It's Hard to Say Goodbye

On Monday, June 13, 2011 we had our last zone conference with our mission president.  He has served for three years and will be returning home at the end of the month.  He came with his wife for our final zone conference with him.  It was rather emotional to realize this would be the last tine we would see them.  For us, getting to know him has been short, but oh so rewarding.  For the Elders it was so very hard and one of our Elders here was his assistant for 6 months.  We received excellent counsel and training during this final conference.  President Dowdle instructed us on a concept called the "Fourth Missionary" that was put together from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  It is based on the highest level of love of the Savior and service that one can give and to continue living your life doing the things that you have learned as a missionary.  Your testimonies will be strengthened and shared with others and you will find yourself consecrating your life to the Lord.  Because no one goes home from serving on a mission as the same person they were when they left, it should define us for the rest of our lives.

To go along with that we watched a talk given at the MTC by Elder Jeffery L. Holland which was so phenomenal.   It centered around how Preach My Gospel was brought about and how important it is for the missionary to be totally converted on a knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. I just wish that all of you could listen to this talk somehow since it was one of his most emotional and inspirational talks that we have ever heard.

 With the way that air travel is to the islands the President and his wife flew in on Monday afternoon and left Tuesday at noon.  Because of the time constraints we had to have zone conference first and then afterwards the District planned a program and food to honor President and Sister Dowdle.  With everything that needed to be done before hand the program did not get  going until 9:00 pm.  Both branches presented two different musical numbers and then both President and Sister Dowdle gave farewell remarks.  By the time we finished all of the program we did not start the dinner portion until almost 10:00 p.m.  Things run a little different out here on this island than how we are used to doing them at home.  It was a great farewell and the members have been blessed because of the leadership he has given to them.  How everyone will miss them!!

     All lined up to say goodbye

     The members sang a goodbye song in their native language that was so beautiful and touching.

A fond airport farewell!

S & I Closing Social

To end the school year we celebrated with a fun closing social.  We had planned on having a BBQ but due to the lack of meat on the island we had to fore go the BBQ and go to plan B.  We decided to have a pot luck instead for our plan B.  However, three of our teachers did not show up and I thought we would be limited on food, but it all turned out fine.  I ended up making a couple of pots of spaghetti and a large green salad (actually it was Chinese cabbage with some cucumbers).  There was plenty of rice and some hot dogs along with a few other local island dishes.  There was plenty of ice cream, donuts, and local banana pie, not at all like the banana pie we have at home, but very good. 

After eating everyone enjoyed playing volleyball, basketball, ping pong, and Uno.  We invited the Elders to come and eat with us and they were able to stay and enjoy some exciting volleyball games with the youth.  One of the sets of Elders are teaching a family whose daughter wants to join our seminary for next year.  We are excited about that and hope that we can get many others who would like to learn from next years curriculum of the Old Testament.  The pictures represent some of those in attendance participating in the games and activities.

Joab Mongkeya and Paul Nena, two of our seminary teachers for this year.