New Happenings

Dear Family,

Sister Varea and I had an awesome week. We have three different people that actually sought us out and asked to be taught so each of them should be pretty promising. We were able to teach 20 member present lessons this week which is the most we've ever done. We will also be having a baptism for two young boys this Saturday. They have a 20-year-old brother that was baptized 4 years ago but is less active now. He has started sitting in on the lessons and asks lots of questions. I believe with a little encouragement and fellow-shipping he'll be a strong member again and a good support for his brothers. He just needs to stop chewing that nasty beetlenut! I hate beetlenuts and sakau. They seem to be everybody's downfall out here.

Now for the sad news. Late Saturday night we found out that I will be transferred to Sokehs. Sokehs is the city part of Pohnpei so I will be leaving the jungle (for now). Sister R. Varea will be my new companion. Right when the work was really picking up in Sapwalap too! There is happy news though. Sister Fatongia (my companion in the MTC) is coming to Pohnpei and Sister T. Varea will train her in the language in Sapwalap. We'll pick her up from the airport this Wednesday. I'm really excited to see her again and she's gifted with learning new languages so I think she will pick it up fast. We also finally got Sister Salaiau on the plane to go home this morning at 1:00am. While we waited at the airport I was able to get lots of my language mastery things passed off with the locals. Lots of people came to send her off even though it was the middle of the night.

In Sokehs pretty much all of the teenagers speak English, some people speak normal Pohnpein, some speak the Kitti dialect of Pohnpein and there is a big section of people that speak Krinese (a language from one of the outer islands). I'm afraid my language progression might slow down while I'm here since I won't be using it all the time. I'm excited to get to know all the members in Sokehs though (there are lots because the church is really strong there). We also won't have a car so maybe I'll get a little more fit too. I'm still staying happy and very healthy. I love all y'all. 

Sister Beutler