Our Monday morning routine included Skype calls with family,
car inspections, and piano lessons, and then we rounded out the afternoon with
three hours of games with our amazing missionaries starting with card games
then moving to Catchphrase, Scattergories, and charades.
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| Car inspections |
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| What am I acting out again? |
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| Not that! |
Elder Carter is still working to get the air conditioning at
the chapel repaired. He spent time with
President Thing, Paul (an electrician), and the power company. They ran a new line to the chapel, and now we
have to test it for 30 days before the facilities management people will order
the replacement parts. We think we’re
still a few weeks away from enjoying AC in church again.
Sports Night was amazing with at least 40 people
attending. Several investigators joined
us for a breezy Tuesday evening of basketball and socializing and plenty of
talk about the Micronesian Games now being held on Pohnpei. Everyone had a good time!
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| Waiting for the ball |
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| Still some natural light |
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| Sisters & investigators |
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| Oirei waiting for her turn to play |
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| Mid-air |
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| A few of the crowd |
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| Waiting for a ride |
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| Teruo & friend |
We’ve learned that part of this mission, and maybe missions
all over the world, includes a lot of baking.
Much of Wednesday and parts of several other days Sister Carter can be
found in our apartment kitchen searching for new recipes, proper ingredients,
and enough pans to handle all the treats.
She baked several dozen cookies which came in handy as she was asked at
the last minute to teach Young Women.
After a quick lesson about how to lead music, the young women enjoyed
fresh-baked coconut oatmeal raisin cookies and plenty of laughter, plus now they
know how to lead hymns in church.
Elder Murdoch conducted a wonderful district meeting on
Thursday afternoon as he taught how to use the Book of Mormon as we invite
investigators to be baptized. The
missionaries role-played these techniques in a sweet, humble way. They are all working diligently to invite all
to come unto Christ.
Our Aaronic Priesthood young men and leaders left for an
overnight camp at Jerry Knight’s beach Thursday afternoon. They had a wonderful time in the water, the
sand, and the cooler temperatures. About
3:00 A.M. they all ran for cover as it started to rain bucketfuls of water for
hours and hours. We’re not sure how much
rain they saw, but we measured 5 ¼ inches in about 12 hours.
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| A few of our young men |
While the young men were gone, the rest of us stayed for the
baptism of Esther Ilt Nemelas Biana Paulis, a cousin of John Jr. Since he and his family were leaving for the
Manila Temple on Friday, we moved the baptism to Thursday night so he could
baptize Esther. The speakers, Diliaur
Ngiraked and Silmai Mad, did a wonderful job talking about baptism and the gift
of the Holy Ghost, and then Esther and Sister Ale and Sister Talakai sang “Did
You Think to Pray?” accompanied by Elder Striplin.
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| Esther |
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| Esther & friends |
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| Sisters singing |
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| Sister Talakai, John Jr., Esther, Sister Ale |
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| John Jr. & Esther |
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| Sister Bevans, Sister Purcell, & investigator |
As soon as the baptism was finished we began Summer Cinema
in the Primary room. We started with a
crowd of 15, and somehow they were able to eat giant bags of popcorn until only
a few salty kernels remained.
This entire week we’ve had plenty of rain, but the true
deluge began Friday evening just as the Palauan night market began at the park
downtown. We weren’t too worried about
that, but we were concerned about the young single adult activity at 7:15 since
a bunch stayed home because of the weather.
Only five joined us at the church for the Micro Mormon Games, but they
had a great time competing and earning their medals for games such as Shuffle
Lid, Tabletop Football, Penny Toss, Ping Pong Bounce, and Water Relay. Ice cream sundaes topped off the evening, and
somehow we all made it home without floating in the rain soaked streets.
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| Practicing |
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| Taking aim |
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| Demonstrating |
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| Ball in the cup, ball in the cup |
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| Two can play this game |
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| We can both do it |
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| Body language |
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| Lots of skill |
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| Lots of luck |
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| Almost |
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| Keeping score |
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| Sister Talakai is a natural |
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| Success! |
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| Sister Ale's turn |
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| Water Relay |
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| Sister Carter gives it a try |
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| Tabletop Football |
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| Harder than it looks |
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| Happy Winners!! |
Sunday morning we were disappointed with poor attendance—only
about 60—in Sacrament Meeting, but the talks about ordinances and covenants
were well-prepared and thought-provoking and the choir sang “How Firm a
Foundation” to add to the spirit of the meeting.
Sunday evening the missionaries met again at our apartment
to enjoy dinner together. They’re always
happy for food, and it’s even more fun when we can share an hour in a relaxed
atmosphere. Afterwards they rush out the
door for appointments and we clean up in time to make it to the church for the
missionary preparation class. We love
Sundays, and we love our missionaries!
We were devastated to hear the news about the death of our
dear friend Terri Lusk in St. George, Utah.
She was hit by a truck while out jogging on Friday morning and succumbed
to her injuries the same day. Our hearts
are broken. We pray that her sweet
husband Ken and six children will rely on their faith in Jesus Christ as they
face the trials that lie ahead and that the Holy Ghost will embrace them with
the power of his comfort.
We are grateful for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and the knowledge that He has a plan for us. That plan gives us direction, hope, strength,
and energy to overcome whatever life throws in our path. We love the Savior. We are most blessed because He has given us
you, our family and friends!
