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"

Skimming

Beach

The other day we went to the beach to go skim boarding. We ended up making a dumb video too haha. IT was a lot of fun and it ended with an another amazing sunset.

Joining the North!

I'm Back!

So as I last posted, I'm back in Guam. Things have kind of settled down, and for a little while the craziness has subsided haha. A couple weeks ago I moved in with a brother and began to attend the North Guam congregation. I had visited this congregation my second week here with Mark and Jackie, so it was so good to see all the familiar faces. They warmly welcomed me into their congregation, and I was very happy to do so.

Now that I'm stationed in one congregation, I feel like I'm able to do more when it comes to cultivating interest. Being in a different congregation every week is amazing and you learn so much, but you're not really able to develope calls or bible studies. So joining this congregation has been a great blessing for me, not only because it's a great congregation, but also because I feel more helpful in the territory and congregation.



The kids I study with and their mom

So far I am having a great time here in the North. Field service has been great! I have been able to make some calls on people I've met in the territory, and many of the sisters are helping me out by turning over their male calls and studies to me. One sister brought me to study with her study's son. When I got there I realized that her study had 5 children. When I began the study with the oldest son, all of the other children came to join us. So now I'll be studying with all 5 children at once! haha. It's really cool. They're all really good kids.

I've also been having a great time with all of the friends here, going to the beach, movies, mall, BBQ's and other fun things. They all are fun to be around, and I'm laughing all the time haha.

As you may have heard I decided to extend my stay here in Micronesia. My return flight was supposed to be July 27th. I've decided to stay here a few months longer, untill the end of October. To all the friends back home I miss you all so much, and I look forward to coming home and seeing you all when I get back. But for now I want to do as much as I can and enjoy serving where the need is greater :)

North Territory

So now as I join the North, another chapter of this adventure begins. I'm excited to be here and help out in any way possible. I'm looking forward to being with the friends here and enjoying their association in the field.



crazy eyes haha



Dinner for Jonwin who's moving to Hawaii Friday :(









Parting

So Mark, Jackie, Troy and I returned to Guam early monday morning- safe but beat! We spent the whole day resting and relaxing. Something I don't remember doing for the last 2 months haha. Tuesday would be my last day living with the Hendrik's. From then on I would be living with a brother and attending the North Guam congregation.

   I'm sure Mark amd Jackie were getting tired of me (it was apparent by the garbage bag size bags under their eyes haha jk)But it was actually a sad parting. It really wasn't a big deal, since I know I will be seeing them around a lot, but I got so close to them the past couple months while living and traveling with them. I'm also going to miss rooming with Troy, from whom I've come to learn so much and also developed a close bond. It was such a great privilege to get the chance to join them in their travels. I feel so indebted to them for taking care of me, encouraging me, and putting up with me. I'm absolutely sure my trip would not have been as great if it wasn't for their great association and up-building conversations. These three amazing people really impacted my life, for which I am truly grateful.

Something wrong

So I'm not sure why, but all my pictures on my blog are gone. I've tried to repost them, but it doesn't allow me to :( Its been really frustrating, and I've wasted the past few hours on it haha. So for now I won't have any pictures to go with my posts, but you can check out the pictures in Picasa gallery. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it soon.

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 :)

Pohnpei

So this past week Mark, Jackie, Troy and I were on the island of Pohnpei for the two day circuit assembly and pioneer session. It was beautiful. The island, the people, the session, the assembly- all of it.

So here's some info about the island. It's the largest and most populated island of the FSM (federal states of Micronesia). 129 square miles and about 35,000 people. It is also a very rainy island. It's actually one of the wettest places in the world, with areas that get up to 300 inches of rain a year. With rain like that you know that it's a very luscious and green island. There are many mountains and vistas, it's really gorgeous. Ofcourse with rain like that though, comes mud. Mud+ field service= greeeaaatt (sarcasm if you couldn't tell :D )

Field service in Pohnpei is like hiking. Seriously. The territory I did on Thursday was like going up Heart Attack Hill during the flood in Noah's day. Haha ok maybe it's not THAT bad, but it's still pretty intense, and nothing like I've ever experienced. We would walk up and down hills, through mud and puddles, through bushes and weeds, through just about everything. It was great! I have to wash all my pants and shoes cuz of all the mud, but it was a lot of fun. And it's totally worth it cuz all the people are really nice. At one door a brother and I approached, the people living there saw us from a distance. By the time we got to the porch (and before we even said a word) the man had set up chairs for us and himself, and told us to sit down. I was very surprised, but the brother told me that's common here haha. A good discussion followed (as they always do in the islands) and he took literature :)

The Pioneer Session and Circuit Assembly were awesome. There are a lot of brothers and sisters from the states and other places where Pohnpeian is not their first language. In fact of the 19 at the pioneer session, only two were locals. Yet the entire session (other than Mark and Troys parts) was in Pohnpeian. It was amazing to see how much work is devoted for the benefit of just those two pioneer sisters. During the circuit assembly there was one baptismal candidate. She got baptized in a small water container right next to the Kingdom Hall. It was very touching as she and her study conductor were crying together as the hugged after the baptism.

The demonstrations during the pioneer session wee amazing! All the people here in the islands, including the young ones, are great actors! The play their roles so perfectly and to the tee. I'm amazed each time.

Monday some of the friends took me on an adventure. When I say adventure, I mean adventure haha. First we went to one side of the island to swim at a waterfall. It was gorgeous. Then we drove some more to a place where we rode a boat with the king of the island to a small island off the coast where "the Ruins" are. According to some lists it's one of the few wonders of the world, because of the large boulders stacked on top of each other. Next we drove all the way from one side of the island to the other to catch a boat to Nalop, a small island where you can swim and play volleyball and BBQ. It's was so much fun!! And there was an unbelievably gorgeous sunset!!! It was a great day :)

At the airport a bunch of the friends came to see us off. You can see our picture at the airport. The brothers and sisters in Pohnpei were so funny and great to be with, and they know how to laugh and have a good time!!

The group seeing us off at the Airpotrt