In early June we held a "Family Discovery Day." We had a workshop where the participants could fill out a "My Family" booklet about their family history. We had good participation and a lot of enthusiasm. It is a good way to record what you know about your ancestors and help you learn about them.
Some young women from our home ward send a box full of blankets that they made for the babies in Chuuk. We donated them to the newborn department of the hospital. This couple was happy to receive one for their little daughter. Many just wrap them in a towel as shown below.
One Saturday it was raining really hard. We had activities at the church but when we got there the youth were having a great time playing in the drainage ditch that runs past the church. Who needs water parks?!
The first scheduled activity that day was a baptism. The primary children are pictured below sitting quietly and waiting for the baptism to begin. They were so quiet and reverent I had to take their picture!
This is one of the young men who was baptized that day.
The other person was a young woman.
They were baptized in the ocean.
.
Can you see how happy they both were?!
Later that day there was a Primary activity. The children were practicing to sing for their fathers on Father's Day. They made "mar-mars" or head wreaths for their fathers out of candy. They also got ice cream and other treats. We scooped about 100 ice cream cones that day. They did a great job of singing on Father's Day.
Clair teaching Sunday School on Father's Day with his "Mar-mar"
This is the road that goes by the church. It looked like a river that day. It is always rocky and very bumpy.
We took a trip to Uman to see some homebound sick. When you arrive on the Island there is a long rocky
dock to walk down. 
These two Elders like on Uman and met us and guided us to the homes we visited. They are both from England.
We checked up on this young man who needs extensive physical therapy. We encouraged him to try to be able to walk again and showed him some things to do to help his condition.
Uman is a beautiful island. We are used to lots of rain. You get wet and you dry out again and you are never cold.
This is the boat we rode to Uman in. it is one of the nicer boats we can sometimes use.
The missionaries in our branch have been taking us to visit some of the people they teach. This family's home was surrounded by water due to a recent rain. We loved meeting the people and sharing gospel truths with them!
Every couple of months the mission president comes to Chuuk and we have a zone conference. It is always fun to see all the missionaries from all the Chuuk islands where we have them.
We had a missionary who got a bad infection in his hand. We were afraid it would have to have surgery by a surgeon who specialized in hand surgery--not available in Chuuk. But modern technology enabled us to make contact with a hand surgeon who is a missionary in Brazil and working with his advice we were able to get the infection to resolve without surgery. You can see how swollen his left hand is below. Now he is fine.
One day our activities were all cancelled, so we took the opportunity of a free day to go hiking with a member who had volunteered to take us up the mountain. It was an amazing day. Below were our two leaders.
Here we are at the beginning--all clean and energetic!
As we went along others joined us. About four young women came with a ukulele and sang to us most of the way.
The young men who joined us also helped us make the climb. We couldn't have done it without them. 
A couple of times we stopped and they climbed coconut trees to get us a coconut to drink.
After hiking a ways we came to some caves built while the Japanese were in control of the Island. Here is a small one.
Later we came to a large cave with huge guns at both ends of a long tunnel or cave.
From the guns to the top was very steep and went through thick jungle with trees downed from the typhoon. They had to cut our way through with their machetes and then push and pull us up the mountain. 
Here are some scenes from the top:
The short airport runway from the top of the mountain:
Coming down was steep but easier than going up.
I wondered why these young men brought the large traffic cone. They had a small radio which they put inside and used the cone for an amplifier!
We were soaking wet with sweat and very tired when we reached the top, but it was a great day! We love the people of Chuuk and they showed a lot of love to us. It was a magical experience.
Below is a picture showing the natural beauty of this island.
Chuuk has its challenges, but it has a wonderful people who are very loving and warm. We are so thankful to be able to be here!
No comments:
Post a Comment