thursday april 7, 2011 - experiences!

us hula girls at the wedding-my mom-in- law, my mom,my aunt kin & my aunt mim

mt. haleakala sunrise in maui!

danicing at our 3rd reception in guam

rehearsal

my whole family

the bridal party - janeiyah (josh's niece),alashia, me,josh, jo (josh's cuz) & his wife rizza 

maui

our beautiful flower girl janeiyah

Hafa adai!  (That’s Guam’s hello)

 So this weekend was the beginning of our zone visit from a brother in bethel in New York. Sunday we met at the university’s field house (where they now hold all the assemblies and conventions).  To start it off they had a nice talk/interview conducted by Brother Bowman (one of the branch overseers here), letting us know what exactly is going on in the islands in Micronesia and how it is all progressing.

We currently have 26 missionaries – the number being reduced from 50 since the congregations are up and running. So to assist them we have 12 special pioneers and 88 need greaters. Some of these need greaters are on Guam. The special pioneers and need greaters are helping further train those in the growing congregations and also help in the ministry work.

 There are 6 languages in Micronesia that is being translated, now all on their respective islands.  The feedback that is coming in from the translation shows how grateful the people are that the literature is available in their language and showing us how much there is a need for it. For example, a sister wrote in about an article that was published in her language about incest and it included how to talk with your family about the topic . This is something that is a problem but no publication has ever published anything on it. This sister was able to explain to her daughter about the matter, which served as a great protection since a cousin tried to rape her shortly after they had talked. But because the girl had been explained on what to do and how to talk about it, she was able to save herself.

In the field of construction in the islands, currently they are working on projects in ebeye (marshell islands), and chuuk. The locals have been given a great witness to the point that in ebeye they asked,” well why can’t we do that to our church?” The result – they tore down their church and that is as far as they have gotten, so stay tuned!

 They interviewed 3 brothers that are currently serving on 3 of the islands in different capacities. 

The first brother is Jeff, who is serving in chuuk in the ministry (I believe he is from the states). He said that you can really see the progress in the congregations, that the friends are really taking a stand for the truth. He gave an example of how the work is still going strong in the ministry. Jeff started a study with a young man, but one week when he went the young men had 9 friends with him. Thinking he might have to return another time, the young man surprised him and grabbed his books and started to lead him away to study in peace.  As they were walking away the group of friends told them to stay so they could hear what Jeff had to say. The study went very well. The following week, 7 of the 9 were there to join in the study again!  Currently 4 of the original 9 are regularly studying. The young man also had been sharing the magazines with his father, so he introduced his dad to Jeff and the father is also regularly studying with many questions. The father it turned out was the local chief and he was sharing what he was learning with the religious leaders in that village, who did not like it. But he continued to do so, asking why they were doing things that the bible clearly said you were not supposed to do. He has not let their responses deter him.

The second brother is Tony, who is serving in his home islands in the marshells as a translator.  Recently his translation team was moved back to marshells from Hawaii. This change has had many good benefits. For example, they have found that many words that they had used previously are not what is being spoken or written. Being back on the island they are able to ask the publishers, and those in their ministry, so that the translation is as accurate and easy to understand as possible.  They have been given the great blessing from the society of the network of translators around the world, so when they have a problem it might have been one another group had, making the answer easier to get.  One of his favorite experiences since being back was of a night at the meeting. It had been a long day and he was tired and had to pray to Jehovah to give him strength to get to the meeting. Upon arriving one of the little boys looked really excited and wanting to talk to him. So Tony went over to him and asked what was on his mind. The little boy handed him a quarter and said “my mom gave me this to put in the contribution box. But I want to give it to you, so you can buy some candy and become a better translator!” 

The third brother is Matt (who also I believe is from the states), is serving in construction –currently working on the project in ebeye.   Even the locals have been rearranging their schedules to be able to help work on the project. One sister changed to working the night shift so she could spend her days on the project. He said one of the biggest obstacles with the projects is getting supplies brought in. it tends to be very expensive. Being that they use a lot of concrete they need much sand and rock. They also had a problem of the young ones in the local congregation wanting to help so badly, but they did not want them on the site because of safety reasons. So they came up with a solution to benefit everyone. They took the young ones to the beach and had them fill the trucks with rock and sand. The young ones were so overjoyed with this that they would whisper during the meetings to make sure all are going to be there to help that weekend. So far they have done this 3 Saturdays in a row, each Saturday they have dug up 5 tons of sand!  Now if they had that sand brought in from off island it would have cost them $200.00 per ton of sand! These young ones don’t even realize how much a contribution their hard work is, but it certainly a blessing!

All 3 of these brothers really stressed how even though they have given up things for the sake of Jehovah’s service it has rewarded them some many times over.  Also you can see by the stories given that the growth is here as well as the need.  Both by their examples and the ones of the locals, really gives us something to think about what our attitude in Jehovah’s service is.

The talk from Brother Sinclair (who is I believe from Brooklyn bethel), spoke of what I just mentioned-our attitude. The theme was – Do we really need to live under God’s kingdom? He gave many examples of ones around the world who have displayed that they do, it was very encouraging! He also gave us 6 points or ways that we can show we are living under God’s kingdom. All left with smiles on their faces.

This month has been so full of activity, including so many especially couples joining the ranks to axillary pioneer. In our congregation (North Guam), there are many couples, some serving at bethel and a few that have moved here to help out. Since I left they have also rearranged the congregations so you are now able to get to know ones better that you may have only seen a few times.  For example this past Saturday Josh and I worked in service with a couple that serves at the branch as bethelites. When I was here before they were serving in the south congregation so I rarely saw them except at bethel.  In working in service with them we were able to really get to know them,  learning how they have been in Micronesia for 10 years, half of it being on 2 other islands – siapan and chuuk.  It’s fun to hear their experiences and learn from them. I look forward to spending more time with them.

I also this week got to work in service with a sister that is in translation in palau, I had met her when I was here before. She and another sister came for the zone visit which also included the missionary dinner for them.  It was nice to see ones on the other islands and find out how things are going, especially from young ones like them.

These next two weeks of activity are very busy but I look forward to sending more experiences. Also if there are more pictures you want to see, email me or look at my flickr account – sometimes it is hard to load a lot of pictures onto the blog. As for wedding pictures, we are in the process of getting those, so please be patient. Love to you all. Until next time.

Tuesday march 29, 2011

It’s official I’m a Guamanian again & legally Mrs. Cajudoy on paper! I got my license changed yesterday. We are for the most part settled in, just a bit of unpacking still for me since I’m getting a few boxes at a time. The only furniture we don’t have is a couch and a bed for the spare room. We were able to get most everything else we needed from friends that are unfortunately, having to leave the island – Jehovah provides.

Since we came back Thursday night we have been going non-stop. We wanted to get as much of the house in living order so we both could function, and then Saturday night they had a gathering for us! But is so good to be home!

Yesterday josh went back to work, so life as we will know it (for the most part) is beginning. I am looking for work, trying to finish on the house and get into a routine with service. For now I don’t have internet at the house so I won’t keep in touch as much as I would like, so please be patient. Oh and for those of you who would like wedding pictures please email us at jabbycajudoy2gmail.com.  I will post some on the blog but it will only let me do so many, as well as flikr.

I hope that all of you will try to keep in touch also, life’s crazy busy but it’s nice to hear what’s going on in the other side of the globe. 

Friday March 19, 2011 – Day 3 in Maui Hawaii

So arriving in Hawaii is great, it reminds me of Guam but better because the weather and scenery (more mountains-can see the other islands and more of a breeze). Since we landed we have been so busy but we have seen a lot and I have met a lot of josh’s family-which I guess is only the tip of the iceberg.

When we arrived Wednesday we went straight to grandma & grandpa’s for dinner-full Filipino food! Our place is like a mini apartment right on the beach. The view is so great, you can hear and see them at night-so relaxing.

Thursday we woke up at 3 am to head up to Mt. haleakala, which is 10,000 feet above sea level and the base is about an hour away from where we are staying. The key is to get up the mountain before the sun comes up and watch the fog rollout. We gathered in the van-Josh, me, dad, auntie, Daniel, Michael, Kaumo, Kaimi. At 6:25 a.m. it was time-the crowd gathered around the edge of the railing, all huddled in blankets against the blustering wind. It was 37 degrees not including the wind chill.  There is what used to be called a crater in the center that you can see the center of once the sun is up. Then if you drive just a short bit up you get to the top and you can see everything! This is by far the most amazing view I have ever seen in my life. You can see the entire island and across to the other islands around. As we drive back down, you go through the clouds on a very windy road with bikers making their way down beside you. I hear that the sunset is also great to see, but we don’t have time for that this trip.

We spend the rest of our time at Jo & Rizza’s, nice and relaxing.  We had a family dinner which also happened to be Rizza’s parent’s 32^nd anniversary!

This morning we got to sleep in and chill a bit. Josh took me up to meet the last auntie and show me where his house was that he lived in. We had a great breakfast at a place called Lulu’s. Met up with Jo, Michael & Daniel to go beach. The boys tried to body board but waves weren’t so good. The clouds were rolling in and it was kinda cool weather. The water was not what I expected but really nice. It makes you totally float and it was kinda cold.   It was fun to watch the mix of locals and vacationers on the beach. We saw people with those big canoes out in the water. 

For lunch we went to local place called Maui Brewing Company – so good, you gotta try! Everything we had was yummy. They brew their beer there and have a good variety. And for those of you who don’t or can’t drink, try their homemade root beer. 

A rest to prepare for the big gathering the family has put together for us, which also includes some local friends. So much fun!

March 12, 2010 – Early Morning

Wedding day it is! It all feels so surreal, like this is all for someone else and not me that all this change is happening to.

The moving and leaving everyone behind is what has hit me more, and it makes me sad. Stressing over all that and feeling like so much to do but can’t seem to process it all at once.

Sleep seems to escape me this week. Running all day long, not eating much has me weak and feeling so out of sorts.

I was going through some stuff and thinking how sentimental I really am. Yet in a strange way I also am not, I like to throw things out, trying to keep it as simple as possible.  For example this sounds odd, but I left most of my cd collection in Guam, which really bothers me. Sometimes I will hear a song on the radio and it will remind me- “Oh man! I have that cd, but not here.” It is all so sad and frustrating, and frankly pathetic.

So here is a list of all the things that I will miss when I leave:

·         My cat Lola. I have become very close to her, understanding her leave me alone demeanor and rather liking it

·         My parents always insisting on kissing me goodnight. Despite always fighting it as I got older, it is one of those things that becomes part of routine that you cant live without

·         My dad always waiting up for me-worrying about my safety, even though I lived on other side of globe alone

·         Target stores – they have the best clearance for those of us who like quality, style  and won’t pay more than  $5 for a shirt

·         Running errands for my mom (I never thought I would ever say that).which at this point they have helped me to keep my sanity since not owning a car.

·         Road trips. Living on an island that is only 30 miles long and 6 miles wide doesn’t exactly leave you will much time to drag out a road trip into. It takes about 2 hours max to go around the island –and that’s if you’re driving slow

HAWAII!

We made it to Maui and it's amazing! My suggestion to anyone wanting to go Hawaii, gotta come here. only been her two days but seen and done so much. I'm getting to meet all of Josh's family, and hang out with them. This morning we went up to the mountain to watch the sunrise-wicked cold but one of the most amazing views i have ever seen!
Once I have a free moment I will write more details to our experiences and add pics too!

married!

3 days married and heading to Hawaii! the wedding went off really well-smooth, thankfully. We will have pictures to follow when we get all of them together. Thank you to all that helped out, and especially to all those who have supported us through this stressful time.
It hasn't hit me yet totally that i'm not coming back to Florida after Hawaii, but don't worry i will miss you all soooo much. please all keep in touch, and we will try to do the same.
We have extra rooms so plenty of space for you to come visit-invitation is always open.
For now we sit and wait for our flight-man is it too early in the morning-so adiós and until my next though  post with pictures!)........

countdown is on!

10 days till the wedding! two weeks till i'm on a plane to Hawaii!!!!
 i can not wait. the week before the wedding and i'm cool and calm & slightly bored. this whole not working thing & having done all my preparations ahead of time makes it like that-i guess it's a good thing, at least that's what they say.at this point i'm just looking forward to Josh arriving-getting to see him face to face again is such a great thing.


but in the mean time i don't like the whole having to wait to leave and say goodbye to people. i am so used to just leaving that you don't really say goodbye-it's much easier on everyone that way. as i always say-it's not goodbye, it's see you soon. this next week brings in my family and friends-nothing like an occasion to bring them all together-if only all the attention wasn't on me!


so my goal after we are home in Guam, is to write a weekly update here on the blog with pictures(if have any to support). many of you don't know what it is like here and i want to share with you why i love it so much. 
as such please leave your comments or email me with questions. i want to keep in contact with as many of you as possible.