Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, Sister Bernie Fejeren met us at the Church with a fragrant lei and a wmaremare that she had made for me.  It made me feel so special all day.  I also smelled soooo good!   Here we are at her house after Church.  She comes to the Institue class that Elder Jones and I teach after the block and then goes  missionary teaching with us before we finally finish up the Sabbath Day meetings together. 

In the evening, the missionaries came to our house for dinner and song practice for an upcoming Missionary Fireside.  They had made this big Mother's Day card with pictures of many of our activites together inside. 

It was truly a special and memorable day. 

Missionaries are:  kneeling, Elder Mafi, l-r Elder Lapyerouse, Elder and Sister Jones, Sister Piukala, Sister Tuitulo'a, Elder Roco, in the back is Elder Cook.  

Flame Trees of Saipan

Each May the flametrees of Saipan begin to bloom. I would have to say that these are the most colorful and beautiful trees I have ever seen. They are a bright orange color and they fill up the entire tree. Beach Road and other main thoroughfares are lined with flametrees. They even have a Flametree Festival each March to celebrate the blooming of the trees. Notice the little restaurant in the 2nd picture down. That is Truongs, a Vietnamese place and one of our favorite places to eat. Also notice the kingfisher bird in the flame tree at the bottom. We hear the shriek of the kingfisher all over the island.

Mt Tapochou

Mt. Tapochou is the highest point in Saipan. It has a marvelous view of the entire island and the vistas of the Ocean all around. It was a strategic point in the war as the Japanese made it a fortress because these vistas provided views of any military movements in the sea and at the airport below. Emperor Hirohito of Japan declared that Saipan must not fall or Japan would be invaded by the Americans. After ten days of ferocious fighting Mt. Tapochou was taken by the Americans and the Japanese were driven to the north and the Battle of Saipan was over. Over 5,000 Americans lost their lives. One P Day we visited Mt. Tapochou with the Sisters Tuileto'a and Pakula and we met a busload of Japanese tourists who gave us little doll momentos which said Peace, Love and Brotherhood. Amazing what 60 years will do.

Sunset View Apartment

On May 21, 2012 we moved from Finisisu Terrace apartments to Sunset View Apartments.

Finisisu was a unique experience for us as we began our mission in Saipan. The high density housing contained mainly Filipino families and we were quickly immersed in the Filipino culture. We met many wonderful people who treated us with the greatest respect and almost reverence. We were invited to many family events and were often asked to give the prayers for their festivities. But it was noisy and congested. When the decision was made to renovate the neighboring building the noise was really too much to handle. One day we ran across Sunset View Apartments and we never looked back. It is in a great location, is very quiet and has a view to die for as you can see by the pictures taken from our balcony overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean to the west. Enjoy the view from our balcony.

Seminary Students vs the Missionaries

The missionaries were invited to an early morning Old Testament Scripture Mastery challenge with the Seminary students.  The Seminary students won. 

Marriages and Baptisms - In That Order

The missionaries were teaching two good people who wanted to be baptized.  Elders Cook and Meldrum had been teaching Ruben Luna, but he needed to be married to Estrella, his girlfriend and the mother of  Christian,  C.T.R. (his nickname) before he would be worthy for baptism.   Sisters Ika and Tuileto'a were teaching Eileen Joseph who had a beautiful family with her boyfriend, Moso. They  had three little girls; Micky, Lecka and Daedae.  Both Ruben and Eileen were taught by the missionaries with many lessons and Family Home Evenings to prepare them for the great days to follow:  their marriages and then their baptisms.  We hope we've captured some of the beauty of these events in some pictures we took.

These are Ruben's marriage, a tradition here is to pin money on the newly married couple as they dance the first dance at their wedding party.  We have seen no wedding gifts, just the pinned on dollars.   And a picture of us with Elders Meldrum and Cook following the baptism.

Mohokoi Finau Sunia and Eileen Tamon Joseph

      We were blessed to able to meet the Sisters at Eileen's home and teach her and Moso the Gospel a few times.  The home is small  with about three sisters and a couple of husbands/boyfriends and lots of their children living there with Grandma Vecenta.  On a dark night in the jungle, the home is not very well lit by electricity, but it was lit by the Spirit as we shared family home evenings and Priesthood blessings there.  Although we were going there to teach Eileen, many other family members sat and listened.  As we left one night, Elder Jones said to me, "many baptisms could come from that house."  We came to love Eileen so much as she looked to us with trust as we encouraged her to work on an eternal family.  We will never forget her! 

Passover Seder

What Church do you think we visited here for Passover?  Well, it is our Church in the RS/Font Room.  This is Sister Conner, the Seminary teacher with a well planned Passover Festival for the Seminary and Institute students to learn from.  Her husband leads the symbolic drinking of the grape juice.  The whole event was so authentically portrayed from the Old Testament with the exception of the wine; and no lamb's blood was smeared above the door posts at the Church.  We felt transported in time.  You would not believe how reverent a room full of teenagers were!

          Here we are with some of the students, Sister Conner, Sister Robinson and Bishop Esplin before the event began.