Iokwe from OK! Marshallese fluency round 2

Iokwe!

I hit my 8th month mark this week.  Crazy!

We have been SO busy.  A little update on what's going on:  I was just getting fluent before I left in July, and now after returning and being here for 2 weeks I still can't understand most Marshallese people.  It's frustrating x 6.  However, from what I can understand, we have a 9 year old girl who is being baptized next week.  We also have 2 other really solid investigators named Rose and Oliver who are progressing towards baptism too.

Also, we now have about 90-some odd people coming to our sacrament meetings on Sundays.  Our little branch may become a ward in a couple of months!  Each week we have about 3 set nights participating in a Family Home Evening in member homes--where at some FHEs about 20 people come.  They are awesome.  In addition to Sundayworship, Mormons gather their families at least one evening each week for what we call Family Home Evening. It is a time to strengthen family ties. We do this by learning the gospel together, by listening to each other’s feelings, thoughts and ideas, and by enjoying activities together. It is usually held on Monday evenings.  Prophets have promised great blessings to those who follow this counsel, including greater faith in the hearts of the youth, increased ability to resist temptation, and greater peace, love, and harmony in the home.  FHE has been a blessing in my own family, and I can feel the power of it in these gatherings.

We had a great first lesson with someone named Liro.  He asked US for a Book of Mormon before we even brought it up.  That was awesome.

Best story of the week:  Our house is 6 miles from Sunridge Estates which are at the very bottom of our area.  Elder Menlove and I were teaching a lesson at a member's home--also about 6 miles from Sunridge in a different direction. A member from Sunridge showed up and asked if we could give her daughter a Priesthood blessing, since she wasn't feeling well.  We planned on getting there around 8:30, so we started biking.  Just before we got up the overpass next to Sunridge, I shifted gears and heard the saddest grinding noise my bike has ever made, which was followed by an immediate halt.  Turns out my derailleur decided to be obnoxious and position itself inside the spokes of my wheel, which resulted in a bent and completely useless derailleur and no ability to bike.  I couldn't even spin the rear wheel.  It was 8:30, we were 3 miles and a busy highway away from our car, which we had the keys to and 6 miles from our house.  And we needed to give someone a blessing and be home by 9:00.  It was just like those "one time on my mission" stories you hear.  So we took some pictures, I detached my rear wheel and strapped it to my backpack, picked up my bike and jogged/walked down to Sunridge.  Turns out the person who needed the blessing wasn't home:-/  so we ditched our bikes at a member's home and got a ride to our car.  

HERE's THE GOOD PART:  While driving home, we noticed someone next to us was staring.  We rolled down the window and realized it was Patrick!!!  Patrick was one of our investigators a while ago who was just waiting on his kids to come to the U.S. so he could get baptized.  Apparently while I was gone, he moved and no one knew where to.  So all of the sudden we're at the same stop light as he is.  It seemed as if my whole biking incident had been orchestrated so that we could reconnect with Patrick at just that moment.  Miracles.

I love seeing the hand of God in the details.  It's great to be in Enid again.  Elder Menlove is a blast.  We are loving the work here.  Even though I am busier than I have ever been in my life, there is nothing I would rather be doing right now.  

Jerammaan!

Elder Josh Kilmer
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese speaking


不動心
Fudoshin:  immovable spirit