Weekend Fun!

Who went to the meeting Sunday morning with our congregation? Marjean, Ertina, and Marbelta (the three girls in the middle). They participated in the Watchtower study and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Who went to the meeting Sunday afternoon with the Chuukese group? Everyone in this photo. Yep! The girls went to two meetings in one day! Eren (on the left) is Ertina's mom and Tetfina (on the right) is Marbelta, Marjean, George and Ednes' mom)

The girls participated in the Watchtower study after their moms helped them translate their English comments into Chuukese.

Eren has studied on and off since 2006 with large gaps between on and off. Now, she is enjoying studying in the Bible Teach book in Chuukese. She studies every Monday and is in chapter two. While I was at her home to study with Ertina, Eren told Ertina that it is very important for her to study with me since they are going to be Jehovah's Witnesses!

Eren and Tetfina are promise sisters. Promise sisters are two girls or women who are close friends that promise to be each other's sister. They are encouraging one another spiritually.

This is a glimpse into this Saturday's Watchtower study with the girls. This Saturday, we had all kinds of help! To practice their comments, they love to have Veronica pretend like she is the Watchtower study conductor, ask the questions and then call on who has their hand up. It's great fun and it really helps them be more fluent on Sunday.



Tetfi's Kids

Lovely Ladies

Bernice(10), Jaylinda(12), Ertina(8), Analeen(11), Pesalyn(7)

This picture was taken after the meeting on Sunday. Only Analeen and Pesalyn are sisters. Ertina lives next door to them on the weekends. Jaylinda, Analeen and Bernice go to the same school. Bernice's grandmother was a Witness until her death. Now, she and her mother study with a sister in our congregation. This Sunday was Analeen and Pesalyn's first meeting. Analeen commented. At the end of the Watchtower study, Ertina and Jaylinda told me that it had been fun.

On this day, the girls wanted to discuss why Jehovah's name isn't in all Bibles and where it came from. After the meeting, we went to the library at the Kingdom Hall to check Psalm 83:18 in a variety of Bibles and then see if there would be an explanation in the Bibles that only use LORD. They were quite satisfied with the answer given.

Analeen and Pesalyn haven't had a personal study yet, but we've been impressed by the knowledge that Analeen has of the Bible. She told us that last year, she found a Bible Story book and read the whole thing. This summer, the girls are going to read the Greatest Man book. They were so excited to get their copy. Pesalyn is seven, so she's going to read the Bible Story book. When we went to eat, they all decided to bring their books in so that they could look at them together.

We are enjoying getting to know these wonderful girls who have a spiritual hunger and a silliness that  makes for a great time together.

Saturday's Watchtower Study Group

Three weeks ago, we started having a study of the Watchtower with a few girls that we study with so that they could understand, enjoy and participate in the Sunday meeting. It's been a different group each week. This Saturday, this is who showed up! Only four of the girls have had a personal study. One of them just started last week. Seven of the kids live in a apartment building directly behind our apartment, so the boys hopped the fence and came to study the Watchtower with us. Two of them, we'd never met before they knocked at the door. Their ages range from 7-14. We start off by practicing the first song, then say a much needed prayer, study the Watchtower trying to make sure they understand the meaning, choose paragraphs they may want to comment on and help them use their own words, practice the last song and say a prayer of thanks. This takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It has made the meeting on Sunday a joy for those that attend and participate. For those that have come by to check out what we're doing, it has opened the door to the possibility of having their own study. We treasure this special time on Saturday afternoons.

Air-Con and Song

As most of you know, it's pretty warm here in Guam. When we go to Wilson's place, we are usually joined by Zak and Josh. They've made friends with Jeremiah and are always happy to see him.  If they can catch us before we get out of the car, they spend a little time in the air conditioning (aircon in Guamanian) listening to Kingdom songs, fooling around with the camera and getting hugs.

Kenny was hoping to get in on the fun too!

Our Little Girl

Ertina has recently become a happy addition to our lives. About a month ago, we received a call from a friend of ours that belongs to a foreign language group. She said she'd been talking to a very bright girl that doesn't speak the language of her family, but loves the Bible. She lives right behind our apartment, so we went right over to see her. She was thrilled that we came.

Ertina lives at two homes--one of her mother and the other of her adopted mother. This is not so uncommon. When we went to the home that she lives in during the week, we met her mother and found out that she studies with a sister in a foreign language group. She was so happy that we would study with her and her daughter together using the English Great Teacher book so that she would know what her daughter is learning.

Not only did Ertina and her mother study, but several others joined us as well. Ertina loves to memorize things, so Psalm 83:18 was her first assignment. Every week, she wants to memorize a new verse.

She has attended the Sundy meeting three times. The first time, she felt it was very long. So seeing how helpful it has been with some of John's students, we began to prepare the Watchtower together on Saturdays. Oh My! The first meeting after that, Jaylinda and Ertina participated a lot! Jaylinda commented first, then Ertina--then they high-fived each other!! We were cracking up!

This photo was taken yesterday after the meeting. See the blue bag she's carrying? When we first met, she was carrying it too. She had a Bible inside (only the New Testament). Now she has the complete Bible and some of her theocratic library inside.

Ertina is eight years old.

Flower Power

The happy designer and her demure model

Joselle, Karen, Jimmy

Coconut Crab

This little fellow was hanging out in the moonlight.  He's about the size of a dinner plate, but will get bigger. Coconut crabs are known for being very strong. They can tear open a coconut.

Brotherly Love

Jeremiah, Ithan, Jimmy

Echo, Echo.....

Sam is such a delight. When he has a day off from school, he makes arrangements with John to go in service together. He and his brothers will be with us three days a week this summer. We asked what he'd like to do for some fun. Sam says he just wants to go in service.  

Haute Couture

While we were visiting her mom, Jonette was zipping around the house in this top that she made all by herself. 

She happily modeled it for us--giggling the whole time. 

It is quite versatile. Here, it doubles as a turtle costume.