Things Are Looking Up

It's been a nice week. The past few weeks had been some of the darkest and most discouraging of my mission, but things are really improving. We had 5 investigators at church yesterday. None of the people who planned to give them rides showed up but they found their way there anyway. Kenny, a 24-year-old investigator, walked to church all by himself and said he really enjoyed it.

Mazuda is finally getting baptized tomorrow. We've been waiting for almost 3 months because his mom wanted him to be baptized on his birthday. He is a bright young boy and has been really fun to teach. He says one of his favourite things to do is come to church.

One of the investigators I taught in Sokehs is also getting baptized this week on Saturday. She is the one Elder Dylan Beutler taugth years ago. I got to be good friends with her and it's good to see her finally make the decision to act on what she knows is true.

Sister Ioane and I will be starting our dance class this Wednesday. They announced it in church and all the ladies are really excited to come. We also have lots of investigators that want to come too. It's going to be fun watching them learn to dance. :)

Mom and Dad, it was fun to see the pictures you took at the wedding. Looks like Pohnpei. It's always interesting seeing and hearing how similar our missions are even though we are on different sides of the world.

Love you all,

Sister Beutler

This has been an interesting week. Maybe it's the fact that school will be starting soon but nobody seems to have time to meet with us. We have days filled will so many appointments that it looks like we won't even be able to handle them. Then we get out and almost everything seems to fall through. On Thursday we spent 4 hours just trying to find anybody that would let us sit down with them. We made a lot of return appointments but no lessons. Hopefully someone from all that finding turns out to be a good investigator.

I'm sure you all pray for me already but if I could ask anything from all of you at home, please pray for the people I'm teaching in this little part of the world. Some of my investigators really need a miracle.

I don't know if any of you remember me talking about Mither, she's the lady that has been waiting for 20 years for missionaries to teach her. Anyway, she has gone for a whole week now without smoking! Now she just needs to get married but we're in the process of getting that all put together.

Well, have a good week my family. Count your blessings name them one by one.

Sister Beutler

Hello my dear family,

Not much to write today, but I did have a few really good experiences to share from this week. One was just on Saturday when many appointments were falling through and I was starting to feel discouraged. We were walking down the road when a whole group of our young members (13/14-years-olds) called out to us and told us to come sarawi (have a lesson) with them. I looked back and saw they had a young lady with them who usually gives us dirty looks but she was smiling at as this time. We took the opportunity and had a really good lesson. All the kids bore their testimonies at the end. It really lifted my spirits that day.

 Yesterday we taught a young man and woman who had been taught a couple years ago but were eventually dropped. We reviewed the restoration and then I asked if they had ever prayed about out teaching. The boy, Kenny, said he had prayed a long time ago. I asked him what happened when he prayed. He got a bit emotional and took a long time to say anything but finally told us that he knew that Book of Mormon and everything we teach is true. He accepted a baptismal date right then and there and said he is really going to be serious about this. It was such a miracle that we found him. I know he has been prepared to recieve this gospel.
Rachel, I think I may not have joined you in your huckleberry make-up doing. Well, maybe on my lips but I don't think I could bring myself to squeeze it on my eyelids.
Yes momma, the girl in the picture I sent last week is my new companion.

 

Pictures this week:Pohnpei has lots of funny road signs so I thought I'd just share a couple with all of you.

Loving you all more every day,

Sister Beutler

A Big Week

So much has happened this week. I received a call Monday night from the Zone Leaders letting me know I would be training again and I would be flying to Guam in the morning. Tuesday Morning we got to the airport and the flight was cancelled so I just stayed in Pohnpei. On Friday my new companion came. Her name is Sister Komra. She is from Vanuatu. She speaks French and Pislama and just started learning English while she was in the MTC for 12 days. Pislama is kind of like Pigian so it is sort of close to English but kind of not. Anyway, it is interesting teaching her English and Pohnpein at the same time. She is really positive though and she works hard so we'll do just fine together. She comes from an island with no cars and no electricity. Things that seem so common and simple to me are so new to her.

One of our members in Sapwalap is in an "I'm a Mormon" video. It is called "I'm a spear fisherman, I'm a Pohnpein, I'm a mormon" You should all look it up and watch it. It's a nice look into what Pohnpei is like.

We taught a family this week which has two children in it that are only three months apart in age. I asked how that happened and they had no idea. It just did. The girl was born November 1993 and the boy in January 1994. They have the same mother and father. They think they must have been twins and one was just ready before the other. I guess it's just a mystery.

 Much love and God speed to all of you,

 Sister Beutler

 

Sorry, this is going to be just a short email.

I went out to Sapwalap this week for a 4 day exchange. It was fun to be back there. The Varea sisters were both there so we attended plenty of going away dinners. We got some good work done too. 

Our area is doing well. Our branch had a cultural show on Saturday. I danced a Samoan dance with Sister R Varea, Ma'a, and Ioane. It was...interesting. The activity was a huge success and we had 4 investigators there, three of which attended church yesterday. 

Last night we went out to the airport to send off the Vareas. They will be very missed on this island. Sooo many members were there to say goodbye.

Love you all,

Sister Beutler

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