Feb 2-28, 2013

Wow the month of February is gone!  We arrived back in Majuro on February 5^th.  We attended Delap district meeting on Wed.  It was good and Elder Adam is the District leader there, he did a good job. 

Thank you for the Birthday wishes I had a good Birthday.  The senior sisters took me to lunch that day and gave me some pretty pillowcases.  I then attended zone leader training.  We are blessed to have good leaders who are striving to be good examples to the mission. We also attended a baptism in Delap that evening, a great way to end a Birthday.

Sunday we attended Ajeltake branch as President Inie would be leaving to go to Washington D. C.  He and his cute family will be living there for at least 3 years.  He will be working for the Marshallese ambassador.  He has been a wonderful branch President, he and his family will be missed greatly. 

The Bushes arrived on Monday and we went to lunch with all the seniors and then that evening we had a senior dinner at the mission home.  We enjoyed having them with us.  That Thursday Sister Cassita came to Majuro.  She will be the new nurse in Tarawa.  She will leave on the 27^th to go over to Tarawa.  We are very happy to have her join us and we know that she will take good care of our missionaries.  Elder Bradshaw was supposed to leave that day also but the Our airline did not fly so he will wait until it does fly again.

We were scheduled to fly to Ebeye with the Wayas’s on the 23^rd but United did not come from Hawaii.  We went to the airport and checked in our luggage.  They then told us that the flight was going to be delayed for a couple of hours.  When we called back in they said it had been cancelled so we had to go and get our luggage.  Just when we think we can trust the flights they get cancelled!

We attended Rita ward that Sunday.  They have a strong ward and very supportive members.  On Monday we went to the airport to see Inie’s leave.  We pray that they will enjoy their time in D. C.

We split up the zone conference this time.  On Tuesday we had the west zone in Ajeltake.  It was an inspiring conference.  Tom talked about Integrity and about our character and reputation.  Integrity is our foundation.  Our character is who we are when nobody is watching.  We need to do things that are Christ like.  How much more important our character, who we are as opposed to our reputation, what others think about us.  I talked about the hours of preparation in the morning before going out to teach.  If we don’t prepare ourselves by following the guidelines in the handbook then we are not going to be prepared to inspire and teach our investigators.  Elder Holland said “ show me what a missionary does in that period of time and I will tell you how his day will go, his week will go, his month will go, his year will go, his mission will go, how his life will go.  He believes that if a missionary is obedient and disciplined that those habits will follow him throughout his mission and his life.  We had a super lunch which was a huge taco, rice, and chips with homemade salsa.  The missionaries loved it!  Our seniors are always so helpful in feeding the missionaries; we couldn’t do it without them. Tom had interviews before and after the meeting.  On Wednesday he finished up the interviews for that zone.

Thursday we had the east zone conference.  We taught the same things as we did in the east zone conference.  Again the lunch was a big success.  The reason Tom sometimes splits zone conference up is to help promote participation and to have it more personable.  We had to wake up the east zone they were zombies at the beginning!

Kristy had her Birthday on the 22^nd and she said she had a fun day.  She brings a lot of sunshine to our family, we love you.  Also on the 22^nd we attended a baptism in Laura of four girls.  They have a font in the chapel but they are remodeling their church so the baptism was in the ocean.  It was so windy and rainy we were actually cold!  The ocean water was probably a lot warmer than the rain!  We then hurried to get to Delap to attend a wedding of a couple.  Bishop Inie married them and the bride is his daughter.  They had decorated the room and the sister missionaries had baked a couple of cakes for them.  His daughter’s husband will be baptized this Saturday and will complete another family.  It was great for her Dad to perform the wedding.

Elder Titus Kilma, a Marshallese Elder came to Majuro from Hawaii on his way home to Ebeye.  He had served in the Spokane Washington mission.  Tom released him and he went to Ebeye with us.  He is a great young man and he will be able to help the church grow in Ebeye.

Saturday we did get to go to Ebeye with the Wayas’s.  We were able to participate in a baptism Saturday evening.  It was a young mother who was baptized by her husband.  We love to see families be completed as her husband was already a member.  As they raise their family in the gospel they will be helping them to be active and strong members. 

Tom had interviews that evening.  Many were renewing Temple recommends and he interviewed the six missionaries there, and also some potential missionaries.

Sunday we all went to the three branches, which were very well attended.  Tom was asked to speak in one of the sacrament meetings.  The Morgan’s took good care of us and fed us all well. 

Monday we had a zone conference there.  We taught the same things and Sister Hogg also taught us, she did a great job.  We love to visit Ebeye and to feel of the great spirit of the members there.  In Tom’s spare time he also trained the new branch Presidencies and the district presidencies.

Tuesday evening we had Elder Bradshaw, Elder McOmie, Sisters Bulkley and Cassita over for dinner.  Sister Cassita and Elder Bradshaw were going to leave the next day to go to Tarawa but that flight was canceled.  Elder Fesola"i is now the other Assistant and we are excited to work with him.  Thank you Elder Bradshaw for your service in the Majuro side, he will finish his mission in Kiribati as a zone leader.  We needed to get Sister Cassita there before the Bonnemorts left so we sent her around the horn to get her there.  We hope Our Airline will fly the next scheduled flight so that Elder Bradshaw and Elder Bittrere can get to Tarawa.  When we saw Sister Cassita off a Marshallese missionary Brain Brain came in from the Philippines where he had served a Mission. Tom released him and he ate dinner with us and stayed overnight, He then headed to Ebeye where he is from.  Another great young man who will help strengthen the church there.

The next day the 28^th we received new missionaries on both sides of the mission.  In Kiribati we received eight new missionaries.  They are Elders Fa’oliu, Grover Memea, Ueantauu Raika Trussel, Ward, and Sister Telenoa.  Sister Telenoa is the first Sister on the right of me.  Elder's Grover and Ward are on outer ilands so we couldn't see them unfortunately. The Rasmussen’s a senior CES couple has also arrived in Tarawa.  In Majuro we received four new Elders Langrin, Ingalls Michelsen and Lutu.  They all were excited to get here and to practice what they learned in the MTC.  We will be skping with the missionaries in Tarawa on Monday. 

We are anxiously waiting for Jeff and Amanda to arrive here in Majuro.  They were supposed to arrive at 8:30 this morning but the plane has been delayed until 7:00 P. M.  We are just glad that it is coming!  We have talked with the new Mission President for the Marshall Islands mission they are President and Sister Weir.  We were able to skype with them and we can tell that they will be very special.  Of course we have known that our time is coming to a close but after hearing about the new President and wife is a little bitter sweet.  We are so excited to be with our family again, and at the same time will be very sad to leave the wonderful missionaries and people of this mission.  We feel like there is so much more we need to accomplish.  Each group of Missionaries that come to this mission seem even more prepared, as the training they are receiving is constantly being improved upon.  We love you all and so appreciate the blessings we have received as a family.  Love Mom &and Dad, Nana & Papa, President & Sister Shaw