We are not Tourists

I am so relieved to have my talk finished for Sacrament Meeting tomorrow (Mother's Day of all days) that I am feeling like I can tackle the Blog.

I had a friend tell me that our Blog looks like we are tourists and I just have to say that we definitely are not tourists! We are lucky that we have been able to visit some really neat islands over the past few months but that has come to an end and we only have Saturdays to scoot around on Guam now. The rest of the week we keep very busy. A sample of the past week:
Last Saturday no sight seeing as we were moving all our small stuff to another apartment.
Sunday - 3 hours of meetings, dinner for 2 Elders, CES Inservice and teach Temple Prep
Mon - Fri 8:30 to 5:00 in the office
During the month of April I made payments for rent, utilities, missionary support,
etc., - that causes great stress when you are thinking you may have made an error.
Wayne is out looking for car parts etc. and shipping them off to the other islands.
I can't think of all the little things we do at the office but we keep busy all day
We have been looking for an apartment for the sisters and so we went to check out several
District meeting with the elders and sisters
Pick up and drop off cars at the airport for our traveling Mission President
Institute class
Senior Couples FHE
Moved into new apartment ourselves
Worked on talk for Sacrament Meeting
Prepared activities for Seminary and Institue event
Today - S&I activity 8-12, work on talk, Baptism, finish talk
Tomorrow - give talks and then work on lesson for Temple Prep class
We are looking forward to this weekend being over so that we can go back and clean the other apartment. We have had absolutely no time this week.

This past week we had a visit from Richard Heaton who is the director of training at the MTC. He conducted a workshop with all the missionaries on Guam and it was really good. We have some fantastic missionaries and it was good to hear their input.

This next week we have a visit from a General Authority. Elder Christopherson is coming to dedicate a new chapel on Chuuk. During his time on Guam he will speak at a member meeting and then we have the opportunity of meeting with him in a meeting with the missionaries on Guam and Saipan. That will be a group of about 40. We are really looking forward to that special opportunity. These missionaries are truly blessed to be able to meet with him in such a small setting.

Although we have not really had the chance to teach investigators, we hear the stories from the missionaries and we get to attend lots of baptisms. We get to interact with the young single adults. We are getting to know them better and are looking forward to a summer of activities with them. They are such a fun loving group and I can hardly wait to PLAY GAMES.

This mission is totally different than the experience we were expecting when India was the destination, but we are loving it. The interaction we have with ALL the missionaries has been so choice. We have such a good group of young people who are really dedicated and who have such strong spirits. I am amazed at the examples they set for us. I think that we were really meant to be here and India was just a delay tactic to get us here at the right time.

We were going to post pictures of our office and some of the things we do there but we have not taken any yet. So instead I am going to put in pictures of the Flora and Fauna here in the islands. Some I can name and some I can't so if you see something that is unnamed and you know what it is, please write back and let us know.


Mangrove. These grow thick on the shoreline of the waters of the other islands.

Plumeria. I love these and they are growing everywhere. They smell so good and you see a lot of the women wearing them in their hair.
Sego palms even grow here. We were surprised to see this one because it is the only one we have seen.
Of course there are bananas. We do not see as many here in Guam but the other islands are covered with them.
This is the trunk of a rainbow tree in Pohnpei.
The curse of the islands - Betel Nut.




Hibiscus also grows everywhere and is so pretty.

These were growing in a pond area. Maybe like a water lily?
These are yellow coconuts. We see a lot of this color here on Guam.
Bougainvilla is also very plentiful.

We are so lucky to have all of this color. A lot of the plants grow wild and so everywhere you go you see color of some sort. For someone who cannot grow flowers herself I really enjoy being able to see all the beauty.