My first Few Days

Sabbaths here are similar to America. The church is small, smaller than I was expecting. Maybe about 20 other members besides the SMs. Most of that number are little kids too. Eynee, one of the Filippino SMs informed me that many of the members are part of other Sunday churches and will go to church on both sabbath and Sunday. There is no one to play music so they have computerized tracks of hymns on the piano that we sing to. Many songs during church were sang in their language. 

After church and lunch we had a plan to go to Savior High school. This high school is considered our rival and after seeing how nice it is I don't blame parents for taking their students out of our high school and putting them in the nicer one. The high school is on the completely other end of the island and because of the roads it took us probably an hour or more to get there. Every time I drive through the island and the "market" I am always amazed with how cluttered it is. Chuuk is a beautiful green island but many parts of the island I would never use the word beautiful to describe. Houses are made of metal sheets, paint jobs are always scratched up, there is trash everywhere, it is the rainy season so many homes are flooded aong with the roads, and there is graffiti EVERYWHERE. It is on the homes, cars, and anything that could possibly have space. There are junk cars everywhere too. There are many stray dogs and cats too. The cat below is one that hangs around our school and tries to steal food from our dog, Guapa (means beautiful in Philippino). Once again I always notice how everyone is outside just sitting, laying, or standing there. There is nothing to do and it is hot inside if you do not have air conditioning so I guess it makes sense.

This is the view from on top of the Savior high school roof. The school gounds are clean and are laid out along a large amount of land, not squished together like our school. The building was built by the Japanese during WWII and is bomb proof. The building was later redone and turned into a high school. Apparently during WWII an American bomber bombed the very roof I was standing on. Recently he came back to see the building he bombed and was shocked to see that it was not destroyed like he had thought. Instead it is a beautiful building. We had worship on top of the roof before we left, and once again I was asked to do a special music on the spot.  Regardless, it was very nice.

This is me and two other Philippino SMs. I am the tallest person/teacher there. Along with the whitest :D.

 I got to try snorkeling for the first time today. We cannot just go to the ocean and swim because many parts of it are too dirty. Instead there is a resort very close to our school where we can go. The resort is where all the white visitors come and stay. The building are very nice and all air conditioned. I wish the whole island could be as clean, uncluttered, and beautiful as this place was.

When snorkeling I got to see Nemo and Dorie! Otherwise it had rained recently so the water was not as clear as it normally would be. I really had to dive down deep to get a good look at things. Either way it was beautiful and sometime I really hope to see more sea animals ( the safe ones).

The first impression

As the island hopper took us from Hawaii to Majuro, Majuro to Ebeye, Ebeye to Pohnpei, Pohnpei to Chuuk I may or may not have started freaking out. Pohnpei was absolutely beautiful and as half the plane unloaded (Pohnpei gets the most SMs) I realized that I am now officially on my own. So I did the only thing a person can do, I journaled. Fortunately it worked and I decided that I have the choice to make this experience what I want it to be. This is what I wrote, 
               "This experience will be challenging but I will only grow stronger through it, it will be lonely but I will use the lonely times to grow closer to God, it will be exhausting but I will never use that as an excuse to stop being a witness, and it will be fun so I plan to live it up and learn as much as I can."
With that decided I got the first glimpses of the island I would spend the next ten months of my life and it is beautiful.

As we successfully made it through security and stepped foot outside the airport my first impression was simply that there were a lot of people everywhere who were doing nothing. The second was that I wasn't really being stared at. When I was in South Africa  in 2009 that's what I remember, being stared at for being the only white and blonde person there. Men would make kissing faces at me, tell me I was beautiful, and inform me that I could take them back to America if I married them. Their wooing was in vain, and I am glad that I will not have to deal with this same thing. 
    The trip to the school should have taken us 10 minutes top but the roads are terrible. I have never seen pot holes this size. On the way there what I saw was worn down medal homes, small hut shops, wild dogs running everywhere, broken down rusted cars overtaken by weeds (these were everywhere), and more people standing around doing absolutely nothing. About 3/4 the way there Pastor John abruptly turns into a drive way entrance upon seeing a man with what looks like a rock up ahead. Drinking is a big problem in Chuuk and it is apparently common for drunk men to throw rocks at you or your car. There are cars scattered around the island with spider wed window shields. Turns out the man did not have a rock, but the fact that Pastor John reacted so seriously made me realize how real this problem is. 

The school is cute. It doesn't have much open space because many classrooms are huddled on a small amount of property. What you see in the picture above is 1st and 2nd grade classrooms along with the office. Below is the high school classes where I will be teaching. The men in the picture are constructing two new classrooms that will be done in December. When we first arrived at the school, people took me into a room and promptly places a crown of flowers and a lai. They then had some younger kids perform a native dance for us. They gave us hugs as if they had known us forever and then took us up to Pastor John's apartment and fed us a HUGE meal. There are about 5 other Philippine female teachers and 2 male teachers here right now. We are expecting 3 more Friday. O and I tried fish for the first time, not sold on it yet.

After a long night of very needed sleep we made our way to the market the next day. Despite the huts that sell random goods on the side of the road there are a few impressive "grocery stores" here (some even have air conditioning). What makes grocery shopping here tricky is that although we have refrigerators in our apartment the power shuts off from 3 - 6 and then 10pm - 6am. So you want to get food that won't parish easily. Most things are very expensive and peanut butter is going to have to be a luxury. A loaf of Whole wheat bread runs around 7 dollars too. Once again I was impressed at how people didn't stare, although one drunk man informed me he would like to make me some whiskey sometime, I failed to inform him that I am not yet 21 :D. I was amazed to find out that none of the other SMs with me were interested in buying bananas, but they were kind enough to make a special stop for me to get some. I love bananas! I paid a dollar for 17 of them. This is one thing I can definitely get use to!

Once we got back from our trip to town it was time for the power to go off. So what do you do for three hours? Well I don't really know yet but I did have a great conversation with the other Philippine SMs. They are always asking me questions about the USA and many of them have the dream of working there someday. Somehow we got on the topic of state capitols in which they know much better than I do. The night ended with vespers in the church in which I was asked last minute to play guitar. There are so many things I'm going to have to work on to get use to!

Honolulu SM orientation

Honolulu is beautiful! However, I didn't get to see a whole lot of it. SM orientation for the islands is intense. We are literally in meeting from morning to night. All the information we have been given us has been super useful and interesting and I won't lie I am a bit overwhelmed. From what fish not to touch, clothes you can and cannot wear, to random unacceptable things such as pointing at rainbows (which I know I'm going to do. WHO DOESN'T POINT AT A RAINBOW!). Anyways, there are about 50 SMs going out to the islands this year. The popular islands are Majuro and Pohnpei, one of which has about 20 SMs going to it. My island has two including myself. There will be more SMs coming from the Philippines, however. 

Despite being in a classroom all day I did get to see a few amazing places on Hawaii. The first two mornings here they gave us the option to get up at 5:30 and either go to the beach or hike up Diamond Head (a nonactive volcano). The first morning I went to the beach. 
There were several surfers out already and the water was really warm. Although it took awhile to convince Kyle to get in the water for fear of sharks.......

 The next morning a group went to Diamond Head. This is a Volcano whose head actually blew off of it so its rather flat on the top. It was a beautiful hike where you could look out over the ocean, it was also a lot of stairs for 6 AM. Our SM coordinator who is like a thousand years old, however, jogged up the whole thing just for fun that morning.

We also visited the punchbowl Memorial and another beautiful lookout during lunch the last day.

One things that I really like that they have been saying to us here is that "God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called" I like that because I definitely do not feel qualified! They have also been talking about the first chapter in John when it says that " There was a man sent from God whose name was John. " They point out that it does not say he was sent by God but from God, and that's what we are as SMs.. sent FROM God. 

Over and over after they give us "talks" they will ask us, all the SMs, if they feel ready? or can you do this? Many people raise their hands and nod, but I can honestly say that I don't feel ready and I don't feel like I can do this. But I do know that i can do this with God's help and His help only.This of course goes back to my theme, "I CAN do all things through Christ who gives me strength." 

Random things I have learned at orientation.

1. It is a sign of honor when a girl gives her first born to her mother to no longer be her own child but the mothers.

2. Making the OK sign with your hand does not mean the same thing here as it does on the islands.

3. Also, neither does calling someone over by signaling them with your finger.

4. Clicking your tongue at the back of your mouth is like swearing in Chuuk.

5. The word for pants here also means prostitute.. ( I will be wearing skirts).

6. If you are seen walking alone or in a room alone with the opposite sex, you are assumed to be having sexual relations.

7. Canadians say the letter "Z" as "Zed" 

8. And yes, for some reason pointing at rainbows is a bad idea ( has something to do with with craft).