Palau may be a small country, but the people here have giant
hearts that endear them to us forever.
We are grateful for our branch family and all they do to teach their
families the way to happiness. As we
visit in their homes, we sense their desire to do good.
 |
| One of three Chinese ships that stopped by Palau |
Elder Dopp’s antibiotics kicked in and he’s back to
100%. Sister Ale’s cold is almost gone
too. Neither have wanted to slow down
the work.
Jorang, one of our recent converts, passed away on Monday
morning. She had been in and out of the
hospital over the last couple of months, but we were shocked at the news. Her family has felt a great degree of comfort
knowing about the Plan of Salvation and that she made the decision to be
baptized not long ago. We’re grateful
for their example of faith and determination to do good.
Tuesday morning the elders happily wielded machetes to trim
greenery around the church sign plus cleaned it so it was a little more visible
from the road. The sisters helped weed
at the church and did general maintenance while the elders enjoyed cutting down
a bunch of trees and bushes.
 |
| Elder Malais trimming a tree |
 |
| Sister Talakai & Sister Purcell pulling weeds |
 |
| Elder Fullmer cleaning the sign |
 |
| Sister Purcell & Sister Talakai |
 |
| Elder Malais & Elder Fullmer hauling limbs |
 |
| A good-looking crew |
 |
| A little basketball before service |
Some of our Filipino members work in Palau and send money
home to their families. One of them,
Erwin, is a single man just recently baptized. He’s now working quite a
distance from Koror and unable to make it to meetings as often as he would like
or his piano lessons held during the week, so we visited him on his
worksite. He was so pleased that we
would actually make the trip to see him, but we felt that our little trip was a
blessing to us!
Seminary and Institute are winding down for another
year. How can that be?! When we arrived in Palau we were faced with
seminary/institute graduation and making plans for the next year—and now it’s
over—again! We love our seminary and
institute students, and though they may be few in number, they are powerful in
spirit! We have one seminary student who has 100% attendance. That’s quite a feat anywhere, but that’s
unheard of here, and he and his family are being blessed as a result.
Friday afternoon we enjoyed a fun-filled YSA activity at
Long Island Park. We were supposed to go
swimming, but everyone started playing volleyball, football, and tossing a
Frisbee. From there, the YSA leaders had
planned relay games that had us all laughing and rolling in the sand. We enjoyed plenty of chips, cookies, and
Kool-aid between games and even had several act as spectators for each
activity. We love our college-aged
students and will miss many of them as they return to their islands for the
summer.
Teruo Melus arrived at our apartment Wednesday evening to
work on his missionary papers! He is
such a humble, faithful young man and so ready to serve as a full-time
missionary. He and two others are now
working on their medical and dental check-ups to make sure they’re healthy and
ready for their interviews next month when President Mecham comes to visit.
We began the first class of the missionary
preparation course Sunday evening. We had four attend, including one non-member! It went well and they're excited for the next 14 weeks.
We are grateful for the letters and packages we receive from
our family at home. They are visual
reminders of their love and support. We
miss them, but are grateful for these few months we have to serve the people of
Palau. We love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment