Love from Mechitiw . . .

More great news from Elder McEwan. We are so grateful to have him in our lives. The gospel is wonderful and it is so humbling to hear of the faith-building experiences he is having as he shares the message of a loving Heavenly Father with the people of Micronesia Guam Mission . . .

Happy April Fool's Day!! And CONGRATULATIONS to you, Garrett!! That's sweet to hear that you will be serving your Father in Heaven in the Dominican Republic! And to have Jake going with you too!! I know you'll have fun, and hey, count yourself lucky that you will be taught your mission language while you are there instead of waiting until you get out to the field. I want to hear all about it, k?

 

The pair of glasses that I have right now are still good, but I just found out Friday that the AP that is still staying in Guam says that he has seen them, so if I end up training next transfer, I will go back to Guam and see if I can find them. I'm so sorry that I didn't make it out here with them, but that's actually an interesting story. I don't know if I told you, but literally the day before we left for Chuuk, I got super sick and when we got back to the AP's house that night, I fell asleep on the couch with my glasses on the top of my big suitcase so that I didn't have to worry about trying to find them in the morning. Obviously, that didn't work out at all, so I'm hoping that I can locate them if I go back to Guam next transfer. Some of our Elders that went back this last transfer to pick up trainees actually found my scripture bag and bible, so I don't have to worry about that. I do need one pair of dress socks though, because one pair has been worn through. That's something really cool about out here, is that when you go into someone's home, you take your shoes off as a sign of respect for them and their home. My speakers are good, I forgot you had sent me with an extra pack of batteries so I just replaced them and now my speakers are working great. About the money, I now realize that I can make it on the money that I receive from the mission, and only use my personal account when I need to. I've been fasting and praying about this, and I really did receive an answer that I need to be smart with what I buy. So from now on, only the necessities will be bought. 

 

That's so fun that you all had a good Easter and got to do the Losee Easter Egg Hunt and that you were able to help Aunt Kelly. My Easter was good, it was just a really slow day for members to come to church (and no, the package has not come into my possession yet. Because of the holiday, the post office has been closed all weekend.) We had Rescue come though, which means that he has now been 3 times, and if he can keep himself worthy this week, he'll be baptized this weekend. It's been so fun to see some of our investigators grow and progress, especially Rescue and a guy named Rino. We've met with Rino for about 2 weeks now, and he says that he has given up all the things that would've otherwise kept him from progressing. He tried to come to church yesterday, but his family was doing some barbeque for Easter. Both Elder O'bray and I are praying for him all the time that he can be able to come to church next week, so we'll see what happens.

No, I don't have my drivers license yet, but I am going with Elder O'bray and the Zone Leaders to get it tomorrow. I am thinking that all I have to do is apply for it and then pay the money for it. It'll be a great souvenir. Yes, our power is working but now we have no water in our tanks. That's how we do it out here, is when we need water to shower, we either wait for rain, shower outside at a members house, or shower at the Eakins. Lately, we have been showering down the road again at the home of the Herry's, a family that Elder O'bray helped baptize when he was first here. The food is actually really good, though it doesn't have a lot of flavor. I still haven't had dog yet, but I've now learned how to ask the members when we will eat dog, so we'll see about that. We didn't have any more baptisms in March, and right now we are trying everyday to find some new investigators, either because we have had to drop investigators or we simply can't meet with them anymore because their family does not want them to. Hopefully, April turns out to be a huge month for us!!

 

I'm so happy to hear that everyone is doing well and having fun!! It definitely has taken faith to make it through each day without worrying too much about everyone back home. But every time that happens, I just have to tell myself to stop and realize that right now, Chuuk is my home, and I need to keep my mind here so that I can worry about my new friends and family here. I'm so grateful that I am serving here and I wish you all could see the type of people that we are meeting with and the changes that they are making in their lives. 

Ai tong ngeni kemi!!

 

Elder Q

Hello from Paradise!!

Picture of the island from our boat ride last P-day. I can't believe I am on the ocean while serving my mission! What a wonderful time in my life :) I absolutely LOVE it here and LOVE the people I am serving and those that I am serving with!

First off, I finally got all of the letters and packages that everyone has sent to me. Thanks for the letters and the box for St. Patrick's Day. I got the "greeny" package from Grandma and Grandpa Losee, too. Thank you . . . Thank you . . . Thank you to everyone! I love letters because I can read them every night instead of just on P-day. They help me sooo much! I'm so glad to have an awesome family backing me up when I'm out here.

As far as where I think Garrett is going to go, I say that he is going to Argentina, and Elder O'bray says that he is going to Mexico, and Elder Huppe says that he is going to Brazil. Keep me posted on that!

I don't think they celebrate Easter the way we celebrate, just because they are very religious in Protestant and Catholic beliefs, but I know the little kids would appreciate the candy and eggs that you sent. In answer to your question, I don't think we celebrate St. Patrick's day in Mechitiw, but we do celebrate Valentines day.

I am down one towel right now because I think someone stole it. Also, when I was in Guam, I lost the new pair of glasses that I had when I stayed in the AP's house. I have been trying to get a hold of them to have them send them to me, but if you guys have any ideas about what to do, that would be greatly appreciated. My alarm clock was broken when I got out here because I don't think the airport people were very careful with my bags. A note on that, when you send a package, or when anyone sends a package to me, make sure the word "FRAGILE" is written on it.

Things are going good here, we finally had a lot of people come to sacrament meeting yesterday. Up to yesterday, we had been having low numbers of members attending and not a whole lot of investigators, but God provided us with a blessing yesterday and we are so very glad that He did. We are currently meeting with two sweet investigators, Pwas and Rescue. Both are super smart, and humble too. We've been meeting with them for about 3 weeks I think, and Pwas has come to church once and Rescue has been twice. One more time for Rescue, and he will be eligible for baptism. Oh plus, Elder O'bray had me teach Rescue about Ewe Kapasen Mirit (The Word of Wisdom) on Saturday, and when we were done, he told me that I did a good job. I hope he was being honest, because I still don't have the language completely down yet. I'm to the point where I'm understanding a lot, I just can't say anything back. But I'm studying everyday and trying to use the language when and where I can, and I know that if I work hard and leave the rest to my Father in Heaven, I will learn it.

 

So big news. We just had 3 more missionaries from Chuuk go to the MTC last night. We went to the airport to see them off, and it was really cool to think about all of the youth that are wanting to go serve missions from Chuuk. 

 

We find out transfers this week as well. We already know who the trainers are, but on Wednesday or Thursday I believe, they'll let us know where we are going. I think I will still be in Mechitiw, seeing as I'm still in my 12-week training, which means that Elder O'bray and I have a little while longer together. Along with finding out trainers, I also found out that Elder Richardson (who has been serving as the AP) is going home this week, which means that President Mecham has extended that assignment to another missionary, that missionary being my district leader, Elder Allen. It's really sad, because we all love him and think he is super great, but we know that this is what he is supposed to do.

 

So, crazy thing. We have been without power in our house for the last two weeks because the box that we input the number into to get power has not been working. So, when that happens, we can't shower, we can't use our water, we can't wash dishes. So we walk down the road to a member's house and we shower, and hope that we get invited to eat when we go teaching, cause that's a big thing here. If someone is eating and they see you walk by, they all say "Sa monge" which is "We eat". I still haven't had dog yet, because we don't have the money to go and buy one and have it killed, but hopefully in the coming months I will try it. We also just had a huge funeral in our village for the wife of the chief, and unfortunately that shut us down for a few days, the reason for that being that EVERYONE comes and shows their respect for the person who has died. Culture and tradition are very big here. It's really fun to be a part of it, and to know how other people do things.

 

I love you guys, I miss you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Elder McEwan

Greetings from the Islands . . .

Letter we received from Sean this weekend. It is so wonderful to see such growth in such a short time in a person that you already think was great (yes, we ARE biased :) . . .

March 18, 2013

Ran Anim!

Fist off, I'm sorry that I didn't write last week. It's been hard to have myself sit down every Monday and write letters, but a lot has happened in the last few weeks, so hopefully I can get it all down.

Well, the language is coming. I've graduated from greeting people and saying "thank you" to bearing testimony and saying prayers. We're going to do a Language Day on Friday, so I'm going to be working super hard because I'm pretty sure that Elder O'bray is going to let me teach something to an investigator. So we'll see how it goes! :)

I went on my first boat ride here last P-day, out to an outer island called Romalom (it's pronounced Romanom) and we played basketball and badminton, and some of the Elders did a little fishing. I just want to say that as much fun as I'm having teaching, I'm having just as much fun spending time with the Elders on Monday. Take today for example. We just got done playing 4-square with ping pong balls and now we're getting ready to go to dinner. I love these guys and I realized today that I haven't let myself have fun like this in a LONG time!


About the mail situation, I'm thinking the post office is keeping my mail from me because I haven't received anything from mom, dad, brothers, or anyone back home. ANYWAY . . .

I had a pretty sweet experience the other day. We were meeting with one of our investigators, Rescue, and he's been asking questions about the Plan of Salvation. The other day he asked how we knew the plan was true. I sat there and then when I opened my mouth and bore my testimony that God had helped me to know that the plan was true, along with everything else that we had talked about, and that God loved him and wanted him to be happy. Then I committed him to pray to know that what we said was true.

Now, I know I've said I love being a missionary before, but this week just proved it to me. I've seen so much growth from our investigators (and myself). For the most part, all of our investigators are showing promise of growing even more.

Unfortunately, Dylan, I have not driven our truck yet because I'm not licensed here yet. Hopefully by the end of this week I will be though.

I love you all and I miss you so much! I hope that one day you can all come back here with me and we'll go visit Mechitiw.

Ai tong ngeni kemi!!

Elder McEwan

P.S. Can you get a copy of the song the High School Choir sang at graduation? It's called "Wherever You Go." Just started thinking about that some the other day and how it's starting to become more and more true iteitan ran (every day). Also, a container of Creatine, some q-tips, 1 micro-fiber towels (I think that one of mine was taken when we had them outside drying), and an alarm clock (the airport people weren't very careful with my bags and the alarm clock got broken) ~ If this is not too much to ask.

Kinison chapur ngeni Kemi!!