Week 63 - Whoa

I'M SO STOKED ABOUT THE TEMPLE I HAD NO IDEA. I also had no idea it was general conference THIS weekend. There are SOOOOOOOOO many missionaries going to guam this week. instead of the usual 15-20 missionaries on that island, this week there will be 50!!!!!!!!!! because of all the trainers and trainees and zone and sister training leaders and their companions on the islands where there are only 1 set of elders/sisters. crazy wild fun :)

Sister Palanite at our house in Uh

I've got lots to deal with right now. Hundreds of emails about MLC for tomorrow. I'm staying in Uh and training. I'm picking up a new missionary when I go to Guam this week for MLC. Sister Palanite is going to Kitti with sister Bennett. Sister Schow is being transferred to Guam whitewashing an area and training. Fun :) Sister Caldwell and Sister Teriitaohia are still the same in Kolonia. Basically every single other area on the island changed. myself and the zone leaders and the brand new missionary in one area of our Zone are the only missionarys who did not move around. CRAZY!

Okay ya wow so they'res a temple on Guam? That's pretty neato. General Conference didn't get breathed a word here on Pohnpei, so we'll all freak out about it in a month.

THIS week we worked our guts out despite a large lack of understanding and communication. It's just hard when you don't understand one another. And it's not like either of us had bad intentions! It's just hard. But we still got lots of good work done and got two lovely friends of ours to church on Sunday :) AND developed some great relationships with Less Active Members and their non member husbands.

Walking with our two investigators!!!
They're soooo good. We're bros. If a sister can be a bro. And I very much can.

About the less active member, her name is Margarihta Sahm and shes a RM. She 'married' a Pohnpeian man who is not a member and they have a cute little girl. We've never met the husband, and we've been having a large problem with the husbands of all the women we're working with. They don't like us, don't wanna talk to us, and avoid us. and they're keeping their wives from being baptized. Or at least that's the excuse the wives give.

ANYWAYS.

We met Margarihta's husband on Saturday :) The relationship with her is rocky as it is, but we sat down and chatted for a bit. Then the husband came out of a room and pulled out one of those soft, zipper gun cases and pulled a small gun out of it. Guns are illegal on Pohnpei. But a few people have some strong bb guns for shooting birds. I was curious so I asked what he had there. He said 'gun', and I asked if I could see it. He pulled it out of the case, and then to my surprise, he unloaded those familiar .22 shells out of the chamber and my heart leaped! AN ACTUAL RIFLE. oooooohhhhh I got soo excited! Not just because of the gun, but because of what the gun means here on Pohnpei. This man was a hunter! I asked what he had it for, and sure enough!!! He hunts deer!! Margarihta said he killed a buck JUST LAST WEEK. Oh my gosh I was FREAKING out!! She pulled out her phone and showed me the pictures of the deer he shot. He said (impressively) the deer weighed a whopping 130 pounds. I looked at the pictures and then smiling like a fool said "I'm a hunter too!" He looked surprised, and then we chatted for a bit about how we hunt in the states and how they hunt here on Pohnpei. So funny :) Then he started to gather some things and said he was actually leaving right then to go hunt up in the mountains for the night. ooooohhhh oh my soul LOOONNNGNGGED to go with him!!! Apparently it showed on my face because margarihta laughed and said "Maybe she wants to go too! When you get back sister felt, he'll take you and you can kill a deer too"

They have our phone number now and will call us when he shoots a deer again.

Give it 2 more months and we'll have him coming to church :) Friendships are the best.

Breaking our fast

I don't know what else to write about. Teaching a lot of people who are catholic and don't want to be baptized but said they're happy to hear our teachings. So we're hoping to have the spirit whisper to their hearts that these things are true. And then after that confirmation is made we will help them recognize that to follow the path of Jesus Christ, they need to experiment upon our words and come to church, and then some day be baptized :) We'll see how this goes.

Love you all!! Enjoy general conference and don't eat too much junk.
Sister Felt

Letter from Nicole

We received this fun letter from Nicole this week describing life in Uh.

Week 62 - The Pohnpeian Apostle

Yesterday we went to go teach the mother of a little girl who tried to climb in our car, and she didn't want to be taught until after I asked her some questions about Pohnpeian words I've read in the Pwuhk Sarawi (Bible).

We had a lesson, and as we were beginning a skinny shirtless old guy walked up and we invited him to join. He said that's exactly what he came for, so he squatted down on the stump and listened. The lady who we were teaching's mother was also there. A super old lady. Turns out, the man was an apostle in the catholic church. He was very kind and VERY respectful towards us. Said we're welcome in his property all the time. Cool :)

Then I asked, after I taught about our church, what they're understanding of our church was. The old lady got real excited and piped up, saying "All the churches teach different things. But we all pray to the same lord. No? oooohhhhhh what's the name of your man...?"
I said, allready seeing where she was trying to take this, "no, we don't pray to Joseph Smith"
She said "ahA! So you've changed have you?!? Before you mormons taught us that you pray to Joseph Smith, (which obviously isn't true since we don't and never have prayed to Joseph Smith) but I see now you've changed!!@!@!@! HAHAH!" I don't know why she was so excited about this.

Funny story though, like 6 months ago on an exchange to Uh, I met her. I sat down with her and we had a little lesson, just my companion and I and her. And guess what we taught? I explained to her that we do not pray to Jesus, or Joseph Smith. We only pray to God the Eternal Father. And guuueusss what. By the end of the lesson she said she understood but didn't understand why we don't pray to Jesus.

I thought I had gotten the whole Joseph smith point across, but I guess not.

The Apostle man was very nice though and the daughter of the old lady told her to stop being crazy and that she should stop talking. (while they were having this little spit spat I was madly writing down the cool Pohnpeian they were saying like a nerd who loves learning this dorky language).

Uh branch young women

That's about it for this week I guess. On Thursday I almost snapped again cuz drama drama drama so instead I just called the other STL and told her I needed some help and got the counsel I needed. I was just missing a tool from my tool box of how to deal with people, but now I have it, so I could go like 6 more months with this and not go crazy again I think. Cool Beans.

We had a zone fast and ended it together in this picture here.
I brought taco soup to our lil pot luck :)

Thats all for now! Hope you're all excited for General Conference!!!!! I'm stoked. Stoked like a fire fueled with faith in my savior Jesus Christ! Righteous dude. <----- Is that slang, or na?

Love you! Have a good week!

Happy Birthday to my only dog left that's not dead. You all see what happens, I go on a mission and my beloved family kills half my dogs tsk tsk, this is why we cant have nice things.

(Happy birthday video to my dog, Finn)

Love ya ;)
Sister Felt

This taco seasoning expires at the same time I do...

Week 61 - Stake Conference

Sister Felt and Sister Palanite at Nan Madol

This was the first Stake Conference Pohnpei had where we did not have a member of the seventy, or the mission president here. HISTORIC! It was honestly better without them, I must say.
Just because when they are here, interpreters are required and there's the whole translating problem, and then it looks like pohnpeians cant do anything by themselves, and everyone needs the white Americans to come help and blah blah blah... but that's just not the case. It was so much BETTER without the other leaders here :) Because everything was in just good pure Pohnpeian, and just real honest testimonies. Teachings about obedience and Abraham sacrificing his son. Stories of Micheal Phelps sacrificing his time to be a swimmer, and how we should do the same (sacrifice our time) to become better saints. Learning that each of us equally have 24 hours in a day, and it is us that gets to choose what to do with our time, that will then determine what we accomplish. Learning that Fast offerings are as much of a commandment as tithing, and only the Lord knows your sacrifice, and only the Lord will bless you for it. Learning that sometimes the lord needs to bless us through other people, or through our own acts of service. Learning that ministering takes time and effort, and that ever second put into it is worth it! Stake Conference was really good :)

I hope we all can learn from it.

I had a fun week with my companion this week tee hee... I'm doing fabulous and couldn't be happier. But my companion has been in a bit of a pickle, getting a little angry and short tempered. The whole Laguage barrier doesn't help, and my thinking out loud and also being scared to speak up and change things-just starting to kinda do it and hope she dosen't notice-doesn't help either. Really it's just things like 'lets keep walking and friend at these houses down here instead of get in the car cuz that'd be a good idea' that I am really nervous to bluntly say cuz I don't want it to be opposite of what she wants and then have her get angry at me. But I do want to friend! I want to find God's children! I want to woooooooooorrrrrrk. So sometimes I just slyyyyly start to do it, and then she's like 'Is that what we planned this morning, what did we plan? Why are you always changing the plans?' And that is my fault. I should just have the guts to communicate that and speak up about it during daily planning. But I get nervous and just try to sneak it in, and then she gets mad at me for sneaking stuff in. 

Surprisingly, I've become such a patient kind happy person who brushes off all evil nasty things. But I snapped. ha.. Sunday after Stake Conference I HAD IT. All the overly happy love to the members(young women) in Uh branch, and then the second she turns to me is back to an angry face. Telling me EVERYHTING I'm doing wrong and all the little honest mistakes I make that I'm still learning how to get rid of from my nature. Which, all those things she's said I've taken very humbly and been like 'ok, ya, that's true. I shouldn't do that. I didn't realize thats' what I was doing. I'll never do that again. thank you! :)' But the whole being just plain mean, and then when I bring it up and say 'hey, you've been a little mean' and she said 'those things I say are to help you, because you shouldn't do those things. that's not mean, thats helping you.' And yes, I know, I get that. But don't be mean!! Or angry towards me!!!! GAH

So I snapped.

On the drive home Sunday I just said "Hey, I feel like you've been treating me like Crap." She got offended and said that's my fault and I should change how I feel. I said, umm no. I can feel how I wanna feel and if what you're doing is causing me to feel a certain way, you should learn from it and want to change so I don't feel like crap anymore. She kept twisting things around and being prideful and my temper was short and so then my voice got louder and louder and then I yelled and she, in kind of a desperate voice, said no one ever yells in her family, and -in broken tongan english-I was the first person to yell at her. Ouuuuuch. I felt bad about that after... I told her that though when I was yelling, that ya, I made ANOTHER mistake! And I'll probably feel bad about it after. But right now, I'm angry. and I'm telling you how I feel and it's making me really mad the way she's acting and now we both need to change. badabing badaboom and then it was silent. for the rest of the drive home.

And then I prayed.

I had to talk to God, the perfect all powerful father of all people everywhere. And I had to tell him, that I yelled at one of his children. That was really interesting to do. I could feel the protective love of a parent, loving and protecting his tongan child. He was not happy someone had hurt his daughters feelings. I told him I recognized that, and that I really was sorry. And then I felt his love for me. And I felt how much he has compassion and understanding for me. And I knew he would help me and guide me and walk beside me as I learn how to treat his other children better. He's a really good parent, like, really good. I'm glad that even though I'm far away from my earthly parents, my Mom and Dad who I love so much, I have Heavenly Father right here all the time. He never leaves me and he really does watch out for and take care of us. 

I know Jesus Christ loves me too. And he understands us perfectly. 

Maybe that's all for this week :) Hahaha bit of a long one, but it was a good week. I'm gonna burn some pohnpeian conference talks onto a CD now. and then I'll go do whatever else we do on P-Day. I love you all, and I miss you dearly. But I'll see you soon.

Much Love,
Sister Felt

Elder Charlton and Elder Brown at Nan Madol

Week 60

Wow what a good good fun week! No crazy car stories I think. But we did have a great Zone Conference. I learned I'm too much of a perfectionist. And that's not okay. I must fix that right away because It's not acceptable for a discipile of Jesus Christ to have little weaknesses like that. It's obvious what I'm doing is wrong and I MUST fix it.

You see my problem? ;)

JUUUSst Kidding! We learned a lot about our selves this week and we were all Direkihla Ngehn Sarawi, Filled with the spirit! I had a very enjoyable time. President Poston and I sometimes but heads, but I think that's cuz he's a perfectionist too ;) hehehehe

Cleaning pop cans for service

We've met lots of cool people. The members are legit. We didn't have church yesterday because there was no water in the bathrooms that are way outside. I have no idea why that affected not being able to hear the word of God. Oh well. We just sang songs with the ukelele instead while kids ran around everywhere and the young men ran in the jungle to go pick fruit. then the young women ate it with kool aid. iou.

ummmm ... what else...? our member present got baptized on Saturday. ya. She's preparing for her mission and the church lost her records so she had to get rebaptized haha she didn't like it very much, buuuut I'm glad we got it done.

I wish we spent more time proselyting. We spend a lot of time dealing with members. Or herding cats. that's a joke.

We went to nan madol today, twas quite fun :) it rained and it felt like oregon. All the sisters and one pair of elders came. Yup :)

Nan Madol

Have a good week!!!!! Love you!!!!
Sister Felt

Week 59 - He said She said

Weeellll what an eventful week!! Flew out to Guam on Tuesday and my dear ole' sister bennett was sick sick sick! But she works herself to death so I don't think she's taken a break at all. She suffered the consequences for that by not be able to go to MLC. and even then I had to force her to stay in bed!!! Crazy female.. ;) It is not meet that a man should run faster than he has strength! But I guess she thought that doesn't include females.

The MLC was great, only thing though. The mission only got 9 baptisms this month. We have not gotten lower than 20 baptisms a month in this mission in over 4 years. President was really sad. I am really sad. But we can do it!!! Mists of darkness never stopped Nephi! kerchow I guess

Ya so on Saturday we had a council with the Zone leaders to plan for zone conference which will be this wednesday. And we had great fun being children and trying to be grown up's and have a legit council about the spiritual needs of other missionaries. To me this is a serious matter, but sometimes people just get a little immature and make fun jokes and what not. I dont know. but we did end up making a good plan and the conferenece should go well!!

This sunday we went out to get in the car and the tire was flat. Oh no. So we droved down to the road that leads to the church. It goes up into the jungle. And we just parked it there. then the elders showed up and went to change the tire but the spare was a tire that literally fell off the car a while back and is pretty destroyed. So they called some other elders to get a spare from them and we began walking to church. halfway up, the Elders met up with us and parked their car and walked the rest of the way with us. GENTLEMEN right there! 5 points for them. After church then drove our car up to us and we were on our way again with a cute little spare on the back. But it was still like driving a wash board.

After companion study we drove to the elders area to pick up a member present. After we picked her up and drove a little further to pick up another member, the front tire (different than the one that got flat) FELL OFF the axle!!! The screws got shredded by the nuts and the tire just popped off. The car slid on the axle for a good 10/15 yards before it finally stopped. Ooohhhhh joy. We texted the Elders (service is a joke. if they call we really cannot hear them) and started walking down the way we came to find the nuts. Found 3 of them! And also muslim Pohnpeians? First time I've ever heard of that.

Anywho, the Elders showed up again to save the day :) And we rolled the car off the road with the flat tire on the front axel that we had replaced earlier with the spare. That car was done. We then proceeded to friend around in the elders area while the elders went to get us a car. Luckily there was a spare one as an Elder is on guam for teeth problems. Lol yay us.

I had a cockroach on my hand last night. And I'm sick. Stuffy nose. Also, I took a realy shower today. Yay!! Our water's pretty gross at Uh house. but ya. All is well! Zone conference this week so president is in town.

Love you all!!! I've been studying about the holy ghost being our constant companion, but that also means we gotta be constantly worthy of him. CONSTANT VIGILANCE. Mad-Eye wasn't too far off of a good gospel principle there. Constant vigilance against the adversary and towrads christlike qualities. yay for Jesus!!

Love you all!! Have a fantastic week as fall rolls in. I'll see you in 5!
Sister Felt

Sister Felt and Sister Petrus

My new smile after getting my chipped tooth repaired in Guam.

At the dentist in Guam

Sister Petrus in Guam

Week 58

What a week!!! I am SO happy to be back in the jungle!! But unlike Kitti, Uh is full of crazy party happy youth. Kitti was very respect, cultural, and grown up official. Uh... it's a little bit ghettoish. But I love it!!

Sister Felt and Sister Palanite

My companion is Sister Palanite! She's from Tonga and an absolute sweet, tender hearted, beast. Born and raised in the church with 2 parents who are still living together. She's the youngest and most all her siblings are married. Communication barriers are sometimes difficult, but we just tell each other we love each other and the have a LOT of trust. Occasionally there are moments where we connect, and we both realize we're on the same page, with the same purpose, and the same desires, and we are very happy and content in those moments. And then any other times if things get confusing, we always just go back to: We love each other. We have the same purpose. Neither of us are stupid. Hahahaha She asked me one night What it was I need my companion to do to make me happy (slightly broken english. But not bad). i said "Work hard and be diligent. Understand your missionary purpose. and Don't be stupid" Haha I said that because we had just had one of those connecting moments shortly before she asked me that where we both understood that both of us understood each other. It's one thing to understand each other. but It's another to make sure that both of you really understand that you both understand each other, instead of just blind faith.

Our gas money #aggies

My Pohnpeian is crap. I know nothing. hahahah I never really realized how LITTLE we used Pohnpeian in Kolonia! Not because we don't want to use it, but just because most people didn't speak it. Crazy. But now i'm speaking it all day every day 24/7 woot woot! Tuesday felt like how it felt when I went to Kitti for the first time. My brain was about to explode with all the lanugaes bouncing around in my head holy cow. but It's been so fun!

We have church up in the jungle in a really really old chapel. But a brand new chapel is just about to be dedicated and built! It should be... kasarawiala?.... dedicated....? by the end of this month. Yay!

Primary kids at church

Primary kids with toys that the Cerny's brought

Lots of our investigators say they cant be baptized due to permission issues. From parents or spouses or whatever. We've got investigators ranging from ages 8 to 60. Almost all have said they need permission. Gah! oh well. I'll update ya'll more about them in two weeks though becasue I'm going to Guam this week. chuukese! lol

okay. this email is long enough. love you all.

Sister Felt

Questions from Nancy to Nicole about her new area:
1. Describe your house/area. two big beds. one of them is crap. Palanite took it by force to be nice :) She's so sweet. our water comes from up in the mountian, our house is up in the middle of the jungle. we get water by going out and connecting our pipe to the main pipe that runs from a spring and goes by gravity. I take purely bucket showers.
2. Describe your church building/branch. old. one biggesh room the size of the elk room for the chapel area. four side rooms the size of our play house or a tiny bit bigger for the office, primary and something else. also up in a different part of the jungle.
3. What is your transportation? a really crappy old hundai. I hate the car. it's like driving a wash board the alignment is terrible. our key broke when taunauta and schow were in Uh and so now i'ts a metal key part and then pliers that you hold onto the key with and use to turn it. absolutely terrible. we're getting new cars at the end of this month.
4. Where is your companion from? tonga :)
5. Is it different being on the east side of the island? Sunrises vs. sunsets? not much, but we are closer to the ocean so I see it more often. we do hike every morning and can watch the sunrise :) but not over the ocean, there's a hill inlet thing that stretches out over where the sun rises.

6. Anything else you'd like to share
I LOVE YOU! we have a member present every day who is so cool. she's going to have to be rebaptized though because the church lost her record number. but she has her mission papers like all done. poor girl.
we dont' have a branch president.
i get to see the atonement work in people's lives and it's amazing. i'll tell you more about these cool stories someday when I can give it real justice. just know I'm helping people, and it's got nothing to do with numbers, but it feels so amazing and good. It's like that general conference talk the french guy gave about when he was a stake president and had all these goals but none of them got fulfilled. go read it!