January 26, 2014

Dear Family,

We had a good week. Mira got married, baptized, and confirmed. We were
not able to go to her wedding or baptism because we didn't have any
investigators there, and that was one of the hardest things I have
ever had to deal with. We had permission to be there (the Zone Leaders
said it was up to us), Mira wanted us to be there, I had worked super
hard with her for months and months, and we were already down at the
chapel dropping something off. But it just wasn't the right thing to
do. So, we went and taught a few lessons instead. The hardest part
really was just being enthusiastic while proselyting. As soon as I
changed my attitude, we had the best day we had had all week. (For
your talk, Dad, you may want to note that Decision and Action are not
the same. See the verse on giving a gift grudgingly. Such a gift has
no lasting power or consequence. Just doing righteous things isn't
enough.) Yesterday, I was privileged to stand in the circle as Mira
was confirmed a member of the Church. It was a really good meeting.

Tafunsak is actually part of the Lelu area right now. Elder Conejero
and I did some proselyting there, and the Zone Leaders are covering it
right now. The new area will just be carved out of existing areas. The
only area that doesn't have any missionaries right now is Waclucng,
mainly because it is only accessible by boat, and there are only about
80 people who live there. Also, sisters may have been put on hold for
a while. We are still hearing news. The senior couple will be here on
the 3rd, and we are cleaning their house for them today. They are
Elder and Sister Curtis from Orem. Apparently, they are big into
family history work. That's about all I know. I have had a little
correspondence with the Eldredges. They are back in North Carolina,
about 5 minutes from the temple.

We have been really hammering down our finding. We are having a good
time talking to everyone, and have been finding some good
investigators. We got John to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon,
after which he asked us a really good question about what it meant to
be "damned." So we had a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He is
enjoying reading the Book, and I am happy for him. He is working on
getting baptized next month.

We are also teaching Kennard (it was pretty confusing. Kosraeans have
a really hard time saying an "rd", so we kept looking for a Kennet for
the longest time until we finally got a break and contacted him). He
and his son are meeting with us and are interested. The son really
wants to come to church, and is friends with some members that he goes
to school with. They are both reading the pamphlets, and we were
finally able to get them a Book of Mormon. It is always refreshing to
see someone actually get excited to get a Book. We don't get to see
them too often, but we should see them this week.

Elder Land stayed with us from Monday to Friday last week. 
We had a really good time with him, and I learned some Chuukese from him.
We meet with a Chuukese guy pretty regularly who doesn't speak
Kosraean or English well, so I'm hoping to use some on him.

As for the Ukulele tabs, please don't put out any money for a book.
Internet tabs work great. If you could send them in a letter, that
would be fantastic.

I love you all very much. I am happy and safe.

Love,
Elder Gerber