This is our last blog for our Mission; it is a bitter sweet
moment.
It has been a very
busy month. On our way back to Hawaii
when we left from Fiji the plane stopped in Kiritimati (Christmas) Island; we were
really hoping to be able to say goodbye to the Missionaries there. This time they had us get off the plane which
was good because the missionaries were there to say goodbye to Elder &
Sister Mabey, our senior couple, who had just finished their mission and were
headed home via Hawaii. We had to get
permission from the security police to actually go over to the fence and say our goodbyes and take pictures. At first they weren’t going to let us but one of the members, who is a policeman, was there and he told them it was alright! The missionaries were Sister’s Tauteoli and Nakibae and the Elders were Sias and Bonteman, this was our first time to meet Elder Bonteman. It was so great to see them and to take pictures. Elder and Sister Mabey got on our flight to Honolulu. We got to spend a little time with them in Honolulu, and then they had a Grandson who lives there who they did things with until they left.
The day that we arrived from Hawaii we had a Mission
Leadership council in Majuro, this was the second meeting with the sister representatives. It’s great to get their input as well as we
will have many more sister missionaries than we have ever had.
June 2nd we went to the Laura ward. They are meeting at the elementary school
right now because they are building an addition to their chapel. We love to go there. It is a ward where they sing at the top of
their lungs, I love it!
June 3rd was a combined Preparation Day; it was
at the Long Island Chapel. They had
asked us to be there at 3:30pm to judge some games they were playing. When we arrived in the cultural hall the senior
couples pointed us toward the chapel where all the missionaries were in their missionary
attire. They stood up and the tears just
started to flow from both of us. Elder
Jolley had a sign that said President and Sister Shaw sit here. They had a program all planned with talks
from some of the missionaries honoring us and things they have learned. They had three musical numbers throughout the
program. The first one was sung by the three Kiribati sisters. They sang the song from Moroni High that is
titled “Fare Thee Well.” It was one that
Tom had requested in Kiribati from the Moroni students to sing. Then all the Elders sang “We are as the Army
of Helaman.” Elder Walden sang the last
number which was “Savior, Redeemer of My Soul.”
They were all so touching and beautiful and all brought another flood of
tears. Elders Fesola’i and McOmie had
put together a DVD for us including all of the missionaries in Majuro. It is so awesome and we will treasure it for
years to come. After the program we had
refreshments which was a cake they bought that had our picture on it.
We loved it and the cake was really good too. We felt so spoiled and it was such a sweet surprise. The Sister missionaries also did a dance for us after the refreshments.
June 4th we had a zone conference in Majuro. We did the same training as we had been doing
and also testimonies of the new missionaries who had arrived in May (Sisters
Crane, Tofa & Samuel and Elders Bascom, Boaden, Duiriba, Faleono &
Whetstone and those (Sisters Roota & Tominey) who would be going home
before the next zone conference. We also
had testimonies of those who wanted to share about their reading of the Book of
Mormon. It was a great conference and we
enjoyed spending time with them two days in a row. Some of the Elder'a performed the Haka dance out in the parking lot, led by a very sober Elder Walden! That evening we had Sister Hogg over for
dinner as she was leaving to go home the next evening. She spent the night at our home and it was
neat to be with her. She trained many of
our Sisters who are still serving and helped them learn many things about missionary
work. She will be missed greatly as she
was the first Sister Training Leader in the mission on the Marshall side.We loved it and the cake was really good too. We felt so spoiled and it was such a sweet surprise. The Sister missionaries also did a dance for us after the refreshments.
On June 6th we went to Ebeye. We no longer have a senior couple in Ebeye,
the Morgan’s have gone home the end of May; they were great and we know that
the people and missionaries are missing them.
Thank you so much for your service and keeping things running in
Ebeye. This trip was for Tom to interview
people and to have a zone conference. We
enjoyed our time there and we were there for five days. We attended the Kwajalein branch and spoke at
sacrament meeting. After church the
Parkers had invited us and the members of their Branch to their home for
lunch. We enjoyed spending time with
them and the lunch was great. That
evening we did a fireside for the Ebeye Branches. After the fireside the people stayed and had an
“Iawke-Iakwe” for us. They each came up
and gave us a hug and also gave adorned us with their beautiful gifts. We love these people and pray that someday in
the future they will qualify to be a stake.
Monday, we had a zone conference. It was good and we had the same format as we
had for the others. They are without a
couple right now and we thank them for carrying on and doing the work. We returned to Majuro that evening. Tom did interviews through the rest of this
week. On Saturday, Elder and Sister Pearson of the Area Presidency arrived for the Majuro Stake Conference and for an abbreviated mission tour. We have been looking forward to their coming and it was great to have them. The stake had a luncheon where they had invited the President (Christopher Loeak and his wife) of the Republic of the Marshalls Islands; they were very gracious. Elder Pearson presented him with a statue of a Father and Son. He seemed to appreciate it. They will be having a big Pacific Area delegate conference here in September where they expect 500 people here in the Marshalls. They have been cleaning up the Island and in Lojkar where we live they are building more apartments to help house them.
Sunday, we had Stake Conference and the building was
filled. It was a great meeting. The Pearson’s gave great talks and also some
in the Presidency and stake youth. Following
conference we had lunch at our home and then took them for a ride down to
Laura. We enjoyed chatting with them and
getting more acquainted; they are wonderful people. Elder Pearson was called to be a member of
the 1st Quorum of the Seventy when he was fifty and serving as a
Mission President. They have a 14 year
old daughter who is with them and others who are married and one who is
currently serving a Mission in Spain. We
admire all of our Area Presidency members and their wife’s. They are so wonderful and always plan amazing
Mission President Seminars where they teach us those things that they learn
from the Brethren at General Conference time.
We had our zone conference in Majuro on Monday. The missionaries were pumped up to hear Elder
Pearson’s training. We had told them how
good it was in Tarawa. He didn’t
disappoint them; it was great along with Sister Pearson’s training. We had lunch which was taco salads, which was
a big hit. That evening we had the senior
couples come for dinner and home evening with the Pearson’s. It was a great dinner thanks to
everyone. We then just talked and the
Pearson’s were willing to answer any questions.
Tuesday, we headed to Ebeye with Pearson’s. President Parker met us at the airport and
took us to the food court and then to the dock to ride the ferry to Ebeye. As we arrived we went directly to the church
as the members were there and lined up to welcome them. They always do this with quests and
authorities. Then Elder Pearson went on
some rescue visits with the District Presidency. They were less active members which he asked
them to come back to church and to come to the District Conference we were
going to have that evening. They all
came to the conference which was great.
We had a leadership and auxiliary meeting first and then the District
Conference afterwards. They were good
meetings and we were so happy to see the people again.
The next day we had a missionary zone conference with the
Pearson’s. We then went to lunch with
the missionaries at a place called “Sit and Eat.” We said our goodbyes and then returned to Kwajalein
via a water taxi. President Parker met
us again and took us on a tour of the base.
We then went to the airport to wait for the plane. It was super crowded as many people from the
base were going home or on a vacation. The
first stop was in Majuro where we said goodbye to the Pearson’s; they continued
on to Hawaii. We really enjoyed our mission
tour.
Thursday evening we had the Stake Presidency and their wives
over for dinner. Some had forgotten so
we had a ton of food leftover. We have
enjoyed working with all of them they have a great Stake Presidency and we love
them and their wives.
Friday, we had the seniors over for a final dinner in the
mission home. We love to be with them
all, they are amazing couples. Sunday, we attended Jenrok ward. It was High Council week; they did a great job.
Monday, we were to move out of the mission home so that they
could do some cleaning for the Weirs. So
I spent most of the day cleaning and getting packed. It was hard to leave. We have had many special times in that home
and we will cherish the memories.
Now that we are in the Hotel we feel like we are
traveling. The senior couples took turns
feeding us all of this week. We loved
spending time with them and the food was so good.
Tuesday, we woke up to find out that the ocean tide had
overflowed its banks around 6:00am in the morning. We headed to Delap for some interviews and a
district meeting. As we drove along you
could see all of the garbage that had come up on the land in many places. So we decided to get all of the missionaries
together to do some service and help clean up.
So we put on our “Helping Hands” vests and went to work. The people appreciated our help. We then provided some pizza for all of them
before they returned to their flats to clean up and get ready to go out and
work. We were thrilled that we got to
see them again. We heard that the tide
did what it did on the ocean side because of a storm that had started in New
Zealand, also the moon was the closest to the earth for a couple of days which
they said contributed to the high tides.
It was supposed to happen at least one or two more times but thankfully
it did not. Our prayers were answered.
On Friday, the Senior Sisters went to Chit Chat for pizza,
and of course we did a little shopping!
That evening the senior couples and we went to dinner. We had a big round table which had a turn
table on it so we could all be able to talk and enjoy everyone’s company. When we finished eating they presented us
with another book with letters from them and our children. It also has many memorable pictures in
it. Then Elder Wayas had made us a
couple of mementos. One was out of
shells and sand from Laura Beach, and the other one had our Mission logo on it
also with shells and sand from Laura beach.
We thank them from the bottom of our hearts, we will treasure them
always.
Saturday, President and Sister Weir arrived. Their flight was a little early but luckily
we were there in time. We took them to
the Mission home to drop their luggage and then went to the office to show them
some things. They looked great and we
know they will give great service to this mission. We went to lunch and then had more
training. I’m sure they had a good night’s
sleep as we know how tired they were having come in on the early flight.
We attended a baptism in Delap that evening. It was a neat couple which is always the goal
for the missionaries. We need strong
Priesthood leaders who can carry this work forward and have strong families.
Sunday, we attended the Laura ward. We love this ward and Tom needed to interview
Elder Parente, he just recently returned from an outer Island-Jaluit. We had dinner (prepared by the senior
missionaries) with the Weirs and then attended the World wide Missionary Training;
it was marvelous and learned much about our responsibilities.
Monday, we felt pretty lost.
We went to get lunch and then down to the new Payless store to walk
through it. We ran into some of the missionaries
as it was a combined Preparation Day. We
then went back to the Hotel. We passed
the field where the missionaries were meeting and honked our last goodbye. Elder Wayas came and took our luggage in the
truck because there was so much it wouldn’t fit anywhere else! We then went over to the mission office and
talked with the seniors while we waited for the time to go to the airport. We have been there so many times, but of
course, this time was more permanent. The seniors all came and President and Sister Weir drove us over. Ann came and gave us some beautiful fresh flower lei and head lei. Our Assistants also came along with Elder Duford who was going to be transferred to Ebeye. President Zedhkeia, also Rafi our physical facility manager.
The tears flowed freely as we said goodbye. There was a beautiful sunset that night, something I love to see. We boarded the plane and wished it was not dark so that we could see Majuro better. We could see the lights however and flew past the Rita end.
We had mixed feelings because of course we were sad to leave but also excited to see our family and spend time with them. They were all at the airport when we landed an hour late. The girls all had their dresses (guams) on and their hair in buns with their flower we had sent before. Drew and Cathie, Shirlee and Kurt and Marj Grahams also came. On the way home on Bangeter Highway they told us to look at the overpass at 4100 South- they had put two hearts and "Iakwe" in the middle. Then as we arrived home they had balloons and a sign on the garage door and some writing on the front window all welcoming us home. We had cake and ice-cream with them all and enjoyed spending some time together.