In-service with Bro. Wilde

This is our last In-Service Meeting with our teachers, Brother Nicerio and Scott Wilde from Salt Lake City. It was nice to have someone else do the instructing for a change, especially a professional like him.

 Here we all are for a group photo shoot. The Sister Missionaries house is in the background.
We will miss all these dedicated teachers.

CES Fireside April 29, 2016

What a night to remember. We had a Seminary/ Institute Fireside to welcome Scott Wilde, Assistant Director of CES. The students, teachers, bishops and families filled the Stake Center. Standing next to Elder Hedgpeth on the left is Jack Yakanna, our Patriarch and Institute teacher. Scott Wilde is on the right with Brother Nicerio (our boss from Guam) sandwiched between some of our students who really wanted to get in the middle of all this "power".

 Some of our students after the Fireside loving to pose for the camera.

 Hadley Joshua, on the left was one of our amazing speakers. Milean next to him has her mission
papers in.

 Four more Seminary students hamming it up. Love them so much.

 These boys are amazing and will all be on a mission soon. They call us their parents or grandparents and that is fine with us.

Scripture Bowl 2016

Scripture Mastery Bowl is a BIG deal here in Pohnpei. Months of practice, memorizing and strategy goes into a "WIN". Palikir Ward won it last year and the competition was on.

 This game was to see how many baskets one group could make before the other group wrote their scripture.

 The Seminary and Institute teachers are ready for the students to race to them and break a balloon with a scripture inside.

 The students are busily trying to solve the scripture which they found in the balloon.
Panasang Ward won the Scripture Bowl and already the students are preparing for next year's competition.

This Little Piggy Went to Church

You just never know who will be attending church here in Wone Branch. President Herman is on the left.

 This piglet's mother has an injured leg, so he gets to come to church for awhile so his mom can heal. I hope when we get home we won't be disappointed when there are no "creatures" attending with us.

Sister Kapalu to Vanuatu

Sister Kapalu from Vanuatu left the island for Guam today.  She will be on Guam until Friday and then will fly home.  She was well loved by the missionaries and the islanders.  We will greatly miss her.  She has a scholarship waiting for her to attend medical school in China.  She is a very bright young woman.  She speaks 12 languages!  Wow.  I barely speak one.

It seems impossible but we are the next missionaries in line to leave for home.  It is difficult thinking about leaving all of our friends and students.  But we are excited to see our family and friends at home.

Sister Kapalu's Farewell Party

Sister Kapalu, from Vanuatu, is leaving from her mission in 2 days, so the Panasang ward gave her a special evening of testimonies and a showering of love for her. She has been in this Ward for a year, and the people definitely showed her how much they appreciated her.

 She and Elder Hedgpeth had a special bond and she taught him a specific handshake that she promised would make him "Cool" to the students and his grandchildren when he returned home.

 She conducted this choir that was comprised of the Panasang members. They performed last week at Stake Conference. It was beautifully done and at the end of the song, she was crying as well as the Mission President who was very proud of her.

 Many of the Young people especially loved her sense of humor and ability to connect with them. Several of the young men and women, who joined the church in this past year, were taught by her and they wanted her to know how they would never forget her.

Women's Conference March 2016

 

We had an all day Women's Conference in the Panasang Building. After the morning of speakers and choirs from each of the 9 wards and Branches, we all gathered to watch the games and dances.

 The women in Pohnpei love to spend time together and have fun.

 Some of the music was traditional Hawaiian style and some were American Country-Western. We certainly have sisters here who know how to dance and celebrate each other.