Palau

For the past two weeks I had the priveledge of going to the beautiful island of Palau for the Circuit Assembly and then the C. O. visit the following week.  After coming back to Guam from my 5 week island hopping journey, I was unsure if I would be able to go to this island. But fortunately accomedations were made for me, and I’m so super grateful for that.

First let me tell you a little bit about the island. The first thing I saw at the airport was a huge poster that said; “Palau, the World’s First Shark Sanctuary!”, which basically means;  “There’s a lot of Sharks!” haha. Fortunately I didn’t run into any during my stay. Palau is known  for it’s amazing diving sights, and is considered the best diving location in the world. I haven’t  been around the world, but I can confirm that the diving spots I went to were absolutely gorgeous- the best I've ever been to for sure.

Palau consists of many small islands, in which the main islands are connected by bridge. The total island mass is about 458 square miles and the total population is about 20,000 people. It is a melting pot of so many nationalities and languages including Palauan (ofcourse), Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and even Bangledesh, just to name a few. In fact a brother told me that while doing one territroy, the group placed magazines in 10 different languages in one morning! With so many different languages there, it makes the preaching very interesting, and quite difficult.

The Palauan congregation is about 80 publishers large, and about 25 of them are part of the English group. They are such a friendly and loving congregation! They made me feel at home and always made sure I was well taken care of.



There was a lot of support in the ministry every day, even on days where there was pouring rain. I had fun in field with the friends. People in Palau are really nice and like to talk about the bible.  Most of them speak English too, so that made it a little easier for me to be more productive in the ministry.

As I mentioned in the outset, during the first week of my stay we had the Circuit Assembly. That was great! So many good talks and demonstrations. Even though I had seen the program 6 times before, I felt like I still got a lot out of the Assembly. 

The day after the Assembly-Monday- A group of the friends and I went to the Rock Islands and Jellyfish Lake. That was a day I will never forget!!! The scenery as we rode the boat through the Rock Islands was beautiful. The water was crystal clear, and the corals and fish were brilliant in color. This was the first time I swam in the ocean with literally HUNDREDS of fish surrounding me, and eating food right out of my hand! It was EPIC. After that we went over to Jellyfish Lake for more Epicness. When I jumped in the lake to swim towards the middle, I saw a jellyfish and I thought that was pretty awesome. Then as I swam a little more I saw a group of about 10 jellyfish. I got really excited and began taking pictures in amazement. Little did I know that once I got to the middle, I would be surrounded by more jellyfish then I could count! You know that part in “Finding Nemo” when Dory and Marlin are in that jellyfish school and see jellyfish all around them? Hehe. Well this is exactly what that was like, except these jellyfish don’t sting.  It seriously was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in the water. It was SICK!!

When visiting the other islannds, I had only stayed one week each for Circuit Assemblies. In Palau though I got to stay another week since Troy did the circuit visit. It was cool to see Troy doing his visit, since before this I had only joined Mark on his visits. Now I got to see how another brother would develop the outlines, conduct the meeting for service, and basically what approach he would take in visiting a congregation. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences. They both are great and help and encourage the congregations so much. In Palau I could tell that the friends really appreciated Troy’s visit.

As an end to my island hopping  journey approaches, I couldn’t have thought of a better place to finish. The lushous island was amazingly beautiful, but the beauty of the congregation far exceeded that. Once again, it was hard for me to leave and say goodbye to all the friends I made in Palau. So instead of saying goodbye, I’ll say see you later-or “Mau riul"