Sunday, July 14, 2013

Letter from Elder Meyer: Nothing super crazy. Where did the Yapese people come from (Q2). 50 people at Church! (Q4). Self-reliant (Q5). Another baptism.




Hello Everyone.

This was a pretty good week. Nothing super crazy, but a good week. 

Dad

I am glad that you were not on the plane that crashed. That would not be good. That is really cool that you guys are going to the temple as a stake presidency. That is something that I miss so so much, the temple. 

Question 1: There has been much more news recently about Yap Island and the internal debate about leasing private land to China for tourist purposes.  I’ve seen about 6 stories on it over the past week or so.  Have you been hearing such chatter?

Answer: Yes. People really don’t like it. And the people don’t have the authority to lease the land to the Chinese without the chief’s permission.

Question 2: In 2 Nephi, Chapter 10, verse 8 we read, “And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance.”   Do the Yapese people share with you where they believe there heritage originates from?

Answer: Yes, there is a whole legend on it. Basically they believe they came from either the Philippines or somewhere in Indonesia area. 

Question 3: Related question, do the Yapese people keep records sufficient to obtain Family History information?

Answer: All of the records are kept by the catholic church throughout all of Yap State. So they have back quite a ways. It is hard to get info from the Catholic Church though.

Question 4: What was your Sunday like?

Answer: Sunday was pretty good.. I am in Colonia for a couple days, because Elder Tueller is in Guam for a meeting, so I need to drive the missionaries around down here. There were around 50 or so people. It was really good.

Question 5: Do the youth on the island have a good tradition or work. Basically, do they learn how to become self-sufficient?

Answer: Yes. Most everyone here is self-sufficient. They learn that at a very young age. Especially when they live outside of Colonia. 

Question 6: Did you have a special/successful day this past week?  If so, could you describe it?

Answer: A special day would have been the District Youth activity on Saturday. There was about 30 or so people that came. We went and explored some of the old caves that the Japanese had. They were really cool. After we explored the caves we went back to the church played some games and had a baptism. It was great. 



 
Youth Activity

Mom

Okay so Ashley’s husband got the job at Apple. Let me know what he is doing there. That is so cool that the church is getting so many more youth there at the temple. That is really cool. 


Question 7: Do the youth ever go to the temple to do baptisms?

Answer: Nope. It is much too expensive to go and do that. The youth don't have the money to get themselves there and the church only pays for people's first time to the temple to make a new ordinance. 


Question 8: Tell me about church today - how many were there and what did you do?


Answer: There was about 50 or so people there. It was really great. I was in the Colonia branch. So I didn't have to do anything. The Colonia branch is most like a branch anywhere else. The missionaries don't run it. 



Question 9: Does anyone on the island have a career or job?  If so - what are they?

Answer: Yes and no. A lot of people work. They work at the small stores, some work for FSMTC (phone), for the education department of the government, or like A*gistine started his own business fixing computers. People also work in the hotels that are here.



Staheli

Hope all is still going well with you. Your lava lava is almost finished. Love ya

Reed

Congratulations on the almost six pack. I am so glad that you are doing good. Love you man. 

Grandma

I hear that you are not feeling very well. That is no good. I just want to write you and say that I love you so so so much. You are the best grandma in the entire world. You have always been there for me. I love getting your letters. They make me so so so happy. I feel bad that I don’t write you back very often. I do still love you though. I have a necklace that I have had made for you. I should be able to get it today and then it should be in the mail soon. I just want to say that I love you so so so much. 

 

To Everyone

Alight, sorry that I am a little late today, but better late than never. Time is getting short, so I will go fast. This week was good. We had a pretty good start this week. We saw a lot of people that didn't go to church this past week. So that was good. I think that there were 16 in Thool yesterday. So it paid off.

Um, we got a new investigator named Th*mas. He has been taught before and was close to baptism. He says that he is really busy, but we are going to keep working with him.

C*rding is going to be baptized on August 30th. We are very excited for him. He is doing really good. I think he still has a little bit of a smoking problem, but I know he can overcome that. The baptism this week was for someone that I have been trying to teach for a long time. His name is K*n. K*n came to church a couple months with is family who are members.  Well, at seminary graduation, Ken came. He went to church for 4 weeks in a row and I thought to myself, it is time for him to be baptized. So, I went up and talked to him. He said we could come and teach him. Well, we taught him the first lesson. The other missionaries took over after that, and well, he was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. It was really great. I was so excited.


Baptism this week.


That is about it. They youth activity was a lot of fun. I will send home some pictures. I love you guys so so much
You are the best family in the world 

Love, Elder Meyer.

Prep Day: Exploring


Prep Day: Exploring



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