Hello all,
I was reading a friends blog and she was writing about how she neglects telling about her everyday life because it has become ordinary to her and what may seem exciting to every one back home, is common place to her. This got me thinking about my sad little blog. I only seem to blog when something really cool or exciting happens. Life here in Palau has become so ordinary to me that I forget that most of you back home probably don’t have any idea what an ordinary day is like for me, or even much about the country in which I live. I know that when I hear about missionaries in other places I like to hear about everything they do because it helps me feel like I connect with them a little better. So now that my year is coming quickly to an end, I am going to start to try to explain (probably in a series of blogs) about what my life is actually like here in Palau. And possibly include some pictures too.

First of all, for those of you who don’t really know, Palau is a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, about 6 degrees north of the equator and somewhere between Guam and the Philippines.
Like I said, it is very small, although there are about 200 islands in the country. Most of the islands are uninhabited rock island, which are very beautiful and make great camping. The main islands are Babeldaub and Koror. Koror is financial capitol of Palau because that’s where the city (yes singular) is. Koror is connected to Babeldaub by a bridge. Babeldaub is a much larger island and less populated. It is divided into several small states. Palau Mission Academy (where I reside) is in Airai state, which is the first state after you cross the bridge. The national capitol is also on Babeldaub (although I don’t know how to spell it, which is pretty much the norm for me when it comes to Palauan words). At the south of Palau, are the islands of Angaur and Peliliu (this is where a battle happened during WWII). There is WWII artifacts everywhere here. Which is pretty cool (you know, since I’m a history nerd).

Palau is always hot (being that we are about 6 degrees off the equator, I believe). At first I didn’t think I would last all year with the heat and humidity, but after a month or so, I didn’t seem to notice any more. And now, I actually get a little chilly when it rains. It rains a lot here and the rain brings cool weather (of course all you unfortunate souls who are enduring a cold North American winter would probably think I had gone off my rocker for thinking this is cool weather). The rain is good though, besides cooling the island down a little, it also brings drinking water. We catch rainwater in huge tanks then filter it for drinking and cooking. We also use rainwater for laundry, and showering and such (when our rain tank run out we have to switch to river water and that comes out of the faucet brown).

Palau is a tropical island so there are lots of coconut trees and pretty flowers everywhere. My favorite flowers are the Plumarias, which come in a variety of colors (I really like the pink ones but the white are most common). There are lots of bananas and papayas here too, and betel nut… lots of betel nut. Everyone chews here. It’s such a disgusting habit. In case you don’t know what betel nut is, I will explain as well as I can. Betel nut grows on tall skinny trees (they kind of look like palm trees with shorter branches). People here pick the betel nut and then put it with some powder, which I believe is made from lime stone. And then they wrap it in a leaf and chew it. This combination produces the effect of getting high. Some people also put cigarettes with it and the tobacco adds to the high, I think. Any way, the betel nut produces red juice that stains their teeth and is spit out. There are betel nut stains all over the ground, so we have to watch where we step.

So that’s probably enough about the country for now. I have more blogs to come...soon I hope.

Angaur

Hi everyone,
I have been pretty busy the last couple days because our third quarter ended, so I am just getting around to blogging about last weekend.

First weekend of March, a few of us went to the island of Angaur (one of Palau's southern islands) to do some ground work for an evangelistic series that will be held there during spring break. Angaur is a very small and beautiful island. It is much more remote than Babledaub (where I live) and Koror. There are about 200 people that live on the island and it has a much more laid back atmosphere than Koror (Koror is very Americanized).

We left Koror, just after noon on friday and after a very long four hour ferry ride, we finally arrived at our destination. We were all so glad to get off the boat. Friday afternoon we took a walk on the beach and watched the sunset go down over the ocean. It was so beautiful! After we returned to the center (where we were staying) we had worship to bring in the sabbath. It was just the six of us missionaries and Felix (one of the three baptized Seventh-day Adventists on the island). That first night I felt so at peace. It was as if all of my stress, worries, and problems were an ocean away.

Saturday morning was very relaxed. I woke up early but just laid there and listened to the rain. It was very relaxing. After every one finally got moving, we had sabbath school. It was a small group but it was nice. Between sabbath school and church, we split into groups and walked around the island talking to people and inviting them to church. The people were so nice and several of them came back with us. And while we were visiting the homes, we saw baby turtles!
The people on Angaur catch baby sea turtles and raise them for food. They were so cute and I got to hold one.

Saturday afternoon was very chill. We just talked and took a nap. After the sun wasn't so hot, we got up and went to walk around the island again. This time we took papers about the up coming meetings and invited people to come. We also asked if they would like a bible study but most people didn't. My group was only girls and we had a kind of scary incident with a very drunk guy following us on a scooter. He was so drunk he couldn't even drive it straight, so he probably wasn't much of a threat but it made us nervous. Thankfully the people were all very nice and one lady offered to walk us back to the center and she told him to leave us alone.

Saturday night, someone came up with the brilliant idea of swimming in the dark. So we walked down to the beach and started to walk into the water. But it was so dark because it was over cast and rainy and we couldn't see anything. Every dark spot in the water looked ominous and we started to get scared as we inched forward into the water. Huddled in our small group, the dark unknown didn't seem quite as scary. Finally, one of the girls had a great idea. And decided to go back to the beach where she had left her head lamp. Now, armed with a head lamp, Jessica became our fearless leader. We followed her through the water trusting that with that light she could see where we were stepping. The light didn't light up the whole ocean, but it lit enough that we could see where to take our next step. Which is a pretty awesome object lesson, right? In life we can't always see where we are going, but as long as we trust in Jesus and follow him, he will show us where our next step needs to be.

Sunday brought packing, the boat was scheduled to leave at noon again and we couldn't miss it.
But before we left, one of the locals drove us around the island. The whole trip I had been sad because I had not seen a monkey (since Angaur is the only island with monkeys) but on this drive around the island, I saw a wild monkey run across the road. It was pretty cool.

After another very long boat ride, we were all very happy to be back home. And now, our third quarter is finished and spring break is only a couple days away. It's hard to believe that in just over 2 months I'll be on a plane home. Time is so strange here. Days pass quickly and before I know it, the week is gone, but when I look back, my trip to Angaur seems ages ago instead of just a week.

Pictures coming soon.