December 30, 2013

Dear Family,

It was wonderful to see you all last week. I'm so glad that everything
went well. It really is a special time of year, isn't it? I'm sending
some stuff home, either today or next week. I hope it all makes it
safe and dry.

I am always so happy to hear about your Sunday School classes. You've
got some good kids, and they have a pretty dang bright future. Thank
you for putting so much effort into your teaching.

Church yesterday was great. Ninac Esmina came, and loved it. We went
and saw her later on during the day; when she explained what she felt
at church, we were able to have a nice discussion on the Spirit. She
was super cute and said she hopes she's alive next week so she can go
again. She should be getting baptized in the next few weeks. She's one
of those people who, once she knows something, she'll act on that
knowledge. For example, we talked to her once about coffee because she
had mentioned how addicted to it she was. As soon as we told her about
the Word of Wisdom, she quit it. Hasn't even thought of drinking it
since.

Also, we have been working with some part-member families. Sepe
Charley is completely nuts. She got baptized way back when, and has
four kids--of which only two have joined the church. She is decently
active, but loves to fight with us. Everybody knows she's crazy, so
usually we just agree with her quickly (see Matt. 5:25) and let her
go. Her oldest son, Mikey (age 15), and her next son, Charley (13)
(yes, that does mean his name is Charley Charley), haven't been
baptized yet, and the next son, Michael, has gone less-active. So we
have been working with them all, and they have really grown to like us
and trust us. And, Charley and Michael walked to church yesterday.

The District Christmas party sounds like it went well. We weren't able
to attend, since Pres. Mecham came and we had a Zone Conference all
day. But, it was a great meeting. We had a ton of people from our area
go to the party, and everyone said that it was great. We also had a
special meeting at church yesterday for a Branch Christmas, and that
was really nice. Also, I learned how to make some pretty sweet baskets
out of coconut leaves. Allow me to explain, Kosraeans are very rigid
on what gender is allowed to do what; for the most part, any weaving
is only done by women. The only exception to this rule is the basket.
Most women don't even know how to make one; apparently it is a very
manly thing to do. Anyway, we were able to make 15 as our contribution
to the Christmas party.

We have been having some really good things happen in Malem. There
haven't been that many people getting drunk, and there has been some
changing in public opinion about the church. The church has been here
for about 30 or so years, and people were still confused if we
celebrated Christmas or not. Apparently, the Seventh Days and the
Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate it. So, I guess it was kind of
understandable that there could be some confusion, but this year's
party was publicized well enough that most of that seems to have been
finally cleared up.

I saw some Islam propaganda for the first time in my life. This guy
had all these books about Jesus Christ in relation to Islam that
somebody had given him, and he wanted to hear what we thought about
it. Something about Jesus didn't actually die on the cross and went
and died in India...we told him that Joseph Smith was a true prophet
of the resurrected Christ and that Thomas S. Monson was his prophet
today.

I am very happy here. My health is good and we are staying safe.

Love,

Elder Gerber