Week 25 - Happy New Year! We're happy - January 2020

Well everyone, Happy New Year!

     And isn't it? It is a good life, and we are all going into 2020 hopefully happy. Now Resolutions, change, it's a good idea. Just follow through with the goals you set for this coming year and that is what will make them really good goals. Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, you can be happy.
     Recently I have had the "wonderful opportunity" I'll call it, to experience some strange things with my body. We call it IBS for now, but I can't enjoy food the way I used to. However! There will come a day when I will be eating food, and will really, really enjoy it ahhaha. So looking forward to that day and in the meantime, I'll be happy! I'm looking forward to continued experiences out here on my mission, and I hope you are all excited for the new experiences this next year can bring! - Elder George

Teaching Shaldon at Sister Stella's home. 

Sisters Messick and Sanchez have been teaching Justin and
Elder Christensen baptized him! Oh Happy Day!

Elder George sitting in a cut buoy with a pishka. Seems like
a great place to stop and take a break :)

Elder George lifting a fallen banana tree out of the road.

Elder Christensen slipped and fell in the mud. I
laughed pretty hard, but it is because he chose to
wear his crocks that day and they have no traction!

Abandoned and retired man-house

Surprise eclipse,
just happened in the middle of the day.

Reminded us of the Sacred Grove,
"I saw a pillar of light"

Beautiful Outpost behind a retired man's house.

So for the last month I've had a real struggle with food. 

Unfortunately when I eat my digestive system 

isn't cooperating, so let's say it hasn't been pretty.

At first I was just eating all the time 
and never felt full. I was so hungry I just 
carried the ice cream around with me.

    Then I started having trouble after I ate so
  I eat what I can even when I don't want it. 

They aren't sure what's wrong so I've been diagnosed with IBS.
(Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Some mornings, I want to get out of
bed by 6:30, but I feel so awful that I just curl up on the tile in
that blanket and sleep out in the main room.

Note from Mom: President and Sister Hicks are aware that Jacob is not well. They have a Senior Sister who is a nurse checking in on him and are monitoring his symptoms. If he were in the states he would be sent to an insta-care however Yap does not have such modern facilities so for now he says he is well enough and able to carry out his missionary responsibilities. Please keep him in your prayers.

Week 24 - Merry Christmas! Dec 25, 2019

Merry Christmas everyone!
Short and sweet, I got a package from my family and I love them they are so funny. I got a frisbee, which I haven't been able to throw in so long, and just throwing it...so simple, but it makes me so happy hahaha.
    I loved watching the Christ Child, and my Dad invited me to share something with my district. So I did! We watched the Christ Child during District Council, and then wrote "What I know" about Jesus Christ, and "How I feel" about Jesus Christ. And this makes up our testimonies. It was interesting to think of how little we really know about the Savior, and how much he knows about us. He understands me, but do I really understand him? I loved hearing from the other missionaries how they felt after the spiritual activity. One was really grateful to see how much she really does know about her Savior. And I love that. We can always learn more, but we do know simple truths that we can enjoy knowing.
     Christmas celebrations? We have some fun sock snowmen, Elder Santa Claus looked amazing, we sang the 12 days of Christmas missionary style (really liked that idea), and also played this game I call Best/Worst. So each of us wrote a title for our Best Christmas/Worst, and Best gift/worst gift for Christmas. then wrote 32 blanks on the chalkboard and we guess which missionary that one applies to... Needless to say, it was fun and incredibly hard hahaha. After each answer the missionary would explain their story. Christmas is awesome, enjoy it. love it.
Elder George

Santa came half way around the world! Who knew, he
speaks Yapese!

Our gingerbread contest, the first house won!

Elder Christensen and I felt pretty good about
our gingerbread hut.

Skinny Santa and his skinny helper

One of Santa's elves?

Elder Jones in disguise! The kids loved Santa.

Christmas came to Yap.

So happy! I made videos for my family so they
would know how much I love my Frisbee. 

One day I was talking to Elder Jones about those good ol rice socks and bags with beans that you
warm up in the microwave. The next time I come to the house, he and Elder Bataclan had made a
few... So I turned them into lil friends. They went on to make a snow man, and draw sunglasses
on another. I moved them around their house like the elf on the shelf. 

Closet thing to snowmen we have around here!

All the languages of the Micronesia Guam Mission

Week 23 - This Language! - Dec 15th, 2019

     What I wanted to share with you this week is that this Yapese language can be a challenge for several reasons. First, you can't HAVE something. It can be near you, or yours but for example you can't "Have a good day" or ask 'Have you ever been to ___"?  Has, Had, Have don't exist. You also can't REMEMBER. They have a word for forget, and you can say Dam Patelin, or don't forget but you can't remember. I learned it is because the culture here is very negative, so they never tell someone to do or have something. They tell them not to. So "Don't work hard" means work hard. Other useful words that don't exist : Virtue, plan, prepare, use, remember, have, has, had, do, burn, cousin. Some words mean the same thing. Beat/kill - lii' .... If you ask someone how they feel they won't understand. So instead, ask them what they think and they will tell you how they feel... CAUSE THAT MAKES SENSE😕  Honestly this place is awesome and so are the people, it is just fun to share why this language is so hard to learn. It is hard to describe gospel topics because they use older Yapese words that aren't easily recognized.
     Our miracle for this week. Danny boy is on date to be baptized, walked all the way to church with us and stayed with us for the whole block, not just sacrament. He wants to serve a mission after he graduates college. He truly wants to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We love him he is so awesome. Have a great week everyone! Elder George

This is what learning a language with no manual on a remote island looks like.

The Yapese language is very guttural

Tricky to teach when so many words we use don't exist

Elder Christensen has reached his one year mark. 

Title of Liberty to celebrate 1 year of dedicated service.

It seems that I have the opportunity to speak almost
every week so this great idea came to me.... When asked
I said yes, but then gave Sister Messick the opportunity
instead. You might say she was surprised but did a great job.

The Armor of God - Fight the good fight!

Sister Lily's daughter, in a homemade cradle/swing.

Week 22 - Oh Danny Boy Dec-8-19

     A week of Miracles! I worked with Elder Jones this week and I just wanted to share some of our teaching experiences this week. Full letter is in my email
     My last story is about a college student here on Yap and he goes by Danny Boy. We had never met him but the Facebook team had referred him to us. So we decided yesterday to go see him. . . As we were driving there the song "Danny Boy" came on in our car and it is on shuffle so we look at each other and know it is gonna be good. He is Chuukese and I got to teach part of the lesson in Chuukese that I learned on Guam which was awesome and he is really prepared for the Gospel. After the lesson was over he says "I'm gonna go tell my friends on Guam (over Facebook) how awesome that was!" 
     There are some truly amazing people in the world. I love sharing the Gospel with them and see them change. The Gospel is true and I know it. Gag bey yog a pinn'ey u dakean, Fithingan Fakam Yesus Kristus Arragon. Elder George

Friend or Food! We saw him on the road, I jumped out of the car 
and put my feet on his claws and Elder Jones got him by the back 
of the head. Then we put him in a box in the trunk and getting him

out was exciting. After that adventure we put on a pot of boiling

water and told him he got to go hot tubbing... Then we ate him!

Elder Jones peeling some of the smallest bananas he has ever seen.

 Sweetest pineapple ever and we even might plant it.

Service with a Smile! Saturdays here on Yap are cleaning days
so we helped clean this stone path.

Even time for some drawing...
Just finished.

Sitting out near the tree where we taught Robert.
"If you never get out of the boat and swim, things aren't going to get better."

Robert shared with us some faith and miracle stories. One day after fishing the engine of their boat died and they were far from shore and close to crashing on the reef. So they prayed. The boys said, 'Dad let's just keep trying to start the engine" and he says, "Look if you only stay in the boat, and never swim, things aren't gonna get better they'll only get worse." So the boys don't listen and try to start the engine and it breaks. So they tie ropes to the boat and to their backs and swim. Faith brings forth miracles. After hours of swimming and receiving strength to swim that great distance against the current they were rescued and brought to shore.

Week 21 - Thanksgiving and "Bring Me" 12-1-19

    Hello everyone! "Legends are Lessons" My quote is from the movie Brave if you didn't know.
This week I wanted to explain more about the culture. So a few legends that describe some things here on the island. They tell a story of how an eel was once cut in half and they buried the tail and the head. The tail sprung up a beetle-nut tree, and the head sprung up a coconut tree. Which explains why all coconuts have 2 eyes and a mouth. So we learn fun stories like this.
    The beetle-nut tree, beetle-nut is extremely common to chew on Yap. It is just everywhere, but when you chew it the little fruit is very addictive, it stains your teeth red and destroys the enamel. They put it with burned coral, which is like a lime powder to give it more flavor but it has the same effect as chewing tobacco. It is hard when we teach people the Word of Wisdom because beetle-nut is harmful to the body and they know that, but it is so readily available and cultural.
     My favorite legend though I heard from my friend Wakeen. He is really smart and he has told us one legend of the White Sails. Story time: "There is an island not from Yap that is but a few feet under the water. It was once an island and has since sunk. The people who lived there one day were met by these wise people. The wise people prophesied that one day soon ships with white sails would appear on the horizon, and they would have to make a decision. Do we stay or do we go? So the chiefs decided they would soon hold a council to make a decision. The day arrived that they were to meet to council and the wise people said, "look it is too late. See the sails?" And those people were left to their island and the wise people left. Not much later the island sunk beneath the waves and the people were lost."
     I like to think of it like the second coming. The prophets have warned us that we need to be ready, because it will hit us one day just like that. Will we be ready? or Not? I hope you all like the little legend, I may not have heard the full legend but this is what I learned from it. love you all, Elder George

Teaching with President Hicks, he used that little
dinosaur saying it looked like Elder George.

A clam and a lobster, and an Elder Christensen. 

Lunch made up of octopus, lobster and tarro. 
Sister Stella gave them to us.

What big teeth you have... all the better to eat you with says I.

Looking intently at the Copra (coconut shell when it is older) at Sister Stella's house.

While out friending, we came across a very confused tree.

As we continued friending we came to a dead end.  We found a really,
really Big Tree. Reminds me of the story of the man and the giving tree...

Human table, Elders being Elders on P-day

District meeting - and the Study continues.

Fridge overload, we glory in our abundance
for the Lord hath provided us with this fridge
of promise. In other words were not going hungry!

Spider friend made his web in the backseat of our
truck. He must have wanted to go friending too.

Sometimes we just don't understand everything and
it's okay. Like, "why is he driving with that door open"

What can I say, I just like petting the dogs while
sitting down, even though they might have fleas.

Teaching at night with a convenient lantern.
A little spooky.