Kasalehlie!!! So our second day in Guam we found out where we would be spending the next two years of our lives! I was called to serve in the Misihsou Area on Pohnpei!!! Fun fact, Pohnpei is the second wettest place on Earth- aside from some place in the Amazon and it's not that far off from the jungle here. It has rained every day that I've been here and today is the first day that I've seen the Sun! To describe the humidity and the heat I would like you all to cook some Ramen Noodles, something that we eat a lot of here and stick your face above them where all the steam is going. That is pretty much what it feels like here!!! I haven't had to iron any of my clothes because I just hang them up and about an hour later they are nice and wrinkle free! Sorry to say but no pictures today :/ We have to travel to the main village here called Colonia to email. It is about an hour long drive from Misihsou and I forgot my card reader. I'm sure you will all look up Pohnpei on the internet and see all of the pretty sunsets, which I haven't seen yet, and the green which I see a lot of. Either way the best way I can describe my area is that it's like a jungle island that has cars and some of the houses are made of concrete or shipping containers and the rest are just made of sticks and palm leaves. It's interesting to see how there are only a select few things from America and civilization here. Speaking of civilization, I will always be thankful for hot water, especially while showering!!! I'm pretty sure that our shower water is the coldest thing on the island and is colder than our tap water! Any way all of our water is stored in a concrete water tank, like most of the island, and then we have a sketchy water pump that goes off and on all the time. The food is good here and pretty much everyone will give you food without you even asking. The coconuts or "ohp" (pronounced "ooop") are good but not as good as I thought they would be. I haven't had any banana or pineapple yet though. People say it's really good. In Colonia they have a place called Hot Plate. It's actually really, really good and I love it. It's the closest thing to McDonalds but it's so much better. We eat everything here with our hands which I have adapted well to ;) Crocs (they were on my mission list of stuff to bring) are actually probably the best shoe to wear as there is always mud everywhere because it hasn't stopped raining for more than an hour since I've been here. Umbrellas don't work because the rain comes in sideways. My Zone consists of Elder Lee and Elder Pond, Elder Slack and Elder Hurst, Elder Ruiz and Elder Jenkins, Elder Fiskus and Elder Bourne, Sister Latu and Sister Park and Sister William with Sister Walquist. We all get along very well and I think I'm picking the language up pretty fast actually. Elder Paewie and I are actually trying to get my mastery within 6 weeks which is hopefully possible because in 3 days I can already say basic intros and say a basic prayer and testimony. It's weird to see the language because I have never heard anything even remotely close to it! My body is always sticky and moist which I'm actually getting used to so that's good. Another thing is that we all get to have a machete and keep it in our car for when we do service or "muht" which means cutting back the jungle. The letter "t" makes a "ch" sound and "h"'s just make the letter before it more drawn out. The people are very nice and our ward is very strong. Our area is a white wash area and that's why it was closed down for so long. I never told you but me and my companion are re-opening an area that's been closed for about 2 transfers or 3 months. It has arguably the nicest chapel in the FSM (Federated States of Micronesia). Every night they have Institute where a ton of people come and hang out and it's a great opportunity to see and meet investigators. Oh another thing that you don't know is that I got assigned a companion with my call! His name is Elder Paewei pronounced, "Pie-why". He's from New Zealand. I already have a New Zealand accent because I've been trying to learn Pohnpeian so much that I picked up his as well. He likes to sing and play sports which is awesome! Also we get along very well and kid around with each other a lot. In a very short amount of time I've done and learned a lot. I forgot that I never emailed about Guam too. Our first night we were picked up by President Zarbock and he gave us all hugs right off the plane which I liked and then we picked up our bags and left. I thought we would go and have an orientation since it was like 6ish at night and we'd be traveling for days. But no, he decided that it would be good for us to go tracting with random companionships at 8 o'clock at night, which is usually when people are starting to go to sleep. It was a struggle to say the least. Especially since we weren't without usual companions and we were all new. The next day we had our orientation thing and found out where we were going and who our companions were. Then we went tracting again and it sucked because everyone was asleep again. The third day we actually went earlier when people weren't asleep and we had a lot of awesome experiences. A guy named Cheech came up to us as we were playing with some kids and said that he was less active and that he would like the spirit in his life again. We went to his apartment and had a lesson which I taught for the most part. Halfway through after Cheech told us his story and that he needs help in his life I had a prompting to give him a priesthood blessing. The priesthood is REAL!!! The spirit was so strong and the whole lesson was so good!! The spirit is like my favorite friend ever!!! Another time my companion and I were walking down the road and we saw this really nice basketball court with lights and we really wanted to play. I suggested that we pray to make sure that playing with the people would be beneficial to us and them and that they would hear our message. After the prayer we both had the feeling of "why not" or "sure" so we started walking. The first guy we talked to was Pohnpeian. He was the first one that we saw that wasn't from Chuke, which is where most people from Guam are from. We thought, “Oh this is the guy we are supposed to teach.” We walked around and started talking to him but were then swiftly told to leave because apparently it was a Baptist college/high school. On our way out we stopped and talked to this one girl, about 18, who was working out by herself. She told us that she used to be a member and then stopped going and but somehow ended up there. We told her that we had just been kicked out and we couldn't stay long but we told her to pray and that God would answer her. We walked about a mile down the road and then I had another prompting that we should go back home. On our way home we stopped by some apartments across from the college and after getting the door slammed in our face that girl we talked to earlier came running over ad told us that is was a Baptist owned complex. We thanked her for letting us know but then a miracle happened! She said that the real reason she came was to give us her number and that she wanted us to call her. She said that she would be kicked out if the Baptist's found out but that she knew it was worth the risk! It was seriously one of the most mind-blowing experiences. We didn't get a solid “yes” or solid “no” answer and the reason was that the basketball court wasn't the answer but something else that would come from it! God does work in mysterious ways and His work will go forth no matter what! I hope that I can continue to learn the language and be able to teach the people in their native tongue, with the Spirit, and that I will be able to help and serve them in any way they need. I will send lots of pictures and update you more next week. Thank you for all your love and support. Kasalehl! (Goodbye)
Elder Hanson
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