Juanita Rodrigues Birthday

The Sister in green is the "birthday girl" and her husband is next to her.This party had declarations of love and respect for her, great food and dancing. It was held in a facility that is also used for many corporate events. I sat near a woman from Guam who was setting up this location for an event in December. She is representing the Guam Supreme court.

 I love receiving these head pieces which are hand made from fresh flowers and greenery.

 We watched dancing and I was even coerced into joing all the women in a dance. How fun!

Family Home Evening at Eirike

We were invited to the Family Home Evening at Eieike ward for a farewell dinner for Sister Rodriquez. The cutest thing was how the children lined up perfectly for dinner- the youngest first and on until finally the adults were served. They were so patient while they waited and of course they love to have their pictures taken.

 Sister Rodriquez has been the "spiritual backbone" of this ward and will be missed as she goes to see family in Hawaii, Texas and finally Utah for 6 months.

 The young people demonstrated their dances they had prepared for Youth Conference last weekend. It is so fun to watch them have so much fun together. After their performance all the small children also danced and we watched a Michael Jackson "wanna-be" Very cute!

Youth Conference 2015

This Youth Conferece could rival any in the States. It was a 2 day conference- It included classes, talent show from each of the 11 church units, and then spending the night with members close to the Stake Center. The next morning was breakfast, more classes, return to the homes to clean up for the special evening and then a testimony meeting, beautiful dinner and a dance. Each couple entered the dinner with a date, arm in  arm with the young man pulling out the chair for the young woman.

This is our student who was recently baptized. There were about 250 youth at the testimony meeting and he got up in front of them all and bore his testimony as did our other newly baptized student. I am a proud teacher.

 These are plates hand woven from coconut leaves and filled with local food prepared by the sisters. They each were delived by the YSA girls to their tables which had beautiful flower centerpieces.

All of the tables were filled with the students. It was a wonderful evening.

Seminary/Institute Graduation 2015

These are some of the reasons we, as teachers, are willing to study, search the scriptures and try our best to prepare these young students to be missionaries, attend the temple and learn to serve. They are worth every effort we make.

 These Institute students are a great mix of return missionaries, prospective missionaries waiting for their mission call and other students who may be new members or wondering what is next.

 This group is from Kitti. They have so much fun in their Seminary class and they get bonus points for sweeping the chapel floor after all was said and done.

We love them all!

YSA Island Trip/Activity

Panasang Ward YSA took a trip all around the Island. It sounds like that wouldn't take long, since supposedly this is a small island, but it took all day. The boys in the center are some of our favorite students. There are also 2 recent returned sister missionaries.
We love these kids!

Kitti Graduation

We were invited to attend the Kitti Graduation of 5 Seminary students. We were impressed with some of the details the school added to this special day. All the teachers were dressed in the same fabric- either shirts for the men or dresses for the teachers. It was a lime green hawaiian print.

 The Junior girls were the servers and also were dressed alike. You can see them walking towards the group in pink. They were varrying a plate with an apple, brownie and a bottle of water for the dignitaries and a bottle of water for each graduate. At the end of the ceremony, they carried in huge woven baskets of banana leaves filled with various food for the dignitaries.

 This is Caroline Paul from Kitti. She also received a diploma from Seminary.

This is Lucann Laianos, another student from Kitti. She has two sisters on a mission and a brother waiting to go.

PICS High School Graduation

Today was High School Graduation for the 6 students that we teach at Seminary. It is sad to think we might not see them again because these students are either non-members or their parents aren't members and they can't get to church.

 There were over 200 students graduating today.