Same Old, Same Old

Here is a small glimpse into how a day in service goes with us: First, we're in the rainy season, so it can suddenly pour rain and then dry out just as fast. Since it was just starting to rain, Gloria said she would run out of the car and see if our return visit was home. On the way, though, she saw this lady sitting on a table with a Bible in the top of her bag, so, of course, Gloria stopped to talk with her. She showed her the Good New brochure and began to study the first section with her. Then, true to  standard procedure, another lady walks by and joins the conversation. Since they wanted to continue their discussions, they gave general directions to where they live.

So we go to the apartments where the ladies live, but since they didn't know the number of the apartment when we first met them, we had to look for them. These boys, Stanley and SK, were helping us look. We gave them the small tract about Jesus. We saw them later, taking out the trash for their family, tract in hand, then we saw Stanley reading it and couldn't resist a photo.

We did find the ladies and they studied again.   

"Let the little children come to me."

Lisa has studied in the past, but was recently found and began again. She attended the meeting on Sunday with her daughter and granddaughter. During this study, she tried to get her daughter to leave her alone, like she always has done before. Gloria helped her to see how Jesus would've treated her daughter. She said that while she was at the Kingdom Hall, she couldn't understand why we were helping her granddaughter find the scriptures. Previously, she felt that it was her time to learn and the kids just came along. Her attitude has  changed and she willingly included her daughter in the study. Her daughter's face lights up at the idea of going to the Kingdom Hall or studying. We don't want that flame extinguished. Gloria is going to help Lisa get started with a family study this week.

Lost and Found

Cristina sat in on someone else's study three years ago and attended a meeting along with some other women. Then she was gone. And no one seemed to be able to say where she went. For all of this time, I've been hoping to see her again. 

Last Sunday, I went to see a lady that has just started to study. She no longer lived where she was before, but two little girls happily walked me down the road to find her. As she was studying, Cristina walked out of the house. We looked at each other and then we looked at each other again and WOW! It was so thrillling! Since we saw each other last, she has had a little boy, traveled to Pohnpei for a while and returned. She just came back last month. As you can see, she is holding the Rohngamwahu brochure in her hand because she wanted to study again. We are both looking forward to our visit this Sunday.

Babysitting

Stroller--check

Water bottle--check

Beer--check

Old beer can to spit betel nut juice--check

Seeing shoes outside of a home is a normal thing to see. Before we enter most homes, we leave our shoes outside too. But we were curious about just how many people were in this one bedroom apartment.

Faithful Ones

Ray and Diane

What can we say? They are as strong as this bamboo and more beautiful.

It is such a delight to share a day in service with them. 

Stand here and we'll take your picture....

Could we stand somewhere else, please?

Thomas the Train

There comes a point in service where you'll sit on just about anything. We sit on the floor a lot..clean or not, tires, frames of chairs, the ground, but this was the first time John sat on a train for a study!

These two men were first contacted by a sister in our congregation. She asked John to go because they are men and they are from Pohnpei. When we first went, neither of the two were there, but another one was. So we began to talk with him and started to study with him in the Rohngamwahu (Good News) brochure. After we finished the first section and read the scriptures, a lady who had met the sister told us that this man had no idea who the sister who visited was because he had just arrived from Pohnpei the week before. For some reason he didn't tell us any of this, but just followed along with what we were doing. His first impression of Guam? Strangers who are learning Ponapean show up at your home, sit you down, read the Bible with you and show you good news. Oh my!

The two photos below are from someone's front yard. In the second photo, you can see the family home. 

Mary and Indy

Gloria and I just finished our study with Indy and Mary. Indy has since told us that the Mormons had been visiting them. She kept asking them to show her in the Bible to prove what they were telling her was true. They couldn't. So she said she will stick with the 'good news' because everything she reads in it is in the Bible. At the end of that study, her husband came home and joined in with us. 

WHOOOOOPPPPPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Endangered Species

John has told me about the pair of ducks that live in this water run-off area by the DOC, but in 5 years, I haven't seen one. Finally, last month, there it was by the road. There are so few birds on Guam that this is truly a special sight to see!

A Three Hour Tour?

This is Ernie and Louise's boat as they arrived in Guam from their 12 day trip from Pohnpei. We are so happy to have them back safe and sound.

Zone Visit

During April, we had a zone visit from Brother Lett. He gave a stirring talk about guarding our hearts. We all felt so loved. 

One Sweet Ride

When you come for a visit, you can expect to ride in style!

Service Days

Cory and Bobby keeping a close eye on the 'guard cow' 

CJ loving "Pray Anytime" 

Hope

Here we see John and Tom having their first study in the Good News brochure. John printed it off of jw.org in Ponapean. They are studying lesson 6 about the good news for the dead. You see, Tom is a widower. His wife died in October. They had nine kids together. The oldest is 20 and doesn't live at home. The youngest, Arthur, is 4. His second oldest son, Jeremy, is studying with a sister in another congregation that knows ASL. He is deaf. He watches the sign language videos over and over again and loves what he is learning. 

The first time we met Tom, we had such a nice heartfelt conversation about death and how God feels about it. It touched us deeply to have him share his feelings with us and see how starting to understand the truth about the condition of his wife has lifted some of his burden.

Tom's sister-in-law, Senda, studied from 1993-2003. She had her first study in the Ponapean Bible Teach book at the same time as Tom. She is married and has three kids. They all live together ( you can do the math--it's not uncommon to have a large amount of family living together. In this case, the family is helping Tom and his kids.) Senda is a load of fun and really likes to laugh, so we have a very lively study. She has been reading the Bible Teach book everyday along with her Bible since I left it with her last week. To let you know just how much she values her Bible that she brought with her to Guam in 1992, she has protected it through typhoons and earthquakes. It looks like it too, but it is precious to her.

Another First!

Here is Norensa giving her first talk last Thursday. She prepared  the talk a week and a half ahead of time. She  was poised and enthusiastic. Even though it was in the Chuukese language, we could tell she did so well! We are so very proud of her. She made the very mature decision to study with a sister in her own congregation, Nozomi. That happened earlier this month too. We miss her very much, but are so happy to see her spiritual progress. You'll be hearing more about her!

Memorial Night

Ernie gave a very encouraging and lively talk.

Ernie and Louise

The Peter family...there is an extra girl on the left. She is their neighbor. She comes to their apartment to join their study. She said this meeting was the best religious meeting she's ever been too. She had her first personal study this Friday. She is a senior in high school and just got to Guam from Pohnpei three months ago. 

The Toves family (we couldn't find dad for the photo)...their oldest son (in the back) got leave from the military to be home from where he is stationed to come to the Memorial with his family. We are hoping that they will start studying again. We think they will--look at those smiles! 

It was a wonderful night! We shared the hotel ballroom with another congregation. We are in the earlier time slot, so we had to go out quickly. It was hard for all of us to leave the vestibule we were crowded into. It was exciting to see all of the visitors! Next time, we hope we have more time for more photos of the congregation. 

Kasalehlie oh Kalahngan ong Kumwail

Some of our students went back to Pohnpei this month. Some we've only know a little while and others, we've known for a few years. All of them became dear to us and we are sad to see them go. We are very happy that our good friends in Pohnpei are looking after them. 

Bigger is Better?

This is a ficus tree! 

Invite Them All

Just like all of you, we were inviting neighbors to the Memorial. John didn't miss anyone!

This is one of the few dogs that didn't try to bite us.

Our service group had such a great time during this month. At the apartment complex in the first photo, one sister found three families who used to study. They are all studying now.When she first went back, she knocked at the wrong door and started a study with that family too! 

Lost and Found!

Just before we went to Pohnpei, Iulide moved. She is the lady who used to live in a tour bus in the country.  Anyway, she moved and I didn't have time to search for her before we left. It took some time, but we found her and she has resumed her study. It was thrilling to find her!

New Congregation

Starting March 1, the Chuukese language group became a congregation!

Last month, two new students had parts on the Theocratic Ministry School.

Both did so well. We are so proud of them and look forward to their future parts on the school.

Norensa (right) was Tabitha's householder.

You can see what Chuukese looks like. It is the last scripture on the yeartext. The first one is Iloko.

Marbelta (left) was Paige's householder.

Forty Years Later...

This is Esdakio and Kopina. We met them a little by accident. We've been looking for a student that moved right before we went to Pohnpei and we haven't been able to find her new home. A sister told us to try a certain home. No one was home there, but there was a man walking by that we thought might be Ponapean. He was. His sister-in-law knows generally where our other student lives. While we were talking to her, Kopina asked through the window if we were Sounkadehden Siowa kan (Jehovah's Witnesses--and I understood what she said!!!). She came right out and we started talking to her. Then everyone decided we needed chairs. As we got settled, she got right back to reading. When she finished, her husband was outside too. He joined in. By the time it was all said and done, there were, John, me, the young brother with us, the older couple, the young woman and her three kids and her brother-in-law all talking together using the questions about Satan on the back of the February Watchtower.

The above photos were taken on their third study. We've known them a week and a half. They remember the first missionaries in Pohnpei, Bill and Adela Yap. Many of their friends became Witnesses, but they didn't. Now, it seems they are making up for lost time. They have prepared ahead and have questions for us. (This is quite a challenge for new language learners!) Esdakio asked why the Bible Teach book says that God has feelings. After discussing the scriptures in that subheading of chapter one and the paragraphs, he was happy to accept that God really does have feelings. 

We'll try to take a picture of them properly so you can see their faces.

Thursday Nights

Some in these photos may look very familiar. We have been trying to study together for quite sometime, but with our little knowledge of Ponapean and their little knowledge of English, it has been very tedious. Now, we can communicate and it is so wonderful! We're studying the Rong Koht (Listen to God) brochure together. This is about how many study together. There are six in the family, but there are always neighbors and friends that drop in while we're there.