"It's gonna be the best day of my liifffeee....oh oh ohhh!"

Sam Houston! I miss you. You are such a stud. Because of you, I wake up every morning and just sing, "It's gonna be the best day of my liiffeee. ooh oohh" and think of you and it makes my day so much better. I then have such a good attitude about everything! hahaha. 

We had a baptism this Saturday! It was awesome. Her name is Niames and she is my favorite. She's 12 and her parents finally said that she could be baptized and she was SOOO happy! Seeing people change so much and get on the right path is the best thing in the world. Our other investigator Terson that was supposed to get baptized said he heard rumors about the church and can't get baptized anymore.  ughhh It broke my heart.  So we have work to do with him, but I know God has a plan for him and it will all be okay!

I'M GOING ON VACATION THIS WEEK! So hyped! So the church for the first time ever is going to open some islands called Ruo. There are four islands and the church has never been there before. President Zarbock is coming down on Wednesday and a few of us elders get to go with him and our branch president to go teach some people out there and see how it goes! It's a 12 hour boat ride  so hopefully I don't throw up everywhere. We get back Sunday. I got lucky and get to go because my companion is an Islander and President only is letting elders from Chuuk go that have an islander in the companionship. Super cool. I cant wait!

I added a few sentences to my testimony (in Chuukese) this week! I added 4 sentences. Three went really good, and the other everyone laughed because it made no sence. hahaha I don't even know what I said. I led a lesson, though, so I was pretty happy with that:) I'm trying super hard and God is helping me. 

We had 36 at church yesterday; it was the best thing ever.!!!! After church they taught us this Sapuk dance and it's the sickest thing ever. Only know the beginning right now. I didn't know I could dance hahah  but I am picking up some sweet moves out here!

Found out I'm allergic to crab this week. Tongue and throat swelled up and I thought I was gonna die haha but I ran and got medicine super fast and I'm alive:) We still have no power. Probably won't be fixed for a while. We had no food because it all went bad so we left to a different area to sleep at night and eat so that's nice. 

Love you all.

Elder Saylin

MIss you guys so much!  I love you!

-- 

Elder Saylin

WHEN IN CHUUK, DO AS THE CHUUKESE

HEY! Sorry I didn't get to write last week! Once a month the outer islands come into our island and write so we don't get to because there are too many of us. These last two weeks have been crazy, and long, but I'm still alive out here and working hard. Crazy I've been in Chuuk a whole transfer already. It feels like 2 years, though, haha but it'll pick up from what everyone says here. I've gotten kinda sick which is the worst here, but its not too bad I guess. It's just from all the weird food and stuff I eat and the awful diet I have out here, haha, but my body will get used to it! 

Sooo we have 2 baptisms this week! Terson and Naimes. SO PUMPED because Niames asked me if I would be the one to baptize her. She's 13 and even though she hardly knows me  I guess she likes my awful Chuukese and just laughing at everything because I never know what's actually going on. Terson asked one of our members to baptize him so that'll be cool, too. Super excited. We only had 12 people at church yesterday ugh; that was no good. We are trying our best to get people to church but everyone is sooo lazy here on the islands, but we will get it.

Mom, you literally saved Elder Gibson and my life this week. So last Monday there was just a miscommunication and we didn't end up having time to buy food for the week. We had no food. I'm sorry for all the times I complained at home that we "have nothing to eat" because now I really know what that means. We had 1 chicken thigh, 2 cups of rice, and 2 rolls left. FOR THE WEEK. The zone leaders said we weren't allowed to get food until next week so we just gotta pray and hope we find food or that people feed us. Prayed so much Monday night. All night. I was scared I was gonna die haha. Not gonna lie. Then Tuesday I got 3 packages in the mail!! 1 for breakfast. 1 for lunch. 1 for dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH it was legit a miracle. That's all we ate this week; it was the best. Thank you so much! We loved the food. You really did keep us alive out here because nobody fed us really. 

So the last few days have been such a pain because our electricity box is now completely broken. No lights (it's dark at 6 pm), no running water, no filter pump, no toilet, no fridge, no food, nothing to cook or cook with really. It's SO HOT so we have heat exhaustion pretty much. We sleep outside now because our box (house) has no windows so there is no airflow and it's the worst. The first night it started pouring on us so we had to run inside. I couldn't sleep it was so hot and I was just super sweaty. We legit live like the Chuukese people do her. Hopefully it will be fixed soon though, but we don't know. God's definitely testing my faith and patience out here that's for sure, but with prayer and fasting and trying my very best out here He is taking care of us.

So we have this investigator named Etwin. He's super funny, but he smokes. Every time he always starts to smoke we chase him and try and take his cigarette away. haha It's our joke with him. Well last week we saw him out in front of his house smoking and he didn't see us, so we went around to do a sneak attack on him. I went one way and Elder Gibson went the other. I got there first and tried to tackle him from behind. He was trying to fight me off and I was screaming at the top of my longs for Elder Gibson to come help. I'm fighting him and all of the sudden this freaking huge black dog comes out of no where AND BIT ME ON THE BUTT SO HARD!!!!!! I screamed and threw him and the dog ran off. Hurt so bad. A bunch of people were watching and were just laughing hahahah.  I have some gnarly teeth marks on my butt now, but I am good now. hah. 

Anyway,s it's good to hear from everyone. I miss you all so much, but I am working hard and loving my mission more and more everyday. I'm sad I missed your birthday, Dad!!! HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY! I love you guys. The church is true!

-- 

Elder Saylin

PS Hey thanks for all the emails!! I hate how rushed we are here. Maybe you can print them and send them to me???? I would love to really read all of them. Sounds like the family is doing well. Miss you guys and alwasy thinking about you! DAD, happy birthday. I have a letter coming for you in the mail don't worry! What did you guys do? Was it a blast?? Miss you!!! I love you! Thanks for the packages and notes and everything from everyone-- you guys are the BEST!!!!!!! Love you lots.