Letter from Elder Meyer: Do you still have to carry a leaf in your hand when walking around some villages (Q4)? Making Yapese easier to learn for future missionaries (Q11).

This week has been good. Nothing too much happened.  I have been trying to email for a couple of hours and it has not been working. I need to go fast, but i will try to answer all your questions…

Dad

Question 1: Can you describe your favorite lesson taught this past week?

Answer: Teaching about prophets to a little girl. She had no idea what a prophet was and what they do. She really understood.

Question 2: How many lessons taught this past week and how many with members' present?   Answer: I think it was 25 lessons and 9 with a member present.

Question 3: Have you learned any new doctrine lately, or deeper understanding of a certain doctrine?

Answer: I prepared a talk on baptism for church. I didn't really learn anything new about baptism, just deepened my testimony about it. It is so essential.  And it has to be done in the right authority. It seems so clear to me, I don't know how people get confused.

Question 4: Do you still have to carry a leaf in your hand when walking thru some of the villages?

Answer: Yep, it is part of the culture. It is fun, really. In some villages I don't have to. The low cast ones and the ones that I am "from"

Question 5: Have you observed any other traditions that you haven't shared with us yet?

Answer: Down south… one of the pronouns is a bad word and offensive. So I am not sure how to use it yet, but it is a little strange.

Question 6: How many of the converts, since you've been on the island, have church callings?  What are they doing?   Answer:  I think only like 2 or 3. They are in the young adults program.

Question 7: Have you witnesses any miracles over the past year that further confirms your testimony of Christ?

Answer:  Just the change on the island. It is an entirely different spirit here. It is amazing.

Mom

Question 8: What did you do on Valentine's Day?   Answer:  Teach people. That is what I do every day J

Question 9:  What made you smile this week?   Answer:  The sisters had a baptism, and the man asked me to baptism him. It was fun, he is a cool guy.

Question 10:  Tell about a lesson you taught that you felt the spirit very strong.

Answer:  Teaching a less active member, we found who is coming back to church.  Taught about going to the temple. She is so so so excited. The spirit was there and she loved it and wants to go.

Question 11:  Tell about one thing you did this week that you loved!

Answer: Finding a new member, that is super awesome. Her name is L*li. She is super great. She used to translate for the church. I am a Yapese language master now, and am trying to redo the packet to help missionaries learn Yapese easier.  She is helping me. It is awesome. It should be easier for missionaries in the future.

I am trying to think about what else is new. We got a couple of new people that we are teaching. We are looking for some members to help support them. Church was pretty good. I think we had 22 people there. Little by little, it will keep growing.

Well, sorry… I need to go. Time is up and it took a long time to get into the internet.

You guys are the best ever.

Love elder Meyer

Letter from Elder Meyer: Someone thought he was half Yapese and there is a HUGE boat on the island this week.

Hello Everyone

This week has been pretty good. We had a child of record baptism. It was pretty great.

Oh yeah, there is a huge boat in the island right now. It is a cruise ship that is doing a world tour. There are 1300 people that are on the island. I have not seen so many white people in a really long time. I am emailing right now, and there are so many of them next to me. They are all trying to get on their emails with their smart phones and it is slowing everything down. It is so funny to see smart phones and people with their faces into the phone and walking. It really makes me laugh.

Dad

That is awesome that there is so much rain over there now. I think the storm that was here last week made it to California. You are so lucky to be able to go the temple all the time. Sounds like the temple trip there is going to be great. This year, there is twice the amount of funds for temple trips here in Micronesia Guam mission. It is awesome. President would like 2 trips from each island this year. It should be great.

Question 1: What experience happened to you this past week that brought a smile to your face?

Answer: I would say the child that was baptized. He asked me to baptize him. He is such a fun kid, and I really enjoyed teaching him.

Question 2: What is your favorite doctrinal question to answer from the people you get to teach?

Answer: Anything about our Savior Jesus Christ and what he did.

Question 3: Can you pick someone you really have grown to care about on your mission and share why?

Answer: Besides Ag*stine and Sam/Peter, I would say, J*hnny. He is just the most amazing young man. He has had so many problems and trials, but still hangs on to the gospel that he has been taught. He has a strong testimony, and loves the gospel like I have never before seen. You can just see it in his face.

Question 4: How many lessons, and how many with members' present?  Answer: This week was a little bit tough. We still had 20 lessons, but only 7 with a member present.

Question 5: Have you witnessed anyone healed from a priesthood blessing?

Answer: Yes. The Branch president's wife asked us for a blessing after church. She was not deathly sick or anything, she just had some made pain in her hands and feet. We anointed her with oil and sealed, right after church. We went back that night to talk about people we are teaching, and she said that the pain was gone.

Question 6:  Is time going by faster for you?

Answer: It is going by way too fast. I can't believe my mission is so close to being over. My companion likes to remind me that I have as much time left that he has been out. I tell him, before you now it, you will be home. I am not sure if he believes me yet. He will very soon though.

Question 7: Have you grown to like any new food items?  Answer: I am starting to like Papaya more and more. It is an odd fruit, but it is pretty good.

Question 8: If you could take a photo of one this that happened this past week, what would it be and why?

Answer: I would have taken a picture of last Prep-day, when we played basketball Yapese verse American. American lost really really bad. It was not good. It was a lot of fun though.

Question 9: What was your happiest moment this past week?

Answer: Probably somebody thinking that I was half Yapese. That was pretty awesome.

Mom

Rain is so good. That is amazing; God really does answer our prayers. I just like to think about how many of the testimonies were strengthened because of this. Pretty sweet, yeah. I am glad Reed is doing better. That is good to hear.

Question 10:  What is your favorite verse of scripture and why?

Answer: I really like the one in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88. The one about having angles on our right and left side to bear you up. It is true. God is in this work, and he is helping us every day. He is on our sides helping us.

Question 11:   What do you like as a snack food on Yap?  Answer: Of the stuff you send Cheeze its. The local side, coconut.

Question 12: Are you having in ward activities?  What are they?

Answer: There should be an Easter Branch Activity. Nothing has been planned yet, but hopefully soon. That is the next one. The last one was a Christmas Party.

Question 13: Did you get any packages?  We sent a new adapter so you could send us pictures in your emails.   Answer: Awesome. The last package I got had the scriptures.

Question 14:  Tell about something that just made you laugh this week.  Answer: People thinking I am Half cast. I will tell more below.

Question 15:   You have described your mission as hard and fun.  What makes it hard?  What makes it fun?

Answer: Well, the work is hard. It is exhausting, and hard. You would think that it would be easy to just sit and talk for a while, but it is hard. It is fun because of the way people progress in the gospel, it is fun to see people change.

Question 16: Tell about something that happened at church.

Answer: Well, I taught the youth Sunday school and youth priesthood this week. The Sunday school teacher didn't show up. We had like 23 people there, so it was pretty good.

Staheli

Hope you are doing great. Time is going by so fast. I can't believe it. Before too long, I will be back home with you.

Reed

Mom and dad said that you were doing better. That is awesome. I am glad to hear that. Keep reading and praying. You will get better, I promise.

Letter to Everyone

Alright what to share. Let’s see, the child of record baptism was really good. It was the family that we just found and help reactive. It was awesome. The mom is really awesome. She is going to start preparing to go to the temple. It is great. I baptized the boy. We did it in the ocean. It was a really good service. The mom gave a talk on baptism. She did a really good job. It is fun to see people remember how important the gospel was to them.

R*lo, the guy that was just baptized, receive the priesthood yesterday. It was really great. We are going to go and see him tonight and talk to him about what he can do with the priesthood. It should be pretty good. Um, I am thinking... Oh yeah, so the APs are on the island. We went finding with them. We found this crazy girl. She was really smart, but not all there. She had so many questions. She was really fun to teach, but it was a little bit scary. She asked if I thought there would be a prophet called in the near future, I told her I believe we have a prophet on the earth right now. It was fun to bear testimony to someone with that kind of question. I have never been asked so many questions before. It was interesting.

I have had a couple of people ask me if i was half Yapese. It all came up, because of how well I know Yapese. I was talking to them in Yapese, and they didn't believe that I new it. So then they started to test my knowledge of Yapese. It was quite fun. In the end, I had a couple people thinking that I was "half cast" or half American and half Yapese. It was awesome. It made me feel really good. In the end, the believed, that I just new it, it was pretty funny.

I got the scriptures that you sent. I gave M*ry F*lnagrow hers, but I have not seen J*hnny since I got them. I am going to go and see him this week. M*ry really loved them. She was so so excited. I forgot to get a picture of her, but I will try and do that.

We started to do a sports night up in Thol. They have been doing it down here in Colonia. It has been working pretty well down there, so we thought that we would try it in Thol. It has not been quite as successful, but it is going pretty well. We had 10 people show up and we played some basketball and football and some volley ball. It was pretty good. I think that it can continue to grow and we could be a lot of people to show up next time. It was a lot of fun.

I really have enjoyed serving my mission here on Yap. It is really the best place on earth.

Love you all

You guys are really the best family every. Thank you so much for always supporting me and helping me. I can feel your prayers on my behalf.

Love Elder Meyer