A (Sun)day in the Life

Now that you've learned what it's like at my host family (see last post if you missed it) I wanted to give you my Sunday morning walk-to-church tour! In Pohnpei, Sundays are for church. Most stores are closed except for one major grocery store and a few container stores. There are lots of churches in town, with many denominations represented, and the same is true all over the island. After church, most families rest at home. The long lost art of Sunday Sabbaths is alive and well here. 

Sunday mornings are quiet in the JV house, so I'm normally the only one up when I don my muumuu and leave the apartment around 8:45. I walk past the local parish, often admiring muumuus and fabrics as I pass the families just getting out of the Pohnpeian mass. After passing the church I walk down this gravel road

and turn left to go up toward the J-House. Sometimes I'll come to the J-House early if I'm doing a load of laundry to get it started, enjoy breakfast, then throw the clothes in the dryer before heading to the church I call home here - Pacific Mission Fellowship.

I walk straight down the gravel J-House driveway (the building on the left is the 8th grade classroom at PCS)

and turn right onto this road.

I keep walking on this road for about 5 minutes, passing INS (a grocery store) a few container stores, and some houses. There's some pig pens on one family's property, so I'm guaranteed a nice whiff of pig/feces, along with a few oinks, as I pass. The slabs of sidewalk aren't always sturdy (leaving you cement surfing to try to keep your balance if one end dips down), so sometimes I brave the sidewalks but other times just walk on the road.

Next comes a left turn onto this street below.

There's a nice church on the right hand side

and finally I come to the fork in the road. I take a  right at the fork, after first admiring Ferny Perman's sign to vote for him in the upcoming election. (Can you see it there amidst all the trees?) The elections are tomorrow for Congress and from the Congressmen they'll choose the President who'll serve for the next four years. The current Present has served two terms, so he's not eligible again. But I did see him at the doctor's office in January! So that was exciting. But anyways, after I make a right at the fork

there's a nice hill to walk up. 

It always gets my heart beating pretty good. By this point I normally have a thin layer of sweat all over my body, depending how bright the sun is, and am dreaming of the air con inside PMF.

And voila! Pacific Mission Fellowship. It kind of looks like a space station or observatory (I should have taken a picture closer up! It was a hot day and I was distracted by the desire to get inside as quick as possible).

Pacific Mission Fellowship (PMF) is a ministry of the larger organization called Pacific Mission Aviation (PMA). PMA has many ministries in islands all over Micronesia and the Philippines, including aviation services, a medical ship, orphanages, churches, and a radio station. The founders of PMA are the late Edmund Kalau and his wife Elizabeth, who were the first Protestant missionaries in Palau and Yap (another island in the Federated States of Micronesia). Edmund and Elizabeth had three children, one of whom went to Biola and is now the Pastor of PMF. Nob (the pastor) and Sylvia (his wife, born and raised in California, Chico State alum) have been incredibly welcoming to me. They've raised three children here in Pohnpei and it has been really great spending extra time at the church, whether that be coming by in the evening to workout at the women's workout group or staying after church to talk and play with their puppies (aptly named Moses and Pharaoh). Elizabeth (who most call Oma, because she and her husband are German and came over from Germany to be missionaries) is in her 80s and moved from Guam to live here with Nob and Sylvia about a year ago after her husband died. Oma often joins the ladies when we workout and does her own routine of kicks and punches.

I've never felt so welcomed by any church body in my life. And not just the first Sunday when I was new, but every single Sunday, I'm greeted with a rounds of smiles and handshakes and hugs and how are you's. People know by now that I don't have a car, so after the service they're always making sure I have a ride home or am ok walking. This church is an incredible group of believers that I am blessed to be a part of. Check out their website if you want to learn more about their ministries! 

http://www.pmapacific.org/index.php

The pictures below are from a church baptism a few weeks ago. We all met at Nihco Marine Park, hung out, watched some baptisms, and had a potluck.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday! And a million thank yous for reading this, supporting me, and being here with me in Micronesia. It makes all the difference. Here's to a new month, the end of third quarter, and lots of island fun!