Hafa dai ! November 10,2012
Happy November from the island of warm ocean breezes and sunny blue skies!
The trade winds have come and it has been just beautiful here! The flowers never quit blooming and the butterflies never quit dancingJ I am one to always start Christmas decorating after Halloween but it feels so strange because of the weather! I have a plastic table cloth with snowflakes and penguins on sleds on our study table .Some friends moved and gave us a little Christmas tree and some decorations .I thought it would be fun to have a coconut tree as our Christmas tree so I sent Elder Norton out into the jungle to hunt one down and he came back with a very big one and when we brought in inside we felt like we were in the jungle itself as we had to duck under this thing as we went by it! Trying to put lights on it didn’t work either so out it went!
We will spend Thanksgiving at the mission home with our zone and Elder Norton’s birthday falls on Thanksgiving g this year so I will make a cake and we can all sing happy birthday to him! He will now be an official senior citizen of Guam at the ripe old age of 55 and will get all the discounts now! The clerks always ask him(I tease him because they never ask me ! hehe) if he has the senior discount card and he has to say not quite yet! I have another month and then I to will be a senior citizen! WhoohooJ
Last Saturday was the baptism of Tony and Steve, another baptism in the sea. The power and energy of the water and the spirit of the ordinance makes it just magnificent! Tony asked Elder Norton to baptism him and as always he is humbled to have been asked.
We had 14 missionaries leave for home and only 4 come in so we are back to only one set in the ward until January when we will get more in. We heard there are 4000 applicants a week since the change in the ages and it is our prayer some of those will come here and we can have a set in every village! What an exciting time to be serving the Lord, knowing we battle against evil by preaching to all nations and isles of the sea the gospel inviting all to come unto Christ.
Tonight was our 5th Merizo devotional! Elder Norton was impressed to invite our stake president and ask him to speak. We wanted him to meet our families that live there and see what we have been up to as we organize and plan it out for every month. He seemed pleased so hopefully the group will be approved soon! We asked one of the Micronesian families to be part of the program by giving talks, instead of the white ward members or ourselves. It was their very first time to ever speak in front of people and they were all so nervous and the mom almost backed out but she didn’t and we were so proud of them all. Our stake president said when Christ was on the earth He didn’t teach in church buildings but outside, by the seaside oftentimes, perhaps in the same kind of setting we had tonite. He told them they have the same blessings ,opportunities and priesthood as all members of the Church have.
We have 3 children we are teaching, Lamoni Tigilmai . Samanta Engkichy and Yme(don’t you love these names?) so they will be ready for baptism when they turn 8 and one 10 year old little girl, Finnia Erik. Her uncle is Tony and her sister Connie was baptized last month. Here, instead of entire families being baptized all at once they like to go one by one!
Last week for institute we taught the Beatitudes found in Matthew and in 3 Nephi 12: 3-16.
We read and discussed each verse and the blessing that is promised. Mairenda said she was going to have to work on verse 7 ,”blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” as we explained this was to be forgiving. She shared that the other night one of her relatives was drunk and mad at her brother so he grabbed her and choked her. She didn’t know if she could forgive this person. Verse 10,”blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” She shared when she joined the church on Pohnpei, her grandmother wouldn’t speak to her anymore and would see her and say “there’s the Mormon” and how much that hurt her feelings.
Amanda told us in school the teacher saw her Book of Mormon on her desk one day and took it and threw it on the floor and then sent her to detention. This teacher ended up failing her for the year because of her beliefs and she didn’t get enough credits to graduate and is now trying to get her GED. “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” 8;” Blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9; “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God” 16;’ Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” So many wonderful blessings are promised!
The girls were able to really apply these scriptures to their own lives and it was our prayer they were able to learn more about the Savior’s teachings!
