Happenings on Kosrae

The last couple of weeks have been rather eventful here on Kosrae.  We had the baptism on Jan Kilafwakun.  He had been taught by Elders Madsen and Agalzoff.  His brother Elmer and his wife joined the Church about 16 months ago and it is wonderful to have some of the other members of that family come unto Christ and make some great changes in their lives. He is a very enthusiastic young man and will be a welcome addition to our Branch in Lelu. 

We had our Zone Conference on April 30th.  These are always a much anticipated occurrence.  The  Zone leaders are in charge of the meeting and they put in a good amount of effort in the planning, conducting, giving a presentation of their accountability, and teaching.  These conferences are held once each quarter.  Elder Madsen and Agalzoff are the zone leaders here now.  I am so impressed by the quality and the  ability that these two Elders have in carrying forth with this responsibility.  The lesson that they taught was about having charity in our lives and why we need it.  When we have this pure love of Christ and let it guide our actions then many great things will happen.  Our relationships with others will be enhanced and we will only want what is right and best for them.  You can't preach the gospel and be effective without charity.  We are always uplifted and inspired by having President and Sister Mecham teach us in these conferences.  Being 1500 miles from the mission home we only get to see them on a quarterly basis at these zone conferences.   President Mecham pointed out from the Book of Mormon, some of the qualities that Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah possessed that enabled them to preach and convert many people to the gospel of Christ.  This was the last zone conference for us and Elder Madsen. We were given the opportunity to bear our testimonies.  It was a little emotional for all of us.  So many great experiences to reflect upon for all of us.

On Sunday we were able to hold our first group meeting.  A small group can be started for members who live far from the Church. This was held in Tafunsak at one of the members homes which is 9 miles from the Church house.   President Mecham has been encouraging the different islands to look for opportunities to have a smaller group who are part of the regular branch.  In order to have a group there has to be a priest to conduct the meeting and a member of the branch presidency attends regularly.  All of this was approved through the Area Presidency for the Asia North Area.  This is the first time small groups have been held here on Kosrae.  Other islands have tried small groups and one of them grew so much in numbers that it was turned into a regular branch.  We are hoping that the same thing may happen here.