The Peki Pwoud

Hello Family,

Cousin Danny if you are reading this I just wanted to let you know that I met the late Elders Barlow, Carter and Dunn. Two of them said they served with you. One in the MTC and one as an AP. They came back to Pohnpei together for a visit this past week. I was dumb and didn't think to take a picture with them.

 

I was able to see a peki pwoud (a meeting to ask for a woman's hand in marriage) this week when I was on exchanges back in Sokehs. Some of our members from Sapwalap were at an investigators house. We went to talk to them and they invited us in for drinks. As I put my head around the corner I saw that the house was filled with people. The boy was sitting with his father and mother's oldest sister across a mat from the girl's parents. They were discussing and making agreements about the marriage. It was just like a Johnny Lingo moment.

An old man on the road gave us a bag of "Tongan" breadfruit. He said it was really good and sweet and told us exactly how we should cook it. We took it home and saw that is was realllly soft and one had maggots in it. Sister Ioane said it was no good so we got rid of it. I'm pretty sure the man was sincerely trying to give us a gift though. 

The picture is of me, Becky, and Jetleen with some Yappese money. They went out teaching with us on Sunday. Rachel, they are your age right now.

Momma, you don't need to worry about my apartment. I have clean water and good plumbing. It even has a bedroom that is separate from the Kitchen.

Love you all,

Sister Beutler

 

Another Sunny Week in Pohnpei

Hello my family dear,

This was such a rewarding week. Sister Ioane and I have been praying a lot to find prepared people in our new area and God has answered our prayers. Things weren't working out well at the beginning of the week as far as appointments went, but everytime an appointment fell through, it led us to finding new families to talk to before we moved on. Our investigator pool is continuing to grow and we are staying nice and busy.

 

Saturday we were able to attend a wonderful baptism of 7 people in our branch. They weren't my investigators but they were all people I had taught many times in my old areas. The mother and father of the Andon family finally got baptised along with their two youngest children. Sister Varea and I had taught them all the lessons two times over but Bro. Andon's smoking addiction was the only thing stopping them. He was finally able to give it up and they were all baptised. I've never seen them so happy as they were Saturday night.

 

Wednesday we were walking out on a jungle path to one of our investigators homes. A man who was either drunk or high on something spotted us and came a runnin'. He began following us insisting that we write his name down in our "little books" and make an appointment to come see him. I decided to just humor him so I wrote his name down in the back of my planner and said maybe we'd see him on Sunday if we had time. He was satisfied by my response and walked away. I had completely forgotten about him until yesterday (Sunday). We were clear out on the other side of town teaching a lesson at a lady's house when he appeared at her window. Seeing me, he made sure to remind us that it was Sunday and he was ready to meet with us. He then turned to my investigator and asked if he could have some money to buy marajuana. She gave him a good Scotch Blessing and chased him away. We then resumed our lesson and it turned out just swell.

I'd send pictures of the baptism but I'm using a dumb computer today. Maybe next week.

Oh, it was awesome to hear about the WS track teams. What an exciting weekend for our community!

God bless you all in your own missionary work.

Love,

Sister Beutler

Happy Mothers Day

Lelie,

I just got done with my call to mom and dad. It was good to hear their voices and see their faces again. It was good to see some brothers and sisters too. Sorry I wasn't able to talk to everyone. I ran out of time, but know that I love you all and would have sat and talked you all day if I could have.

I had a long tiring week in Guam. We did lots of running around and not enough sleeping. I was able to shop a little at ROSS to replace some clothing that is in pretty bad shape. 

All four of us got our four new Sisters safely back to Pohnpei Friday morning. My new companion is Sister Ioane. She is from American Samoa and is 23-years-old. The other new sisters on the island are Sister Ma'a also from A. Samoa, Sis. Roberts from New Zealand, and Sister Vave from California but she is Tongan. 

I was tranfered to the Kolonia East area. It was the Elders area before but they hardly ever went to that side of town so I feel like I'm pretty much white-washing it. The first little while has been a little hard but I know there are plenty of prepared people ready to hear from us. We just need to open our mouths with everyone. We have quite a few new people we've talked to that seem interested enough. We'll see how it goes in the returning appointments.

One of the pictures is of me and Sister Ioane when we first met. 

With Love,

Sister Beutler

Greetings from Guam

Hafa Adai,

It's been a busy week. I just flew into Guam this morning. We got a call Saturday morning from the assistants telling us that we would be on the midnight flight Sunday night to pick up our new trainees. All 4 of us will be taking 4 new sisters back to Pohnpei with us. We have no idea who they are or where they are from yet. Guam is so weird though. It feels like I stepped into a completely different world. There are malls and fast food places and the roads are soo nice.

We are staying with the Sisters here and get to meet the new missionaries on Thurday. Then we fly back Friday morning. The zone leaders haven't been able to find and new "safe" housing for the two new companionships yet so each of our tiny little houses will be squeezing 4 sisters in for awhile. Sapwalap only has room for 3 mattresses so it is going to be an interesting few weeks for them. 

This is the last two transfers for both Sister R. and Sister T. Varea. I guess President Mecham wants to keep them nice and busy up until the very end. 

I know some funny stuff happened this week but I don't have my journal with me and have only gotten 3 hrs of sleep in the past day and a half so I can't seem to remember anything. Sokehs is doing well though. Oh, yesterday I was on splits and towards the end of our lesson the Jehovah Witness missionaries showed up for an appointment with the same family. They just waited until we left but that was a bit of an awkward moment. 

Have a lovely week everyone. I will fill you all in on my new trainee next week. We are also getting a new Elder on the island. Now Pohnpei will have 26 young missionaries!

With Love, 

Sister Amy Beutler