Panasang Baptism May 23, 2015

On a beautiful Saturday evening May 23, 2015 four people were baptized into the church.  This marks the 40th baptism for us in just six months (there have been many more we didn't attend).  Pictured below is one of our newest missionaries, Sister Park from Arkansas.  Elder Kim is the most senior missionary on the island and will go home in July. They are preparing for the music for the baptism. Four adults were baptized at this service.  Three young men and one young mother who was baptized by her husband.  The church is growing here on the island and it is a privelege to be a small part of it.

The young man in the center is Trellison George.  He has been attending our seminary class at the high school.  He rarely misses a class.  We assumed that he was a member until just a month or so ago.  He has desired to join the church but had some unique hurdles to cross.  His parents are living in the U.S. and gave him permission to be baptized but his guardians refused.  So he moved out to live with his cousin, Vince Amida and his grandparents.  He was then able to be baptized.  What a great day for him.

Here we are in the Panasang Chapel after the baptism.  Trellison is standing beside Sister Hedgpeth with Vince's grandmother standing beside him.  Grandpa is in the red shirt on the right.  When a camera comes out it seems everyone wants to get in the act.

Philippines mission calls

The small Wone Branch is lengthening their stride to spread the gospel around the world.  Two more of their young people received their mission calls.  Below is Jennifer Hebel who is called to serve in the San Pablo Philippines Mission.  She will report to the MTC in the Philippines on July 31, 2015.

 Below is Jason Lainos opening his mission call.  He was called to serve in the Tacloban Philippines Mission.  He will report to the Prove MTC on September 15, 2015.

 Sister Lainos seated on the left will now have three children serving their missions at the same time.  It will be a little quieter around the house for her.  Her other children will be serving in the Vanuatu and the Philippines Missions.

Missionary Training

On Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Mission President Zarbock came to Pohmpei from Guam to conduct missionary training.  They are pictured here singing the mission song.

 This is our full compliment of missionaries assigned to the island.  They are quite the enthusiastic group with a lot of personality.

 Here are the Elders serving themselves lunch after the training.  As you might be able to tell we had fried chicken.  For the first time since we have been here there was actually some food left over.  This is a rarity since both the brothers and sisters can put it away.

Seminary Scripture Bowl 2015

This is the annual Seminary Scripture Mastery Bowl. All the Semiary and Institute students come from all 11 church units to one building to compete against each other. Let it be said, competition is alive and well on Pohnpei.

 We had about 100 students and it was crazy and difficult to control all the excitement, but they had a great time together. We had about 6 games and 2 special musical numbers.

 Of course, we served ice cream and doughnuts and the air conditioning hasn't worked in this church building for several months so we were melting along with the ice cream. I guess chocolate milk shakes were just as well.

 Paliker Ward won the award this year and you can see the banner that will be displayed in their church all this year. We came home exhausted, limping up the stairs and ready to crash in bed for the night, but we had a baptism to attend. Our Mission President said, "You know you have served well when you fall into bed each night, exhausted". Guess we did well this day!

No Chewing or Spitting

While at the airport we noticed this sign.  Chewing of betel nuts is very common on the island for both men and women.  The betel nut grows wild on a palm tree.  The nut is chewed with a mixture of lime made from ground clam shells.  The resulting combination products a very red saliva that is constantly spit on streets and sidewalks.  The juice also stains teeth bright red and is a major cause of lip and gum cancer and rotten teeth.  The nuts are sometimes mixed with tobacco to enhance the effects.  It is a habit akin to tobacco chewing and smoking and is very difficult to quit.

Typhoon Dolphin

Typoon Dolphin passed by Pohnpei over the weekend leaving a lot of downed trees, roof damage, flooding and general destruction.  No one that I'm aware of was injured however.  Saturday brought torential rains.  It rained well over six inches in 24 hours.  The ground was saturated when the winds arrived on Sunday afternoon.  This happened to be Mother's Day weekend.  Many church and community members took shelter in the ward buildings.  The storm was classified as a tropical storm while passing over Pohnpei but it has quickly developed into a full blown typhoon as it slowly works its way toward Guam and from there toward Japan.

Below is  a picture of the Palm Terrace grocery store.  The metal awning covering in the front of the store was demolished by the severe winds.

 Massive trees were blown down as the storm swept through the island.  Damage out of town in the more remote parts of the island were much worse.  Homes there are not as substantial and received considerable damage.  Parts of the island will be out of water and electricity for many days to come.

 The winds ripped off the roof of this building.  The winds appeared to be coming from multiple directions

We weathered the storm without any major issues with the exception of off and on again electrical power.  This was the weekend that the missionaries call home for Mother's Day.  We managed to get all the calls done with the exception of one missionary from England.  Some of the missionaries were stranded out on the outer island for several hours until trees and power lines were cleared.

Living most of our lives near the Columbia River Gorge has prepared us for wind storms.  This one was akin to a good Troutdale wind storm but with warm weather.

Member Opens new Store

On Saturday May 2, 2015 one of the members of the bishopric in the Sekere Ward had the grand opening of his new small store in Kolonia.  Swingle is pictured below with his father who is visiting from Hawaii.  His dad did some of the design work and paint schemes.  It's a very bright and cute little store.  They sell basic products from dresses to food.

 As part of the celebration the had a raffle for a variety of small products and the grand prize was the raffle of a small red car.  Lots of people attended.  There was fun music and some dancing.  People on Pohnpei love a party.