January 7, 2012

dear family:)

happy new year nuh sumtahl pa!
it sounds super cold back at the ranch...i remember cold...i think.

i love wearing my fast sunday tie, too. i actually gave andy's to harry george because he felt really bad he didn't have one while he was participating in priesthood ordinances.

story time: so a member died this last week. he was a previous branch president and was really well known and liked. but to put it lightly, funerals here are different. elder conejero and i were told that we needed to go to the funeral. so, we went to the house around 9:15 at night, and there was the dead guy in the middle of the floor with everybody sitting around him. we were given special seats of honor...right next to him. maybe to help you understand a little better, watch the other side of heaven funeral scene. dad will probably know exactly what i mean anyway. also, we were the ones who lifted him up and put him in his coffin. i kind of felt bad when the only scripture verse that really came to mind was, "Let the dead bury the dead..." i have decided that i will never get a job even remotely related to dead bodies:)

the miracle for this week:
elder conejero goes to guam every month for zone leader training, so me and elder despain have been in lelu together for the past couple of days. on saturday, we ran into an apostate member. we were able to teach a lesson about going to church. i was super bold and borderline stubborn with the guy about his needing to come to church. the next day (fast sunday), he not only showed up, but also bore a pretty good testimony. i'll admit, i was pretty scared when he stood up, but it turned out pretty well:)

all of my bugbites have gone away, im one of the two elders here who aren't sick, and things are progressing. things are good:)

oh, i keep finding out im saying things in kosraean wrong, but the beauty of kosraean is that the words all sound similar enough, and there are a couple of different dialects, that people still understand what i'm saying. odd kosraean phrase of the week: yacn acngyacng. in the first vision, joseph smith says "standing above me in the air." yacn means land and acngyacng means windy. does it make sense to an english speaker? no. does it make sense to kosraeans? not sure yet:)

so i am swamped trying to write everybody back. thank you soo much for your letters and gifts. they all came when they were needed, and i really want to write to all of you, so know that i am trying really hard to get those sent. also know that if you think the post office hours in the states are ridiculous, the kosraean post office sometimes decides it doesn't even want to open somedays. so, sometimes, getting a letter sent off is harder than just writing it. i guess im trying to say, "im sorry i haven't sent your letters yet. i will take care of it." :):)

i love you all very much and appreciate you and your examples.

love,
Elder gerber

ps, 39 steps is fantastic. let me know if the play was good or a let down