success and smiles in saipan

Hey mom!

I am fine! How are you doing?

We are going to the Japenea Cultural Center today. I have never been there, I will show you pictures next week.

Life in Saipan is great! The Family History Senior Couple, Elder and Sister Hertzberg, came and installed computers in our family History Center. It really sucks because there are only like 2 computers in a very small room but its the best we got. I am really happy some members came to try it out and they loved it! It was fun though because the High Priest Group Leader, Bro Tamayo (he is fillipino), really liked working on the computer doing family history. He was doing some names and they didn't come up on the temple ordinances page and Elder Hertzburg didn't know what happened and he asked Bro Tamayo what happened? Bro Tamayo said maybe they don't want to be baptized. I thought it was so funny because he teaches Gospel Principles as well and he always invites everyone to be baptized. Our investigators go to that class and he always talks about how there our only two churches in this world, Our Church and the church of the devil (everyone else). He has been talked to about that but he still does it and its kind of funny how he says it!

We found a lot of new investigators this week which is great. Oscar, the guy i told you about last week, came to church yesterday and he is reading the Book of Mormon. Tony, a new investigator has also committed to reading the Book of Mormon.

Elder Early and I are doing just fine! I like having him as my companion, although it is really weird having a companion whose first language is English, but I love it just as much as having filipino companions. Elder Early is really obedient and diligent. He says he's not but he is. He is not really strict like me!

Well I gotta go!

I love you!

Please Send me Tyler Gedlamans Mail Address! I want to write him a letter this week.

Ai TongKemi Faminiei

Seni Elder Kearl

this last picture reminds me of when we used to have dan make his napoleon dynamite face

new companion....elder early!

Hey Mom,

I am doing just fine! I am really happy to be with Elder Early! He was trained by Elder Garcia and he is a very obedient missionary! He is from California, he came out with me and he was on guam for 6 months before he came to Saipan! He is a very funny guy!!

I got a haircut from one of the Zone Leaders Elder Cook, it was his first hair cut he ever did but it is pretty good! What we used though was interesting; clippers with a size 3 blade, a broom, my towel and a vacuum! The clippers for the cutting, the broom for getting the hair off my head and sweeping the floor and the vacuum to get stuff off my clothes! We really had to improvise,(don't Worry I showered).

Guam was really good , I learned alot on how to train missionaries. We were given some good materials to help us and now me and Elder Early are training each other! We have one extra hour of companionship study! So we have one less hour of proselyting (which is too bad)!

We had fun in Guam I liked the training meetings and the practices. I stayed with my Trainer Elder Deo Campo and Elder Bano. They are companions now in Guam and were missionaries with me in Saipan. We also had Elder Henrie from Yap stay with us. He was comps with ELder Bano and my first District LEader on Saipan. So it was fun and weird all at the same time. I had a blast hanging out with them again. They are in a walking/ biking area so two of us used bikes and two of us walked!

Elder Early and I have a new investigator named Oscar. He is filipino and is a referral from members which is nice. We are trying to rebuild this area since we do not have a lot of investigators. Elder Garcia was trunky near the end (but don't worry I still love him)!

I received the package Larry and Liana sent me, Tyler Henrys letter, Tyler Gedlamans email and Bishops letter. It was so nice to receive all those things this past week!

Can you send me Tyler Henry, Tyler Gedlaman, and Tanner Hopkins mission addresses? I want to write letters to all of them as soon as I can!

Well I gotta go

Ai Tong Ngrouk Faminiei

Seni

Elder Kearl

alive and well in saipan with a detour to guam for a few days

sidenote: i did not receive an email from my boy on sunday night. i wondered if perhaps he was transferred to an island that did not have internet service. i was not worried, just very curious to know where he was. luckily, i have facebook friends in micronesia (see.....facebook is useful for something) and so i messaged them to find out if he was still in saipan. they informed me that he had flown to guam to attend a missionary training meeting and would be gone for five days, but had not been transferred to another island. i received a quick email tonight and expect to hear more about his trip on sunday.
as well, sister merlin alik, who is from micronesia, served with dan in saipan and was released a few weeks ago. she sent me a nice message after seeing dan is guam last week, she writes:

hellow sister kearl...
i talk to elder kearl today and he doing so good on his mission..
he came to guam for missionary meeting and i told him that i saw u in face book. Your son his a great missionary... poakpoake komwi....
sister alik

i asked dan what poakpoake komwi meant and he translated it as 'i love you' in pohnepein. micronesians seem like very kind, warm people. i am so happy dan is there.
julie

HELLO,

MOM, SORRY i COULD NOT EMAIL YOU, I was in Training in Guam. It was really good but it really changes our schedule around from how we normally do things. We were taught how to train new missionaries. If you got into the field in November, like me, you are still considered a new missionary.

Elder Early is my new Compaino and Elder Garcia is serving in Guam! Elder Early came out with me. Funny enough, he was trained by Elder Garcia and then with Elder Deo Campo (my trainer)!

Me and Elder Early were told by the mission president that we are training each other, its pretty weird.

I am having fun, I just got off the plane 3 hours ago! I was able to stay with my Trainer(Elder Deo Campo) in Guam. Elder Bano and Elder Henrie stayed with us too, it was just like old Saipan! I have some pictures to send to you on Monday when I have more time. It was a very fun and rewarding week!

Ai Tong Ngrouk

Seni Elder Kearl

email the day after talking to him...so lucky

Elder Kearl wearing a chamarro on his head

Hey mom!

How are you?  I am fine.   It was so great to talk to you last night! I had fun and well this is gonna be really short because I already said everything yesterday! 

I already know whats gonna happen with me for transfers, one of the office elders told the guam zone leader and then they told Elder Garcia!  I will let you know next week whats gonna happen!

Well I gotta go c ya love ya bye

Love Elder Kearl

seminary scripture mastery challenge
students vs missionaries
seminary students won

new Sister Tennant from the states

missionaries serving in saipan

elder garcia watching a kid play PSP

youth in the saipan branch

best mothers day present

my mom and dan on front steps of house
on Dalbeattie Hill

i talked to dan tonight for an hour and it was so great!  not as emotional as speaking to him at christmas for me.  i just felt peace and couldn't be happier to have him where he is right now.  he loves the island of saipan and has really enjoyed the branch and people he is living amongst.

he thinks he might be transferred this week to either the island of chuuk or guam, he doesn't know, he just has a feeling.   he has been on saipan the longest of all the elders there right now.  he mentioned that he hopes he doesn't go to Yap because rumor has it that their are topless beaches everywhere you look.  he said the elders who have served there joke that it is hard to get ocean pictures that are appropriate to send home.

they don't get fed very often from the members and so they make a lot of their own meals.  he told me he wishes he was better prepared to cook, do laundry and stuff like that.  i told him i did teach him those things and his reply was 'i'm not blaming you mom, you did teach me, i just didn't pay attention like i should have'.  HA!!!!  he said how grateful he was that he went to seminary and institute and had really studied the scriptures before he left, that has been a huge asset as a missionary.  he said he wonders why they send 19 year old boys to serve missions, still so young and so much to learn, i laughed and thought that is exactly why they send 19 year old boys to serve missions, so they can grow up and mature.

scott told dan that joey was getting fatter since he's been gone.  i told dan it's because no one else is as diligent as he was at walking joey daily.  he said there are tons of stray dogs and cats on the island.  scott and his friends were amused when dan told them he ran over one in the truck just yesterday and killed it....by mistake of course.

his favorite thing to do is teach discussions and meet new people.  he said it is so important to learn to teach by the spirit.  he said that it doesn't always happen that you teach the discussions in order, you need to understand what it is they are wanting or needing to learn to help them build their own testimony.

he sounded so mature and grown up on the phone.  it was fun to hear him and his companion laughing and having fun together.  his companion, elder garcia, sent me a very nice letter this week.  he thanked me for the package we sent him and said how much he has loved serving with dan.  he said they get along very well and have a lot of fun too.  he hopes he stays with dan until he goes home in august.  he would like to visit us in Canada so he can try out the cold.  he said dan may be taller than him, but he is much stronger than dan.  made me laugh.  he also said he has seen the pictures of emily and thinks she is 'real pretty'.

next time i talk to dan will be christmas and we'll be in beautiful hawaii! maybe i'll be sitting on the beach while we talk staring at the same pacific ocean he is surrounded by.  what's weird is that hawaii isn't even halfway to his mission.  it's still 3300 miles from hawaii.  he is very far from home it seems.

tomorrow is mother's day and it will be a hard day for me since I will be thinking of my own mom.  i feel gratitude for having been blessed with a great mom who set a good example for me as a mother.  tonight, i am thinking about how happy and blessed I am to be dan's mom.  it hasn't been an easy road for dan or me but he came with a very strong, determined spirit that has helped him overcome many challenges placed in his way.  the first time i saw dan, when i was wheeled into the neonatal intensive care unit, who could have imagined that LITTLE bundle of joy would one day be living on a tiny island in the pacific, fending for himself and serving others.

i love him so much,
julie

dan in the NICU

i loved when i was able to take him out of his incubator,
i think the blankets weighed more than him

getting bigger and stronger

wearing the barney sweater grandma knit for him

love my boy!

day he was baptized....future missionary

6 month mark

side note:  
dan has been serving for six months as of this week.  i look forward to sunday evenings when I get a report of how his week has been.  makes me happy to hear that he is joyfully serving other people and forgetting about himself.  added bonus is that he sends me pictures every week.  good to see that his teeth look brushed, his shirt looks white, his hair is cut, glasses look intact, he looks well nourished and he has a big smile on his face....what more can a mom ask for?
NOTHING!!!

julie

Lestor, Elder Garcia, James Ocaya, Elder Kearl

Dear Famini:

How are you all doing?  I am doing fine!  

Hey mom, I can't believe it is my 6 month mark tomorrow.  I am going to do some thing special to celebrate.

For Mothers Day, you can call me at 1 pm on Sunday my time, which will be 8 pm on Saturday night for you back home.  My phone number is 804835371.

Lester was baptised on Saturday!  It was so good!  I am so happy that he was introduced to the Gospel by his friend, James Ocaya!  Seriously, he helped so much, and I am so grateful that it happened.  It was such a testimony builder and taught me that anyone can help with missionary work, no matter what your age!  He is only fourteen years old and has such a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he is a good person!   If a 14 year old kid can do it so can everyone else in the world.  Missionary work is a duty of every member of the Church, it takes all of us working together to make it happen!  Well Scott, you better step it up.  James OCaya is your age.  Don't be afraid to talk to your friends about the church and invite them to come to Church with you!  

I know this church is true without a doubt! 

Well I gotta go,  

love ya, c ya, bye

Love Elder Kearl