and want to be around us, BECAUSE we are white. But guess what :) We turn it into a teaching opportunity :)

So around Wednesday last week, our water pump broke, and we ran out of water. So it has been an adventure trying to get water. On Fridayish (i dunno, days blurr) we were doing comp study and we began to hear rain outside. We quickly jumped up and ran outside and grabbed buckets and began colleting all the water we could. Then we remembered that we had a lot of dirty dishes, so we ran inside and grabbed them all and put them on top of our car (a toyota Yaris) with dish soap in them. It rained SUPER hard and by the time we were done and had washed the dishes in the rain, we literally looked like we had jumped in the ocean, head to toe soaking wet. It was pretty fun :)

We've met a lot of people who are very prepared to hear the gospel. And we've also met a lot of people who are so so about it. We're just trying to weed out the receptive from the nonreceptive so we can find EVERYONE who would be receptive. If that makes any sense.

ANOTHER funny story. We were teaching a lesson once, and it was all spiritual and great. And suddenly. this creature falls and lands on my face. A sticky gecko on my forehead/ eyebrow and hair. I freaked out but calmly brushed it off onto my hand and flicked it to the ground. It freaked out because it was out in the open, and ran underneath my skirt. Great. Haha it ended up okay, but NO ONE SAW. I don't even know. But then, we went out to the car and I backed the car up outside, and then a crab ran at me. Great. Then we go home, and I go to take a shower, and I open the door to the bathroom, and a gecko landed on the top of my head. Are. You. Kidding. Me. It was a night in Micronesia. Anywho, that was my week :) Love ya!

Love, Sister Felt

Pohnpei Sisters with Sister Poston

Week 10

POHNPEI (Panasong Church Building)

Oh my wow. I don't even know where to start. Definitly the best week of my mission so far. My companion is Sister Behling from Payson Utah. She's been out for 13 months and I am her first American companion who speaks English as a first language. She's incredible. Her first companion was Sister Alanzo. She was my "first temporary companion" when I got to Guam off the plane. Sister Alanzo was a native to Pohnpei and served here on the island. She was from Kitti (where I am serving now). 

Meeting Sister Behling

Anywho, So I got here on Monday and emailed and then the next step was for Sister Behling and I to find our area. We literally had nothing. The STL's had all my suitcases and Behling's stuff, and we just had our satchels and water. We had to find the phone for our area, keys to the house and our car, we had to find our car, and then get a hold of the STL's to get our stuff, and then find someone to take us to our area because neither of us knew where it was and there is no such thing as a map in Micronesia. Also we didn't know where our house was. So it was all an adventure! Finally, we found two Elders (Elder Mueller who was one of my companions flying out here and his trainer) who knew where our area was, and they took us there. Our car is sketch. Smells like cat pee and has the check engine and flat tire lights on. But at least we have a car! We got to our house around 6:00. So it was the end of P-day. Sister Behling is, like I've said a billion times, incredible and so she determined that we need to be exactly obedient, but we also need to be logical and take care of ourselves. So we opened the door and got inside. And sure enough, it was an Elders house. So it was pretty nasty. Also, the two Elders that were there previously hadn't gotten all the information in their transfer call. So the one who went to Guam packed all his stuff, but the other thought he was coming back, so he left everything in the house still. We moved everything he left into the closet room and then put our suitcases in the cleanest part of the floor. Then we took the sheets and paw patrol blanket off the elders bed and put our bedding on the beds, kinda made ourselves at home. After we established ourselves somewhat, we tiptoed out of the house through the mess and went out proselyting. Incredibly, After having only like 3 hours of sleep in two days/two nights, I was doing pretty okay. And we met our neighbors and land lady. It was dark though so we didn't go far. (all year round here it gets light at 6am and dark at 7pm. It's pretty reliable, and makes for some killer dinner time sunsets). Because of my lack of sleep, my companion said we're going to bed at 9:00 because I still needed to adjust. Which was true. So I passed out.

The next day we got up and got permission to deep clean the house and really settle in. Holy cow Elders are nasty.. haha not really, but it was pretty gross. Our house is so cute and tiny, no hot water and barely an AC, and in the middle of the jungle. OH! Our AREA. Oh my wow the Lord truly loves me!! Yap was great and jungley and all, and a lot of Pohnpei is pretty cool, but our area is literally jungle. We're in the middle of the forest hiking on trails going miles and miles all day to find peoples houses in the jungle. Have I mentioned we're living in the jungle? No supermarkets, no parking lots, nothing really. Little side stores that somehow get oreos and pretty good homemade doughnuts.

The view from our front porch

So no one here speaks English really, especially in my area. I'm in the oldest part of Ponpeian meaning that it's the most cultural and is the only one that speaks real true pohnpeian. So I'm picking up the language fast. 

But our first night here, we drove around and met this family by accident. (sister behling drove the car off the side of the road like jones did on Yap. but it was fine because we got out easy). The family came and helped us and they spoke really only pohnpeian. but they were on date with the Elders! They don't remember it, but the area book says they're on date for Oct 14th. Anywho, we've been working with them and the woman Alwisia (alweesee-uh) fed us fresh ocean fish and rice for dinner. It was incredible and we ate with our hands. pretty sure that's what made me a little sick but whatever. Im sure I'll get used to it. But I kid you not, we hike through at least a mile of jungle every day going to and from peoples homes. And there's LOTS of pigs here. There are some that people own and have in pens behind our house and so sometimes our water smells like pig and they squeal in the morning when they're being fed. But I like it! It's really fun.

The local pigs outside our house

Sacrament meeting. Oh my goodness. I thought Yap was small. There were about 40 people at church yesterday. and Four of them were preisthood holders. two of those four were missionaries. Elders Pilami and Yamamoto (Elder Pilami was one of my companions getting here too. The guy is amazing). We had to wait to start sacrament meeting-which was held outside under a tent tarp-for the branch president to show up. And then we had the branch president, one of his councilors, and the two missionaires. the missionaries blessed and passed the sacrament and the presidentcy presdied. The rest of the people were woman and children. The big main problem with our area, is that it takes 3 or 4 hours to walk to church from the edge of our area boundaries closest to the branch (the branch is in Kitti which is the Elders area). and no one has a car. So members in Kitti (pronounced Kitchi. the i making an eee sound.) drive out to Pehleng (our area) and pick people up for church. It's so small. Yap was tiny too, but I cant even describe Kitti.

We went to primary this week. And the kids were so cute! some sat by me during sacrament meeting and tried talking to me. I said in broken pohnpeian that I only know a little bit of pohnpeian, I'm learning. So they talked slower and with more emphasis and tried to teach me. It was so cute! After church we all sat down and the little girls braided my hair and put flowers in it just like Rapunzel and they tried to teach me pohnpeian. No one here speaks English, so i'm picking up the language fast!!

Love you all! We gotta go get our money and such and do laundry and everything. Wahoo. P day is great :)

Sister Felt

Week 9 - Guess Where...Burgers, all-nighter, and a Neon Moon

Chuuk Airport

So apparently transfers actually are a thing in Micronesia...

Sister Jones got feeling better about Tuesday and we had been working hard ever since. Saturday was awesome proselyting wise, Sister Jones and I got SO much done and had a ton of investigators set to come to church the next day. And we promised to walk with a lot of people. Sister Jones mentioned that transfer calls would come for Yap that day because of flights, but we didn't think much of it because, you know, I'm in the middle of training, was there for only 6 weeks, (technically more like 4 weeks because of the trips to Guam), and there are no other Sisters on Yap.

Well, we were teaching an investigator determining if he still wanted lessons or not. Anywho, we got a call and I had the cell phone. fun fun though, it was the assistants. I told Sister Jones and answered the phone full well knowing they'd only talk to her and she said to give her the phone. But I just said hello then handed it off. She took it and talked to them. And I tried to have a normal conversation with Tom (the investigator). I was panicking so it was far from normal. Sister Jones got off the phone and looked very solemn and panicked too. We said goodbye to Tom and as we walked away I said "What... What is happening?" She then said "Well.. I'm suppose to pack my stuff for 10 days... You're suppose to pack.. everything." And that was all we knew. Literally ALL. WE. KNEW. We had to call the airport to figure out which flight we were leaving on because we weren't told. There were only two flights that night though, usually there's only one. It was about 6pm then, and our brains could not function. We drove around for about 5 minutes trying to figure out if we were seeing investigators, going home to pack, telling the Elders what they needed to do for us at church tomorrow or what. We finally somehow got ourselves home and began panic packing.

Jones and I had Burgers at midnight the night we were going to fly out. and we played poker and ate oreos. Twas great. Then we flew out. Twas great too. Got to Guam at 4:30am and I did not sleep at all. Got to church with the Guam sisters, and Jones and I still don't know what's going on. All we know are that transfers are that day. Church was just wow. There was an actual chapel with pews and everything!! I hadn't seen that in a while. Kinglove is a kid I taught while on Guam last time and he remembered me and asked the sisters on Guam if I was coming back! He was at church that day and passed the sacrament for the first time! So exciting. I was with four other sisters on Sunday, and we taught five 8-10 year old little girls and it was so so cute and so fun! I told them a story about you Claire and how you're so kind and your kindness is so important in bringing the spirit into our home when everyone else is grumpy. Those little girls liked it and enjoyed the lesson :)

Anywho, we got to church and President Poston was there. President Poston was great to see. He walked in and walked up to me and asked how I'm doing I laughed and said I'm feeling all kinds of emotions. He laughed and said he expected as much. President then said, "come over here lets talk for a sec" and we talked. He told me I had a very important assignment and I would need to learn as much as I could because the island I was going to was about to lose all it's leadership and experienced missionaries. Then he stopped and said "wait, do you know where you're going?" I said no and he said "Oh I'll just tell you, you're going to Pohnpei. Your companion is an American and she is incredible. Speaks the language like a local and is a Baptizing machine--well, she's not a machine, she's a Sister, and a very incredible determined hard working sister, well you know what I mean. Anyways, you'll be whitewashing too in an Elders area." He then proceeded to tell me that I would finish training with her but I needed to learn as much as I can from her so I can be ready to train other missionaries and take on Leadership positions when I'm finished training. He didn't say it like "as soon as youre done training, your training others" but he wants me to be prepared for whatever comes. Crazy! But awesome :) and it all just felt so so right. Everything he said, the whole transfer, the leadership required of me, the island I'll be headed to, everything just felt so right and perfect and exactly just for me. President said he'd been really thinking about what to do with that island, and when he came to Yap and we went out to dinner (just the sisters and the grown ups) he said it was that night at dinner when I was sitting across from him that he got the spiritual impression that I was the one. I was the one who needed to be here on Pohnpei. Crazy but I love it :)

6:00am in Guam

That night, we got the transfer calls but I already knew so whatever. I decorated my transfer planner for the first time. It has horses and mountains on it :) Pretty sweet. I ate McDonalds for breakfast at 5am this morning on the way to the airport. twas great. I traveled here with a Sister from Chuuk and she was awesome. In the airport in Guam there was a song playing over the speakers. Very islander with those island metal drums and the vibratoey island singer. But the tune was SO familiar and I found my brain trying to sing along in a weird way. But it wasn't the words at all. It was in another language. Finally i realized it. the song was NEON MOON BY BROOKS AND DUNN. And it was island version!! Haha I died!!! 

Guam Airport with Sisters

Pre-flight with Sister Petrus

I just got to Pohnpei about an hour ago. And the plane stopped at Chuuk so I've been to Chuuk now too :) It is SO INSANELY GORGEOUS. Chuuk is just incredibly beautiful. oh my gosh the view from the plane was incredible and the water is just so BLUE BLUE BLUE!! It is SO bright!! 

Then to Pohnpei :) Pohnpei is beautiful too and has mountains. Those two islands both have mountains and open areas. They're so big compared to Yap and I love it. My heart just relaxed as we drove around pohnpei and it felt like I just came home. Like, seeing open space, and seeing the mountains (nothing like mountains back home, but still) I could literally feel my heart sink into relaxation. So Nice. I'm just so overwhelmed and stoked to rule the world!! Haha my companion is Sister Behling and she's from Payson :) She hasn't been to our home yet. We're whitewashing into an Elders area and we have no idea what the area, house, or anything will be like. She knows just about as much as I do :) Except she speaks Pohnpeian like a local and she's a stud. As for now, missionaries are playing poker in the room and it's great :) There's other missionaries in the world. It's pretty cool. Haha on Yap i didn't really see much of other missionaries. There's two zones here. That's all I know. Anywho, love you all! I'll update you next week!

Coming in to Pohnpei

Here's my new mailing address! Love you!! Love ya!
Sister Nicole Felt

P.O. Box 2203
Kolonia, Pohnpei
FM 96941

P.S. Also, President gave a talk in the sacrament meeting really encouraging members to be member missionaries. To help do so, he told the members to imagine us missionaries. then to imagine our mothers. and how much they love us. and then to imagine them praying and pleading for us back home. He said that the members need to be the answer to our mothers prayers. As you can imagine, all of us missionaries were in tears. Not nice president, not nice ;)

Week 8

This week I've been home bound due to my companion not feeling well. Shes getting better but since Tuesday I've been stuck inside. About Friday or Saturday I lost it patience wise and I moved the kitchen table and put on my hiking shoes, filled my backpack with a bunch of weight and walked around in circles for about 30 minutes. Varrying from brisk walking, to high knees, lunges, and running. It was awesome. I felt pretty stupid, but as I was just walking, my mind began to drift away into that place it goes whenever I hiked up in the mountains. I just kinda forgot about where I was and was lost in thought. Weird cuz i was in a kitchen, but still.

Tuesday morning though we went and did service for President Matthew. We showed up at his little place and sat on his porch and he made us eat local pancakes (fried flour and sugar. Really good) and raw sugar cane. You just chew on it and suck out the sugar then throw away the stalk. It was crazy cool :) Then we went and transplanted banana trees, fed the piglets, and weeded with our machetes. On our way back, Margarita (his wife who we worked with planting everything) grabbed us a couple pineapples and had her son climb a coconut tree and chop us down a couple of young coconuts. Then we went back, ate some more pancakes and sugar cane, cut open the pine apple, drank the coconut water, and watched the grey clouds roll in over the ocean and felt the cool breeze and enjoyed just sitting chatting. We also made madamads/nunu's which were flower crowns :) And then they gave them to us and sent us on our merry way! Now that's not exactly what I'd call service, but the people on this island are just so giving!

The rest of the day we contacted a lot of people and then Sister Jones got sick. I've been reading a lot in the book of mormon since we've been home bound (From Alma  29 to Helaman 14). And I'm a BIG fan of Teancum. Sister Jones say's hes an idiot, but oh my gosh that guy is just a BOSS. He's just SO COOL! I Love his story!

Anywho, That's about all I've done this week. Lots of reading, walking in circles, learning the language, and cleaning. I hope you're all doing all those good things that keep Christ the priority ;) Love ya lots!

P.S. The Centipedes here are legit poisonous and if they bite you that whole appendage just swells up and you cant move for like four days. And a few weeks ago, there was one on my pillow. Like 8 inches long and just disgusting. I grabbed my leather gloves and picked up my pillow and shook the centipede off outside. 

Aside from that, we always have geckos all over our apartment. They're just everywhere all the time. We've taken to practice throwing pencils at them. They mostly stick on the ceilings and walls, and they run away from moving things. But I've gotten to be a pretty good shot at hitting them with the pencils like a throwing knife.

Elders Winger, Marble (DL), Wolfgram (ZL), Bryant (came with me), Neilson (ZL), Emor (From Chuuk)
Me, Sister Jones

Week 7 - Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Just so all of you living in yesterday know, 9/11 is a wonderful patriotic day and it's pretty good this year :) We've spent the last three or four days planning this All American Barbeque, a baseball game, and we've been prepping by singing (well, I've been singing) every patriotic country song I can remember, and belting the national anthem while Sister Jones runs around with her Kansas City Baseball flag. It's pretty wild.

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

Week 6 - Taylor Swift at 2am

Hey everyone! This is gonna be a short one... But just some quick info about Yap!

Population: 11,377

Church Membership: 420

Island Size: 38.7 square miles

Language: Yapese and Woleaian

I'm the fourth sister ever to learn Woleaian, and there's maybe around 100 (at most) active members on Yap. Yap is the smallest island but the best because I'm here ;) Missionaries aren't allowed to eat Dog, Turkey Tail, Raw fish/meat, or Turtle. And I've been offered all except dog so far.

I don't know how to describe the houses, but they are very open. So they're mostly like tin roof structures (or grass roof) and some have no walls, others have walls, and then there's elevated 'floors' kind of like a giant wood box that's like three feet above ground that everyone sits on. And then there's actual enclosed rooms up in those maybe in the corner of the roof structure. They're all different but its all very open. And the kitchen is mostly dutch oven elevated in the other end of the roof structure or in a different roof structure. And the animals just run everywhere, in and out of the houses and all around. :) It's great! We don't live in a hut like other people do, just an apartment with real walls and a real door and real rooms and a real bathroom (another question I have.. Where do the people here use the bathroom??? There are zero public restrooms and I have yet to find an outhouse. I'll figure it out eventually I guess). 

There is no church material translated into Woleaian, so the work has been really hard. I was on Guam this past week for the Monthly Missionary Leadership conference. Pohnpei, Palau, Saipan, and Guam all have four or more sisters and Yap and Kosrae only have two (and of course Chuuk doesn't have any) so there are Sister Training Leaders on every island (because each Island is a zone) and every month the STLs and the Zone leaders come to Guam for Training (Mission Leadership Conference). And because there's only two of us on Yap, we both go to Guam even though Sister Jones is a Sister Training leader. There's suppose to be four sisters on Yap, and president said eventually there will be. But until then I'm going to Guam once a month. While we were on Guam, We met with Mission president. Even though I'm not an STL I sit in on all the meetings so my companion isn't the only female. During the meeting President kept asking if we had any questions and no one was saying anything. So finally, I asked about teaching people using the Book of Mormon when it's not in their native tongue and they speak very limited English. He taught us that we need to be those tools to teach the feelings and the message of the Book of Mormon to those people. I know and have learned that the prophets knowledge and accounts in the Book are incredible, pure, true, and simple. but because the people of Yap cannot understand it, I now have to be the interpreter of the feelings and message the Book of Mormon shares with people. I have to be like those prophets. And It's pretty cool :) So I've been studying the book mad crazy so I can know it forwards and back in order to perfectly explain the message of it to the people. And I also need to work on using simple English words to explain a powerful testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Teaching feelings (as mission president put it) is literally the only way we will baptize converts to the church. Because there's over 300 inactive members on Yap, I don't think we can afford to baptize anyone as casually as they have in the past. Baptism is a very serious covenant and as my good friend Dallas back home put it, it is definitely not Casual. So look out all you less actives on Yap, I'm comin for ya! ;)

So about the subject line... My trip to Guam was so much fun! Two sisters from every island came to Guam and we all stayed in the same apartment. We sort of got approval to stay up late for special occasions, and as most of us don't get to really see other sisters that often, we called it a special occasion and stayed up until 2am most nights laughing, talking, eating food, singing Taylor Swift songs, and telling crazy stories from our islands :) Each of us trying to make it sound like living conditions on our island is much worse than it is on theirs! haha we're all pretty hard core, tough girls with great sense of humor and funny dating stories, so it was a great week!

Also, I taught some people on Guam with Sister Memmott who is like a brunette me. We have like the exact same personality and she had the same experiences and feelings as me at the start of her mission. Anywho, we went to teach this one family and they had a bunch of children. Three of the girls came running up to me and started hugging me and grabbing my face and hair and said "You're face is missing brown, why is your hair missing black, you look like God" It was so funny and so cute!

Shout out to Justin Breinholt, Good luck in Mexico! A mission is crazy hard (sorry, "Challenging". My companion said we're not suppose to say 'hard' ) But I think I'm starting to see the good parts :) It's so worth it. And Hey everyone, read the Book of Mormon! Okay, pardon my French but good freaking heck (apparently 'freaking heck' is cussing out here in the mission world)! If you're not reading the Book of Mormon, WHY?! These people out here cannot understand even simple English sometimes and many of them spend hours on a few verses just desperately trying to understand it's words. It's a privilege to be able to have this book and to live in America, with 10 copies in your home all in your native language, and to leave that book and this gospel and these good doctrines just sitting on the shelf is just silly. I don't think any of us have any idea how lucky we are to have access to all of this knowledge and truth. And to have the ability to easily comprehend what the book is saying is something I've really come to appreciate (if you can't tell ;) ).

I love you all, and because I do I encourage you to maybe value the fact you live in the center of the restored gospel. Because it's freaking awesome :)

Much Love,

Sister Felt