Majuro

This past week has be uh-may-ZING!!! The island of Majuro Is so beautiful! With crazy sunsets like Guam, and gorgeous beaches every where you look, Majuro has been completely breath taking. I'll post a Picasa album of just Majuro scenery so you all can see how nice it is.
While it is physically beautiful, it is very beautiful spiritually as well. The congregation is sooo warm! ( I know I say this every time but that's because it's always true! Haha) The local brothers and sisters are very welcoming to visitors, and they love to see new faces. Oh man and the kids are so cute!!! Every one of them is adorable, as you be able to see in the pictures.
Field service is very interesting here, and it's something I've never experienced before. First of all when walking through territory you walk in between houses and yards and garages, and no one minds. A brother was telling me that all the locals have respect for the bible, so just about everyone will talk to you, and for a long time if you want to. Even if they are busy doing things like cleaning the house or washing clothes, when they see you're religious and are talking about the bible, they stop what they are doing and listen-no questions asked. It's really amazing.
The living conditions of the locals can be pretty rough compared to back home. Their houses have no furniture and they sit and sleep on the tile floors. The kids roams around the streets freely, and so do dogs and pigs. It's really scary to drive here because dogs and even toddlers pop onto the street out of nowhere and it's so hard to avoid hitting them. Fortunately we've avoided them so far.
The brother and sister that we stayed with are so nice! Their names are Regan and Lynn Scott (no relation to Michael Scott haha) They made us feel so comfortable and were so willing to provide whatever we needed whenever we needed it. I really really appreciate what they did for us.
Another highlight of the week was being able to hang out with the construction crews that are staying here. The two groups are working on two different kingdom halls on two opposite ends of the island. Hanging with these guys was a lot of fun! I give it up to those guys, who are working all day in the super hot sun, building kingdom halls. Humongous props!

I'm really sad to be leaving this island, cuz I made some great friends, and I know possibly I may never see them again in this system... But you gotta do what you gotta do right?! :( Haha

So now we're off to the next island- Ebeye. Hopefully I'll have Internet there, but you never know when you traveling through third world countries. So untill next post, par yakweh!

Made it!

So last night we landed on the island of Majuro. We were warmly greeted at the airport by about 20 brothers and sisters:) Its beautiful here. Seriously it's stinkin gorgeous! We're staying with a brother and sister who live in an ideal spot as far as scenery is concerned. On one side you can see the ocean, and if you turn around, there's the ocean!!! Surrounded my so many palm and coconut trees, it's feels like I'm staying in paradise. I'm sure I'll have many stories to tell after this week, and we have Internet here so I can! :)
Below you'll see a pic of my room and the beautiful scenery that's literally feet away from the house.

Machanao congregation

This week we joined the largest congregation that I've been to so far here in Guam. They meet in a huge kingdom hall, and on Sunday it was full! The Chuukese group is part of their congregation too, which is really nice. It's great to see so many people smiling and kind, even with a packed house and the partial language barrier.

The ministry has been great! This past saturday was one of my best days out in field here in Guam. Here are a couple things that happened :

The first door that I went to had about seven loose dogs coming from the garage (loose dogs are very common in Guam). The brother and I decided to approach the house, but just be calm and cautious because of the dogs. As we went up a young boy came out from the back yard and we began to talk to him. Although at first he claimed to not be interested, we continued to talk and get to know him a little better. After a little while it was evident to me that he actually was interested in spiritual things, especially after we read John 17:3 to him. We went into the bible teach book and demonstrated a study right there in his yard. He accepted a study and a brother will take over in a few days :)

Then later on in the territory we saw a church nearby. It had a big field infront of it with about 16 crosses that were about 15 feet tall, all aligned in a circle. There were also big tablets with the ten commandments on them (but they conveniently took out the commandment about idolatry haha)
It looked very intimidating but a brother and I decided to try and go talk to whoever was there. We met a man who invited us to sit down on the patio, and he went and called another man that was there to join us. It was really nice! They allowed us to read them scriptures and share with them anything we wanted! They were actually visiting from Saipan (a neighboring island) spreading those ten commandment tablets to all the churches. I ended the conversation by saying "if u can take anything from this conversation, it's that we're Jehovah's Witnesses and we a preaching about God's kingdom. We also are sharing the name "Jehovah" with as many people as possible. So if you guys want to help us share that name "Jehovah" with others as you go throughout the island, that would be great." and guess what- they agreed! Haha it was awesome!!

Anyways this congregation was very loving and took me in, which I'm realizing is a trade mark, of course
for witnesses around the world, but especially here in Guam.


So next were off to the Marshall islands!! Tomorow morning we leave for Majuro as our first stop. Then we go from there to island hop for five weeks. I'm so excited!!! :D
Im not sure if I will have Internet on these different islands, so my posts
may have to come after the whole trip. But either way stay tuned for some awesome stories and great pictures!

P.S. I am having a great time, but that doesn't mean I don't miss you guys back at home. I miss you all very much! Don't forget that!

Guam Iloko congregation

Naimbag nga bigat! That means "good morning" and that's about all the Iloko I learned this week haha.

Being with the Iloko congregation this past week has been a great experience. Before this I had never joined a foreign language congregation for an entire week (or even an entire day!). I learned a lot about Ilokano culture this past week, even though I've been around Ilocanos my entire life!

Joining them in the ministry was pretty interesting. I wouldn't understand a word they said when speaking at the door, so I would just smile and nod like I knew what was going on haha.
There were many good experiences! Ilocanos like to talk story and are very friendly people, so some good discussions were started (or at least it sounded like it was good haha)
In fact a couple of calls that I joined some brothers on ended up attending their first meeting!

The brothers and sisters in the congregation were very hospitable to Mark, Jackie and I. Although sometimes I couldn't understand them, and they couldn't understand me (especially the older ones) there was always a warm smile and friendly attitude displayed. It's amazing how Jehovah's people can feel a bond even with a language barrier in between them!!

North Guam congregation

This past week Mark, Jackie, and I got to visit the north congregation. At first I was sad to be leaving the south congregation, since I had gotten close to them during the week we visited them. But I was reminded of how awesome Jehovah's people are, no matter where you go.

The brothers and sisters in north were so kind and hospitable to me, and, like the south, made me feel right at home. The congregation has 13 pioneers, and 11 of them are sisters! In one of the pictures below you will see that one day in field, the sisters outnumbered the brothers 20 to 2. They really are a large army!

Field has been very productive this past week. Many studies were started. A brother and I were working territory in an apartment complex and knocked on a door. A lady opened the door and as soon as she saw our smiles she immediately invited us in. We sat down and had a nice conversation with her. We asked her if she would like to have a study and learn about God's wonderful promises for the future. With a big smile she said quietly "yes i would like that." A couple days later she was turned over to a sister and a study was started. I can really see her becoming a sister one day! To me it was a very nice and pretty rare experience, but to the brothers here, it's kind of common to get that.

On another occasion I got to join a brother on a study with a 12 year old boy named Leander. He is from the island of majuro I think and has only been living here for a little while, and hasn't had much education in his life. But he is a very bright kid who likes to study and learn about Jehovah. As you can see in one of the pictures, he even has his brochure studied! He also comes to the meetings and comments, even though he has a hard time with the language I really love this boy and hope to see him one day as a mature, spiritual brother.

So that was my experience this past week with the north congregation. Now we leave :( but it's ok, because all worshippers of Jehovah are great friends!!

Sunsets

Since I've been here in Guam, every day has had BEAUTIFUL sunsets. For some reason the sky here is breath taking. Also on the south side of the island, the coast has an outside reef which causes the water on the shore to be completely still (since breezes are scarce during this time of the year), reflecting the shine of the sunset. Below are a few of the gorgeous sunsets and skies I've seen so far.