We had a nice week. There was a funeral in one part of our area so we couldn't work much there seeing as the whole community was attending ( still haven't figured out how having a ten day drinking party is a way to honor the deceased). However, some of our investigators in Daini are making a lot of progress. One old woman, Rose, seems to have known the church is true for a long long time and has just been waiting for her husband to accept it. Her husband, Rihlan, has really softened his heart in the past couple months and has turned from a grumpy old man who hated Mormons to one that knows with all his heart that what we have taught him is true. Rihlan and Rose also have some next-door neighbors who have become quite interested. It will be good for these two older couples to be investigating together so they can lend support as they make changes in their lives.

 

Momma, you aren't supposed to get aches in your back! You've always been the strongest of all us girls. By the way, you mentioned about our year mark and I was wondering when you and dad plan on going home. Will it be before Christmas? It doesn't matter much but I'm just curious.  

 

The Varea Sisters are both going home next Sunday. I can't believe they are already almost done. We went out to Nalap island today as a zone to give them a going-away-party. It was a fun pretty island to see. I learned something new about cars today. When we got back from Nalap we found that one of the car batteries died and no one had jumper cables. Some of the local men waiting for the boat saw our predicament and switched the batteries of our two cars. It worked and they both started right up. We were lucky that the cars happened to be exactly the same.

I think that's all for this week.

Love,

Sister Beutler

 

We had zone conference this week. It was lovely as usual.

I'm getting really excited about one of our investigators. Her name is Mither and she is doing wonderful. She made it to church yesterday and she is so excited about finding this church. She and her husband are not officially married but we taught chastity and she agreed that they must get married. She talked to her husband and it sounds like it's a go. We'll be attending a wedding sometime in the near future. 

I was on an exchange with Sister Vave most of this week because they wanted her close to the hospital. I miss my Sister Ioane, but I get her back today!

While Sister Vave and I were walking in the dark Wednesday night I could've sworn something pinched my ankle I was afraid it was a crab and kicked my foot hard. As a result my shoe went flying and I heard it hit a bush. We had a little flashlight so I looked and looked for it for about ten minutes. I then said a little prayer and looked again but no luck. There were just too many plants around. Just as I was about to give up and go recruit a search party of children, a young man came out of the darkness and asked what was wrong. I explained what had happened  and after having a good laugh he went over to look. Within 20 seconds he had found it. This sounds like a dumb little story you might find in The Friend, but I believe that boy was an answer to my prayer. 

The power has been out a lot this week. Rumour has it that the contract for the generator guy is up and he left the island. They replaced him with a tree guy. As a result they have been cutting down all the trees along the road and now the power goes off daily. Isn't life fun in Pohnpei?!    

Love you all,

Sister Beutler

Hello All

It's sounds like you all had a good 4th of July. I'm glad and I would like to hear more about this amazing run of Jacob's. Is this my brother Jacob or nephew Jacob that the momma is talking about. I'd also like to wish my nephews a happy birthday too!

I was also invited to the celebration at the American Embassy here in Pohnpei. We got to go to it for our lunch hour after district meeting. The Elders got there in time for the food but by the time I got there the food was all gone and the party was pretty much finished. It was fun to see inside the Embassy Courtyard with all the decorations though. Mom and Dad I am interested to see your cowboy outfits. Any pictures?

I have been dreaming about cousin Joshua Lowery. How is he?

This week was another good week. Yesterday we went to contact a referral and the lady at the house told us she was gone. We asked is we could share a message with her and she happily sat down to listen. As we were about to sing the opening song she stopped and said she needed to tell us something. She then confessed that she had lied to us and that she was the referral we were looking for. It was a strange/awkward/funny situation but we went on ahead with having a  lesson and it turned out well.  

Yesterday morning we went out in the pouring rain to wake up our investigators for church. Not a soul was awake in the whole little village and we felt funny just walking in their nahs' and getting them up, so that didn't turn out as expected. Rainy Sundays are always hard for getting people to church. 

I'm staying healthy and my happiest moments are when I'm out proselyting. I love meeting new people every day and teaching them about our Heavenly Father and  Savior. 

Love you all lots and lots,

Sister Beutler

Mom and Dad, this is the picture that I thought looked a lot like one of yours.

 

Happy Summer

This was a week of miracles. There is a really nice family Sister Varea and I started teaching way back in December. We would go to them once a week because that is all the father would allow. The kids all knew what we taught was true but the father said we weren't allowed to extend a baptismal date, didn't like us saying much about Joseph Smith, and refused to even touch a book of Mormon. He would sit outside and drink sakau while we taught and sort of listen in through the window. The past three weeks he has sat in the lessons and this week we read with them in 2 Nephi 29. He finally accepted that it would be okay if he took a Book of Mormon and read it. He said, "I'll read your book but I'm not getting baptised."  I told him that was fine and gave him a book. As we were leaving he had already started reading and even said we could start coming more often. I could see the spirit working within him the whole lesson and the things that happened that night were truly the works of God.

We also found a woman who is truly prepared through means I would've never expected. Her husband was talking to us on the road and when he tried getting a little flirtish I asked if we could teach him and his wife sometime. He told us he would like that and that missionaries had never asked to teach him before. One of our members is good friends with the man and agreed to go help us teach him. When we arrived at the house on the set day I realized why none of the missionaries had never asked to teach them before. They live in the house on the block that is ALWAYS having a bingo game and sakau party going on. Our member that joined us went in and told the wife we were there to see her. She immediately left her bingo game and welcomed us into her little hut behind her house. She told us she had been waiting for us all day and was so excited when her husband told her we were coming. She said, "I've lived in this house for over 20 years. The missionaries have always been kind and said hello to me on the road but have never asked to teach me." After our first 2 lessons she said she has felt different inside ever since she started meeting with us and told us that after she is baptised she wants all of her family to join too. 

Mom and dad, I have a picture almost exactly like the one you sent with the broken down boat. I'll try and send it. Sounds like you two had quite the adventure last week. It's good that you get to go see more of the beautiful place where you live.

Love yous alls (as my lovely Fijian Sisters would say),

Sister Beutler

Happy June

Dear Family,

It was fun to hear about the reunion this past week. I'm sure it was a blast and will be even more so when I am there next year. :) The pictures were fun too. Thanks Eve and Rachel.

This week has been good and productive. My daughter Sister Ioane is getting better and better in the language every day. Sometimes I'm surprised when we get in a lesson and she starts saying sentences in Pohnpein that I didn't even know she knew how to say.

We have a little area called Daini that is doing so well right now. It started out with us finding one inactive family living there. We started teaching them and from there we keep finding more and more part-member families that are related to them in the same area. I see a great possibility of Daini being a a super strong area in our branch; especially because they will have the family support system. 

We went into one lesson with a family thinking both the parents were baptised. I started asking the wife questions about when she was baptised, what she remembers, etc. With a confused look she told me she couldn't remember anything because she was a baby. She also didn't even know her husband was a member. They are a really nice family though and they have 3 teenage girls that love when we come over. One of them even joins all the lessons at her cousin's house. 

We had an investigator, Brynica, join girls camp this past week and she is convinced that she is part of this church now. :) All she needs is parental permission to be baptised but I don't think that will be too hard. Her parents love us, they just don't want to give up some of their own habits. 

That's all for now. Keep being the wonderful family you are.

Love you all,

Sister Beutler

Hello Family

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week. The website would let me read all my mail but it wouldn't let me reply to anything. I even tried on a couple different computers. Ah, the joys of living in Pohnpei.

Mango season is still going strong and I think I have overcome my allergic reaction to them because they don't make me itch anymore.

The three teenagers in the Andon family were baptized and confirmed this weekend. Now their whole family is baptized except for the oldest girl who is going to school in the states. The Father has also received the priesthood and is working towards getting the Melchezidek priesthood as soon as that is possible. Even though the Elders took over teaching when they moved in the area, it is still so rewarding to see a whole family baptized. 

Things in my area are going well. It is still our biggest struggle trying to get people to church. This week's excuses are pink-eye, a dead car battery, slept in, a broken shoe, and visiting family for the weekend. So many bad things seem to happen to people on Sunday morning. 

Two of the girls in our branch received their mission calls this week. One is going to the Philippines and one will go to Australia. They are so excited. When I first came only 3 people were on missions from Pohnpei. Now there are over 27 young people either on missions, with a call, or waiting for calls. The LeFevres also say that they have people call them daily asking to help them get their mission papers ready. It is an exciting time for Pohnpei and we'll have a stake on this island before we know it. 

One of our investigators, Rihlen, was reading the Book of Mormon and said that he wanted to receive a blessing from someone who had power like Moroni. He is very sick from hi diabetes so we had the Elders come to give him a blessing the next day he told us that his blood sugar went down from 274 to 208. He believed it was a miracle and wants to be baptized but is afraid to do it before elections because he wants to run for congressman.

We had an interesting lesson with Rihlen's wife the other night. He wasn't home so we asked if we could teach her. She is mostly deaf but is very good at reading lips so I just talked loud and slow, making sure she could see my lips moving. The lesson turned out well and she has been doing her reading. She was even able to answer some questions and is very interested to learn more.

Sister Ioane and I found the most delicious cinnamon rolls in a small container shop down in China Town (no, China Town does not have chinese people. I don't know why it was given that name). They also sell excellent muffins and banana turnovers.

Yesterday we had about 5 lesson planned out in our little bush place that we call Narnia. However, when we got out there the whole family community was having a bingo party and drinking. They invited us to go drink with them and teach them the gospel. One of the old women we teach was super drunk. She gave me a big hug and told me how much she loved me. Two of the adults didn't join the party so we had a lesson with them and spent the rest of the evening finding new people and visiting our less-actives.

Well, time to go. Love you all.

Sister Beutler

P.S. I want to hear about how the sibling reunion went.

Hello

Today our district had an activity to hike up to some of the guns from the war . I'm still alive. The work is still moving.

We were expecting quite a few investigators at church yesterday but ended up with only one. We'll get them there next week though. 

I need to stop eating so many mangos. It gets my skin pretty itchy. Maybe I'll just limit myself to one a day. 

We are having a hard time getting a group of our investigators to beleive that there is only one road to God. They are convinced there are many different roads coming from each church and all leading to- one big road that goes to God. Ah, the things some people come up with. 

I accidently hit my watch on a rock and broke the face but the watch still works for now. 

I love you all more than anything in the world.

Sister Amy Beutler