g&j van

For family night we decided to be tourist and went to an island beach show Toatoa Tasi with the Schiele’s.  We loved it!   Dancing Chamorro Warriors, fire dancers and more.  The performers were amazing and they wore gorgeous costumes.  It was set on the beach,  the food was really good and that sunset!!! It was a fun family night.      _________________________________________________________ MLC was this week so we stayed late to meet with the missionaries and go over their gas logs and checkbooks. Elder Van likes this because he gets to find how they’re doing and what’s going on in the islands. It’s a great way to connect and it’s like a party they all catch up  with each other and share stories. ___________________________________________________________________________ Elder Bryant and Elder Christensen  The missionaries on Yap had a very amazing experience going to one ...

Monday night we went with Sister Naea & Sister Jenry to meet the Isa a young girl they were teaching.   They taught her about eternal marriage and we shared some of our thoughts and added our testimonies.  They asked her if she would like me to baptize her and she said yes! This Saturday! I am so happy to be a part of this wonderful day as she starts a new life being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.  A missionaries life is about helping people find peace, joy, and eternal life you do this by inviting them to come unto Jesus Christ.  We usually are in the office so it is great when we are asked to help teach. ___________________________________________________________ President Poston & Patriarch Gittens Office work here means you get to hang out with some very cool people.   By cool I mean hard working, compassionate people who do good continually. ________________________________________________...

Palau has been on Greg’s bucket list for years now and this week he was able to go.  He went to check out the missionaraires cars there but he definitely found time to dive.  It was an incredible dive!      Palau’s best known art form is the storyboard.  These are carvings on various lengths of wood sometimes can be shaped turtles, fish etc...  He stayed busy most of the time but while out to dinner he talked the owner into selling him the one on the wall :) ___________________________________________________________________________ I was sitting at my desk in walked this nice group of people.  ____________________________________________________________ One of my favorite things to do is to welcome  the new missionaries!  Sister Cadizal arrived this week she is from the Philippines.  She is little only 4’9” but she has a big bubblely personality. She is so excited to be here and we are so excited to have her i...

Instead of Conference Sunday it was Conference Monday... 2 am for us 😜 .  Since we are 16 hours ahead of Utah, Greg got up at 2 am and took notes for me.  Actually he only make it through a couple of talks and fell asleep again.  It was shown at church today with a potluck between sessions.  Social eating is a definitely a thing here, we eat lots of food together and it makes us happy.  We love listening to general conference we always feel uplifted and inspired. Elder Van Organized a Beach Clean-Up Day Trash on the local beaches is not uncommon in Guam. So Greg asked the missionaries if they would help clean up Tagachan beach (which happens to be the closest beach to our apartment🤗.  With yellow Helping Hands vest and black trash bags we worked picking up plastic bottles, papers, can and other litter from this beautiful place.   We collected more than enough trash to   filled up the back of the pick up truck. Greg planned the...

I flew to Rota to open up a new area with the missionaries. It started with getting them new bikes and accessories on Guam since resources are limited on the small island.  We worked together to get them in their new apartment, food on their shelves and needed supplies. It was really great to help with this new venture and I met some really nice people! I went with Elder Kallas who was there about a month ago to check it out.  Elder Duncan and Elder Deyro were very excited and maybe a little nervous about opening this ares.  Rota is 47 miles north of Guam it is 12 miles long and 4 miles wide.  The governor of Rota has two men who manicure the main road as a full-time job. They cut the grass, trim the plants and pick up any garbage on the ground. It’s a clean, quaint little island with about 3000 people. You can only get there on a nine passenger plane from Guam or Saipan.  There are only a handful of member and they are so happy to have the m...