As for Elder Watch and I, We're just dandy....

Dearest Family,


I got the first package! It was nice. Lolly packed. I especially enjoyed the Narration of Charlie Brown you guys did. . How are you guys? Hows real Christmas? haha. Everythings good here. We're in charge of planning Christmas for us 18 missionaries here on Efate island. It'll be fun. Thanks for all the pictures too. I love seeing pictures. Sierra is unrecognisable, really. Do I look any different? So I heard indirectly sierra got her patriarchical blessing through Elder Yunacks letter. Thats so great. I would really like to hear about that. So as for Elder Watch and I we're just dandy. He's a fun guy. We're a good combo. He's a super multitasker and sometimes go here go there worrier type. As for me I'm sure you remember that one time I was described as "laid back to a flaw" haha. We're a good balance. We LOVE our area. Erakor is an awesome branch. Lots of work to be done. Lots of Reactivation. There are SO many less actives. That's the branch's biggest need. Any advice, stories, experiences, scriptures, etc. on that topic? I really like working with Less actives. It's a long/rewarding work. They still have a testimony. You just have to help them remember. In response to this work President Brewer said read every verse out of the Topical Guide under LOVE. That is so true. People can tell so easily if you really care about them or if you're there just to do work. We've been working with a family of members here. They're all members in the family. The dad is the 1st councelor in the Elder quorum. Only the mom still comes. We were teaching 2 recent convert girls in another yard when we found Alan, 9 yrs. from that family. We were able to start teaching him and his whole family were joining all the lessons until today. Yesterday when we got there we found Alan and his mom there waiting on time for the appointment. We found them having a discussion about repentance, the last principle we shared with him. The parents love us coming and everyone see's Alan learning and that it's helping him. His mom, Anna gave a heartfelt testimony that the church is true. The dad, Freddy really likes us. He has high respect for us and always walks us back to the truck. He'll ask," when are you guys coming back?" It's going slowly but I know they'll come back. Also enjoying teaching Maksai and Tuman. They're great. He's really interested in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They want to change so badly. I can't wait for tomorrow when we get to teach one of my favorite things to teach: the Plan of Salvation. I wish we could be in our area more. Being a Zone Leader is good but lots of extra stuff. We're trying best to serve all our missionaries. We're well liked because we never say no haha. We get some pretty funny requests but gotta do it to keep em happy. We're planning lots of stuff like Christmas, Zone Conference, a fireside, activities for the branch, and A trip to Solomon in February. Crazy. Trying best to manage our time well. Still enjoying my studies as always. I've been thinking a lot about applying to BYU. Elder Arnett here is trying to talk me into BYU Hawaii haha. I really enjoyed this last conference reading it all the way through in the Ensign. We are so blessed to have Prophets and Apostles. I really liked "Beware of yourselves" and "The First Commandment". I love studying. The mission has taught me just to study the scriptures but to LOVE them. I really do. They are a TREASURED possesion. I know my life will get busy when I get back but one thing will help me to grow and progress spiritually even if I'm no longer on the mission. Daily scripture study. I have to be disciplined and not miss. I don't want to grow complacent. I want to always be progressing, learning and becoming better. I want to serve others and learn more and more the meaning of Charity. It'll be hard but it's what I want. Anyways that whats on my thoughts, random. Thanks for all you do. Love you guys.


Elder Sears

"When I think about the people in Gaua..."

Dear Family,

Another good week. I learned a lot this week. I went to Tanna. We went to Tanna to do a Zone Training. Elder Bacon + Elder Vaiho (tahiti) and their 2 districts came. We met in a small bungalows meeting room. A small room with white coral on the floor with the ocean off in the distance. We gave a training about "Area Loyalty". We talked about the small areas that the Lord has trusted us to look after. We talked about how many people were in their areas and how many were called of God with authority to preach the full gospel, only 2 out of all the thousands of people in each missionary area. We talked about what Christ did when he went into an area. He would minister to people one by one and look for those in need, suffering, sin etc. We talked about what Christ would do if he came to the area we are serving in currently. It was thought provoking. We tried to shift the focus of the missionaries away from themselves and towards: THE PEOPLE. We shared the story of President Gordon B. Hinckley on his mission when his father wrote to him "Forget yourself and go to work", it's become our slogan. Some missionaries on Tanna have been there for a long time. I told them of my experience in Gaua. I told them of a time when I had been there for a long time and had thoughts of wanting to be out or go to a new area. I told them some day they will ache to go back to these beloved areas and people. I started a sentence saying, "When I think about the people in Gaua........" and I couldn't say a word. I was overcome with strong emotion. I explained how I might never have a chance to see my friends/converts again. That gave a strong message to the missionaries there. It made them grateful for the great people they are with. That was a really good experience for me. It really surprised me as well. Also about Gaua ,President Brewer has been there all this weekend! Gaua is incredible right now. The re-organised the branch and put some of my converts in the branch presidency and other callings. They'll be putting 2 more missionaries on Gaua because of the much work to be done. Ok ,so as far as Thanksgiving. We did celebrate! Elder Watch and I went with Elder Potrie (born canada/ lives in Cali) and Elder Harmon (UT) to a restaraunt called The War Horse. We payed a lot of money to eat a few racks barbeque of ribs/chicken/onion rings/and fries. It was so good! The place is decorated american style. State license plates and cowboy stuff all over. So some bad news. My beloved area Paunganisu/Nguna will be given to 2 different elders at the next transfer in a few weeks :(. They so deserve it though. They'll have lots of work and it's much needed. Here we go Erakor! We did find some epic investigators this week though. Actually we didn't do a thing They came/ were given to us. John and Meri in Paunganisu. We were teaching their neighbors and they just came and joined. The next time we came we stopped the truck we had just gotten out and they put out their leaf woven mats and were calling us over to their kitchen. We sat and had a great lesson together. We taught about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ/Families. I love teaching those things. Some people think of God as some distant man or spirit that is so unreachable. I made an example with his own son and the feelings he had about him. I love helping people realize that God is loving and close to us. Also, our Elders quorum president, Charles is the man. He got back from the temple last year. He had  been trying to help his family receive the Gospel. All 8 of his siblings are a long ways away. Especially his oldest brother, Maksai. We met him yesterday night. We were supposed to have taught him during the day but he wasn't there. Later that night we had a dinner appointment. It was with Norton and Ainez. Also Henry Anderson (my companion from blacksands home already was there). Maksai and his wife jumped on a bus and came all the way to tell us sorry they missed the appointement. Norton invited them in to eat and we chatted. Every one in the room was an RM or us 2 currently on the mission haha. We had lots of support as they encouraged and explained things to them. Maksai seems awesome. He's a funny guy. He's a fisherman and totally looked the part with his beanie. He and his wife were there. He said he wants to change his life now and for good. He said he's sick of arguing all the time and losing his money on alcohol, kava, and tobacco. He is so convicted on changing. He asked if we'd be coming in every day. I pray that he's sincere. I know the Gospel will help him and his wife and 2 girls. We'll teach him on Wednesday. Anyways, that it! Love you all

Elder Sears

I Love My New Areas and Companion

Hello Family,

Thanks for the e mails! (more next time preferably) I'm glad everyone's doing well and it sounds great in Draper. You guys are the best family ever. Thanks for all the support. As for me here, I'm great! I love my new areas and companion. Elder Watch, is from the small island of nowea (spelling?), born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. We're doing great together. It's fun/challenging because we are both new to ZL and our areas. ("white wash") We've been depending a lot on members to show us around and to people. I LOVE my two branches. The first is Erakor. Last sunday was our first there. It wasn't a nice church house like the others here in vila, just a tin roof and coral spread on the floor. The yard it was in was nice. Lots of trees for shade, beautiful day. Also our mission president, President Brewer came with his wife to attend. Throughout the 3 hours I felt the spirit in abundance, more than I had in some more established branches. We're small but there are great teachers. I love President Brewer. He is super deep. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much he knows about the Savior/His life/teachings/attributes. It really feels like he grew up with Him in one home and came here to tell us about Him. I love hearing about his mission. He served amoung  the American Indians. He had 2 areas. First area: 13 months, Second + Last, 11. Harsh conditions, cold and hot. Elder Watch and I went and chatted with him today. He said his goal was to become an Indian. He totally immersed himself. He has such deep love for those people. If you even mention them he'll start to tear up. (larry echo hawk's talk in last general conference got him good) I love the people here. I've learned a lot of things from them that I don't know if I would learn elsewhere. They are so humble and loving. Vanuatu is a great place. It's well hidden for a reason. My other area, Paunganisu is pretty epic. It's the newest branch organized here. It's clear on the other side of the island. When we teach there in our commute going and coming we end up rounding the island. Such good scenery on that drive. Some day you guys have to see this place. The members are so enthusiastic and awesome. The Branch president, Eric and others are more than willing to follow us all day to teach any day. The elders quorum president here, Iaoko is the best. He has such a great story of change. The other day his wife tina, the YW president told me about it. Before his actions were reminiscent of Jacob 2 in the BoM. If you could see him today. He works hard in his calling and has a great family and wife. His wife told me about all the years of praying for her husband with her small son willie. Also a missionary here has an incredible turn around story through missionaries finding him. It all goes back to President Monson's last talk about "People can change". We also look after a small Island called Nguna off the shores of Paunganisu. They are a small unit. We jump on a boat after Sacrament in Paung.... to go over there. We're still learning the places and the people but I love it. My companion is a great blessing to me. We have a blast together. I feel we both have big hearts and help the other one to be better. I hope we can do some great work here. Anyways thats all for today. Love you all. Pray for me to be able to be efficient/organized/dilligent. Thanks for all you do.

 

Elder Sears

 

PS sorry for the $$ withdrawls. vila is expensive and i keep buying stuff for others.

Transferred to Erakor

Famle Sears,

Whats up? Hello from Port Vila, Vanuatu. The freshest news I have is that I'll be transferring. I'll be leaving Etas this week and I'll be transferring to........ Still Vila! But now I'll be looking after Erakor - Branch, Panganisu - New Branch, and Nmuna (Small island across from panganisu, it's a Unit). I've been called as Zone Leader of the Port Vila Zone. I'll be serving with Elder Watch. He's a large fellow from New Zealand. He's a big teddy bear. I'm really excited to serve with him. That means my companions, Elder Samuel and Iati will be in Etas. Elder Samuel will be the District Leader and take over training Elder Iati (what I've been hoping for). I'm excited, it'll be interesting. Both of us are new at Zone Leader (usually one is there to train the other one). Uh.... what do I do? It'll be fun though.  Now we 2 can just focus on the work. Zone Conference for us just passed. All the missionaries from Efate island and Tanna came together (34 missionaries). Including Elder Bacon :). We had some good chats as always. He's the best. Sister Brewer, President's wife noticed our strong friendship. Elder Bacon told her all about it and how both families had gotten involved. She described it as a "tender mercy" of the Lord. I gave a training about "how to begin teaching" out of Preach my Gospel. I used the story of Ammon/King Lamoni. It demonstrates perfectly how to win trust through example before even teaching someone. I love how Ammon taught King Lamoni in Alma 18. It's was totally according to his needs. It's helped my teaching a lot. President Brewer is the best. He gives some awesome talks. He makes everything super intense. He refers to mountains a lot and love. So how is the family doing? Are you guys having Family Home Evening? Family Prayer? Scripture Study? (now I know). I hope so. I'm excited to be with my own family again. I wonder if I'll be weird at all when I get back? haha I hope not. I hope my english won't be goofy. If it weren't for Elder Bacon it for sure would be. I saw you replied about my comment about feeling like not having a personality. Sad but true. I don't know what it is. I can recall before the mish I was one of the jokers in the group with my friends. I feel like I'm a tad serious and not funny anymore :/ I hope Elder Watch will resurrect Jansen. Any advice on being more lighthearted? Sorry I keep forgetting to write down stuff for good stories in the E mails. Sierra's picture's were..... interesting, haha. The other day we were eating and I caught a glimpse of Terminator. I was legitimately scared. I felt uncomfortable haha. I'm weird now. Anyways sorry about the lame e mail. I'll try to lighten up and give some cool/funny stories next week. Thanks so much for all you guys do. Continue with your prayers and scripture study daily. PS plan some bomb stuff we can do when I get back. It'll be fast. I want to go out with a bang. I feel I have so much I want to accomplish but haven't gotten there yet.  Petal to the Metal! Anyways love you all. Pray for me and I'll pray for you. Have a close relationship with Heavenly Father. I'm striving for it. Tell me what your learning in you studies and I'll tell ya'lls. PS sierra never answered that e mail forever ago about her favorite scriptures etc. I want that ASAP sierra!

Love,

Elder Sears

From Sierra's Instagram- with this notation,"Only 7 months, 2 weeks and 4 days until my best friend comes home..."

Olsem Wanem? October 14, 2012

Hello,

Olsem wanem? I oraet? Thanks for the letters and pictures. Sierra, you look so different! I wonder if I do? Glad to report I'm not ghostly anymore. Gained some solid weight here in Vila. I wonder if you guys will think I look the same or different when I get back? Sierra, looks like your having a blast. The good old high school days. Feels like so long ago. All my memories are fading. I'm no longer sports savvy, I don't remember anyone hardly. It'll be good to watch games again with you daddo. Go Tigers! PS i know they're in the ALCS from Elder Gittins (yankees fan). I figure you didn't want me to be jealous haha. I wonder what fun stuff we'll do when I get back? Sierra, you need to plan some cool stuff we could do together. PS - I forbid you to be too cool for me when I get back. If you do I'll be really awkward around your friends when they come over haha. I hope we get to spend some good time together. I hope I won't be weird when I get back. Some times I feel my personality is hidden somewhere. It comes out occasionally when I talk with Elder Bacon but thats about it. Mom, I realized i missed your B-day. I am the lamest. I barely know what day it is myself. So sorry.  Todays P day. Spel nomo lo Vanuatu. (Relaxing in Vanuatu) Vanuatu is a great place. Very backwards in some ways but the people are awesome. They are humble. So I swapped out my old truck. I used to be in an older silver one that was destroyed on Tanna. I switched with one of the couples and took their brand new cherry red truck haha. FLAS! Still here in Etas. Should be out pretty soon. Still trying my best. I feel pretty urgent. My time is ticking and I still want to accomplish a lot more. Unfortunately, not much can be done here. I would welcome a new place to work. That being said i'll accept whatever I get. Anna is still doing great. I love her. This week we had a lesson I really liked. We talked about scripture study. I sat next to her and we practiced how to read/apply scriptures. She would read and apply it to her own life. She'll be getting baptised pretty soon. This week we found a good mama. She's a less active member. She had her leg amputated. Her family has had lots of problems. We will be doing a FHE (Famle Haos Naet) with her family next week and watching a dvd about family relationships. I like trying to help families. Also, elections here are going on. You guys would love seeing their campaigning here, it's hilarious. One time Elder Bacon and I talked about it. Politicians and Police men are all fake. It's like kids when they're little saying "I wanna be an army man". They have no idea what it means. One running for office on his poster promised cement roads on every island as well as running water and power. Also that Vanuatu will become a world power and no one will be poor. VOTE FOR HIM! Ok funny story. There is a store close to our house called Koroman. We go in there a lot to grab a drink or at night on the way home. I always joke around with the people who work there. There's a woman named Mary from Ambae. One time we were joking and she went to the register. A minute later I walked past her obliviously without paying for my stuff. I lifted up my cookies waving to her "Bon Garea" (Goodnight in language Ambae) She knew I'd realize and come back so she laughed her head off. A few steps later I realized and came back to see everyone waiting to laugh. Good times haha. Now they call me "Stilman" all play of course. Another funny story about an old guy. His lifestyle was less than ideal. His grandson observed and one day mustered up the courage to speak up to him. He went into the room he was in and made sure the door was open for a quick escape. He started to sing: "Read your bible, pray every day, Jos wanwan taem, blakaot evri naet" (Implying he read the bible every day and prayed and went to church every once in a while and drunk on kava every night) The boy ran away before the old "Apu" could get him. Sometimes I feel like a babysitter. The other day we were driving back from Conference, us 7 missionaries. They had the windows calling out, "gunaet apu!, gudnaet anti, gunaet ankel" (goodnight grandpa, aunt, uncle) I put the child lock on the windows haha. Conference was great! More excited for the Ensign to come. I loved Jeffrey R. Holland's talk as well as Russel M. Nelson's. Also Eyring's and Uchtdorf's. What insights did you guys take from it? Mom, thanks for the scriptures. They were quite appropriate and I liked them a lot. I'm excited to get home and be a part of the family again. FHE and all that other stuff that I was too lazy to care about before. Elder Mortenson and I had a great conversation yesterday. He's one of the senior couples serving here. He and his wife are from Oregon and he served in Michigan. He told me to develop good habits to bring back for my life. The mission is a concentrated place where it's easy and quick learning. I'm so so grateful to be on a mission. It's been a life saver. It's such an important thing for others and yourself. I wouldn't want anyone who could to miss out on this opportunity. You work hard and sacrifice and the reward you get from Heavenly Father is a new heart. I'm committing myself to things I want to continue to do the rest of my life. I want to always be learning how to be a better person. I never want to "go through the motions" (something I've thought about and observed a lot where we're from). Like President Uchtdorf said, we shouldn't be like the kid who dipped his toe in the water and said he went swimming as far as the gospel goes. This church and it's teachings aren't just words or information or things we do. It's God's will for us. There is power behind it all. We should never be complacent in the church. Anyways love you guys. Thanks for the support, prayers, and encouragement. 

Elder Sears

Custom Ceremony on Paama

Etas. Another week. Still trying our absolute hardest but having a
little bit of a hard time. Still trying to figure out what or who we
can help out here. Still working closely with our branch president.
Unfortunately nothing too special this week. No incidents. Lots of
people blocking us or our investigators though. I feel pretty anxious.
Only 8ish months left! So short! I figure I could have probably 2 more
areas. My next one I'm pretty sure about. Vila is good but it can't
beat island life. I've enjoyed talking to a lot of my recent converts
from Gaua. I've called them and chatted for a bit and encouraged them.
I'm glad to report they're all doing great. Trying to think of some
stories to tell. Ok here's an interesting one. I spent a good while
chatting with some of the members from Paama island. I got to know
Custom more. Custom is different on every island. They usually involve
families. They happen when a child is born, when he first shaves,
marries, and dies. Girls also have theirs. This week they did one for
a girl in our area. This girl, 14 stood amidst 50 men from Tanna. 50
men from Paama on the other side. All had tree branches from banana.
(not our bananas, different kind) The branch isn't wood, it's more
like rubbery. They stand up on 2 sides and face each other. They start
a fire in the middle. Once it dies out, attack! They bop each other on
the head and club each other and try to pull out a feather on the
girls head. (almost capture the flag) They can do damage though. They
all beat each other senseless and no one got the feather. One of the
members, a mama got caught in the middle of it by accident. She got
completely covered in her food she was making. If we came during that
time we would have gotten bopped and couldn't have said a thing haha.
Believe me, there's some good one's. Good old custom. Anyways,
hopefully next week will be better work and story wise. Havin a little
bit of a hard time but still trying my best. Still learning a lot and
enjoying my studies. I hope you guys are studying every day. From what
I heard you guys are. Anyways thats all for today. Love you guys.
Thanks so much for everything.




Elder Sears