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| Sister Beutler and her trainer Sister Varea |
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| Sister Beutler in Pohnpei |
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| Pohnpei |
Kaselehlie from Pohnpei,
To answer Mary’s question, dearelder.com can still be used to send letters but it costs something like $6 a month to use now that I am out in the field. letters
sent to the mission home address will get to me eventually. This is a better
address to use though and will be the same as long as I am in Pohnpei:
P.O. Box
2203
Kolonia FM
96941
Pohnpei
My
trainer, Sister Varea, has had a cough for a couple months so on
Wednesday we
finally went to the doctor and she had pneumonia so she was ordered to
rest for
the week. She stayed in Kolonia with the other Sister Varea and Sister
Salaiau
and I went back to Sapwalap. Sister Salaiau told me how to ask all the
basic
questions at the beginning of a lesson like “Which hymn should we sing”
and “Who
should pray” on the way back to Sapwalap. I wrote it down and from then
on I
was in charge of getting the lessons started. Needless to say I had a
lot of
people trying not to laugh at me or finish my sentences. Sister Salaiau
keeps
telling me that if I work really hard with the language and suffer now, I
can
rest later. I am starting to figure out what people are talking about
by picking out words i recognize. One of our investigators, Sileen,
wants to be baptized but her husband wouldn't let her. She has been
praying a lot for his heart to be softened. When we went to visit her on
Thursday her husband was there. He listened to our lesson and even
agreed to begin taking the discussions.
Mom and Dad, the living conditions
of river people you visited sounded just like all the people in Sapwalap. I
thought Yap was the only island with topless women but I’ve definitely seen
plenty of that this week. There are little
roadside stores here that have the best rolls I’ve ever tasted (they are sweeter than usual). You can buy a
bag of rolls or a bag of doughnuts for just a dollar and they are one of my
favorite treats. My first week here they had broken up doughnuts for the sacrament
bread.
On Saturday we had a district seminary
activity all the missionaries got to go to. They played lots of the pioneer
games like stick pull and they had a pie eating contest. None of the students
had ever heard of such a thing. All the chosen participants were natives and
none of them could finish their pie so they finally just gave a prize to the
one who finished the most before they had to go outside and throw up.
That evening there was a
branch
activity cultural show. I met a lady at the show that knew an Elder
Beutler. Did Danny ever serve here? We call here Mama Serina. There were lots of dance numbers for the show, and plenty of food.
The food at parties is usually rice, strange noodles, raw fish, taro, bananas,
fried cucumbers, and always hotdogs. One
of the members gave us some pineapples from her garden a couple days ago, It is still are still my favorite fruit here. The bananas taste
about the same as back home except sweeter, and they are really small.
As for myself, I am still in
good health. I feel like crying every morning but by afternoon I feel like
maybe I’ll be able to make it through the day, and by evening I am happy again.
Everything here is so different from home but I know I was sent to this mission
for a reason. I already have many people who love me even though we can hardly
communicate and the children all run up and hug my legs whenever they see me.
They lift my spirits a lot.
Until next
week,
Poakepoake
Kumwail ( I love you all),
Sister
Beutler
P.S. One picture is of my trainer and I and the others are just some pictures of Pohnpei.
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