dear family:)
i had to chuckle a little bit about the barbecue. here, whenever we hear about a barbecue, it usually is some chicken and a freshly killed pig. when i first heard about a barbecue here, i immediately thought about hamburgers and hotdogs; and i think that when i get home, if somebody mentions a barbecue, i will think chicken and pig.
i think i understand what you're talking about, mom. i think our spirit is very connected to our physical body, and when we exercise our spirit a lot (like trying so hard to help the people you are teaching understand and feel the spirit), our body gets physically tired. i am still trying to figure out the implications of this discovery, but so far thats about it;)
hiroshi did not make it to baptism last saturday. however, Pres. Mecham called me last week and talked to me about him. he told me to not keep postponing a baptismal date every time that Hiro backs out or doesn't prepare. he doesn't want hiro to become accustomed to backing out of baptism. we were trying extremely hard to help in any way we could last week--prayers, fasting, even a priesthood blessing; and right now, the only thing left that we can really do is not give up and rely on God and his Spirit.
real quick, i want to let you all know how much you mean to me. i bear testimony of you guys all the time. you are all being wonderful missionaries to these people by mere example (did i say mere? reminds me of the book, "Mere Christianity")
to owen and andy:
you two are my favorite. i just got another letter with notes from you two in it. you are both very special people, and not just to me. i want you both to think for a second about your talents--who can play the trumpet, almost be a black belt, still work hard in school, and be an active member of the Church? who can play the violin, sax, piano, take karate, and be an active member of the Church? and still have time to play? your lives are NOT ordinary, nor will they ever be. you are both living very blessed lives; due in part to Mom and Dad's righteousness, but also due in a very large part to your own. i praise you two for your goodness.
thank you for your prayers in behalf of our investigators. i saw differences after you started praying for them by name.
i finished the Book of Mormon challenge yesterday. i have marked every reference to the Atonement, the Gospel, the Plan of Salvation, the Holy Ghost, and the gathering of Israel. i was very pleased with the result, and now have plans to do as Elder Bednar(?) suggested: that we mark copies of the Book of Mormon by different topics, and end up with an entire library of them. The one i just finished is surprisingly precious to me, and i am a little hesitant to give it out to just anyone. i am excited for my future readings, though:)
today is the first day of the new transfer, and we find out the changes on wednesday. i am pretty sure that my time in lelu is limited, and am a little reluctant to leave these people. i don't know if i have explained this already, but even though kosrae is the smallest island in the FSM, there are three main different dialects and cultures. they aren't big differences, but they are noticable. for example, lelu to tahfunsahk is kind of poor, and very friendly and open to missionaries. they speak the fastest and hardest to understand kosraean. Malem is where the younger adults live and are known for being "shy" (this really just means that they stay in bed during the day and go out at night to get drunk). if there were a "south" of kosrae, that would describe how they talk--maybe not as hard to understand, though. Utwe is known for "nikkihn fessin," which translates directly to "don't know the culture." utwe has a lot of people who aren't very polite, but aren't necessarily rude, either. they speak slowly, but in a similar manner to people from lelu. i was amazed at the differences between these groups of people when they live so close to each other.
so i need to ask a favor: jared sent me a letter through jackson while he was still in the mtc, and i need his address in honduras. if you could also send me dates of arrival to the mtc for the people that im pretty close to so i could get them a letter, that would be great too. thanks:)
bro. smith asked me about a temple. the situation is that the temple that is the easiest to get to from here is the manilla temple. there is a temple trip about once a year, and we are sent temple clothes from headquarters. tell him thanks for thinking about us.
i love you all very much, and wish both kennedy and jesse very happy birthdays.
love,
Elder Gerber
Monday, March 25, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
March 18, 2013
dear family:)
im very happy that you were able to see the pictures from the Mechams. they did take a picture with Hiroshi and his family, so im pretty sure you saw them. they are really doing well. we had an incredible lesson with Hiro last saturday, and we found out a lot of stuff about opposition from his family. when we got there, he was very unhappy to see us. we had never seen that with him before, and we were a little worried. and then the Spirit stepped in and changed him. i saw him change in a matter of 45 minutes. we gave him another baptismal date for this coming saturday. his family will follow him into the church and are very excited to become members. however, they want him to go first. kosrae is very patriarchial based and usually whatever the father says goes; but this family has built their faith together and are ready to be baptized together. i am extremely happy for them. thank you for your prayers on his behalf. they worked.
anyway, about your question on tempora--im not sure about vegetables, but i think it is a japanese word. here, it's mashed bananas, flour, sugar, water, and a little cinnamon all mixed up together like a thick pancake mix and then fried in oil. it's so easy even a missionary can do it.
something kind of hard that we've been running into here, is that the gospel blesses people. haha let me explain: when people have been living the gospel, Heavenly Father is bound to bless them in all things. so, they start to become wealthy and get enough money to leave the island. so we keep having really strong members leaving the island to go to places with opportunities. im torn between my happiness for them, and my desire for them to stay here to strengthen the rest of the people. most people here don't want to stay, but they can't leave because of how expensive it is.
i also want the people to know who sent me letters or packages in the last couple of weeks that i received them, but had lost my folder where i kept recently received mail and letters i am in the process of writing and just barely found it again. so, i have been writing letters today, and was able to send a couple of them off. thank you so much and know that you will probably receive a note from me in a little while. i got both gma's and the hansen's packages. they were both wonderfully timed, and we have been enjoying them thoroughly:):)
one of our investigators, Lapus, was laid off at work recently and has been trying very hard to get food for his family without an income. so, elder conejero and i have been trying very hard to catch fish for him as a service; but so far, we haven't been able to bring him anything. he is starting a farm, though, and i hope we'll be able to help him more with that. we are going there tomorrow to help them clear the land.
in my last letter home, i mentioned Justus. we talked with his grandfather yesterday (who happens to be a deacon for the protestant church) and he told us that he absolutely forbids him to be baptized. but he still really likes us and wants us to teach justus. we found out that he was furious when karson, justus's cousin, was baptized and almost kicked him out (both justus's and karson's father doesn't live on kosrae, so they live with him. Also, extended families almost always live together). he told us that if justus gets baptized, he will kick him out of the house. it was one of the most odd experiences i've had yet: he's the nicest guy who loves to talk with us and does so many good things, and then told us if his grandson got baptized he would disown him. he told us the reason is the gossip of the protestant congregation; he doesn't want them to talk badly about him. so, i would ask for your prayers on their behalf. i know that they work.
i still love the farsides:) i just got one of your letters today and the farsides were particularly humorous. thanks for the notes owen and andy. and i got the quote buddy;)
im always happy to hear about what is going on in your lives, and i am so happy that things are going well. i love you all a lot:)
oh i dont know if i've mentioned already, but there are a LOT of frogs and crabs on the island. during a full moon, the crabs all go sit on the road together. hundreds of them will just be sitting on the road, and since they really just look like big bugs, i dont feel bad at all when we run over them.
my tongan companions back in the mtc taught me some tongan humor that whenever someone makes a not-so-funny joke, they all say "dry." the frogs here are pretty goofy, and i can see them saying "pwacr. pwacr" which, being interpreted, means "happy. funny." so, i have been mixing the two and whenever someone makes a joke, i just kind of croak out a "pwacr." i do want to make mention that a frog is probably the dumbest animal i have ever come in contact with. they will jump head first against a wall over and over and over again to try to get away from you. haha i say that but then there's probably a gospel related metaphor in there somewhere;)
im very happy and healthy, and things are going very well. i love you all very much:)
love,
Elder Gerber
im very happy that you were able to see the pictures from the Mechams. they did take a picture with Hiroshi and his family, so im pretty sure you saw them. they are really doing well. we had an incredible lesson with Hiro last saturday, and we found out a lot of stuff about opposition from his family. when we got there, he was very unhappy to see us. we had never seen that with him before, and we were a little worried. and then the Spirit stepped in and changed him. i saw him change in a matter of 45 minutes. we gave him another baptismal date for this coming saturday. his family will follow him into the church and are very excited to become members. however, they want him to go first. kosrae is very patriarchial based and usually whatever the father says goes; but this family has built their faith together and are ready to be baptized together. i am extremely happy for them. thank you for your prayers on his behalf. they worked.
anyway, about your question on tempora--im not sure about vegetables, but i think it is a japanese word. here, it's mashed bananas, flour, sugar, water, and a little cinnamon all mixed up together like a thick pancake mix and then fried in oil. it's so easy even a missionary can do it.
something kind of hard that we've been running into here, is that the gospel blesses people. haha let me explain: when people have been living the gospel, Heavenly Father is bound to bless them in all things. so, they start to become wealthy and get enough money to leave the island. so we keep having really strong members leaving the island to go to places with opportunities. im torn between my happiness for them, and my desire for them to stay here to strengthen the rest of the people. most people here don't want to stay, but they can't leave because of how expensive it is.
i also want the people to know who sent me letters or packages in the last couple of weeks that i received them, but had lost my folder where i kept recently received mail and letters i am in the process of writing and just barely found it again. so, i have been writing letters today, and was able to send a couple of them off. thank you so much and know that you will probably receive a note from me in a little while. i got both gma's and the hansen's packages. they were both wonderfully timed, and we have been enjoying them thoroughly:):)
one of our investigators, Lapus, was laid off at work recently and has been trying very hard to get food for his family without an income. so, elder conejero and i have been trying very hard to catch fish for him as a service; but so far, we haven't been able to bring him anything. he is starting a farm, though, and i hope we'll be able to help him more with that. we are going there tomorrow to help them clear the land.
in my last letter home, i mentioned Justus. we talked with his grandfather yesterday (who happens to be a deacon for the protestant church) and he told us that he absolutely forbids him to be baptized. but he still really likes us and wants us to teach justus. we found out that he was furious when karson, justus's cousin, was baptized and almost kicked him out (both justus's and karson's father doesn't live on kosrae, so they live with him. Also, extended families almost always live together). he told us that if justus gets baptized, he will kick him out of the house. it was one of the most odd experiences i've had yet: he's the nicest guy who loves to talk with us and does so many good things, and then told us if his grandson got baptized he would disown him. he told us the reason is the gossip of the protestant congregation; he doesn't want them to talk badly about him. so, i would ask for your prayers on their behalf. i know that they work.
i still love the farsides:) i just got one of your letters today and the farsides were particularly humorous. thanks for the notes owen and andy. and i got the quote buddy;)
im always happy to hear about what is going on in your lives, and i am so happy that things are going well. i love you all a lot:)
oh i dont know if i've mentioned already, but there are a LOT of frogs and crabs on the island. during a full moon, the crabs all go sit on the road together. hundreds of them will just be sitting on the road, and since they really just look like big bugs, i dont feel bad at all when we run over them.
my tongan companions back in the mtc taught me some tongan humor that whenever someone makes a not-so-funny joke, they all say "dry." the frogs here are pretty goofy, and i can see them saying "pwacr. pwacr" which, being interpreted, means "happy. funny." so, i have been mixing the two and whenever someone makes a joke, i just kind of croak out a "pwacr." i do want to make mention that a frog is probably the dumbest animal i have ever come in contact with. they will jump head first against a wall over and over and over again to try to get away from you. haha i say that but then there's probably a gospel related metaphor in there somewhere;)
im very happy and healthy, and things are going very well. i love you all very much:)
love,
Elder Gerber
March 11, 2013
dear family:)
owen's schedule sounds fantastic:) tell him that he will learn to love mtn biking with bro swenson for a teacher. it sounds like there is a lot of fun activity going on back at the ranch.
i had to chuckle when i heard about your conversation with sis fletcher. occasionally, i do miss going barefoot, but i'll overcome that for right now;)
owen and andy, i am expecting the three of us to have a grand time playing our instruments together when we get back; it sounds like you guys are tearing it up back there. keep on going and keep branching out with your music:)
in answer to dad's questions:
i got the music, thanks:) the cheapest we can get gas for is around 4.85 a gallon. we usually spend 94 dollars for gas every 10 days. elder conejero and i changed our own schedule a little bit to allow for a "lazy hour," a cleaning hour, and then we go shopping. the reason behind this madness is that there are only two working computers at the telecom and the other 4 elders usually go first. so, this saves time for everyone. however, i do realize that it makes my emails pretty late. we dont really make fires. elder conejero doesn't really like that kind of stuff (which i dont really understand. im thinking it is just another cultural difference). we try to attend the pec meeting before church every week, but they usually start late, so it hasn't really been effective yet. the branch here is very friendly, but there is a difficulty in gaining referrals from them. i think the problem is, most people here have had at least a run-in with the missionaries, and the comfortable theory is: well they rejected it once, they'll do it again. also, they don't like to give us referrals of members of the alu pros (protestant church), which is difficult because most people are protestant here. however, we do have quite a few people who are willing to come with us to teach. we are actually very blessed in that regard here in lelu; the other areas only have one or two people willing to go with them. we sing the hymns in english (actually, there are two kosraean hymn books on the entire island, and they are both in the utwe elders' house). as for my favorite native food? i dont know if you know tempora, but it is delicious. also, the fried breadfruit slices is fantastic as well. really, breadfruit in general is usually pretty good. there is a "kosraean soup" here that can be pretty good, depending on what they put in it. they usually put tuna in it, but the best is when they use beef.
we just had a district conference. pres. mecham, sis mecham, elder davis, and elder yamashita from the 70s came on friday afternoon and held sessions on sat. and sun. We were only invited to the general session, but it was a fantastic meeting. we also just had a meeting featuring elder yamashita this morning from 9 to 12 (elder yamashita talks like frank from father of the bride. that was fun to listen to (; ). it was a very good experience. pres. mecham is planning on joining us tonight to go visit with the Hiroshi Mike family.
concerning kosraeans:
there are only about 20 last names on the island. therefore, it is very hard to call somebody bro/sis last name, as about 50 people will turn and look at you. so, what the people here do is call somebody by their first name, and then either by their father's/husband's name, or by where they live. so, when i tell you that the Hiroshi Mike family is getting ready to be baptized this coming Saturday, i hope that it makes a little more sense. we have been working with this family for a while and they are very very close. Hiroshi just has one more thing to overcome before he can be baptized. we keep extending his baptismal date to give him more time to get ready, but i think that he will be all ready either this week or the next.
also, we are working with Alexa (but few people know him by that name. he goes by Lapus). he believes in everything that we teach about, but has some pretty heavy things to overcome. we love going to meet with him, though, as he is one of the funniest people on the island. we are seeing changes in him. he wont commit to a specific date to be baptized yet, but he is progressing in his life towards that point.
we are working with kilafwa alfons, the uncle of the two girls that we baptized in the past couple of weeks (sorry that i have been a little sketchy on details. we had our last baptism on March 2 of Melma Skilling). he is now very interested in getting baptized and is progressing quite nicely. he is from pohnpey, speaks fluent kosraean and reads english very well--this gives him an advantage of being able to understand what he is reading in the Book of Mormon. he reads just about every day and really likes to meet with us. however, he hasn't been to church yet. at first, he was kind of just making excuses, but for the last two weeks, he just hasn't been able to physically make it there do to an emergency trip to waclucng for work and a car breakdown (he found himself a ride to church though. that was very positive).
the last person that i'll write about is justus mongkeya. he is a 17 year old boy who is the cousin of one of our really strong members who joins us to teach. he sets up appointments with us for everyday, and is reading his Book of Mormon pretty regularly. he has also come to church for the last two sundays in a row, and is getting ready to be baptized on march 30. we are helping him overcome some addictions and have been getting a lot of support from his member friends. i really have high hopes for him.
there is a change: this transfer is being extended by an extra two weeks. im not sure why, but im pretty sure it has something to do with all the new missionaries. so, the transfer ends just about the end of march. we will not be receiving any new missionaries this next transfer, so we will not be opening a new area.
i love you all very much:)
love,
Elder Gerber
owen's schedule sounds fantastic:) tell him that he will learn to love mtn biking with bro swenson for a teacher. it sounds like there is a lot of fun activity going on back at the ranch.
i had to chuckle when i heard about your conversation with sis fletcher. occasionally, i do miss going barefoot, but i'll overcome that for right now;)
owen and andy, i am expecting the three of us to have a grand time playing our instruments together when we get back; it sounds like you guys are tearing it up back there. keep on going and keep branching out with your music:)
in answer to dad's questions:
i got the music, thanks:) the cheapest we can get gas for is around 4.85 a gallon. we usually spend 94 dollars for gas every 10 days. elder conejero and i changed our own schedule a little bit to allow for a "lazy hour," a cleaning hour, and then we go shopping. the reason behind this madness is that there are only two working computers at the telecom and the other 4 elders usually go first. so, this saves time for everyone. however, i do realize that it makes my emails pretty late. we dont really make fires. elder conejero doesn't really like that kind of stuff (which i dont really understand. im thinking it is just another cultural difference). we try to attend the pec meeting before church every week, but they usually start late, so it hasn't really been effective yet. the branch here is very friendly, but there is a difficulty in gaining referrals from them. i think the problem is, most people here have had at least a run-in with the missionaries, and the comfortable theory is: well they rejected it once, they'll do it again. also, they don't like to give us referrals of members of the alu pros (protestant church), which is difficult because most people are protestant here. however, we do have quite a few people who are willing to come with us to teach. we are actually very blessed in that regard here in lelu; the other areas only have one or two people willing to go with them. we sing the hymns in english (actually, there are two kosraean hymn books on the entire island, and they are both in the utwe elders' house). as for my favorite native food? i dont know if you know tempora, but it is delicious. also, the fried breadfruit slices is fantastic as well. really, breadfruit in general is usually pretty good. there is a "kosraean soup" here that can be pretty good, depending on what they put in it. they usually put tuna in it, but the best is when they use beef.
we just had a district conference. pres. mecham, sis mecham, elder davis, and elder yamashita from the 70s came on friday afternoon and held sessions on sat. and sun. We were only invited to the general session, but it was a fantastic meeting. we also just had a meeting featuring elder yamashita this morning from 9 to 12 (elder yamashita talks like frank from father of the bride. that was fun to listen to (; ). it was a very good experience. pres. mecham is planning on joining us tonight to go visit with the Hiroshi Mike family.
concerning kosraeans:
there are only about 20 last names on the island. therefore, it is very hard to call somebody bro/sis last name, as about 50 people will turn and look at you. so, what the people here do is call somebody by their first name, and then either by their father's/husband's name, or by where they live. so, when i tell you that the Hiroshi Mike family is getting ready to be baptized this coming Saturday, i hope that it makes a little more sense. we have been working with this family for a while and they are very very close. Hiroshi just has one more thing to overcome before he can be baptized. we keep extending his baptismal date to give him more time to get ready, but i think that he will be all ready either this week or the next.
also, we are working with Alexa (but few people know him by that name. he goes by Lapus). he believes in everything that we teach about, but has some pretty heavy things to overcome. we love going to meet with him, though, as he is one of the funniest people on the island. we are seeing changes in him. he wont commit to a specific date to be baptized yet, but he is progressing in his life towards that point.
we are working with kilafwa alfons, the uncle of the two girls that we baptized in the past couple of weeks (sorry that i have been a little sketchy on details. we had our last baptism on March 2 of Melma Skilling). he is now very interested in getting baptized and is progressing quite nicely. he is from pohnpey, speaks fluent kosraean and reads english very well--this gives him an advantage of being able to understand what he is reading in the Book of Mormon. he reads just about every day and really likes to meet with us. however, he hasn't been to church yet. at first, he was kind of just making excuses, but for the last two weeks, he just hasn't been able to physically make it there do to an emergency trip to waclucng for work and a car breakdown (he found himself a ride to church though. that was very positive).
the last person that i'll write about is justus mongkeya. he is a 17 year old boy who is the cousin of one of our really strong members who joins us to teach. he sets up appointments with us for everyday, and is reading his Book of Mormon pretty regularly. he has also come to church for the last two sundays in a row, and is getting ready to be baptized on march 30. we are helping him overcome some addictions and have been getting a lot of support from his member friends. i really have high hopes for him.
there is a change: this transfer is being extended by an extra two weeks. im not sure why, but im pretty sure it has something to do with all the new missionaries. so, the transfer ends just about the end of march. we will not be receiving any new missionaries this next transfer, so we will not be opening a new area.
i love you all very much:)
love,
Elder Gerber
March 4, 2013
dear family,
so i have been on exchanges for 6 1/2 of the last 7 days of this week. to be completely honest, it has been kind of rough. but, it has been a really good experience at the same time to see the other areas and who they're working with.
so we baptized little melma skilling on sat., and i was privileged to confirm her yesterday. We actually saw a lot of miracles yesterday with 4 investigators showing up at church. this has never happened since i have been here. thank you for your prayers.
the family we are working with are still doing really well, but there is just a couple of hangups with the father. he is trying really hard to overcome everything and get ready, and we are working with them to get ready for either this friday or sunday (we have a district conference this coming weekend and the baptismal font wont be available on sat. evening. we could talk to them about getting baptized in the ocean though...)
i am really happy to hear that andy is now cast-less and hope that he can straighten out his arm.
something that i am trying really hard to do right now is be exactly obedient. and it is harder than i thought it would be. for example, when i was in utwe area, i would ride for a little without my hands; it was just for fun and to rest my hands a little bit. then i was told that technically, according to the safety video, we have to always have our hands on the handlebars. there are a lot of little things like this that i didn't even realize there was a rule for that i have been trying to learn. trying to obey these rules has helped me understand that every rule is meant to help us and help the work. as soon as we start rationalizing away the little rules, we lose the spirit of obedience and miss out on all the blessings and protection that comes from obedience.
so i have been getting little notes about where everyone is going and it sounds like a bunch of people are going to hong kong? that sounds exciting:)
there is a 16 year old priest who joins us frequently to go teaching, and i finally found out why it is so hard for me to understand his kosraean: he stutters. i couldn't for the life of me figure out what he was saying until just recently my comprehension has shot up and i picked it out. i thought i was just terrible at kosraean and couldn't understand people. now im just terrible at kosraean;)
dad: i heard a little quote from mark twain the other day that made me chuckle: "when i was 14, my father was so ignorant that i could hardly stand to be in the same house as him. when i turned 21, i was amazed at how much he had learned in 7 years." i never really thought you were ignorant, but i am realizing just how much you really do know.
i am safe. i am happy. i am blessed. kosrae is a paradise where the people are humble and faithful. i am so grateful for their faith. i have witnessed miracles worked by the priesthood and faith, and i know that the scripture in the Book of Mormon about miracles and faith (Mormon 9) is true because of my experiences here.
we are extremely excited here on our island for kosraean pamphlets. we found out last week that they had finally been translated and that they had been sent to us. we were all super excited until they also told us that they had been shipped by boat so the mission office could find out how long it takes to send stuff by boat. that was disappointing, but we should be getting them soon. also, the kosraean Book of Mormon should be translated by the end of this year. i really hope i will still be here to use it. we are seeing incredible progress here.
you may have noticed that i've stopped being super specific with miracles that are happening. this is not because they have stopped occurring, but because i don't want them to become less special. know that i am recording them carefully in my journal and will always be ready to share some of them in person. i do want you all to know that they are happening and i am amazed by the faith of the people and the goodness of God.
i know that i don't really talk about the teaching we are doing, but it is really hard for me to write about our lessons because i don't feel like i can do them justice. it is hard for me to describe what a good lesson really is like, and i dislike them to sound commonplace. i think that i am really just justifying why i dont write about them.
i love you all very very much and hope that you are all very safe and very happy. i am finding that happiness is not a situation, but a necessary choice in life. i love my time here in kosrae, and have been discovering God's gift to me of the ability to choose.
love,
Elder Gerber
ps. elder conejero just got back from guam and brought us all mcdonalds. i think i will always have a special place in my heart for mcdonalds for the rest of my life;)
so i have been on exchanges for 6 1/2 of the last 7 days of this week. to be completely honest, it has been kind of rough. but, it has been a really good experience at the same time to see the other areas and who they're working with.
so we baptized little melma skilling on sat., and i was privileged to confirm her yesterday. We actually saw a lot of miracles yesterday with 4 investigators showing up at church. this has never happened since i have been here. thank you for your prayers.
the family we are working with are still doing really well, but there is just a couple of hangups with the father. he is trying really hard to overcome everything and get ready, and we are working with them to get ready for either this friday or sunday (we have a district conference this coming weekend and the baptismal font wont be available on sat. evening. we could talk to them about getting baptized in the ocean though...)
i am really happy to hear that andy is now cast-less and hope that he can straighten out his arm.
something that i am trying really hard to do right now is be exactly obedient. and it is harder than i thought it would be. for example, when i was in utwe area, i would ride for a little without my hands; it was just for fun and to rest my hands a little bit. then i was told that technically, according to the safety video, we have to always have our hands on the handlebars. there are a lot of little things like this that i didn't even realize there was a rule for that i have been trying to learn. trying to obey these rules has helped me understand that every rule is meant to help us and help the work. as soon as we start rationalizing away the little rules, we lose the spirit of obedience and miss out on all the blessings and protection that comes from obedience.
so i have been getting little notes about where everyone is going and it sounds like a bunch of people are going to hong kong? that sounds exciting:)
there is a 16 year old priest who joins us frequently to go teaching, and i finally found out why it is so hard for me to understand his kosraean: he stutters. i couldn't for the life of me figure out what he was saying until just recently my comprehension has shot up and i picked it out. i thought i was just terrible at kosraean and couldn't understand people. now im just terrible at kosraean;)
dad: i heard a little quote from mark twain the other day that made me chuckle: "when i was 14, my father was so ignorant that i could hardly stand to be in the same house as him. when i turned 21, i was amazed at how much he had learned in 7 years." i never really thought you were ignorant, but i am realizing just how much you really do know.
i am safe. i am happy. i am blessed. kosrae is a paradise where the people are humble and faithful. i am so grateful for their faith. i have witnessed miracles worked by the priesthood and faith, and i know that the scripture in the Book of Mormon about miracles and faith (Mormon 9) is true because of my experiences here.
we are extremely excited here on our island for kosraean pamphlets. we found out last week that they had finally been translated and that they had been sent to us. we were all super excited until they also told us that they had been shipped by boat so the mission office could find out how long it takes to send stuff by boat. that was disappointing, but we should be getting them soon. also, the kosraean Book of Mormon should be translated by the end of this year. i really hope i will still be here to use it. we are seeing incredible progress here.
you may have noticed that i've stopped being super specific with miracles that are happening. this is not because they have stopped occurring, but because i don't want them to become less special. know that i am recording them carefully in my journal and will always be ready to share some of them in person. i do want you all to know that they are happening and i am amazed by the faith of the people and the goodness of God.
i know that i don't really talk about the teaching we are doing, but it is really hard for me to write about our lessons because i don't feel like i can do them justice. it is hard for me to describe what a good lesson really is like, and i dislike them to sound commonplace. i think that i am really just justifying why i dont write about them.
i love you all very very much and hope that you are all very safe and very happy. i am finding that happiness is not a situation, but a necessary choice in life. i love my time here in kosrae, and have been discovering God's gift to me of the ability to choose.
love,
Elder Gerber
ps. elder conejero just got back from guam and brought us all mcdonalds. i think i will always have a special place in my heart for mcdonalds for the rest of my life;)
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