Sipwap chu fengen

We have blogged before about sending one of our Elders home and how it has been one of the hardest parts of our mission.  It is hard to not become attached to these fine young men.  The Lord truly has sent his best to Chuuk and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve with them.  Today we send our last elder home!  No one goes home now before us.

 This is Elder Allred, we love this Elder and are very thankful to have had the opportunity to work with him and get to know him.  It is a bitter sweet day for us. This is our last Elder that we will send out of Chuuk until we return back to the states.  We will have to tell the others goodbye for now but we know that the others will one day in the near future come back to the states and we will be able to hook up with them again there.

L-R President Wayne, Elders Tiffany, Allred, Pita, Vehikite, Johnson, (front Brandy)

Elder Johnson, Bowers, Huppe, Vehikite, Allred, Sealander, Allen, Rainy
front: Brandy (future Elder), Elder Jones, Pita, Walters and Peck
~Our Zone has changed but it is still strong~

Member Brandy came to tell him
how much he loved him and
 thank him for being a good friend.

Farewell for now Elder Allred

Branch President Billy from Uman
came to tell him he loved him and to
say Goodbye

Member Oriko Ewar said she could not let him go without thanking him and letting him know how much she loved and appreciated him. 

First before we write this part of the blog, we want to say we have never, nor will we ever eat dog for a meal.  But here and many other places in the world, eating dog is common and accepted. The consumption of dog meat can be part of a ceremonial ritual.
Oriko has one of the nicest dogs around and he has always been a very loyal dog.  So for her to offer the dog for a meal to honor Elder Allred is a sign of how much she loves him.  Elder Allred told her not to kill it, that he would just take his picture with the dog.  She of course said no, they were going to kill it and eat it with him.
We don't want anyone to get upset, sad or mad about this post because this is very common in many places in the world, not just Micronesia.  Well Elder Allred has had a lot of goodbye parties and truly he wouldn't have had time for another one.  Oriko insisted they were going to kill the dog, she expressed how much she loved Elder Allred.  She kept saying "I really love this Elder" so she called over her neighbor, Thompson to kill the dog.  Another side note here:  Oriko is a wonderful lady, one of the best women in the world we have blogged about before.  Okay, back to the story - - -The funny thing is when the neighbor tried to tie the dog down to kill it, this smart dog knew what he was going to do and jumped up and bit him, then ran away.  He did come back after a little while and then someone else tried to catch him and tie him up.  Again the dog jumped, bit him on the shoulder and ran away.
She finally gave up and said I guess I need to keep the dog, it just isn't supposed to happen.  We were all relieved but she was sad not to share the dog with Elder Allred. He did however get his picture with the dog.  When we get a copy of it we will post it later to prove to you that he is still alive, well and barking and Protecting Oriko and the family.

Oriko and Brandy

Could have been a real dog day afternoon.

Goodbye's are hard

The last of the Chuuk Zone thugs! Elder Allred will be missed but these great Elders will continue the work.