Keyboards

At the MTC in October, I learned that senior missionaries could order keyboards through a grant set up to encourage teaching music lessons to interested church members.  Three young women in the Saipan Ward wanted to learn piano and once I could see they were serious about it, we were able to obtain 3 keyboards through this grant in June.  They were asked to commit their learning to the benefit of the Church and to help teach others in the future.  They are taught through a great Church music program which makes it easy for me to teach them and to learn more myself about music and piano playing.   We were so excited and they are all progressing nicely.  Christina Carulla on the left is a YW, Bianca Espinosa and Tori Cepada are in the SYA Institute class and have lessons before we have our Institute lessons each week. 

Piano Lessons

This is the first day of this particular piano class way back in March.  This is Andrea Aberas, her mom Regina,  JM Cruz and Sister Jones.  We loved this first class and have never stopped enjoying learning music together in a weekly class.  In fact, these girls are actually getting a piece ready to play in a recital this October we hope! 

They are such good students!!

A Couple of Days in Institute Class

We have such a great Adult Institute class every Sunday afternoon.  We love studying the scriptures with these good people.  Sometimes we even act them out!   Al Cabael is reading the part of Goliath in the first 2 pictures. 

The Youth in the Saipan Ward

This is after the Seminary and Institute graduation and honors night on June 3rd.   I stood by In Boom (right of me) for a picture and others gathered around.  l to r, Christina Carulla, Richard Defan, Sister Jones, Jun Ferejen, In Boom Choo, Ruth Defan, Jen Jen.  Harrison Smith also is behind the group picture.
In attendance at this occasion were the youth, their parents and leaders and other ward members, Bishop Esplin, and Brother Nicerio from Guam.   Dad was the keynote speaker and I had the privilege of introducing him.  :-)

Elder and Sister Jones with our 2 regular Wednesday Institute class attendees who were honored this night.  Bianca Espinosa in blue and Tori Cepada in white.  We have added piano classes on Wed. nights.  Both girls carry their keyboards which the Church is loaning them to the Church on Wed. nights and we study music and scriptures together every week. 

This is at Youth Conference on Friday, June 29th.  We taught 2 classes on "Eternal Marriage."  This is the first group that came to our class.

This is the second group.  They were all very respectful and responsive to our message.  We tried to make it fun as well as inspirational.  We heard from some later that it was just that.  Many of these kids have on the gray t shirts for the Conference that say "Arise and Shine Forth!"  That is exactly what these 30 or so LDS youth do on this island! 

Here is our table display, they liked the tennis rackets and that we play together sometimes for Missionary excercise.  They loved the wedding picture and the calendar of our family. 

A scene from the dance held in the courtyard at the Church on Friday night.  The young missionaries hung the lights from the mango tree for the dance earlier that day.

The famous "Dance Off !"  Last year for Youth Conference our youth went to Guam to join the rest of the Stake youth there, it was just when we arrived on our mission and heard endlessly about the "Dance Off" which the Saipan youth were the winners of!  At last we get to see what they were talking about. 
These kids are pretty amazing!  And we have learned to love and appreciate them all.
Of those being baptized in Saipan since we have been here, many of them have been youth.  Three of them, Ryan, Kimberlee and Jen Jen attended the Conference and on Sunday night at the last event, the Testimony Meeting, they each bore grateful testimonies for the Church and their new "family."

Forbidden Island

Forbidden Island is a small island of the coast of southeast Saipan. On P Day we went with the Elders and Sisters on a hike to the island. It involved a very difficult hike down the side of a cliff with only steady feet and an occasional rope to steady the climb. We did not go all the way down to the island because we knew from experience that what goes down must also go up and we were not sure about that commitment. We did sit on a ledge for about an hour overlooking the beautiful scenery and watching the ocean waves of the Pacific slam against the island and surrounding rocks. The area is a top attraction for snorkeling and scuba diving and is a resting place for sharks and large turtles.

Probably against the rules but the truck was the only vehicle capable of making the journey down the terrible road



Two intrepid missionaries about to make the descent

One intrepid missionary trying to decide

This is as far as we went. The view was gorgeous

The Saipan District Hikers

The final view of a great trek

The Bad Side

THE BAD SIDE
This blog sight has probably given the impression Saipan is an island of spectacular natural beauty and wonderful people. It is both. The natural jungle and seascapes are indeed spectacular and the cloud formations and sunsets are unparelled. The people are very humble yet courteous and friendly and loving. What the government and the economy has done to Saipan is equally spectular and almost criminal. This blog will provide some sights that show the dismal economic conditions and decay that is also part of the island. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Saipan was a vibrant and exciting place to live. Many US companies like Nike, Gap, Ralph Lauren, Levi Straus and others set up garment factories in Saipan where they could hire cheap labor and also put "made in the USA" on the labels as Saipan was a US protectorate in the Pacific. Jobs were abundent and paid at least the minimum wage for Saipan which was near $3.00 an hour. Saipan was also a major tourist destination for the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. Many wonderful hotels were built along with golf courses and an exciting new La Fiesta Mall. Then a couple of things happened. Government ignored criminal activity against tourists and tried to extort Japan Airlines who brought many people to Saipan. JAL discontinued service. The garment companies found cheaper labor in Malaysia, Phillipines and China and closed the factories. The economy has gone into a tailspin and has never recovered. The La Fiesta Mall closed as did several of the grand hotels. Unemployment soared and new building stopped. Today the decayed remains of the glory years still dot the landscape as an ugly reminder of when things were good. The decayed factories remain and the small barack type housing are spread throughout the island. All is not well in paradise.

                                     

The Finest Hotel in Saipan..The Palms Hotel......Now Empty and in Decay

Former Garment Factory

Garment Factory Remains

Another Former Garment Factory

The Remains of a Once Vibrant and Busy LA FIESTA MALL

La Fiesta Mall.....Gates to Nowhere

Lavish new airport hotel. Never finished. Now ghost of the runway

Some Missionary Doings in May

I (Sister Jones) love to put pictures in order in a scrap book.  But trying to do that on a blog is different.   The pictures don't go on in the order I tell them to.  So these are mixed up.  I wonder where these words will be when I push "enter...."  

Well the picture on top is at the paint ball house deep in the jungle on a dark night.  We are  teaching (l-r) Roly and Belle with Jie Jie Garrett - Jie Jie is the member who's husband died a few months ago.  We spent a lot of time with her then and now we enjoy her teaching with us as she translates the lessons into Tagalog. 

Next is Elders Mafi, Lapeyrouse and Roco relaxing for a few minutes after a District Meeting at the Church.  All of the Elders play the Uke and once in a whle they teach me a little.   I in turn teach a little piano while we are waiting for the meeting to start.  That is Elder Roco trying to find the right notes with  Elder L. watching.  Every time we walk into this room it seems someone wants a piano lesson!

At that same District Meeting we had "role playing."  Sister Piukula is trying to convince her investigator to come to church.  A few pictures down, Elder Mafi joins in because this investigator is pretty tough :-)

The next picture is the missionaries at our new apartment after carrying all our stuff up 3 flights of stairs.  The pizza is in the oven!

This next picture makes Sister Tuileto'a and I laugh now, but it wasn't very funny at the time.  Elder Jones had to drive the car wheels over the chain of this dog because he once bit Elder Jones - teeth marks in his pants - and he also bit Sister Ika's skirt when she was still here. 

Elder Cook is such a good teacher!  First in District Meeting and then in Gospel Principles class for investigators and missionaries. 

The last picture is Sister Jones with the Primary Board at Stake Training.  I am on call to help in the Primary.  l-r:  Amy Sario, Lou Valenzuela, Jie Jie, Bernie Fejeren, me, Diane Esplin, Lillian Tamayo, Sister Moran from the Stake - she came over from Guam - Frennie Fransico and Janell Robinson.