Nahlap

Jared and his sister, Sierra

Jared has a special technique for snorkeling. First, he doesn't use a snorkel. The entire mask fits over his face, so he has a little air in there to use. When it's gone, he comes up for air. 

Scott and Jane fishing

good friends, good food, good times

If you have just a few minutes, we have an important message to share with you.

Joanne and Josephine are making mashed bananas mixed with fresh shredded coconut. It is really good, especially with fish.

We lost Meshak for a little bit in the smoke! 

Audrey and Maveen are cutting out the coconut meat to grill. 

Sakura! Maveen and Josephine are teaching Tamara and me to play. John and I got lessons the last time we were here from a young man in the congregation. Somehow, he won every hand. We were on to you!!! This time, we had a more level playing field. Tamara wrote down the instructions, complete with photos, so hopefully, we'll remember how to play when we get home. 

We had such a nice time with Samau and Desina. Samau speaks Mortlockese. He took John on a couple of his studies that speak this language. It was a lot of fun to work with some of the early Witnesses on the island.

The little girl, Maya, between Desina and me, lives at one of Samau's study's homes and the other two, Junisa and Marisa live at another of his study's homes. Maya came out on the road and we started to visit with her, then her cousins came out and we all started to discuss the Rong Koht (Listen to God) brochure. They have already had their second study. They get a good laugh out of my attempts at Ponapean.  

While Desina and I were waiting in the car, this young man came out of the mangroves. Check his feet.

And that's a machete in his hand.

Pilolo

We met these ladies in service. They're uncovering their stone oven where they made Pilolo. It was made with bananas and sugar and cooked for about an hour.

The other night, Jane and her family had just come from fishing and thought the four of us would like this big guy.

Soumwahu

This was just one of the many studies and interested persons we visited with Joanne and her two girls. On the first study of the day, Joanne invited John to conduct a bit. He was using a little English and a little Ponapean to explain how wonderful Paradise would be....He was saying how good it would be....so (English) mwahu(Good in Ponapean), so mwahu.....but soumwahu in Ponapean means 'sick', so everyone got a good laugh thinking how sick it will be in Paradise. 

Serepein akan

First day in service with the girls

Tamara and Magdalena head off into the jungle to find a study... 

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Lunchtime fun 

First door  

You should've seen the householder's face! 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't THAT bad!

Kasalehlie Maing!

1:00am arrival! Thrilled to be back in Pohnpei!

The rock this little crab is carrying around is about the size of a golf ball.

Our Teachers

We are working on learning Ponapean again. Students that we had in the recent past have all resumed their studies along with new ones. We are so happy to be together. They are eager for us to be able to speak their language fluently. All have been teaching us whatever they can and correcting our appalling pronunciation! 

Our favorite teachers posed for this photo tonight. They fire word after word at us, expect us to repeat it, correct us till we get it close to correct and then help us use it in a sentence. We think it is pure entertainment for them since we are all laughing at our attempts. They even praise us when we say things correctly. We love it so much.

These kids are from three families. All of the families are studying the Bible. Aren't they beautiful?

Protection

This photo was taken outside of the nursery at the hospital. Rosary beads are used here as protection from bad spirits. Pregnant women will be given them to wear to protect her and her unborn child. After the child is born, beads are kept next to the baby to protect it. The three sets of beads on the door to the nursery are for three different newborns.

State Bird

Yes, this is a chicken on our steps. No, we don't live in the country, jungle or any other place you might expect to see roaming chickens. Chickens roam the island freely and crow all night long, every night. This guy has become very brave and is now approaching our second floor landing. Soon, he'll probably be camped outside of our window so we can have our own personal crowing session. Or we could catch  him for dinner....hmmm