Sunday, July 24, 2011

Senior Couple Conference

Bishop and Sister Nicerio
It has been 6 months since our last couple's conference.  This conference was under the direction of our Seminary and Institute Coordinator for the Micronesia Guam Mission, Freddie Nicerio.  Each day was planned with presentations and instructions.  Since we just got a new mission president the end of June each of the different senior couples gave a presentation on their island, which told about the culture and traditions, the Church, missionary work, seminary and institute programs.  This was so interesting to all of us to learn about the culture of the different islands of Micronesia.  Many of them have the same challenges, but the culture and traditions are all a little different.   Each day we went to a different restaurant for lunch., Tony Roma's, a great Mexican eatery, and Joinus Tepanyaki.    We enjoyed the association with everyone, but also enjoyed eating some food we don't get the opportunity to eat on our islands. I think we all ate more than usual.  We had a great time playing games and laughing at the mission home on Monday for family home evening.  Eating homemade ice cream was an additional pleasure enjoyed by all.  We received so much good information on how to administer the seminary and institute program.  We also heard from President Mecham and his wife.  We are looking forward to serving with them.  They are from Salt Lake City and come with so much enthusiasm and excitement for missionary work.  We are so grateful for this chance to work together serving the Lord and helping to strengthen the members here in Micronesia.  Many more couples are needed throughout the world doing the same or different things.  President Monson has urged all of the senior members to seriously consider serving a mission and we hope that all of our friends will join us in this missionary effort because it is such an awesome experience.

This is all of us serving here in the Micronesia Guam Mission.  There are 9 couples and 1 sister who is our nurse, plus our S&I coordinator and minus our new mission president.






President and Sister Mecham
On the last day of our conference we went to visit some of the historical sites around Guam.  There are many great things to see including the World War II sites and ancient ruins.




These are called Latte Stones.  They were used by the native Chomorros as a pedestal type of foundation to their houses.  They used anywhere from 4 - 8 latte stones depending on how big their house was.



This tower was built after the manner of the Latte Stones and is at the Freedom complex.  We went up inside there and were able to look out over the shoreline of Guam.  It was a breathtaking view.










Here we are outside by one of the many            cannons found on the island.













Cannons, cannons, cannons.












  Next conference we hope to be able to see more of Guam and other sites of interest.  Guam has 180,000 people living there with two major U.S. military bases.  Much larger than our 6,000 population on Kosrae.  We have gotten used to driving around 25 miles per hour and everyone on Guam seems to be speeding.  Elder Wright was our designated driver and we had a fun time finding our way around.  Many laughs were had from the two other couples driving in the van with us.