Independence Day

Palauan dancers and warriors

Start of the parade

Palau High School students hefting a Japanese pagoda

We celebrated the 19^th Palauan Independence Day on October 1st as we attended the parade, displays and booths, boat races, and fireworks.  Though we didn’t get to sit with the dignitaries of other nations (many South Pacific countries and Japan), we probably had more fun and talked with just as many people as they did.  The younger missionaries were able to change their preparation day so that they could attend some of the events after our piano lessons and all their other responsibilities were completed.  The weather cooperated by cooling off a couple of degrees, the tropical breezes kept the air moving, and it gently sprinkled a few times to remind us it’s still the rainy season.

Sister Carter enjoying the boat races

Elder Carter at beginning of parade route

Power boat race

Warriors

Native canoe

Japanese aviation students in parade

KB Bridge--site of booths and displays

Our weeks share common threads of searching for members, encouraging the less active, preparing and teaching lessons, volunteering in the community, and supporting our local Church leaders.  Maybe we’ll share a little different information this week to give you a more scenic picture of serving as a missionary on Palau.

When we first arrived on the island and tried to locate the chapel, we were a bit stymied with the lack of street addresses.  We finally found a small sign with the Church’s name on it, turned onto the narrow side street and expected to see an easily recognizable building, but after driving to the end of the speed-bump laden lane, we finally found it across the driveways of three other homes.  Behind a locked gate, we found three buildings and a small parking area graced with a basketball standard and plenty of potted plants.  The chapel holds about 100 people (standing room only lately) and is attached to a small Relief Society room, clerk’s office, library, and branch president’s office.  In the adjacent building, are rooms for Primary, Young Men, and Young Women.  The bathrooms are in another building attached to the shed, which houses all of the equipment to keep the yards and building looking good.  Behind all of the buildings is the covered baptismal font next to a garden area which is flanked by jungle and plenty of banana trees.

Sister Carter standing next to refurbished sign
(This is for you Eli.)

The buildings may not be the most beautiful in the world, but the people are!  They are so welcoming and warm that we fell in love with them immediately.  Elder Carter always sits on the stand (eight inches high) while Sister Carter usually occupies the piano bench or the front row.  She has often commented about the number of ants and spiders that crawl across the hymn book as she’s accompanying a song, but they don’t seem to mar the beauty of the music.  We’ve gotten used to them—and they don’t eat much anyway!

We are not the only ones who have fallen in love with the people here.  Larry Gilson, a U.S. contractor working on Palau, was recently joined by his wife Barbara.  Their daughter-in-law’s YW collected an amazing array of supplies and we received all the boxes and boxes and boxes they mailed this week and are so grateful for their love and support of their fellow Saints here.  Now our Young Women will be able to separate and prepare all the supplies to donate to the hospital and schools in the area.  The Gospel in action is a beautiful thing!

Some of our Young Women and their leaders

Another beautiful thing is watching people change their lives as they hear the Gospel message, repent, and are baptized.  We attended the baptism of Opkal Ngiracheluolw  and Diceman Mikel Saturday night as well as the marriage of Opkal and Daichingo Singeru.   What a spiritual feast!  Diceman has been faithfully attending Seminary and is now the only member in his family (so far).  Opkal, after learning about the Church for quite some time, finally decided to be baptized and join her husband who has been a member for years.

Opkal, her family, Sister Norgrant, & Sister Purcell

Elder Murdoch, Diceman, Elder Dopp

Diceman and Sister Carter

Just a side note for you choir directors out there…Sister Carter directs our choir which consists of eight younger missionaries and a few locals.  They may not enjoy perfect pitch or even understand what pitch is, but they sing with enthusiasm and try to follow her instructions from the piano bench.  Last Sunday they sang the hymn “Press Forward Saints”, and though it was not Tabernacle Choir quality, it was heartfelt and a good effort.  As we began Seminary Wednesday evening, Diceman suggested we sing “Press Forward Saints” because it was now his favorite song after hearing our choir.  We sang it again at his baptism.  Though our choir is small and may be lacking in musicality, their spirits spoke to Diceman and his spirit responded with faith followed by baptism.  Our hearts are full of thanksgiving for our dedicated choir and the spirit they invite each time they perform.

We enjoy so many miracles every day in Palau and are grateful for the love we feel from our family and friends.  We rejoice when we hear of mission plans of others and know how needed you are to spread the joy of the Restored Gospel to the whole world.  We love the Gospel and are grateful every moment for this opportunity to share it with our Palauan brothers and sisters.

Right place, right time

Every once in a while we meet a visitor to our island that asks,  “What good thing did you do so you could be called to Palau?”  We ask ourselves the same thing because we feel so blessed to serve in this beautiful area among kind-hearted people.

Sister Carter & Josie Lynn (Maylyne Obak's mother)

This week was the first official reporting of home and visiting teaching for the Palau Branch, and though we’re carrying forth this program a little differently, still the members did a good job caring for one another and making sure individual needs were met.  We’re grateful for the members catching the vision of what home and visiting teaching can do for and with members.  We feel a spirit of ownership among the members far different from the idea that the leaders can do everything and that they will participate when it’s convenient.

Palau High School students in a very HOT classroom--no air conditioning!

Sister Carter continues teaching piano lessons and each student is progressing well enough to play in various church meetings.  What a blessing it will be when the members can provide music for each meeting with occasional assistance from the missionaries! 

Though Elder Carter suffered three days with a head cold, he worked hard to bring the branch membership records up-to-date and include detailed addresses of each member.  He attended every meeting, completed each assignment , and did it all with a smile on his face when he didn’t feel much like smiling.  He was able to teach with one set of elders and gather information about members while working with another set on a “fact-finding” tour of Airai.

Hiding new toys in the corner.

Our friend, Sister Barbara Gilson, returned to Palau this week with a wonderful surprise.  Her daughter-in-law's Young Women in Draper, Utah completed a service project of gathering school, humanitarian, Primary, and Young Women supplies for our branch!  Our Young Women will package and donate the supplies to worthy causes here.  Barbara brought two giant loads with her and the rest have been shipped and should arrive this week.  Some of the Primary supplies included new toys for the nursery.  One of our two-year-olds took ownership of some toys and refused to leave nursery.  Oh, the joy of something new!

It should work!

How do you read Chinese?

Our remotes match!

A few things tried to jump in our way, including a broken air conditioner, but we were blessed when our landlord installed a brand new one.  It blows cold air and doesn’t even make noise!  We have retired the mop we used to “gently” persuade our old A/C to stop rattling.  We celebrated with a date night at a local restaurant.  The food was good, the view lovely, and the company outstanding!

Elder Carter ready for a night out

Sister Carter at the Rose Garden Restaurant

Enjoying the view

View from the restaurant

Our trek to Babeldaob this week, though hurried, was productive as we visited with almost every member on that island.  The weather was a little stormy and since it was the week-end before Independence Day, not many customs were held (funerals, baby showers, house warmings, etc.) and most people were home enjoying cooler temperatures (in the high 70’s).

The baptism this week was a triple blessing as three people joined the Church.  Pasqual Ngwal, Idu Singeru, and Chelsea Raph were all baptized on Saturday evening with the generous and loving support of many branch members in attendance.  We were able to attend for the opening song and prayer but left immediately after to attend a dinner honoring a visiting American authority, Judge Clifford Wallace from San Diego, California.  We had no idea what a blessing this would be!

Elder Dopp & Chelsea

Elder Dopp, Chelsea, Elder Murdoch

Pasqual & John Thing

Idu, Pasqual, Chelsea

Judge Wallace is a distinguished member of the Court of Appeals first appointed by the President of the United States in 1972.  The Chief Judge of the Palau Supreme Court invited Judge Wallace to conduct training among the judges here, and Judge Wallace happily agreed as he has visited and worked in Palau numerous times.  We expected to meet him at a banquet hall filled with people to mark this occasion but were surprised to find that the dinner party included the chief judge, Judge Wallace, another Palauan judge, and us.  We had an incredible time learning about each of these three and their responsibilities over the past several years and could easily see the depth of respect and friendship between the two chief judges. A note of thanks to our friend Eli McCann whose fine work ethic at the Palau courts brought us fame by association. Thanks again, Eli!

Sister Carter, Judge Clifford Wallace, Elder Carter

Back row:  Elders Dopp, Murdoch, Malais, Fullmer, Carter, Wallace
Front row:  Sisters Norgrant, Masiasomua, Carter, Ale, Purcell

Judge Wallace is known as Brother Wallace too.  He has served in numerous callings and continues to make friends for the Church as he travels throughout the world on assignment from the Brethren.  As we enjoyed Sunday dinner together, he shared gospel insights with us and the eight younger missionaries serving here.  During and after his visit, we all felt lifted and filled with the knowledge that the Savior directs His Church and that we have a living Prophet, President Monson, who is the mouthpiece of the Lord and the one with authority to direct the Kingdom of God on the earth.

We are grateful to be included in this work of gathering Saints, and we so appreciate your letters, emails, packages, and prayers that lift and inspire us every day.  Thank you!  We love you!

Love our zone!

As we wake up every morning and remember we’re on a tiny tropical island serving as missionaries, we are overcome with gratitude that Heavenly Father has blessed us so abundantly and knows exactly where we are needed.  But just as every other blessing, just at the moment we feel we are contributing greatly, our blessings overflow and we are even more indebted to the Lord.

We love our zone!

This week has been one of great spiritual outpourings and plenty of fun sandwiched between.  Teaching four of our missionaries piano has been a humbling experience since they have no time to practice but are working as diligently as possible so that they can contribute to the music in our branch.  All of them will help accompany the children’s Sacrament Meeting presentation in November.

Monday evening our good friend (and relative) Clair Hall spent some time with us, and we all enjoyed talking about the scriptures and what they mean to us.  The gospel brings us together in so many ways.

Community cleanup

Our zone at community cleanup

Elders glad the cleanup is over

Catching a ride

Elder Fullmer & Elder Murdoch crammed into a car

Sisters after the community cleanup

Sister Carter continues her volunteer efforts at Palau High School.  She gave each student a speaking assignment while the class takes notes.  They are halfway through, and it seems that each class member, including the teacher, is learning a lot about each other and the English language.  It will be even more interesting when they have a review activity to see how much they truly understood from each presentation.

Teaching Seminary is a weekly highlight, and though we may not see as many of our youth there as we would like, those that do come are trying hard to read and understand the Book of Mormon and its messages for our day.  They face a multitude of challenges and need the strength of the gospel to aid them in their “wanderings in the wilderness.”  We love each one of them.

Institute on Thursday evenings seems to have found its own rhythm.  Sister Angie, who teaches each week, loves her calling and it shows.  We had our first Young Single Adult activity on Friday evening at President Kesolei’s home where we all built our own burritos.  After eating way too much food, we got to know one another better as we played games and laughed at the crazy antics during charades.

M & M game

Young single adults having fun

Ready for games

Ready to start

Elder Carter giving instructions

Charades

Looking for a winner

Hot air?

Getting to know each other

Good charade clues

Elder Murdoch getting into the fun

John Thing:  master at charades

Tough game

Candy = Fun

Joanny Kesolei serving ice candy.  Delicious!

This entire week we looked forward to the baptism of Teruo Melus on Saturday night, and we were not disappointed!  It was one of the most spiritual baptisms we’ve ever attended, and we were grateful to feel the powerful influence of the Spirit.  At Teruo’s request, our four elders (Elders Fullmer, Malais, Dopp, & Murdoch) sang “When I Am Baptized” and accompanied themselves on two guitars.  They worked hard to prepare, and we believe this is the first of many more vocal experiences.

Sister Purcell, Teruo Melus, Sister Norgrant

Pres. Kesolei, Jori Lynn, Teruo, Joel

Happy faces at Teruo's baptism

Listening to themselves

Elders Dopp, Murdoch, Malais, Fullmer practicing

Though Sundays are busy with church meetings, music rehearsals, and feeding the missionaries, still this day set apart from all others gives us rest and energy to begin a new week of missionary work.  Sister Purcell and Sister Ale spoke about reverence during Sacrament Meeting and Melody Lee, a recent convert, sang “I Come to Him”.  We enjoyed a beautiful spiritual experience together.  Elder Carter substituted in the youth Sunday School class.  Elders Dopp and Murdoch also attended and reported that a great spirit confirmed what he was teaching.

Sister Masiasomua, Melody Lee, Elder Dopp

The work of inviting souls to Christ is going strong in Palau, and we’re grateful to make any contribution we can each day.  We are grateful to each of you who pray for our welfare and success, and want you to know we feel the power of your faith as we go about our daily labors.  We love you!

Congratulations to our friends Seth & Kirsten who were sealed in the temple this week!

Tiny, but tasty finger-sized bananas

Now that you're gone Eli, they're redoing the supreme court building.