May 6 letter

Editors note: Finally another e-mail from Aaron!  We received a few letters in the meantime, perhaps we will get excerpts from those posted over time.

Aaron referred to a little project we described to him in our front yard, and also to his excitement about his cousin Kayden receiving a mission call to California San Diego mission.  And he referred to pictures of the growing number of missionary cousins he has.  With that intro, here's the letter!

Dear Family!

Surprise! Happy May 6th! Hahaha I'm in Guam right now! Its amazing and honestly a little over whelming. My view of this place is completely different than it was the first time I was here. Roads, cars, people, buildings, landscape, culture. Such a huge change and difference than what I've been enjoying for the past 9 months. But it is cool. Oh man I walked into a grocery store this morning. Goodness gracious. I was absolutely amazed by how much food was on the shelves. Ha I was even a little shocked. Hahaha.

Hey well I should tell you why I am here! I have been called to be a trainer! I flew in with two of my fellow Chuuk missionaries (E. Bowers, and E. McEwan) last night on the 2:00 am flight. Sometime in the next couple days our new missionaries will be arriving from MTC's and on Friday we'll be shipped back on out to Chuuk. I am super excited for this opportunity to train. It is going to be so great. :) The next couple of days here on Guam are going to be really great too. Its been super great already seeing missionaries I haven't seen since I first got here. It will also be great to enjoy some of the things not available in Chuuk. :) Eat vegetables. :)

With this transfer, I will not be on Romanum any more. I don't know where I will be but I'll be able to TALK to you about that this Sunday. :) Saturday and Sunday was our District Conference which was really great. President and Sister Mecham joined us for that. And after that was done yesterday, they shipped me out to Romanum to gather all my things super fast, then brought me back in to send me away this morning. Leaving no time for good byes. Luckily I was able to give a few to people at conference and to them as they showed up on boats right as I loaded my stuff on to the boat to return to the main island. Romanum is a good place. I am going to miss Rodney so much. I love him and I really hope I can see him off when he is all set to go on his mission.  The last 6 months on Romanum were great. There were so many things I learned and experienced which I am grateful for. I am very excited for the road a head and the things that will come being in a new area.

I don't have time to look at all the letters that you guys have sent right now. But I just took a look at the ones you sent yesterday. Yes! I did just get the two boxes that that you sent April 10th and 11th. Thank you sooo much! They are perfect. :) You're the best, Momma. :) No...I haven't seen a package from Grandma... But please sent my thank you! And my love to them as they begin their mission.  Wow!!! They front yard! That sounds so sweet! I wish I could help out! But I really want to be here. So I'll let you guys do it. :) Man I'm excited to see how that turns out! You guys are great. :)  Kayden!!!! HaHOOO!! Oh man that is so sweet! That makes me soo happy. I love the pictures you put in the box Momma. I am so excited to see the number of the missionaries on that picture grow. It is so great. Kayden! You're the man. You are going to love it and do so well there.

Well family! I love you so very much! And I will tell you I love you again this Sunday!!!

Love, Elder Walters

April 1 Letter

Dearest Family,

I am SOOO sorry my dear family. It has been a month since you have heard from me. That is because I still have 4 Mondays of letters still in my possession. So Momma there's nothing wrong with the mail. Your concern that you just described has been my thoughts for the past month. The Eakins haven't been able to come out each week for the past month and I don't trust any other transportation to the post office. Tomorrow I will be putting all of the letters in the mail. So you guys can be looking forward to that. :)

We're in to get stocked up (on food) again and I'm lucky enough to e-mail. And get to see all of these awesome pictures! These are so great. Thank you so much. I love seeing pictures of you guys.

The month of March was great! I had a great Birthday. Thank you so much. The transfer happened just this past Thursday. Elder Vehikite are staying out on Romanum for another 6! It will be great! :)

I hope that you all had a very Happy Easter! I'm so happy and excited for Kalisha and Grandma & Grandpa. :) So great.

You guys sound like you are doing super well which makes me very happy. I miss you guys a lot. I love you guys so much. Thank you so much for your prayers.  Please continue to remember my health and strength in your prayers. I need them. I know that they are heard and answered. I really love you guys so much. I really wish I could express the great feeling of love I have for you guys and feel right now. I love and pray for you guys. I love you.

-Love, your loving son, Aaron

Elder Walters

February 25 Letter

Mon, Feb. 25, 2013
Family!
    Hello!  The time continues to go and here we are at the end of February!  Yesterday all of the Branch Presidents and District Presidents were in Guam for a meeting/training thing (They left Thursday and get back today.  Elder Russell M. Nelson was there!)  So I ended up getting assigned to conduct sacrament meeting.  I agreed to do so.  (Ha the previous two weeks I had been asked to give talks, one of those was after the sacrament had been passed!  Ha ha!  Good times) Now I remember that conducting a meeting in English can be a little nerve racking and difficult.  But then getting up there to do it in Chuukese . . . whoa . . . Ha ha not super easy.  My Chuukese seems to be a little slow behind the pulpit.  Ha ha good times. :)
    Elder Vehikite and I are working great together.  His language is great.  He knows so many words, just figuring out the grammar and how to use them in Chuukese is where he is at.  So I’m trying to do what Elder Sofele did to me to get me to learn quicker.  Good stuff.  The work is good.  Finding new investigators is what we’re really wanting. 
    Today I read your letters from Feb 10th, the envelope with the cute little girl and the cute little pig on the back. :) Sheesh sorry you guys were out of the loop for so long on what’s up with me!  Oh man!  I am so happy to hear about Ben Fordham!  Please see what other info you can get about him.  Taran Bailey too please.  Man I love them.  A lot.  Also maybe about Jacob Hillman too please.  Taran sent me two short little e-mails a long time ago bit I didn’t respond.  Man I miss him, and hope he’s doing well. 
    Kara Allred!  That’s so great!  She’s going out just about the same time I did!  Oh man I’m excited for her.  Send my congrats.
     And 8 months . . . Yes, amazing.  Sometimes the thought is : How’s it been that long?”  Other times “Wow, I’ve made it this long but still so much farther to go. . .”  But all in all, it’s super great.  It’s been quick and I assume it will continue to be quick.  So now’s the time to work and not worry about time too much. 
    Well got to go.  I love you lots family. :) You guys are in my thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Elder Aaron Lane Walters

February 18 Letter

Dear Family!

I got the package you sent!  The Eakins brought it out to me last Tuesday.  (They teach a temple prep class).  Man such a super great package. :) ...  So great.  Thank you so much.  Elder Vehikite and I have really enjoyed it. :) Eating dry mangoes right now!  He loves them too.  Thank you so much for the love you send - in letters, boxes, and prayers.  I really loved Woody’s funeral program.  Thanks for that.  It makes me sad he won’t be there when I get back.

    I got my first new letter from you guys, I hadn’t previously read, since I got back out here.  Thank you so much for the Valentines!  They made me so happy.  I sure do love and miss you guys.  Stake Conference sounded awesome!  Thank you for the letters from my buddies too.  Man I have some super amazing friends.  I am so grateful.  It’s so cool how we’re all out doing His work.  Though we’re all in different places, different languages, and with different people; it’s super cool to see similarities in the work we’re doing.

    It was a good week with some great experiences.  We had a super cool lesson with a man named Deini.  Tarsisio (Branch President Walter) joined us along with another strong priesthood member.  We taught the plan of salvation.  It was super cool for a number of reasons.  One that we had two strong priesthood members there with great gospel knowledge who are native language speakers, to really help make it clear.  Another, that Deini’s questions were super good!  They often led right into the next part or it was explained in the next verse.  Also it was just super nice that he actually asked questions!  Ha ha.  But really a super cool part about the lesson and some of the others throughout the week was it is starting to feel a little bit like teaching in English was.  Being able to understand them a little more, use scriptures, and teach to their needs.  So awesome.  Heavenly Father has been helping me so much with my Chuukese.

    Three people got baptized on Saturday and I was blessed to baptize them. :) A man who was already baptized in the 80's but records were lost, his son who is 8, and another neighbor boy who is 8 as well.  So just one “convert” baptism.  But it was still great. :)

    Heavenly Father really helped us out this week.  There were multiple times where plans fell through and then he put something else in our path that worked super great just as we continued to work.  It was a slower week, lesson wise, than last, which was hard, but He really helped us through.  And by His tender mercy we made our goal of 12 ‘member present’s at the last minute. :)

    One more, ok two, super great things about this week.  Rodney is doing great and really really wants to go on his mission.  So that’s awesome.  Also!  It had been several weeks since there had been rain here in Chuuk.  Probably since mid January.  So everybody was super low on water.  We were too.  Thursday we looked and saw we were at less than 8 inches in our tanks.  Not good.  So we remembered to pray for rain as we went about the day.  Friday morning came and so did the rain. :) Really big rain.  Our tanks were full again by noon and all the wells and tanks around the island were over flowing as well.  It was beautiful.  I’ll tell you what, I know Heavenly Father really cares about us and answers our prayers. :) Mormon 9:21

    Well family I sent my love.  Thank you for all the love you send me.  I hope to send more love soon.  Thank you Momma for all that you do.  I love you.  Pops, you too. :) Thanks for your example.  I’m truly grateful to be your son.  Kids I love you all too.  Keep working and praying hard. 

I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Aaron Lane Walters

February 11 2013 Letter

Mon., Feb. 11, 2013
Dear Family!

Hello!  Once again it’s been a good week on Romanum.  Last week we got 17 member present lessons!  That’s more than I have ever seen.  So that was super exciting.  For the Chuuk Zone we set a goal of 12 member present lessons and our average last week was 15!  We did super good !  And our average total lessons was 27.4!  That is the best that the Zone has ever done so this is super cool.  Great things are going to be happening this year. :)

    It’s good to be back on good old Romanum.  Visiting the people again, teaching lessons, washing laundry. :) Things are going good here.  Guess what!  They changed out the batteries while I was in Mwan so the power is really strong now!  So the pump always works and even better . . . we can use our fridge!  Ha ha!  So we’ve eaten pretty well this week. :) We’ve had PB&J sandwiches and Tuna sandwiches and spam burgers because we have the fridge to keep our jam, mayo, mustard, and pickles. :) Oh good stuff.  Ha the only thing that’s down are the lights . . . Ha ha.  When they hooked up the batteries again, they didn’t do the lights to the batteries, only to the solar.  So the lights work during the day!  But not after the sun goes down. :) So we have our nifty little battery powered lamp to give us light. :)

    Ha, here’s something kinda silly Elder Vehikite and I have been doing.  Just sleeping on the floor on a sheet.  Sleeping on the mattresses can be a little hot and sweaty sometimes.  But just sleeping on a sheet under the window for a breeze is not too bad.  It definitely took me a couple nights to kinda get comfortable with it and I’m still working on finding the best ways to lay, but I kinda like it. :)

    Elder Vehikite is great.  He’s doing a great job learning.  I need to find him better opportunities to be involved in the lesson.  But yes he’s doing awesome.  He understands super well.  Just being able to talk is the tricky part.  He’s a fun companion.  We are doing well.

    I mentioned that super awesome spiritual lesson with that less active boy, Rodny, back in January.  He’s still doing super awesome.  And we’ve started teaching one of his buddies now named Gladwin.  We just barely started this past week.  Our first lesson with them was super great.  Rodny helped him understand a ton.  The spirit was super strong, and Gladwin really felt it.  “I want to get baptized.  I feel so happy” were his words.  Rodny was so excited when he said that and explained it was the Holy Ghost.  So awesome!  We’ve met with them a couple times since then and he’s still super happy and excited to learn.  This is super great!

    I think that Romanum Branch is going to become really strong.  It’s super exciting. 

    I do struggle with the language still.  I have so far to go before I can really understand and talk.  But I really know that Heavenly Father is helping me when I need to understand what’s being said or need to talk.  It’s super cool.

    Hey I love you guys tons.  Keep learning and growing.  Keep reading and praying.  You are always in my prayers.:) Until next week, I send my love.  With a heart that’s oh so true!  Just call on me and I’ll send it along with love from me to you!:)

Love,
Elder Aaron Lane Walters

February 4 Letter

Monday, February 4, 2013

Dear Family,
    I’ve made it back to Romanum!  And I got a new companion!  Elder Vehikite!  He’s been out for two transfers and started in Wichap just like me.  Oh man he’s great.  He’s still young in the language just like I was, but I think he’s farther than I was.  But I am so excited to help him grow.  I hope to be as big of help to him as Elder Sofele was to me. 

    Speaking of Elder Sofele!  He’s back in Chuuk!  They found nothing wrong with him in Guam.  So now he’s back and he’s the new Zone Leader!  Oh man I was so happy to see him today when he came out on the boat to get his stuff.  I sure do love him.  He also mentioned today that he believes Heavenly Father pulled us out of Romanum for a reason.  4 weeks without the missionaries helped the members realize the stuff they need to do.  That’s what T., the branch president, told Elder Sofele.

    Michitiw last week was awesome.  Oh man I LOVE running!  Elder Rainey and I ran all 3 mornings we were there together.  Oh man it’s so great.  I would crave it.  I still want it but circles around the court here is just not as appealing as just running down the road for 10 minutes then turning around.  Oh it was great.

    I am so happy to be with Elder Vehikite!  I shouted with joy when I heard he’d be my companion.  He is also Tongan and from (Utah) .  I really hope and pray I can help him out.  I am so excited.

    Well I’m healthy and strong!  Thank you so much for your prayers.  You guys are always in mine.  Sorry for the short letter.  Time this p-day was very short due to a long boat ride, shopping, and our zone meeting.  I love you guys all so very much.  Truly my heart is so full of my love for you my family. :) I love you guys. :)

Love,
Elder Aaron Lane Walters

January 28 Letter: Last Week Companionless

Dear Family!

Hello Hello! Momma, Dad thanks so much for the emails that you send every week. The ones that you just sent were super great. They made me feel close to you and a part of what was going on. They brought a warmth to my soul. The excitement of new missionaries, the strangeness of the freezing rain, the sadness of Woody's passing.  That does make me sad. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Thank you for what you shared about it Momma. 

Man! That is so cool how many missionaries we have going from our ward! That makes me super happy. Dad! That is so cool that you've got your first deacon with his papers in! Man you've been there a while. :) Super sweet. It is super cool how great effect this change in age is having. Its going to be having a great effect in this mission! In not this transfer but the next, 18 new missionaries will be coming into the mission! The most this mission has had was 71. We are a few under that right now, but in this March transfer we will get up to 82 missionaries! Super awesome! President talked about all of this on Thursday in our Zone conference, which was super great. So with so many more missionaries we are going to need more areas open. Whoo hoo!! So sweet! So we're hoping to have a couple more here in Chuuk. There are some good options and I'll talk more about that as the time nears.

But! This past week! Zone conference.  It was sweet. Elder Sofele hasnt come back. President is just leaving him there untill transfer. So he'll be coming back, but he probably wont be my companion any more. That makes me pretty sad because I havnt been his compainion for almost 4 weeks now. Yeah I'm pretty sad about that. But, I'll probably stay on Romanum. Thats what I think at least. Elder Sofele has been hinting to us that this transfer is going to shake up a lot of things here in Chuuk so it will be exciting to see. 

This week! Elder Obray, my MTC buddy is training again so he went to Guam yesterday. So I am now in the Michitiw area (north side of Weno) with his companion, Elder Rainy! So I've been all over the place this transfer! Man I've loved it! Good times.

Well my family! I love you guys so much! I say it every week but I really mean it. I pray for you daily. Have a super great week! I probably wont email next week. I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Walters