The Work Goes Forward . . .

It's kind of fun to see this English and spelling "scholar" taking to the Chuukese language to the point it's affecting his spelling! What a blessing for him and our whole family to celebrate the culture of the people of Chuuk. Hopefully someday we will get to meet some of these wonderful people. With every passing day, we love them more and more :).

Dear Family!!

So so sorry that I haven't emailed you in FOREVER!! Things have just been really busy here and we have a ton of people that we are teaching right now, and yesterday at church...94 people at sacrament meeting, with 6 of them being investigators. I'm back with Elder Toa, and right now we have about 6 or 7 progressing investigators and 4 set up for this Saturday for a baptism. Things are going super great right now, except for the fact that right now some of the member families are having issues and some of them have even split up. It's causing me some headaches because I really love these families, and I get sad every time I hear that one of them has broken apart. All I can do is pray and try my best to find them all, and help bring them back together.

As far as fruits and veggies, I've got breadfruit, bananas, "tonga", mangoes, etc. Definitely miss applesauce though, and peaches. The Primary in Mechitiw is preety large actually, with maybe about like 40-50 kids every Sunday. No, I don't think that they do a Program, just because we are trying to help the members in charge of Primary because we are very limited on our resources to use in Church (manuals, DVDs, etc.) because there are only a few people that can read AND that understand English. The teaching is really helping with that, because we have been finding a lot of families that want to be taught and be baptized, and we have some of those families coming up soon.

I love the camera too, and the people do as well. I haven't sent any more pictures home yet, but when I do, I will send home the card that has all those baptisms on it, and I would like for you guys to download them and clear the card. And as far as anything that I need from you, the little kids here love candy. I don't eat it as much as I used to, but they love it when they know that there is "okasi" (candy) in the house. A resistance band would be nice as well, if not two (with handles).  Also, if you could send another flash drive, great, if not that's okay.

So mini miracle before I close. You all know that my house got broken into while I was gone, and the shirt, the basketball, and the pump were stolen. Well, I was getting ready for church a few Sundays ago, and I had been praying that I would find all of the things that you guys had sent me. Then when I was getting dressed, I heard a knock at the door, and it was an investigator, asking if he could use our pull up bar that is in our house. I told him that it was Sunday, and that if he came back the next morning, then he would be able to. He just said okay, and then asked for water. Gave it to him, and while he was drinking, I noticed the shirt that he was wearing was blue...LIGHT BLUE. I asked him about it, and he said that somebody in our village gave it to him to use. I kept asking him about it, and noticed that he also had it on inside out. I asked him if I could look at it and see if it was a Chuukese shirt. I pulled it up a little bit, and the first word I saw was "HILLS". I am so glad that I found that shirt and was able to get it back.

I love this experience, this wonderful opportunity and privilige that I have to serve here in Chuuk, and working with these wonderful people. I had the biggest revelation last night about something that a recent convert in GUam told me right before I left to come back here. I'd share it in this email, but I don't have much more time. With only two computers to serve like 10-12 Elders, it makes emailing hard. But I love you all, I miss you all, and I pray for you all the time!!

---Elder McEwan

Oh, one more thing. Does anyone know how much is it to mail something from Chuuk to Santo Domingo? THat'd be good to know!! :)

September Zone Conference . . .

Thank you to Sister Crisp for sharing these pictures of September Zone Conference. What would we do without these wonderful opportunities to see our Elders at "work"!

Learning, Learning, Learning . . .

Transfers were September 12, 2013 in Chuuk. Elder McEwan continues to serve in the Mechitiw area, which he loves as his family. There are now 26 Elders and 1 Sister serving on Chuuk (this includes Elder and Sister Crisp :). Wow ~ I think there were 14 when Sean arrived in February 2013 ~ only 8 1/2 months ago!

Working to Increase Investigator Pool . .

Dear Family!!!
 

Hey so first off, Dylan Happy Birthday!! Just looking at these pictures, you look a lot older than 13, but that's probably just because I haven't been with you for almost 8 months. Hope your day is the best that it can be for you, and know that I am with you in spirit.
 

I'm so glad that you guys are having fun and doing fun things. Thanks so much for the pictures, I'll print them off so that I can keep them. No, I haven't been able to locate that stuff yet, but I have a pretty good idea of where it might be, we'll just pray that it is in that spot.
 

Parker, tell Mr. Bills that I'm going to send him an email and let him know that I am doing great. That is awesome that you are singing Tenor 2, that's where it's at right there. But I think between the two of us, we know who the real tenor 2 is ;) I'm glad that everyone is happy and doing well.
 

I'm doing well, just trying to find more people to teach. Elder Toa got transferred to an outer island and Elder Pita is my companion right now. I don't think it's permanent, it'll just be til the end of this transfer, but with that, I think that I will be staying in Mechitiw one more transfer.

 

Tell Ronel and Holly Israel that I miss them both and I'm so happy for them, even though none of the other Elders believe me when I say that they are married :D

Ai tong ngenikemi, ena tong esap much tori mano
Ai tong epwe pwan nom remi tori ach chusefan

pokiten Kot a sinei netipach me a mochen sipwe
tongeni nom fengen tori feinfeino jok.
Ouse mochen oupwe pwan anisei pwan apwonueta ai tengoremi
Ouse mochen ousap ekisiwinin atun ai fansounen misineri
Ua fakkun tongekemi!!

Elder McEwan

Aten Chuuk mwa!!!!

Someday we're very hopeful that we will understand what he is saying in Chuukese :). We did purchase a Chuukese to English dictionary, but it doesn't seem to be much help for translation. Maybe translation will come next week. It would be nice to learn a little Chuukese while Elder McEwan is on his mission so that when he returns home we don't all just look at him with a blank stare like, "Ok, whatever you say, Elder :).