January 12, 2014

Dear Family,

Well I am very pleased to hear that my box made it to you all. I hope
nothing was damaged or anything. I'm glad to hear that the boys and
Dad enjoyed their boats (we pronounce them awk). All of those boats
were made by Yulsin. When he doesn't come with us, he sits at his
house and carves boats. He had given me so many that I wasn't sure
what to do with them until I realized that Christmas was coming up.
The fans were made by his mother. See if you can find the "Sleeping
Laddy." Mom's necklace was given to me by a friend. I found the shell.
The girls' handkerchiefs were made by Ninac Sepe and Ninac Angie. I
hope you are all able to enjoy them. Merry Christmas.

We had a slow week. Elder Blackwell is sick, so we didn't get to go
out too much these last couple of days. But things are really looking
up for this week.

Something that is making me really happy is that we are finally seeing
an active branch presidency. President Sasaki has been trying to run
the branch on his own for the last year or so, and it has been pretty
rough on him. But now we have the first counselor, Aleksru,
consistently coming to church, attending meetings, and conducting
Sacrament meeting. Also, Likiaksa was also recently called to be
second counselor and is doing very well.

Speaking of Likiaksa, he is almost done with his mission papers. All
that's left is his hospital papers and a picture. He should be able to
send them in next month. He makes me a very happy missionary.

We're trying very hard right now to get members to do missionary work.
There is a Protestant belief that only missionaries or pastors and
such are allowed to preach the gospel, and it has crept into the
church here. We are breaking through that, and are helping people
understand what their responsibilities are. It has really helped me
understand what I can do for the rest of my life. Teaching our peers
about the church might not necessarily be easy, but it is extremely
doable. Being open about what we believe or standing up for our
standards is a very effective way of helping others come into the
church.

On a side note, Elder Blackwell and I have been trying to use that
cookbook that you sent a while back. It has been great, and we have
been eating like kings, but occasionally we just scratch our heads for
45 minutes and then give up (like the one time when we were trying to
figure out what it meant to "boil it over water"). Maybe I'm just not
a chef yet...

Well, I love you all very much. I am happy and healthy.

Love,
Elder Gerber

PS--I got an email from Elder Gamble about Benji's call, and just sent
Benj off an email of congratulations. What a boss.