Elder Hunter in Micronesia Guam: Enjoy these lovely photos

If you have been missing Chuuk you really should check out Elder Hunters blog.  It is so fun hearing how the well the elders are doing.  We love the Chuukese people and the elders that serve them very much.

Elder Hunter in Micronesia Guam: Enjoy these lovely photos: ...

Come to the Temple

  We are so very happy to share this post with you.  It has been a long wait for this group and a lot of preparation has been done for this day to come.  They have all overcome obstacles and now the time has come for them to be sealed as families for Time and All Eternity. In the Temple, members of the Church who make themselves eligible, can participate in the most exalted of the redeeming ordinances that have been revealed to mankind. A family can live together through eternity together and be as one like they are here on earth.

 The ordinances and ceremonies of the temple are simple. They are beautiful. They are sacred.

They are kept confidential lest they be given to those who are unprepared. Curiosity is not a preparation. Deep interest itself is not a preparation. Preparation for the ordinances includes preliminary steps: faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, worthiness, a maturity and dignity worthy of one who comes invited as a guest into the house of the Lord.

 We must be prepared before we go to the temple. We must be worthy before we go to the temple.

 There are restrictions and conditions set. They were established by the Lord and not by man. And, the Lord has every right and authority to direct the matters relating to the Temple be kept sacred and confidential.

We are naturally anxious about the unknown. We often become nervous over new experiences.
Be at peace. You are going to the Temple. You will have someone to assist you at every turn. You will be carefully guided—be at peace.

“Come to the Temple.” If not now, come soon. Pray fervently, set your lives in order, save whatever you can in hopes that that day may come. Start now, a sometimes very difficult and discouraging journey of repentance. The Temple transforms the individual and makes abundantly worthwhile any efforts made to get there. Keep your faith and your hope and determine that you will come that you will be worthy and that you will come to the Temple.  So come to the Temple, come and claim your blessings. It is a sacred work.
Thank You Freddy Nicerio for the pictures that you posted so we could repost them here.

Elder Hunter in Blog in Chuuk

We think it's fun to follow up on what is happening in Chuuk, how much things are growing and our Elders what are elders are up to ~ this is a link to Elder Hunter's blog he is currently serving in the Wichap Village his father's keeps the blog up and running.  Thanks Dad!

Elder Hunter in Micronesia Guam: FATHERS DAY: HAPPY FATHERS DAY, fathers day is actually a big deal all of the churches have parties and there is tons of food, that is probably why not...

Reporting our Mission

One month exactly on arriving home we reported to our homeward in Centerville, Utah.  It was such a wonderful day.  Our home teacher Bob & his wife, MariLynn Cook, let us hold our open house party at their home. We got to see some of our kids, grand kids, family members, friends and Chuuk missionary family members.

 We also were able to see a few of the elders we served with in Chuuk.

“Return with Honor,” can be applied to each one of us on our eternal path of progression. Having lived with our Heavenly Father and having come to earth, we must have determination to return with honor to our heavenly home.

Elder Blake Fisher, Elder Dixon Tiffany, Elder Doug Johnson, Elder Braydon Lapeyrouse, Elder Dallin Jones, Elder Matt Robertson, Brother Bob Cook (Our home teacher)

This is such a fun picture because our home teacher, Bob played such a significant part in getting us to church and building our testimonies again.  We will be forever grateful to him for being a worthy Priesthood holder so the Lord could work through him.  The Elders, WOW, it's hard to describe how we feel about them. We love them all so very much.  Being able to spend time with each of them and watching them grow, helped us grow our testimonies even stronger.  We are missing several other Elders that had prior commitments and couldn't make it but we want them to know how important they are to us and how much we love them also.

We want to thank these elders for singing our Mission Hymn in Chuukese it was beautiful.   

We honor the Lord by placing our faith and trust in Him: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5)

This couple Chad and Lynette Ellis are two of our favorite people.  Chad served his mission 26 years ago in Chuuk and returned in 2012 to do humanitarian work with his wife Lynette. We had the privilege of getting to know them and spend time together while they were in Chuuk.  It was some of our favorite missionary experiences with these two and we love them dearly and thank them for their friendship. They are an inspiring couple.

There were many spiritual events while we were in Chuuk.  We are grateful that the Lord sent us there to be a part of and touch the lives of so many dear and wonderful spirits. The memories we have of them are held in our hearts with love and reverence.

“And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God”
(2 Ne. 28:7–8). This is the deception of the world. As the Lord has taught us, wickedness—not even a little wickedness—never was happiness (see Alma 41:10). And it never will be. Wickedness prevents us from returning with honor to our Father in Heaven. The light of the Holy Ghost brings great comfort by giving us guidance to stay on the straight and narrow path.

We pray that each of us can go to our Heavenly Father and ask for His guidance, that we may be obedient and have His spirit to be with us. That we will remember who we are, be obedient to the commandments of the Lord, and return with honor.  We are thankful for the opportunity to serve the Chuukese people and the many wonderful people we have met along the way.  May God Bless you and be with all of you, always. Amen

We have no pictures of our families because they left early before it was time to relax

Going Home ...

We left our beautiful island on April 18, 2013 and headed for Guam, leaving our missionary sons and our many Chuukese friends.  We took several pictures, many hugs and boarded the plane with tears in our eyes.

 On our arrival in Guam we checked into the Marriott, did a little shopping and went to our mission presidents home for our final interview.

I guess we passed because we then went out to dinner together with the rest of the senior couples who serve in Guam.

We arrived Cedar City, Utah on April 19, 2012 greeted by our youngest son Brady and his wife Kimberly.

It was a long flight and we had been awake for 30 plus hours and still had many more to go.  We gathered up the luggage and headed to the restaurant for some real food.  We settled for Chili's.

These two were so good to us. They prepared a cooler full of things we couldn't get in Chuuk for the past 18 months.  It was loaded up. It had a veggie tray with all the fix'ins, 3 different cheeses to choose from, lunch meat, Milk, yogurt, Sister Tiffany's favorite candies, bread, crackers and of course ice.  They also brought us extra socks to keep Sister Tiffany's feet warm and an extra blanket and heating pad.  It was a little chilly arriving in Utah, but we will adjust. Utah is very beautiful in the spring.  

Things we are not going to miss about Chuuk - - - the heat, it never cools down and it is the same temperature all the time, morning and night.  Driving 2-5 miles per hour on bad muddy roads, the mold that grows because of all the moisture and the stores keeping our pennies.

Pennies are not important in Chuuk and the Chuukese people think it's funny that us

foreigners want our pennies. It was our suggestion that they donate all the pennies they steal from the customers and give it to the kids for a recreation center for the island.

Pennies like this you don't see anywhere in Chuuk. We payed higher prices for rent, food and gas. We needed to be penny wise for our own good. But the things we miss about Chuuk surpasses all that we won't. We will miss our Chuukese family and friends from Mwan, Mechitiw, Wichap, Sapuk and the outer islands of Romanum, Uman and Tonoas.

 The Chuukese people are some of the greatest people on the earth whom we have come to love dearly.  A more friendly and loving people never existed.

We will also miss our Trukstop and CWC family and friends. They helped us feel at home and part of the family.  They are amazing, wonderful people.

. Our hearts are also with the Akoyikoyi School in Penia.  

The swaying breezes at sunset and the beautiful azure sky and also the lap of the ripples of the lagoon. Oh and we will miss fresh coconuts and the hospitality of receiving them.  Nothing better than a fresh picked coconut while trampling through the jungles of Chuuk State.

We will also miss the sweet banana's, pineapples and many other fruits and the SuPeR (Elders favorite word) Cucumbers - they are always really fresh and sweet. One thing for sure Sister Tiffany will miss is Bernie's Cinnamon Rolls, she loves them especially when freshly baked.  They are not on the shelves for very long they are so tasty.
We must stop there cause we could be here all day now extolling the virtues of our home away from home.

We want to say to everyone that reads this blog. Chuuk is a beautiful place and the people are absolutely wonderful. We will be forever grateful for the love and special times we had while living in Chuuk State. The Wreck diving is amazing. The water is always nice and warm and beautiful. Sunsets are some of the most incredible scenes in the world.  The Chuukese people are great Christian people full of the Lords spirit. We love the Chuukese people with all our hearts and we vow to be back someday!  

Goodbye's are so hard

Today we had to say goodbye to many of our Chuukese family.

We have grown to love the people very much and we will carry our memories of them in our hearts forever.  Elder Tiffany worked on learning the Chuukese language from our Elders, Johnson, Meldrum, Butler, Allred and the many, many others who we love. They taught us both the rudiments of the Chuukese language. We learned together to put our feet on the proper path toward missionary service and we turned our heart toward God and his children. Our reward is wonderful relationships with many great people.

~ Us and our friend Clark ~
He's a mountain of a man in a small package
It is very hard to leave good and true friends.

 ~ Us with our ZL Elder Jones ~
He'll be returning back to the states in May and
we will be looking forward to seeing him.

Some of our favorite ladies whom we have come to love very much
Emylynn Walter, Oriko Ewar, Tasisana Walter - daughter Retoni, Us, Marsine Joseph

Us with great friends Riaton and Malinta Newyear and grand-daughter Tawnya

~ Our AWESOME Elders made us a goodbye card - which we cherish ~
We will miss and await their return to the states.

~ The group sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" as we went through the gate ~

As we press on and exercise our faith, we receive some of the most extraordinary spiritual sensations: a flow of confidence, courage and power to overcome, and a knowledge that God is with us and who can fail with God on your side - regardless of the nature of the problem or even the results.
This was by far the hardest day we have had. We thought one of our elders returning to the states was hard. The interpersonal relationships between missionaries are among the choicest blessings we receive as the result of missionary service. The friendships and the positive influence of one missionary upon the other are eternal. We love the Chuukese people very much and are grateful the Lord gave us the opportunity to serve them.

~ Us with Elder Sofele ~
he will return to the states at the end of this year. 

 ~ Chuuk Zone ~ Goodbye for now Elders!  Aua Tong Ngenikemi

As the wheels lift off of the pavement, the realization that your life is forever changed by these people and the time you spent with them and the special bonds you were able to forge. We're happy that maybe a small difference was made in their lives because of the momentous significance they made in our lives exceeds the hearts we carry them in.

We know God lives. We know that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, the leader of all humanity, and the measure of mankind. He is the King, our Counselor, and our Friend. He is worthy of our most pure and profound adoration and deserving of our very best efforts. As missionaries, we have served with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.

Home Sweet Home

This has been home to us in Chuuk, Micronesia, "The Truk Stop Hotel".  We have made many, many friends here at our little home by the sea and we have enjoyed a lot of great meals and conversations with our 

Truk Stop family.  

Bill and Christine (Kiki) Stinnett are the owners of the hotel along with their 2 daughters, keeping the place running smooooth as silk.This is the backside of the hotel with the new outside sitting area called the Mangroove Bar. We enjoyed many incredible sunsets from here.

Our favorite table for breakfast, lunch or dinner ~ doesn't matter, this was the best place in the house for us.
We're lobbying for a plaque to be put here, marking our spot.

This Augustine he is the cook - the one we really liked and trusted.  

Elder Tiffany meet him just about every morning out walking to work.  What a great guy!

 ~ Sister Tiffany with Kiki, what a great lady and a good friend she is ~

Cindy the dive master at the Truk, is an amazing woman, she was always very cheerful and had a lot of patience when Sister Tiffany went diving with her.

   A few of our Truk stop family ~ Selema, Shorty, Sister Tiffany, Elder Tiffany, Melba and Corky ~

 A few of the special ladies ~ Melba, Shorty and Corky ~

Shorty is a fun little lady who is always sweet, kind and helpful - yes, we are letting her sit at our table for the picture because we love her.  

~ Harry was always great to have around cause he helped us all the time, here with Cindy the Brit.~                

We had been at our branch party and when we arrived home, this group was out on the deck waiting to say goodbye.  Rob said if we showed this picture you would think they needed a lot more help here and send them more missionaries.  But they only want us to send friendly, fun missionaries...Sister Tiffany made cookies once a week for the group and they looked forward to them.  We know how to get into their hearts!

We will miss our Truk Stop family and we love them all dearly.  They were wonderful to us and we thanked each one for the love they showed towards us.  May God be with you always!

Goodbye Micronesia friends for now

We have worked with many elders and Chuukese people while Serving in Micronesia and it is hard to say goodbye to our Chuukese family and friends now, but know we will one day meet again.

Follow are emails about the blog --- that we wanted to share with you.  We learned early on that this blog wasn't about Elder and Sister Tiffany as much as it was about being serving a mission for the Lord in Chuuk Micronesia, serving with the young elders, serving the Chuukese people and learning of their culture.
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Elder and Sister Tiffany
My name is Trish, I am Andy Foss's wife. I have been managing the MG Mission site for him for some time now. I enjoy reading your blog so much. I did not serve a mission before I got married, (was in Mission Prep classes when I met my sweetheart) but through reading your blog, have strengthened my testimony of missionary work. Through your eyes, I have been able to catch a glimpse of what I have to look forward to later on.
Keep up the excellent missionary work (and the blog). When you meet with other couples from the mission, could you give them a nudge to start a blog as well. :) It is a great way for new missionaries to catch a glimpse of what is to come and for old ones to reminisce and renew their testimonies.
Sincerely
Trish Foss
MGM Admin
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Wow! Hope everything is fine in Tchuk or is it thuk. The time is moving on and it is definitely beginning the downward slop. We are both out about eleven months now. We have been transferred to CapeTown to do Public Affairs there, as we have a new paid Public Affairs Director in Johannesburg now. He was a mission president and now works for the church here. There is not enough room for all of us, so they asked us to go to Capetown and we are looking forward to going. Capetown is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We will still be traveling to some of the countries as part of our assignment, but we'll work with three stakes and three different areas of Western South Africa. They are East London, Port Elizabeth, and Capetown. This is a different mission, and a different take on Politics. The ruling party there is a white ruling class, and that will be far different than what we have been working with here in Johannesburg. We are busy putting in directional signs for churches in the Johannesburg area. The are 66 wards and branches, and we are trying to get approved about 40 of the churches with six signs per church. Many of the churches don't have addresses and most people here don't drive, and take mini-bus taxis to church each Sunday. When we ask a black person for directions to go somewhere it is useless, as none of them drive, so they know a three block radius and that is about it for directions. Hopefully we can get that project done before we go home. Hope things are going well. The Mission President in Capetown is from Fairbanks, and is named Wood. DO you know him? Enjoy the Pacific and the great people there.

Lon and Susan Roberts
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Elder and Sister Tiffany
We have been terrible friends, but I hope you know you have been in our prayers daily. We are enjoying our new ward, but trying to continue to go to FHE empty nesters. I teach R.S. and Kent and I serve together as "welfare specialists." We work with the Bishop and follow up his work with single sisters right now that need extra help. Kind of like inner city missionaries or extra home teachers. Some of the needs are developing a plan to get off church assistance, finding ways to juggle school and family, stop smoking, start paying tithing as part of a budget plan. Things like that. Most have no husbands, but the ones that do have inactive,  antagonistic ones. Some have problems with teenagers. Right now we have 5 to work with. We have 70 single sisters in the ward, mostly older but also lots of single moms. We just had single man baptized in our ward and a sister go through the temple for the first time. It is a very different experience than the old ward. We don't feel as old as the average age in the high priest group is 82. We can't believe you are getting close to the end of your mission and yet you have been gone a long time. We look forward to seeing you and hearing all about it. May the Lord continue to bless you as you bless others' lives. You have been such a great example to all of your family and friends. Love you, Wendy Bangerter
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Dear Elder and Sister Tiffany,
My name is Rebecca Sanchez Devenport; I served in the Mwan branch from May,1994 to March, 1995. Your blog was such a delightful discovery! What a blessing to read of the way the Lord continues to work miracles in Chuuk.
Thank you so much for posting about Raiton and Malinta. When I arrived in Chuuk, Raiton was officially our Branch President, but he had stopped coming to church, so a few weeks after I got there, a new Branch President was sustained. We tried to meet with Raiton and encourage him and the Elders probably did, too. It was not until one of our senior couples, the Walquists, made a concerted effort with Raiton and Malinta that they actually seemed to make progress. Raiton and Malinta seemed to be doing better when I was transferred back to Guam.
How wonderful to hear of their family, their work on the translation team and, now, of their temple recommends!
What a huge difference couple missionaries make. Thank you for serving and for setting a vital example to all of us who are preparing to serve, again.
Malinta and Raiton probably don't remember me, but please tell them that Sister Sanchez is very happy for them and is praying for them to have a safe and joyous trip to Manila.

Best of blessings,
Rebecca
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Hello Elder and Sister Tiffany!
I hadn't checked your blog for a while….and it sounds like you are coming close to the end of your mission!  You know, my first thought was: "Oh my goodness, how the people of Chuuk are going to miss them!  And my second thought was:  "Oh my goodness, the missionary moms are going to be DEVASTATED to not see frequent updates/photos of their missionaries!"  You have done an AMAZING job as missionaries and have truly jumped in with both feet and with your whole hearts---although I am proud of you for continuing to use utensils :)  I mean, you've got to stay healthy, right?!
So, let us know when you will be coming home (makes my heart ache because I know how sad I was to leave having only spent two weeks in Chuuk!) and when you will be speaking in church.  I am sure your kids are more than anxious to get you home and back into the role of Grandma and Grandpa (and you must be the most fun because you both seem much too young to be senior missionaries let alone grandparents!)
Life is good on the home front!  Our oldest son returned from his mission in February (best day ever!) and we are leaving as a family at the end of the week to spend our spring break in Oregon meeting the wonderful people our son was able to know and love on his mission.  Kids and callings are keeping us busy and out of trouble.  Lucky for you, winter will be mostly be behind us when you return (although last weekend brought us another snowstorm--luckily short-lived!)  I am afraid you would have frozen to death had you come home midwinter.  It was a COLD one this year!
My thoughts continually return to our sweet experience we were able to share with you both!  How blessed we are to have the gospel make the world a little smaller and our circle of friends/family a lot bigger! How blessed we are to be able to share the gospel in whatever capacity in every corner (and lagoon) of the earth.
Well done, Elder and Sister Tiffany!

Love you both!
Lynette
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Elder Tiffany loves his Missionary Sons!

The fields are white all ready to harvest: John 4:35

~ Crazy faces ~

Elders Pita, Sofele, Tiffany and Bowers

Elder Allen, I'll give you about an hour to cut that out.  Maybe two hours!!
Don't give up! Don't you quit!

~ Elders Kleven, Tiffany and Rainey ~

The look on these elders face of SURPRISE is priceless. 

~ Elder Allred and Tiffany ~

Our hearts are knit together in our efforts and our deeds.

“Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.

Always good to have Elder Peck close especially when slippin and slidin on Uman.
The servants of God shall go forth D&C 133:38;

Come on Elder Sofele, spit it out, you know were waiting to hear what you have to say.

We can't insist on our timetable when the Lord has his own.

 Such a serious face, Elder Johnson

 Boy Elder Jones is good at making birds out of tree leaf for Sister Tiffany
 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. 

 Come Elder Butler you can SMILE - show us you have teeth man!!!

Another day of hot and sweaty work finished with Elder Meldrum.

We've covered the island of Romanum Elders Sofele and Meldrum good job!

If you labor all your days and bring one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy. D&C 18:15

Aye, aye Captain where shall we go?

Elders Butler, Johnson and Tiffany

Faithful elders, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors D&C 138:57

This is only a few of our Elder sons we served with. “Coming to understand others and doing something to help them has changed our life.” Each and every one of these young men are strong and wonderful missionaries.  We have been blessed to serve with them and love them all dearly!