What happened?

Last night, as we welcomed Sister Ale, a new sister missionary from Australia, Sister Carter mentioned that we had been in Palau for three weeks.  Elder Carter, a more accurate timekeeper, reminded all of us that we had been here four weeks.   What happened?  Time keeps slipping away, and no matter how hard we work, there's always more to do and more to be.

Nancy's recipe.  Thank you!

Careful weight limit?

The Carters are now fully legal drivers in Palau!  We passed the 50 question written test, skipped over the eye test, and completely avoided the driving test, but we couldn't avoid the drivers license photos.  Oh well...

Having fun at Seminary

Still eating?

We love donuts!

Wednesday night was the Seminary party to celebrate the end of a successful year of learning about the New Testament.  Daniel Sowards, our wonderful Seminary teacher, brought enough pizza, drinks, and dessert to feed an army, and he must have guessed correctly because only a couple of crumbs remained--and the ants would have feasted if he hadn't cleaned so well.

Our living room air conditioner, which has been a bit testy over the last few days, finally gave up the ghost on Thursday afternoon.  We were blessed that outside temperatures were fairly moderate, the sky was cloudy, and rain had fallen for a few minutes, but that didn't keep Elder Carter from practically running to the landlord's door to report the catastrophe.  He can be persistent, and that paid off with a quick service call.  They removed the unit, took it to a shop, and said they could have it re-installed on Monday.  Of course, that was unacceptable, so Elder Carter committed them to return it the next morning at 8:30.  Missionary training pays!!  They DID return on Friday and we had air conditioning by 9:30 A.M.

North shore

Sister Carter on Babeldaub

Beautiful scenery

We ventured to Babeldaub, the big island adjacent to Koror, on Friday to visit members in remote villages, but we must admit we were a little disappointed with our lack of member contact.  We were blessed to visit with many nonmembers who were kind and helpful while on our safari, but success found us when we least expected it.  While searching for the home of a member on the north end of the island, we happened upon a member working nearby.  We know it was divine help that brought us to him and feel that his faithful parents on a distant island had prayed for this blessing.

Eli & Daniel looking chipper at 2 A.M.

Saturday started extremely early, 1:00 A.M. to be exact!  We met Eli McCann and Daniel Sowards at the prearranged meeting site before the start of the Palau Marathon.  Only 18 runners competed and two of them were from our tiny branch!  The race started on Babeldaub at 3:00 A.M. with the temperature hovering around 85 degrees with almost 85% humidity.  As former marathoners we feel somewhat qualified to say it's the most difficult marathon course we've ever seen:  hills, hills, and more hills, with about a half mile of flat causeway 23 miles into the race.  Eli and Daniel, along with other runners we met along the way, finished on a sandy beach at the Palau Pacific Resort.  We had been their support car supplying them with drinks or whatever else they needed while our six younger missionaries manned three different aid stations for the half marathon race.

Ready to run ANOTHER 26.2

Post race -- woo hoo!

We decided to celebrate our early day and good feelings about serving the runners by going to breakfast at a nearby restaurant, so the eight of us sat at an ocean-side table and watched a storm move across the bay dropping bucketloads of water over the next few hours.  Though the scenery was spectacular, we determined to have breakfast at our house from now on.

Saturday night we witnessed our first baptism on Palau, the adult son of our Relief Society president.  What a spiritual, uplifting experience to be associated with him, our missionaries, and the supportive branch members in attendance!  We are so blessed!!

Baptism of Boney

Our Sacrament Meeting on Sunday was one of the most enlightening we have ever attended.  All three speakers spoke about the blessings of the temple, and with the nearest one in Manila, Philippines, their testimony was backed by their sacrifice and commitment.

Sister Norgrant & Sister Ale

Elder Carter & Sister Masi

Following a wonderful day of meetings, all eight of us missionaries met for dinner at our apartment and heard the good news:  a new sister would be joining us immediately!  Sister Masiasomua and Sister Norgrant met Sister Ale at the airport at 7:55 P.M. and brought her home to our apartment to meet us and the elders.  They will be a threesome until next month when another sister will join us.  We are so happy to welcome her and know she'll be a wonderful addition to our missionary force.  With the addition of two more sisters, we know the work will push forward as never before and that the spirit of the Lord is reaching into the hearts of these humble people and opening their eyes to the need to repent and focus on family.