Storms and Chuukese - Mar 3, 2019
Holy Moly a lot has happened since I last said anything. So Uman is amazing, all the people are really nice and accepting, but do have a lot of struggles. I am one of the two white people on the island, the other one being my companion. They think white people are really atutes here and love to come up and smell and kiss my hand, its a little weird. Uman is a poor island - there is trash everywhere and the houses are made out of old tin. They have literally nothing and just live off the land. We have to go in at 6 every night because all the men just get wasted and then have these slingshots called puchinkos that they shoot metal darts from called phillipenes. The church is really good. We have around 50 people there every week and we had our first baptism on Saturday! His name is Ken and he's just super prepared to be in the gospel.
The mission is crazy. There are all sorts of islands with different languages, and Chuuk is the best:). There are outer islands and the inner island called Wedo. We travel by these little boats and get totally soaked on them and its awesome. I have gotten a whole lot tanner in these past few weeks from them.
So Chuukese is a really cool language. It all flows together with the vowels, which makes it a little hard to hear and distinguish words, but its awesome to learn. It also isn't a written language so spelling here is really annoying because people kinda just guess and call it okay. So far I can pray and have a basic conversation with natives and kids. I'm learning pretty quick and I love trying to go out and speak it with the people.
We had a Typhoon apparently but really it wasn't that bad. We just walked through the rain and stuff and nothing bad happened. We ain't lightweight Elders out here! Oh also there are no sisters in Chuuk because its a little too dangerous for them.
Lately I've really been focusing on becoming close to the Lord and having joy in the work. I cant understand a lot of the lessons, but looking at how the words affect the people and how the light turns on in their eyes is amazing. It has been hard I wont lie, but its been the most rewarding time of my entire life. Just really learning to trust in the Lord and pushing forward with all your might is key to improvement. Don't be lax in your scripture study and praying, there's a reason our Church leadership tells us to do those things every general conference. Just show God your love for this gospel and wooorrrkkkk.
I love you all and I'm sorry I wont be able to reply to all of you, we only get a little time. I should be back in Weno on April 1 or maybe the week after, we don't know yet.
Loves and hugs to the guys with handshakes to the gals,
Elder Peterson
Sad you aren't on Guam, so I can see pics of home, but many of the pics do remind me of my island! Guam is very civilized, so I guess God needs you more in the remote islands! You are in our prayers!
ReplyDeleteSister Elliott