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
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