Pioneer School

Danny and Natalie were our BSCC classmates and we got to be classmates again this week! 

Michelle, our CO's wife, was one of our classmates 

We were all in class together six years ago! 

Mama Lulu was the most mature pioneer of the class. 

These lovely sisters made her week more special! 

Hide, one of our Bethelites attended, along with Brandon, the youngest in the class

Special full-time service looks great on young people!

In this group: A missionary and subCO (and one of our instructors), 4 members of the construction crew and a special pioneer that just completed SKE 

Dawnee, a recent, lively transplant, and Lucinda, a pioneer mom in Saipan, who just went through the recent typhoon. We were so encouraged by her presence! 

Harry and Kihomy pioneer on a boat in the Marshall Islands with their two lovely daughters 

Tom and Sue, recent graduates of SKE 

Avery and Jean, long time missionaries 

 Brothers in the class (minus two) 

What a most wonderful week! 

We Haven't Dropped Off the Edge of the Earth!

Well, it's been a such a long time since we posted, so here's the short version of the last few months...we were so happy to visit our family after going to the international convention in Hawaii and seeing dear friends there, we moved to a different home, John went to Indonesia for language class training, there was a typhoon here (we're all safe), two new pioneers have joined the Ponapean group (!!!), there is a new SKE class going on right now here in Guam, and we're having a Ponapean Sunday meeting on June 14.

So now we're caught up!

August 31

August was a busy month for us. We had our regional convention on the first weekend. All of the publishers in the Ponapean group were either regular pioneering or auxiliary pioneering during August. Then, for the last week of the month, we enjoyed a fantastic visit from our circuit overseer and his wife. And on the last day of the month, we had a public talk and Watchtower study. We all loved every minute of it!!

JW.org

On Saturday, while John was at a door starting a study (that's the way our territory is!), Billy got in the car with Haruko and me. A brother and sister in an English congregation have been studying with him, but a sister in the Ponapean group has been visiting his mom. Since Billy's family lives in a very rural setting, they have no access to the internet, so we showed him several videos.

We think he liked what he saw! 

This week, his mom is supposed to come to the Kingdom Hall for the first time with us! Billy can hardly believe she said yes. Isn't it beautiful when people can hear the truth in their own language?!

A Few Highlights from this Month

NEW RELEASE!! This month, we received the Family Happiness book in Ponapean. When we brought it to Kathleen, she asked how we knew that she and Kulian had decided to marry after 19 years together? She said they would start reading it together that night!! You will be seeing more of them and their very cute (that's not even a good description of her..we just want to eat her up!) baby girl, LoriAnn. 

Kathleen started studying earlier in the year. Then, a lot of unavoidable circumstances has caused a long break in her studies. Meanwhile, she reads to Kulian every night. You can see the  literature she has in her hand is well worn. Because of this reading together, Kulian wants to study now. We love these two so much! 

Last Monday, Robyn took Gloria to meet a lady that had taken every tract Robyn had all at once. She and her daughter came outside, sat down and wanted to study.  

Linda and Jonsper live with his uncle. We met the uncle first and visited with him a few times. Now, everyone is studying together. We all watched the video together about Jehovah's Witnesses in the Ponapean language. Jonsper's relative is the narrator, so they were pretty excited to see it! Linda used to study in English and attended meetings at the Kingdom Hall in the past. She is happy to be hearing the same things in her language. We're looking forward to having her join us at the meetings soon.

We're meeting others who studied in English in the past and are now thrilled to be learning in their own language. One lady cried when I showed her the Bible Teach book in her language! 

Saturday service with the ladies

And now for some English updates...

During the first Saturday of May, we were focusing on using the Why Study the Bible? video to start Bible studies. Here we see Louise showing the video two times to the same people. 

The young girl on the right, Leena, is a high school student. Kayelani, used the back of the Watchtower for the month to spark her interest. She has since moved her study to the Good News brochure. Kayelani showed Leena how to prepare ahead, which she does each time! 

One Month Later...

July 6

Only one person is missing from the photo. Sorry Kenny!

Seven in the photo are students or children of students.

One student used to study in English. She started her study again last week in Ponapean and has now attended two Sunday meetings. Both of her daughters came with her today.

June 17--First Meeting of Guam Ponapean Group

John conducted the Congregation Bible Study. We're following the same schedule that the Pohnpei congregation is using. This week we began Chapter 4, 'Why Respect Authority' in the God's Love book. We sang Song 12, prayed, studied the lesson, then joined the rest of the congregation for the Theocratic Ministry School and Service Meeting. 

We all participated in the study. As you can see, we're all pretty excited!!

What a fun night--one that none of us will soon forget!

First Saturday of June

First Saturday of the month

Goal--start studies

Goal--accomplished x 7!!

Then we all got together this evening to eat pizza and practice the song for the first meeting June 17. 

And then there was the second meeting for service!

Two language learners together equals very patient householders!

While we were looking for one lady, that we never found, we found a new (to us) family from Pohnpei. They are from Kolonia. To give directions to where they used to live, they started with. "We lived near the Jehovah's Witness church." At one point in the conversation, Sylvia said, "I think it's because of (and pointed to heaven) that you and I are here together. I don't live here. I just came to see my mom." She then told us where she lived and took this month's Watchtower and May's and April's. 

Two weeks ago, while looking for another sister's return visit, we located a student that had moved. At the same door, I noticed another lady. She looked very familiar. I asked if I looked familiar to her. She said that we met each other in Pohnpei. (for about 10 minutes) This is her from a year ago. I had taken photos of her son living here in Guam to her. We also gave her the Great Teacher and Bible Teach books in Ponapean. Now the whole family is here in Guam, including the little one she is pregnant with in this photo. We have studied twice now. This is who Mandy read her first scripture with! 

There was a lady visiting her when we came. She joined the study and told us she'd been to a meeting at the Kingdom Hall before. She made sure we knew where she lived.

And finally, we found Senda. She studied years ago with Mandy's mom, Kym. She told us that she just couldn't believe that Kym was as nice as she seemed. Then, over time, she knew that she was. She's not working now and will be studying next Tuesday. Thanks, Kym!