THE BEST RIDE HOME FROM CHURCH

     I finally got to do something I have wanted to do since we got to Pohnpei, ride in the back of one of the Jungle Trucks ( as I call them)
     After a great week, I needed to feel the wind blow through my hair, so I caught a ride home from church in Sam's truck, along with a lot of the Nett branch.
     Let me tell you about Sam Bailey,  he is an american who is working here for the courts. Truth be told he is kind of a 'big wig' with the courts, although Sam would never say that.
   Sam has the greatest heart I have ever seen,  he is the branch clerk in the Nett branch, every week, and a lot of days during the week, he is always helping someone from the branch, from taking them to the Dr. to taking the whole branch to the Baptisms in the back of his truck, to being on hand when ever anyone needs a blessing, night or day, to bringing home fresh Tangerines from Kosrae for the missionaries.  And it doesn't stop there,  he helps everyone on the Island, every one knows and loves Sam, because he is a good man.  ( all you single girls out there, He is still single) ( Sorry, Sam, I couldn't resist).
    Every sunday morning Sam gets up early and goes and picks up the members of the Nett branch that live a long ways from the church, he makes several trips each week, because they don't have cars or can't afford the gas. He never ask for gas money, he just does it, because that is Sam. Someday Sam will go back to the states or somewhere else to work and the Island of Pohnpei will really miss him, The Island will never be the same because of all the good Sam has done.

Best Ride on the Island

     Well today, we went to the Nett branch and on the ride home, I hopped in the back of the truck and rode home with the branch members. It was great, the only drawback, the bugs in my teeth, because I couldn't stop smiling.

What a great week.

   We started off the week with a missionary "farewell"  Marleen spoke in church last Sunday, she talked about faith and how hard sometimes it is to have faith. She how grateful she was for the missionaries that had taught her the gospel, and the missionaries now, that helped her get all her papers  and everything ready to go on a mission.  She bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and how grateful she was to be able to go on a mission now.  It was really sweet and her brother, Patterson, came to church, Patterson has been less active for a while. Marleen and Patterson are the only members of the church in their family and it has been harder for Patterson to stay active because of the pressure from the family.  He was doing great. We got to see him again, when we went to teach with the UH elders, he came with them and helped us teach some lessons.  He stills has a strong testimony of the Gospel and he bore his testimony. It was a great start to        the week.
     Then came Monday, we were able to get several things done we needed to, like laundry, house cleaning, shopping, etc. Then we went to Ponrockiette for FHE.  We had a great lesson there and played some games.
    Next Tuesday, we went and helped out some of the sisters, then off the piano and English class.  both were great, then we reminded our Institute group of the Big Activity on Friday, Elder LeFevre taught a young man new to the Priesthood how to give a blessing, and then the sister missionaries, who had both been ill, ask it Elder LeFevre and Lavon would give them a blessing.  It was a sweet experience and the spirit was so strong all night.
     Wednesday, we helped out with cars ( the 3 Sr. couples are sharing 2 cars), so we were home for part of the day, so we prepared for lessons, and the activity. Wednesday night Elder LeFevre went to his district Pres. meeting and I got to go out teaching with the Sisters.  Sister Varea and I went to visit a man named Augustine, his wife is a member of the church, but he is not.  We had a great lesson on chastity and Eternal Marriage. I got to share my testimony of the Temple and the Sealing power.
     Thursday  we had district mtg, then we sent our car with the Vincents to Kitti  and had a little quite time. It was kind of nice. When we got the car back, we went to Palikir and taught Piano and English lessons and reminded out Institute class of our big activity on Friday.
     Well Friday came and we spent the day getting everything ready for the Young Adult/Institute "Movie Night"  We spent a solid hour popping popcorn( you can't buy it pre-popped here) and between the hot air popper and the microwave, it took us an hour to pop all the popcorn. Unfortunately, my microwave died in the process, so we are now without a microwave, but it was worth it, because the looks on the young adults faces when they saw the popcorn was great. Popcorn is a special treat, they rarely,if ever get it, so they ate every kernel before the night was through( and we had 2 big garbage bags stuffed full).  We put all the candy we had in the apartment in 2 large buckets, we got the water cooler ready to go and off to the church we went.( By the way great big shout out and THANK YOU, to all our kids and brothers and sisters that contributed bags of candy and popcorn, via boxes from home, we could not have done this night without your wonderful generosity, you probably did not think much of it when you sent the popcorn and candy, but hopefully the pictures at the end of this post will show you the fun YOU created by sending such wonderful packages, we don't have a lot of popcorn or candy here on the island, and the young adults, children and adults alike love it. of course who wouldn't IT"S CANDY AND POPCORN, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU THANK YOU  from the bottom of our hearts and all of the children, adults and young adults that have benefited from you goodness)

Getting ready for the movie

Elder LeFevre bringing in the water

"Stadium" seating

Getting our treats, YUM popcorn and candy

Best Seats in the house( or should I say church)

Watching the Movie " Every one comfy?"

Was it worth all the work? You decide by the smile

      Next we set up the computer and projector to show our Movie "17 Miracles", we had told our young adults to bring whatever they wanted to sit on, or lay on to watch the movie, well since they really don't have things to bring like that ( we keep forgetting this is not like back home, here they sleep on the hard floor, with no pillows)  they made us their own "comfy" seats from what was at the church.  We even had "Stadium' Seating.  We opened with prayer, then Elder LeFevre told a brief history of the handcart pioneers and espeically the "Willie and Martin" groups. and everyone got some snacks and we started the movie. It was great, all loved it, (for some it was the first movie ever seen) After we talked about the fact that the people here are the pioneers on Pohnpei, that in years to come it will be their stories that are told out here, because they are the pioneers in the church out here. We had closing prayer and then we all just stood around and talked and visited for another hour ( does this sound familiar Boyd and Diane and anyone else who has ever worked with young adults) It was a great night.  We had about 25 young adults come from all over the Island.

     Now Saturday, and I must admit we are very tired from our late night with the young adults, but no rest here, we have a baptism today and clothing must be put together, a font must be filled, the car must be taken to the car wash servcie project and sisters still need a ride to their appt. So we are off again, we get everything ready, even got the towels washed, and we head to the Baptism. What a spiritual feast every baptism is.  3 new members of the church in the Nett branch.

Elders Vance and Elder Gasu, with the 3 newest members of the
Nett branch

Elder Vance, Hilario Malarma, Elder Gasu

Elder Vance, Jessica Setik, Elder Gasu

Elder Vance, Odilia  Luzama, Elder Gasu

Members of the Nett branch that came to the Baptism, aren't they beautiful !!!

At the end of the week, was it all worth it?    YES, YES, YES

Success at Pohnpei Campus

   We have been trying to get permission to hold an Institute class on Pohnpei Campus.  Pohnpei Campus is another campus of the College of Micronesia, it is located in Kolonia.  We already have been able to set up and have classes on the Palikir Campus of C.O.M., but we had not been able to work out getting permission to hold classes on the Pohnpei campus. Well this week, SUCCESS.  We finally got permission to have class on the Pohnpei campus. So starting in August, we will have classes for the Institute on both the Palikir Campus and the Pohnpei Campus. We are so excited. We can't wait.  The Lord really has opened windows, when we thought doors were shut. Our Young Adults, that attend the Pohnpei campus are so excited that they will be able to take institute on their campus also.  It is a great day for the Lord.

Breakfast at The Villages

     We went to breakfast with the other Sr. couples, and of course Janice ( sorry Sam, we went without you, you were on beautiful Kosrae). We went to a place called The Villages, it is a Hotel/Restaurant on the Island. At The Villages you can rent a little bungalow on the beach, or up in the Jungle. It is a beautiful place. We had Fresh Tuna omelets ( I know they don't sound very good, but OH BABY, they are delicious) and we had fresh pineapple.  It was nice to just sit and visit and eat good food, the surroundings are beautiful, I still can't believe we live in such a beautiful place.  Enjoy the scenery !!!!!!

Janice and Sis. LeFevre

One of the bungalows, they rent

This could be you if you came to visit

I can't believe I live in this Paradise

There is a lot of ocean out there

Inside one of the bungalows

DON'T PARK IN BOB'S SPOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Mission Call for Jennifer

   We got to go and see another one of our young adults open a mission call.  Jennifer Marks received her mission call yesterday, and Pres. Hemmon ask us if we could find her and give it to her. So we needed to pick up the Sister Missionaries from an appt. and we told them that we had tried every phone number we had and we could not get a hold of Jennifer. We told them why we needed to find her and if they could help us, since they go on splits with her a lot. They were just as excited as we were, so off we went in search of Jennifer, we finally found her, at her mom's house. We showed her what we had and she invited us all in to watch her open it.  We finally got to meet her father, he is not a member of the church, and the whole family was gathered. Her mom, her dad, her brother and her and us and the sister missionaries. We all had to make a guess before we started, and as  couldn't believe it, her brother guessed it exactly.

Jennifer, Sis. Varea, Sis. Salaiau

Sis. Marks, Sis. Salaiau, Sis. Varea, Jennifer, Sis. LeFevre
Jennifer's brother

Waiting for Dad

Opening the Call

To scared to read it

Reading the Call

No words can really explain this moment, you had to be there, we were all crying

Mom watches on

Dad, having a hard time letting his little girl go

Wow, Hawaii,  the whole family is excited

A Dad and Daughter Moment

excited fellow missionaries

        I don't know if opening a mission call will ever be just another day, the spirit is always so strong, and it was again this time. We all cried as Jennifer read her mission call.  She has been called to serve in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, and part of her mission she will serve in the Laie Temple Visitors Center.  Here are some pictures to capture the moment.