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.