Chuuk

   The last stop before going back to Guam.

  The Chuuk lagoon contains 11 major islands. The total population of all the islands is about 48,000 people. The most populated island 'Moen' is where the translation home is, and it is also the island that the circuit assembly is held.
  This past week was probably the most eventful of my trip so far-actually of my whole life haha. The first night we slept at the translation office/ missionary home in Moen. Then the next day Troy and I took a motor-boat over to a neighboring island called Tonowas, where there are about 20 publishers. There are no cars, so everyone walks. Many of them
simply live off of the land.

kids from Tonowas

  We stayed with a missionary couple that are stationed there, Danny and Natalie. It was so nice to be able to go there! Wednesday afternoon the meeting was held (they have meetings in the afternoon because walking around at night can be dangerous) and I got to meet all the brothers and sisters there. Many of them don't know how to speak any English, so communicating with them was hard. But through smiles and laughter we were able to show brotherly love.
  It was nice to play with the kids that lived next to the missionary home, even though we couldn't really talk to each other. I had a lot of fun with them. When we got there some of them made us food, and the girls even prepared a hula dance for us the night we were there.
The next day Danny, Natalie, Troy, and I headed back over to Moen.
From then on I would be staying on "The Sea Rover"

  From Thursday to Sunday I was a pirate. I had the look, the feel, and even the smell of one haha. A brother from South Africa who owns a sail boat allowed me to stay there with him. It was pretty exciting. I never thought it would be hard to live on a boat, until I tried it.
  The first night I got attacked by Mosquitos-mosquitos that don't seem to care how much bug repellant I put on. My bed kind of resembled a coffin, and the swaying of the boat was constant, which I felt even when not in the boat and on solid ground! Haha. Although there were many hardships to being on a boat, it was an experience I will never forget, and it was a lot of fun! I had a great time with the captain, Anton, who has and will be using the boat to sail to outer islands that have never ever been reached by witnesses. They have had so many great experiences that I'm sure will be coming up in a yearbook one day.

Me and Anton on our way to the Assembly

 
  The Pioneer Session and Circuit Assembly was amazing. For one thing it was the first time I had to catch a motor boat to an assembly!! But the most enjoyable thing to me was getting to know and love the brothers and sisters. It's amazing to see some of these families who travel for about an hour on boat every morning to be at the assembly. And on Sunday morning it was pouring! So they had to travel that whole distance getting soaked by the rain to be at the assembly. And yet there they were, ready and happy to be there. It was so encouraging.
  So in Chuuk there are only 3 islands with witnesses, and the total publishers for all 3 islands is about 40 publishers. But the attendance at the assembly was well over double that, and like I mentioned many of them came on a boat- for an hour- in the rain. In fact it was so packed some had to sit on the floor because all the seats were taken! For me one of the best parts of the assemblies was the singing. It was beautiful. The singing was so loud! They really go all out here in the islands. One of the songs on Sunday might have been the loudest I've ever heard. It was great! My experience in Chuuk was a great way to end this trip.

I can't even explain how amazing these past 5 weeks have been. The scenery was breath taking, the recreation was a lot of fun, but nothing -nothing compares to meeting all the friends. I feel so privileged to have been able to meet all these great brothers and sisters, and create friendships that will last forever. Their loving hospitality and genuine unselfishness is something you can only find in Jehovah's Organization. I will miss each one of them dearly. Although I'm sad this long island hopping journey is over, I'm sure many good things are up ahead. I'm very excited to see what will happen next as I return to Guam :)