What Christmas is Like Away
from Home!
We are so thankful to be on
this humble little island as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus
Christ. The people on the Island of
Pohnpei live so humbly. There are very few
lights or decorations. If there are
lights it is one strand. Only a few
businesses have decorations up and no advertising or any big sales to convince
you to buy. It has been such a wonderful
celebration of Christ’s birth and life here.
We had an incredible
Devotional Seminary class before the Christmas break! We had four Sisters and two Elders come help
us. Elder Chandler narrated from the
scriptures the birth of the Savior, the Sisters and Elders were the choir,
(with one Elder playing the keyboard) and Sister Chandler running the short video’s.
The Choir was so amazing. The Seminary
kids loved it so much, they clapped and clapped! We hang curtains up over the windows each
class to keep the jears and shouts of the outside world from coming into our
classroom. That morning, we purposely
left the curtains half way down, so the outside world could hear the choir, the
narrator, and watch the short video’s.
They were watching &
listening at every window along one side.
It was a wonderful picture. (Sorry we forgot our camera that day) Seeds were planted in many hearts inside and
outside the classroom that morning. We
had 37 students in class that day!
Heavenly Father is so at the helm in all this work!!
We travelled around the
island showing Polar Express to six branches and two groups. After eight showings and twenty one cake
mixes later, I think we can say, we know the entire dialog in the movie. The children loved it! So did the parents.
We then had an activity with
the Institute youth December 21st. What
fun we had playing games and celebrating the birth of the Savior. We laughed and laughed.
December 24th we
were blessed to feed 28 hungry missionaries a delicious Christmas dinner. We had ham, potatoes & gravy, green bean
casserole, snicker salad, frog -eye salad, green salad, fruit tray, rolls, 6
pies and 1 pumpkin dessert cake! We were
stuffed to say the least. I hope you
enjoy the pictures. We have included each
companionship and pictures of the evening we spent together.
It is tradition at Christmas time
after our dinner to go to a very poor part of town called Pohnrakied. They have amazing skills in handicrafts and
each Christmas the members in the area give a handicraft to every
missionary. We have grown so large in
size with 30 of us! But they love to
give of themselves to God’s servants on their tiny Island. They number each handicraft and they have
each missionary draw a number. Then you
are presented with the handicraft that matches your number. It was so fun!! We all loved it so much. This year the missionaries surprised them
with a skit about the birth of the Savior and singing. It was funny, touching, and beautiful. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Then there were the Christmas
phone calls home! How we loved watching
our twenty-eight amazing hard working Elders and Sisters have a touch of home with their families via Skype, Face-time,
or calling their families. Many happy
faces and red eyes were seen after their hour spent enjoying their family. We then fed them, loved them and sent them
back out to work!! What a tender
experience for us. We prayed so hard the
power would stay on and that the Internet would be working. Again, Heavenly Father is at the Helm of all
the work on this island.
The
best part of Christmas was Christmas Day, with baptisms all over the
island. One of our Seminary students was
baptized. (We have seven or eight more
taking discussions. We pray they will also have the Holy Ghost testify of the
truthfulness of the Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to their hearts). I think there were
12-14 baptized Christmas day. We were
able to attend 10 of those baptisms and have some pictures for you to
enjoy.
We continue to love our
mission, our calling with the youth, being Nono (Mother) and Papa on the island.
We are eternally grateful for one Christmas season in a lifetime humbly
celebrated on the beautiful Island of Pohnpei.
Love to All,
Elder and Sister Chandler
