Go ye into all the world

~ Our greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel ~

“Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Tonoas branch President Rambo Naka

“And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.” 

(D&C 68:8–9.)

We just love these young elders, we have so much fun with them, and as you can see they love the camera but most importantly they are such wonderful servants of the Lords.  

  Each and every missionary knows our great and most important duty is to preach the gospel.  

We bear testimony that the true church of Jesus Christ has been restored to earth by the Savior and other heavenly beings to the Prophet Joseph Smith.  We know that we have a living prophet today, Thomas S. Monson that leads and directs the church of Jesus Christ.  

Look @ Them

Can you say WOW!!! Look at all that incredible Priesthood power, this was such a beautiful sight to see on the Chuuk airport runaway. We had to get a picture to show all of you how great this was to see.  The people standing next to us said; do all those good looking guys belong to you?  And we proudly said Yes.

We will keep 6 of them here with us.  3 new elders in the field and their trainers. The others will go to other islands, such as Pohnpei and Kosrae with their trainers.

 It is such a wonderful blessing to have so many worthy young men entering the mission field.

~ Coming in through customs ~ Stop elders, let's get the Welcome to Chuuk picture! ~

President Spencer W. Kimball, who was then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, made the statement that, "Missionary work is the lifeblood of the Church". He also said that were it not for missionary work, the Church would wither and die on the vine. That statement doubtless applies as much to us as individuals and families as it does to the Church as a whole. A failure to utilize our endowments and fulfill our callings as the salt of the earth may indeed cause us to wither and die on the vine.

~ Elder Huppe and Elder Hunter will serve in the Wichap Village ~

~ Elder Peck and Elder Plocher will serve on the island of Uman ~

 ~ The Chuuk Zone is changing. What a good-looking group of Elders ~ “Missionary work isn’t the only thing we need to do in this big, wide, wonderful Church. But almost everything else we need to do depends on people first hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and coming into the faith. … With all that there is to do along the path to eternal life, we need a lot more missionaries opening that gate and helping people through it.” Jeffery R. Holland

We bear our own witness that missionary work truly is the lifeblood of the Church and that we have a divine commission to share the gospel with others both at home and abroad.  We know, nothing doubting, that this is the work of the Lord.  It is our great pleasure to serve with this dedicated group of fine young men.

A Few Funny Moments. . .

 A few fun shots of the Elders. . . it's great they know how to enjoy life.

 See what we mean. .  . these guys are great

Robert the shell guy.  

Robert is always selling shells and he is one of the many colorful folks here in Chuuk.

Friendship . . .

Us with KC ~ This young lady has quite the story, she is the only member of the church in her family. The family that raised her have become really good friends of ours.  We have had the great pleasure to spend time with KC and get to know her and love her. 

Chuukese people are generally very quiet and shy and that is normally how KC is.  Since she has been able to get to know us and spend time with us, she has opened up.  We have such a fun time together. True friendship strives for unity of purpose, will, desire, heart, and mind. There must be complete trust and transparency, with no hidden agendas. True friendship transcends love as the world understands it.  Sister Tiffany has told her she should come back to the states, go to school and prepare for a mission.  KC not only is beautiful on the outside she is beautiful on the inside.

Us with Brandy ~ Brandy is another one that has an interesting story.  Everyone really loves this kid, he has a sweet spirit. He was taught English by a Peace corp volunteer on the island of Ramonum.  He now lives with the District President and his family here on Weno.  Everyone really likes him because he tries hard in everything he does.  He is planning on putting his mission papers in when he turns 18 which will be in November of this year.  We are really excited and happy for Brandy.  He will make a terrific missionary.

Here we have Brandy, KC, Christine and Oriko ~ Oriko has been their teacher and a wonderful example to these young people.  She has taught them very well and they all love her dearly.
Charity and love for one another are best developed when one has a healthy sense of self-respect. Self-respect comes from obedience to the laws of God. Those with a strong sense of self-respect have a greater capacity to forget themselves and love others, this is what Oriko practices.

Here we have Marine Joseph holding her son Brady, Sister Tiffany, KC, Oriko and Neiryn.  Just a few of the special people to both of us.
What greater gift dost thou bestow, what greater goodness can we know, than Christlike friends, whose gentle ways, strengthen our faith, enrich our days.

The Chosen One. . .

We say goodbye to another good elder today ~ Elder Allen goes AP

 Elder Allen has been serving on the island of Tonoas and then recently in the Sapuk Branch. He is now leaving us and going to Guam to serve as the Assistant to the President. He will sorely be missed here.

In this picture Elder dons the power glasses and is joined by Elders Obray and Tiffany.  His countenance shines and his spirit is eager as he moves on to greater leadership and service.

~ Elder Jones Zone leader in the middle was the trainer of  these two fine Elders Allen and Elder Obray ~Location

We have really enjoyed serving with Elder Allen. This young missionary has many talents and will be a great AP. Although Chuuk is going to miss him, it will be a great opportunity working with the Mission President and serving the other missionaries throughout the Micronesia Guam Mission.

The Lord’s promise: “For them that honour me I will honour” (1 Samuel 2:30). None of us will honor our Heavenly Father and our Savior more than by serving as a devoted, compassionate missionary.

Building relationships that last forever!!!

We are so grateful for this opportunity to teach this adult class, to have heard such wonderful teaching and testimony from one another.  We always try and follow up a little from the previous class.  Let me fill you in on what's been happening.  We were talking about relationships between children and parents and how important it was to teach your children early so they have a strong foundation to build on.  When we teach we always use examples from our own lives and experiences.  After all, wouldn't it be only right to put aside our own egotism and pride and begin to open that blessed door of forgiveness to those with whom we teach especially to all of our own family? 

We are taught by the Prophets that we can have a strong family but we need to do our part.  Here is a list of what they advise us to do.  Pray together day & night,  Read and have scripture study together daily, and hold Family home evening.  Of course their are a few extra things added, love one another and serve one another. Basic staples, right?  That is where we are focusing right now. This teaching method is really fun to do.  You take 3 spoons, 3 cups and space them out spoon length.  Then you have to put the spoons together and lay them on the cups to make it strong enough to hold the scriptures and other books. Life eternal is to live in unity, in families, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Eternal life is only possible through the keys of the priesthood of God, which were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

This is Kinomy she was trying very hard, can I just move the cup?  Think outside the box ~ you can do!

Malinta I can do it, let me try ~  Each spoon represents one of the acts the prophets ask us to use to make a strong family, prayer, scriptures and family home evening.  Malinta got it and as always she was happy, happy.

In the end, we are taught happiness does not spring from perfection but from applying divine principles, even in small steps.

Our Adult class has been so much fun teaching and spending this precious time with everyone.  We now have only 3 weeks left here on the island.  We have had incredible experiences and have felt the love from  our Chuukese  family.  We need to build their faith that the Lord can transform them into a servant braver and stronger to continue teaching what you now see. 

We know the Lord makes His servants bold. We testify to you that God lives, Jesus is the Christ.

This Is How We Celebrate

Today is Elder Jones' 21st Birthday and we wanted to have our last dinner with the elders from Sapuk and Mechitiw from the other side of the island so we decided why not make it a birthday dinner/celebration for Elder Jones.  We don't want to over look the fact that Elder Walters' birthday was yesterday but he is serving on Romanum and we cannot celebrate with him, we can only send a text wishing him Happy Birthday!

~ Elder Jones ~ the birthday boy!

When the Master ministered among men, He called fishermen at Galilee to leave their nets and follow Him, declaring, “I will make you fishers of men.” The Lord extended those calls to humble men so that through them others would hear the truths of His gospel and come unto Him. These young Elders are such men.

All lined up and getting a plate of dinner ~ you might ask what do you feed 8 hard working young elders on a Sunday afternoon?  Well today, they are getting pot stickers and stir fry with crab and to cool down the stir fry which Sister Tiffany likes to make it hot, she is serving cool whip fruit salad.
 

 We may not have a big apartment but it is sufficient for serving 10 people.  

Even if we have to sit on the rug to enjoy our dinner.  This is Elder Allen ~ what a stud he is.  

He is currently serving in the Sapuk area with Elder Pita.  

A few of the guys are happy to sit at the table.  They eat dinner on the floor everyday and usually without utensils.  Here at the Tiffany home, we do use the utensils.  They actually really like that, it's a lot less messy.
We have here Elders Obray, Pita and McEwen.  Elders Obray and McEwen serve in the Mechitiw branch.

Sometimes standing and eating is necessary but trust us they didn't stand for long.  Even these fine Elders prefer sitting down.  These two Elders, Huppe and Rainey serve in the Wichap Branch together.  

Happy Birthday Elder Jones!!!!

Elder Tiffany was so clever ~ he gave Elder Jones a Reeses Peanut Butter pie that our son Brady mailed out here.  Turns out it is Elder Jones favorite.  ET put a candle in the middle and everyone sang Happy Birthday! He made a wish and yes he did it, one blow ~ sure hope his wish comes true.
 
Now with dinner and  dessert time over it's time for some fun. Elder Allen trying to learn the birthday boy 's game of choice. They start off with "Big Booty"  This game is a hoot and makes us all laugh big booty time.

 Here we go big booty, big booty, big booty... We will soon a post video so you can watch it take place.

 They are learning and watching ~ this game was so funny and oh the laughing, these guys are great!

They are posing for family back home here ~ they said this is a proof of life picture. They are all going strong. 

These Elders know their calling is from God. They prayed for His divine help, and they devote themselves wholeheartedly to His work.

Now it's time for a new game ~ We're not sure we know what it's called but it was fun. It might be called the name game. You write down names of people everyone should or might know.  You decide ahead of time how many and then put them in a bowl ~ split up into teams ~ We had on one side of the room ~ "The Macho men" ~ on the other side "The come and get it",  You're timed ONE MINUTE... First round --- you get to describe the name without saying it, Second round - you get one word to describe the name, Last round only actions.  This game was a crack up to watch.  Even funnier when someone didn't know the person written on the paper.

What is he doing?   After a while everyone was getting tired ~ but not ready to give up.

These two elders may be shy by nature. . .or not, Elders Rainey and McEwen  however they are very quiet.  I told them they couldn't be companions because who would talk?  Their answer was "look at them guys, they love talking so we just let em".  You gotta love our boys!

Today missionaries go forth two by two as appointed by the Lord, carrying that same message, with the same divine call to serve from our prophet of God. We know this is a divine calling for each of us and we are thankful for the opportunity to serve with such fine young men on such a beautiful island serving the Chuukese people.

I Am a Child of God

It has been wonderful teaching the primary boys this year. The moms have been amazed how well behaved their young sons are for me.  These boys love learning and I love sharing the gospel with them. The beautiful young lady in the bottom picture is KC, she is totally a sweetheart.  She does all the translation for me and it has been fun to watch her grow and learn and become really good at translation.

We had a small class of boys today and we finished up the baptism lessons.  They are showing the baptism lesson that each child colored and also their CTR rings that they received today.  We don't have anyway to laminate here in Chuuk, but we do have fat, clear packing tape.  Yup you got it, that's what I used.  

One must be resourceful when your on a tiny island.  After the boys finished coloring the papers I did the Chuukese laminate so they could take them home and hang them on the wall.  Because it is very humid here in Chuuk the paper just won't last any other way. I want these little boys to REMEMBER what they learned,  

after all they are the sons of a King and a child of God! 

These are just a few of my little angels who I have come to love very much.

KC with Mama Malinta