The Sky Isn't Falling, The Sky Isn't Falling...

In case you were wondering, the world won't end Dec 21, 2012. And I'm a pretty good source of this knowledge, as I am in Guam, the other side of the dateline from most of the word, and therefore already in the future. Indeed, Dec 21, 2012 came and went already where I am, and we are still here. Once again, Future Jared to the rescue...

The Barrigada Guam Stake...

If you are not familiar with the structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, than telling you that we now have a stake in Guam means nothing.

Let me break it down. We have two types of congregations, Branches and Wards. A group of Branches makes a District. A group of Wards makes a Stake. It's like the difference between a high school football team and the NFL. A high school team (District) has the same rules and basic game play as the NFL (Stake). But high schools have smaller fields, bleachers, and crowds. And the players are a bit less experienced; not quite ready for the big leagues.

After years of trying, the Guam District has been "upgraded" to the level of a Stake. One key difference is that a District is run by outside counsel, often from mainland US. In a Stake, the leadership is all locals. There are other blessings that come with the change, such as High Priests and Patriarchs, but I think you get the idea.

To make the transition from District to Stake, we had one of the 12 Apostles, Elder L. Tom Perry come to Guam. Some TV stations felt his visit was worth reporting. The best coverage is here:



Part of Elder Perry's visit included choosing the first Stake President. To help him choose the right person within a short time frame, a pre-screened list was prepared. On this list was all of the current local Branch and District leaders. I was on that list.

When my interview came I was a bit less nervous than I would have expected. Partly because I had already met Elder Perry. The day before, he was having connectivity issues with his iPad and cell phone. I was asked to fix both.

During my interview Friday night, Elder Perry saw on my biographical information sheet that I was serving as clerk. He expressed how valuable that position was. He didn't say in so many words, but he seemed to recommend I continue on as Stake Clerk to ease into the transition. I expected that.

The next morning (Saturday) I got a call just before noon. I was about to put Maia down for a nap and grab lunch with Anna when my phone rang. It was the mission president asking me to go to the mission office immediately. I figured they wanted to extend the call as Clerk to me in person. I wasn't expecting that, but was ok with it. They also asked me to bring Anna and Maia.

When we got there we all sat down together. Elder Perry, Elder Stevenson (of the Seventy) and the new soon-to-be-called Stake President. Elder Perry asked Anna if I was nice to her. She hesitated for a second and then answered in the affirmative. Then I was asked if I would accept my new stake calling. Of course, I accepted the call.

After the short meeting, Anna asked if she could get a picture with Elder Perry. We got two. One where Elder Perry is looking down at Maia. One where Anna is blinking. And on both, Maia is on the verge of crying. She missed her nap - I don't think she was afraid of Elder Perry.




After this we were whisked away to a meeting with Elder Perry. He gave us great advice for starting up a new Stake. After that, we had only a couple hours free. It would take us 45 minutes to an hour round trip to go home and come back, so we stayed at the chapel. I set up for the Stake Conference Adult Session that night. Then we had dinner together as a group. Despite skipping lunch, I strangely had no appetite. Then we attended the night session of conference. I got home after 10pm and was exhausted.

The next morning (Sunday) I again went to the chapel early to set things up. When the time came, Elder Stevenson had asked for a sustaining vote to create the new Barrigada Guam Stake. I had no idea it was put to vote. It was unanimous. Then he asked for the sustaining of Arthur Clark as Stake President. He'd been the previous District President and did a great job. No surprises there. Then it was time to sustain Tom Clark as 1st Counselor. He was also in the last District Presidency and not a surprise. Then they called for the 2nd Counselor...Jared W Bodine. It was like in the movies when someone says something audacious in a courtroom. There was a small flurry of quite whispers. Clearly, I was the dark horse.

So now, Guam begins its journey as the Church's newest Stake. When I spoke on Sunday, I related it to a time I was a Boy Scout in Arizona. We hiked into the Grand Canyon to a place called Havasupai. It was a brutal summer hike down. The first thing I did was get into my swimsuit and relax in the cool Colorado river at the bottom. It wasn't long before I realized that despite my victorious triumph at making camp, I was still at the bottom of the world's largest canyon. The true work of getting out lay ahead of me. We have become a Stake and now we must take our new small stake and develop it into a strength in the community.

I'm grateful for the opportunity we have here in Guam. I'm looking forward to the coming months and am grateful that I get to be here for this historic event. Everyone in Guam will have their role to play and I'm grateful for mine. Basically, I'm just grateful all around.

Here's to the Barrigada Guam Stake, the first of hopefully many in Guam.

Look At Me...

I think it is clear that I like being noticed. I care more about people reading my blog than most teenage girls. But that notoriety comes at a cost.

I've lived in Yigo for only 10 months. In that space of time, I've been asked to speak in my church's sacrament meeting 3 times. And its not like you think. I'm not the only white returned missionary here. I'm in a U.S. military branch. I should blend into the wallpaper here. But alas, my peacock personality just shines through. Cured be my affable aurora. I don't mind speaking in sacrament at all, but why can I get as many people in the congregation to visit my blog?

Would it be inappropriate to stand up, give out my URL to my talk and sit down? Two birds, one stone...

Baby (and Daddy's) First Blessing...

In the LDS faith, we have a custom of blessing a baby within the first few months of life. It's a ritual that probably most closely resembles a Christening. Only, we do have a full immersion baptism at age 8 and there's no water in the baby blessing.

The object of this blessing is to present the baby before the Lord, give him or her a name by which he/she will be known by the records of the church and an initial blessing. One of the interesting things about being a member of the LDS Church is that unlike most every other church, the lay members of the church can hold the Priesthood, or authority to act in the name of God.

Being a holder of the Priesthood, I had the privilege of performing the blessing. I've used the Priesthood many times before. And I've administered priesthood blessings more times than I can remember. But this is the first time I've done this particular ordinance and as this was not just a baby, but my baby, I was extra nervous. To add to the pressure, this blessing is done during sacrament meeting, before the entire congregation, and amplified through the sound system so that every throat clearing and oral nuance is articulated.

I followed the protocol just fine. When the time came to go "off script" and do the blessing as guided by the Spirit, I found my voice decided to wiggle and wobble beyond my control. And although I had some idea of what sort of things I would say, I found my mind a blank slate. I am pretty sure I repeated some things a few times. None the less, the blessing was completed appropriately.

It's not appropriate to take pictures or video in the chapel, so there's no record of what I said specifically. Although my sister, Lacey, did give us a handy baby book with LDS milestones included, such as baby blessing, which has some notes in it.

Part of the tradition is to have the baby in a white outfit. A dress for a girl, white suit for a boy. Since cameras are discouraged in the chapel, there's always a photo-op outside to follow. Since none of my family could make it for the blessing I had to post the pics online so everyone could see the baby in her white blessing dress which she'll likely only wear once. Here you go.














I'm sure you noticed Anna's mom in some of the pictures above. She is still with us, but leaving back to Vietnam soon. She doesn't speak more than 6 English words, but I think the experience and exposure to our faith has been positive.

So, I've completed my first baby blessing. And it was Maia's first blessing as well. I'm grateful that I was able to be the one to bless her. Like I mentioned above, it is unique to allow the general members of a religion to hold the priesthood. Although I've held that power for years and used it to bless others many times, it was something else to do so for my own child. That experience gave me a new appreciation for it. If only I could go back and do the blessing again with a little less vibrato in my voice...

Cradle to Grave...

As I mentioned in my last post, I had been working on funeral arrangements for a member of my branch. As of now, it is finally all over.

In the days leading up to the funeral of John N, the family who had lost an infant had a quiet and private funeral. Meanwhile, I was keeping busy with other members who were struggling with health. I visited two members in the hospital. One was hit by a car and still on a respirator when a missionary and myself gave him a blessing. The other was dealing with heart issues, a recent stroke, the loss of a limb due to diabetes and a failing liver. Luckily, as bad as these issues sound, I don't think there will be funerals for them.

After visiting these members I got an email from my mom. While on a vacation to Canada my dad got the balance on his medication wrong and coupled with the high elevation, he lost consciousness at the top of a mountain ski slope. It was a bit of a scare. My mom even tried mouth-to-mouth to keep my dad breathing.

My sister and I emailed back and forth about this to each other:

LaDawn: "That must have been a fun day for mom."
Jared: "Yeah. I think the worst part would have been the mouth to mouth..."
LaDawn: "I have a feeling she's used to it."
Jared: "Could you ever get used to that?"
LaDawn: "I meant her mouth on his."
Jared: "Yeah, so did I."

We were able to joke about this since my dad is ok now. As long as he takes it easy and watches his meds, he'll be fine.

Of course, in the midst of all of this, I was still planning the funeral for John N. I met with his daughter to show her my tentative rundown. Hymns were picked, speakers were chosen and details hashed out.

The morning of the funeral I got a call from the branch clerk, the one man left in the branch presidency who was helping me out. He was to play the CD (the funeral home didn't have a piano), act as chorister, and say the closing prayer at the funeral. His wife had gone into labor at 3am and was now possibly in need of a blood transfusion. Understandably, I excused him from the funeral.

I asked a few people in attendance to assist with the duties I had previously assigned to the clerk. After a few rejections I found enough willing people. Then I was made aware that the person I had speaking on the plan of salvation at the funeral was watching the other kids of the clerk while he was at the hospital with his wife. I feverishly typed away on my BlackBerry browser looking through LDS.org to find some good material. Just as I was about to announce myself as the next speaker, to my astonishment, the salvation speaker came in, thus saving me.

The funeral home was supposed to make arrangements to have a police escort for the funeral procession to the grave. I'm not sure if it was the funeral home or the police, but someone dropped the ball and we had no escort. Only 6 cars were in the procession after the first intersection. We had lost more than 2/3 of the line by the time we got to the burial plot. On the way, we passed another funeral procession that did have a police escort and a few members of our group ended up at someone else's burial.

Before long, and thanks to cell phones, we got the majority of the group together under a canopy and the casket out of the hearse. The funeral director then handed me a microphone. We have to actually be at the grave to dedicate it, so I had to think fast on what to do as I was not expecting all eyes on me once again. I opted to have a moment of silence. Most everybody there was not LDS so it made for a nice moment to those of any faith. Then the poll bearers took the casket to the grave where I dedicated a grave for the first time.

On the way back from the funeral Anna and I stopped by the hospital to visit the clerk and his wife. She was then doing better. There was something surreal about leaving a funeral and winding up at the hospital to visit a newborn and his mother.

Anna and I got home long enough to eat dinner and clean up before we went to the chapel for a baptism. I was planing on merely presiding as our Branch Mission Leader was conducting. I got a call five minutes before the baptism was to start informing me he would not be able to make it. I was now to conduct.

The baptism went smoothly and the Spirit was strong. When I made my closing remarks and welcomed the newly baptized into our branch I made note of what an unusual day it had been for me. A funeral, a birth and now, a baptism which symbolized the death and resurrection of Christ. His old life died in the water and he was born again before our eyes. Sometimes I can't stop welling up with tears when I bear my testimony and this was one of those times.

By the time I made it home that night I was physically and emotionally drained. In the back of my mind was the thought that I would also be the only member of the presidency in church the next day and would likely have an equally busy day.

Next week the branch president returns to island and in two weeks I leave for my super vacation to the U.S. and Costa Rica. The lows of the funeral and the highs of the baptism and child birth will fade. Life will roll on and everything will return to normal. But somehow, I know that no matter what happens now, the events of this past week will, even if subconsciously, forever affect my personal journey from cradle to grave.

Dealing With Death...

"I have a testimony that divorce is worse than death."
- John Ngringertrang

In my life I've been to only 3 funerals. The first was when I was very young. It was the funeral of my Grandfather on my Father's side. I don't remember a thing about it. I only know I went to it because we have a long standing story in my family about how my mom lost me at the funeral home and I wandered into the morgue. When they found me I was crying and shaking a dead body because I couldn't get them to wake up.

My second was the death of a good friend of mine. We were both 16 at the time. He developed brain cancer and it took him quickly.

The third was on my mission. A widow with no family passed away in a Ward I was serving in. We attend to act as Poll Bearers since she had no family present.

So, as you can tell, I've had limited experience with death. That is why I have felt quite inadequate this last week.

I have been the first councilor in my Branch Presidency for about 18 months now. I am fortunate to serve with a great branch president. But, he has been off island for the last month and has therefore left much of the care of the branch in my hands. The second councilor is also great, but he is also off island for a month. The branch is essentially under my care. If any of you know me, you know how scary of a thought that is.

Last week I got an email notifying me that a member of our branch, John Ngringertrang, had passed away. The family would like the branch presidency to arrange an LDS funeral service and grave dedication. *Gulp* I am currently trying to figure out exactly what an LDS funeral service consists of before the funeral this Saturday.

Two days after the initial email I get another about the death of an infant in our branch. This death comes as a result of a difficult labor. Again, I am in the position to be of council. The most difficult thing I've done in this calling was to visit the family. I have never lost a very close family member and I don't have any children. Empathy is hard to produce without having been in a similar situation. I prayed that I could find some way to comfort and assist them as I drove to their house.

I visited with them, offered my condolences, offered assistance and support, and left with a prayer. It sounds easy reading it back, but it was emotionally very straining. I understand more now than ever before what it means to "morn with those that morn."

There is nothing like dealing with death to make you aware of your own mortality.

Urim and ThumbTube...

So, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has now joined the ranks of YouTubers. Check out their new YouTube page. I think this is a good technological step forward for the Church to help get out uplifting and spiritual content on an increasingly sinful platform. At the same time, it also makes it seem like the Church is giving a big "thumbs up" to YouTube and perhaps it content, which can be quite unwholesome at times. I use YouTube for my videos, so obviously, it is not as if I have major problems with YouTube myself.

Debate aside, check out the Church's official YouTube page.

Green Tea and the LDS Church...

Hot Drinks... This is a never ending "hot topic" (pun intended). It seems that people out there really love their green tea. Well, I've had it, and I will take the soap box once again, dodging the fiery darts of some fellow members, and hope to lay to rest this debate.

Question: Is green tea against the Word of Wisdom for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

Answer: Yes. Justify, avoid, deflect or use any other means you deem necessary to try to make it acceptable in your head. But the fact remains that is is not permitted. You may choose to drink it; we never sacrifice agency. But you will not be following the guidelines of the church. Period.

I wrote a post earlier that mentioned this debate. The comments I got on it were mainly on the tea subject. Here is what I said and two comments from it:

"Anna was in Relief Society during a lesson on the word of wisdom. At one point they spoke about green tea. Suddenly a member of the RS raised her hand and said, "But I drink green tea every day. It's good for me." Kudos to the one Japanese sister who stood up and declared that green tea by any name was unequivocally against church policy. Many others in the room appeared to be on the fence. The tea drinking sister stood firm on her ground. Then to try to keep the atmosphere politically correct, some raised their hands and said something to the effect of, "Well, it may be good for you. And if it is, then that is OK. But that is something that you need to determine for yourself. But just don't preach that to others."

Anna came out of that meeting scratching her head and slightly puzzled. She said it seemed as if they had just successfully justified drinking green tea. Anna is Asian and from tea country. Had she been any less brilliant than she is, she could have walked away from there thinking it was acceptable to drink it. Had I been there, I would have stood up and let them know that any justification is not good enough. The Church is clear on this one. Anyone drinking it should not be taking the sacrament or be worthy of a temple recommend."

Comment:

"Having read your blog and paying special attention to your stance on 'green tea', I have to plainly say that it is exactly that: 'your stance'. Having been in a bishopric, I can certainly tell you that it is not as black and white as we would often times like it to be. The church handbook is clear only in the sense of 'coffee and tea.' It is just as easy to justify that members not drink herbal tea because it is a hot drink and is called a 'tea' as it is to say that green tea is prohibited because it says 'tea'. Either side can be justified easily. As for the relief society conversation, had I been there I assure you there would have been an intersting debate. You also have to keep the culture of the people in mind. And again, having been in a bishopric 'twice actually' drinking green tea [is] not sufficient grounds for yanking a temple recommend. You have to justify taking it just as much as not taking it away. Unfortunately, not so cut and dry. Like to hear from you about this if time permits. Cheers!"

Comment:

"Funny that I happened to stumble across this blog article when searching for the churches stance on white and green tea. Guess what, there isn't one. The word of wisdom only specifies not to take in things which are harmful to your body. Green tea and white tea, which are not fermented, do not fall under the category of harmful since leaving out the fermentation process also leaves out all the harmful chemicals. Just as the poster above me has stated, you need to be more clear on what is your opinion rather than stating it as fact. Otherwise you'll upset a whole lot of people who currently drink herbal and green teas. There's no official stance on the matter, so don't try to sound like Mr. High and Mighty by saying you shouldn't drink them."

Call me "Mr. High and Mighty" if you wish, but here's the straight deal, no more mincing words. Now, anyone can claim anything they want. So I have had to do some leg work as well. For simplicity I'm linking many statements to Wikipedia. I know the site is not an official source of knowledge and without fault. But it's a convent reference point and everything I say can be verified by checking with other sources as well.


This is not a debate on why tea is not allowed. Fermented or not; Caffeine or not, I don't care. I'm not one of those who declare we cannot have a can of cola if it has caffeine in it.

First, let's clarify what "Green Tea" is. Green tea comes from the root of the Camellia sinensis plant. This is the same plant that is used for Black Tea, White Tea, Yellow Tea, and Oolong Tea. Naturally, being of the same plant and basic chemical makeup, all of these teas are also subject to the same restrictions.

Also, we seem to be oddly omitting some basic common sense. When the Doctrine and Covenants says, "hot drinks" what do you think it could be referring to? What hot drinks did they have back then? Coffee and Tea are just about the only two I can think of. They may have had warm apple cider, I suppose. But back then apple cider was generally alcoholic and distinctly different than apple juice. No one can debate whether or not Mormons should be drinking anything alcoholic. Hot coco did exist, but was not as common in that part of the world back then and was limited to relatively wealthy socialites. The drinks Joseph Smith and the early Saints had access to that could fall into the category of hot drinks are Coffee and Tea and was not debated at the time. This is of course, the "common sense" answer.

The old phrase "Common sense ain't so common any more" fits in here. So we need some authoritative word. I know, it would be nice if we didn't have to be "compelled in all things," but alas, it seems many need it on this one.

I did have trouble finding any official published Church material on the subject, as most people have. So I went up my chain of authority. I am a member of the Branch Presidency here in Guam, so I skipped that level. The District presidency agreed, but also couldn't find any written proof. I went to the area's Mission President, who was at the time, President Gary Marshall. He agreed with me, but again, was unable to find something official. He then took the matter to Elder Evans. Elder David F. Evans of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'd say he's got more experience than being in a bishopric "twice actually."

President Marshall was kind enough to send me a copy of the correspondence. Elder Evans' definitive response is below.

Dear President Marshall,

...Green Tea has long been determined by the First Presidency to be within the definition of hot drinks found in the 89th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. This misunderstanding was also within the Church in Korea until it was clarified and reaffirmed by the First Presidency a few years ago. Please give this instruction to those within the Micronesia Guam Mission. If there is need for further clarification, please do not hesitate to let me know. Again, thank you for all that you do to keep the Church in order and the doctrine pure.

Elder Evans

Well? I think it'd be hard for naysayers to combat that. This isn't Elder Evans speaking from the stance of a personal opinion. This is as good as official as anyone should need. If this still does not suffice, then no amount of evidence in the world would be sufficient for you. Drink away, but don't mislead others into believe it is a correct action.

I have also spoken with Elder Pita Hopoate an area Seventy who supports this statement.

Yes, I understand that there are other teas that are what we call"herbal". I've know of teas made from rose pedals, etc. And these acceptable teas are the reason why so many feel they can justify teas that come from the camellia sinensis plant. They figure if it comes from a plant and is not fermented, it must be herbal. Marijuana is herbal. So are coffee beans. But we all know we can't indulge in those as well. I'm not an expert of all teas, but this much should be clear. If it is a tea that has come at any point from the camellia sinensis plant, don't drink it. If you are unsure, it's probably best to avoid it.

I'm now descending from my "Mr. High and Mighty" post atop this electronic soap box. I am interested what anyone still defending green tea would have to say on this. I'm ready for personal attacks and the like. But I would be impressed if someone could offer a good counter or rationalization for continuing to drink green tea in light of the evidence at hand.

Lastly, I'll just leave you with one more thought. We all have the light of Christ in us. If we sincerely want to know the truth, the Spirit will be there guide us. It shouldn't be too hard to know for yourself about this issue. In the words of Jacob, "O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12).

Amen.

For Time and All Eternity...

N 14 deg 36.082'
E 121 deg 04.162'

After my family returned from the south of Vietnam, we packed up again and left for our last destination; The Philippines.

We got into the country in the evening. All we wanted was to do was go to our accommodations and get some rest. One of my co-workers, Freddie, owns a travel agency in Manila, so we booked our Philippine sight seeing and travel through him. We waited on the curb of the airport for the private driver we reserved. And then we waited more. And then some more. After I tracked down his cell phone number I called him and he had no excuse; he was just late. An hour after he was supposed to be there, we got into the van. Maybe it's just me, but if I was picking up personal friends of the boss, I'd be early.

We drove to the Manila Temple as we were to stay in the patron housing. I was warned it'd be rustic. I wasn't aware it'd be prison-campish. Four double bunk beds to a small room that affords no privacy, let alone a place to put your luggage. There's a window AC unit, however, the power cable is just dangling there to taunt you. It won't work. The communal bathroom is as sketchy as you'd guess. Oh, and they do supply a single bed sheet and a single pillow case, but unless you brought your own towel, you'll have to air dry with 30 or so of your closest strangers.

But we were there for a special purpose that kept our spirits up regardless. Although I was hot and trying to squeeze into a bed made for umpalumpas, I woke up the next morning eager to get the day started. It was the day that Anna and I were to be sealed for time and all eternity.

As we walked out of our patron room, we got a glimpse of the temple across the street.



This was Anna's first trip to a temple. So she needed to go through for herself first. There was mass confusion trying to get the paper work settled and renting the clothes we needed etc. We also took some pictures waiting for everything.





One of the funniest things I saw was a Mormon Mobile that was unique to the Philippines. If you have been to the PI or know people who have, you might know about jeepneys. They started out as old WWII leftover Jeeps that locals customized to make look unique and attract business for cab rides. Today, jeepneys are a common way for locals to get around. This is more of a bus than jeepney, but on the same theme.

Brings a new meaning to the term "Gaudy."

After the wait we finally did our session together and got sealed. It was something to look through the double mirrored walls and see a virtual forever with Anna by my side.

This was the third time we were married. First in Arizona, second in Vietnam, and the third time was the charm. The others were only till death did us part. Now, as long as we live as we should, we will be together forever. It's a great blessing and comfort. My mom was crying, my dad appeared to be genuinely proud of me, and Anna and I were beaming. It was a great day.



We didn't have enough time to do a second session that day. We had to leave patron housing (which we were glad to be kicked out of) and get to our hotel in downtown Makati. We drove away and slowly the we fell out of our "special moment" trance and back to normal. But regardless of how normal we all started to feel and act, one thing would never change. As of now, Anna and I are sealed to each other for time and all eternity. And that is special.

Church in Vietnam...

N 21 deg 02.163'
E 105 deg 48.720'

As we arrived in Vietnam, the only thing on my mind was Anna. It had been weeks since I had seen her and soon wasn’t soon enough. After the annoying process of getting my Visa and paperwork done, then gathering luggage and finally leaving customs, I ran into her open arms. It felt so right to be there.

Anna’s parents were there as well. Her mom was at our Arizona wedding, so was acquainted with my parents. But my father-in-law hasn’t had any correspondence with my parents that I know of. Brief pleasantries were exchanged and we parted; me with Anna and her parents, the rest of our group with the tour guide van.

The first day in Vietnam my parents did all of the obligatory sights. I had already seen all of what they were to see when I was in Vietnam last year, so I spent the day with my in-laws instead. We just visited family for the most part. The following day was Sunday. We all went to the only LDS branch in Hanoi. Unfortunately, her parents didn’t want to come. We’ll have to try harder to get them converted.

Church was small. Since we are not a recognized religion there yet, we can’t even have a sign outside saying that this was the church meetinghouse. The meetinghouse is simply a regular house that’s been retrofitted for our needs. If you didn’t know, you’d never find it.

Everybody was happy to see new faces. There is a small turnout every week. Most of the people there were not members, but there are plenty of eternal investigators - people who have been learning about the church but for one reason or another won’t make that commitment to get baptized. In fact, after sacrament, I found out that two of the three speakers and the chorister are all non-members. And they seemed like stronger members than some I know in Guam.

There are actually two full time young missionaries there. They can only wear their nametags in the church building. They can walk around in suits and answer questions but they can’t proselyte or tract. They really have to rely on inquisitive people or referrals. Also, they are Vietnamese citizens. No foreigners are allowed to come in as preaching missionaries (we do have a couple humanitarian couples, though). The elders are from Ho Chi Minh City where the church is stronger. The two missionaries that were in church this Sunday were the second and third to ever be called on a mission in Hanoi. They didn’t even seem to realize what kind of pioneers of the gospel they were.

The spirit was just as strong in church there as it could be anywhere, perhaps even more so. It’s nice to live somewhere where it’s easier to live the gospel. Living there would really try the level of your faith. I bet they would be in shock if they knew that my home stake is just one square mile and has 8 full size wards in it.

If you ever want to gain a deeper appreciation of what the church is for you and what you have as a member of the church, try visiting in a place Hanoi. By comparison, even Guam’s branches seemed metropolitan. I hope that the next time I visit there, the church will be recognized by the government and the church can really start to grow. I have a feeling the gospel will do surprisingly well there.

Temples, Temples and More Temples...

I know that temples are one of the main sights around Chiang Mai, but really. How many can they cram into a city? We decided to see only a small handful of the more famous ones.

I somehow caught onto a theme: Buddha. At what point do they look around and say, “Ok. Maybe we have enough epagoges of Buddha…no wait, just one more.”





I quickly lost recollection of which temple is which. I do have some pics below that were the highlights of the long trek.

Moms are the same through cultures and time.

This picture almost looks monochrome except for the gold tower.

I guess you could call this temple an an-teak...

This is the oddly white temple. Its unusual for a temple to be all white in Asia. And with paintings of Neo from The Matrix and Speed Racers from Star Wars Episode I, its even more peculiar.

In Asia, its a Dragon-eat-Dragon world...

The End...

General Conference: The Worth of Every Soul...

For you, the 178th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all over. For me, things just began.

I think it may be of interest for you to hear what goes on behind the scenes here in the pacific to make sure the isles of sea are not forgotten in this world-wide event.

Of my various technical duties for the Church here, one of my most important is the semi-annual work on conference. In Micronesia there are many unique languages. Of them, we have 6 translated live, Marshallese, Pohnpeian, Chuukese, Kosraean, Palauan, and Yapese. We also have people from other islands and Asia that would like to hear conference in their language. We show live sessions in Tagalog, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Tongan, and of course, English.

We have the largest receiving unit of the Church in the whole world.

Satellite Rack

Without seeing the spaghetti of wiring that I manage, it's hard to imagine the complexity of what I work with.

Wiring Spaghetti

Wiring Closeup

And yes, I have spent hours single handedly wiring each one of those. And that's just what it takes to get the languages into the building. Then I have to find a way to take each language of each session and get it to the islands that cannot watch conference any other way.

The old system used a bunch of DVD recorders. Each of the 5 sessions are two hours long, the same as a disc's capacity. So you'd have to be there to start recording exactly on time. I quickly changed that to DVD recorders with a hard drive so I could have some buffer and record all sessions without having to be there to change discs. Timers were also a must. Conference comes down at 2am in Guam. I don't want to be awake to record it.

HDD + DVD Recording Station

That method also proved a bit tedious. So I got approved to build a super video-making computer. I put together a system with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 terabytes of hard drive space, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a liquid cooled system, and the ability to record 8 languages with video simultaneously. Without going into too much techy detail, it's a very well performing machine.

Computer System

Using that system and some moderately expensive software, I make custom DVD's that have unique menus and multiple language tracks. One disc can now contain all 8 languages that we need to send out. That reduces the number of discs made by a factor of four or more. The computer paid for itself in one Conference. After the master disc is made, it's time to make copies.

To duplicate, we once had a device that read the master disc, and made 5 duplicates at a time. That was time consuming and impractical. To label the discs, we had printed images to stickers that needed to be pasted onto each disc one at a time. Also not ideal.

Since, I have added a duplicator that makes 11 discs simultaneously and invested in a printing system that can be fed as much as 100 discs at once and prints directly to the disc. It is controlled by a dedicated laptop.

Disc Printer, Duplicators, and Laptop

After the discs are made they are placed into mailboxes and mailed to each branch in Micronesia. The whole process takes me every working hour (and then some) for one week.

So, one might ask, why does the Church go to such great length, cost and effort to send people a copy of a few talks? Simple, because the worth of every soul is worth more than every dollar or hour it takes to send them the word of God. And for one week every six months I'll gladly spend my time to be a small pebble in the boulder of the Church rolling forth to the isles of the sea and the world at large.

Any Opposed By The Same Sign...?

I got a new calling in my church this week.

As a member of the LDS faith in Guam, you are not part of a strong population. So the few faithful active priesthood holders such as myself experience rotational callings. If you are not a member of the church, I might need to explain a bit.

In our church, we don't have any paid clergy. Whether you are a Sunday school teacher or the congregational leader, the Bishop, it's all volunteer. And one does not just work his way up the ladder. A bishop can be released after a few years and be called to work in the nursery the next week. This concept is foreign to many other religions. If you have grown up in the Church, it just seems second nature.

However, one does not just become a bishop first. Usually callings of lesser responsibility build up to it so you can be prepared. In a place with limited leadership material like Guam, simply being a regular face means your odds of being asked to have callings of greater responsibility are always on the horizon.

The most notoriety I had was that of District Clerk. Where the Church is small, a congregation is called a Branch. A group of Branches is called a District. So my job was to take care of all of the financial and membership records for all of the branches in Guam and Saipan and train the clerks in the individual branches. I also had to be in charge of all technical stuff (computers, Video conference equipment, etc) for the area. It was challenging enough to be interesting but not a burden.

One Sunday, I was informed that I was to be released and that the whole District Presidency was to be replaced. The custom in the Church is for callings of this scale to last about 10 years. The presidency had been in place two years or less.

Despite my surprise, I was not upset in the least. The only thing I was worried about was what my next calling could be. The branch I am in lost it's clerk to replace me at the district level. So I had a hunch that'd be my next calling. I enjoy clerk. I would be fine with that. And as I mentioned earlier, we often rotate callings.

Sure enough, a couple Sundays later, I'm called into an office to be asked if I would be willing to take on a calling. I assumed either branch clerk or secretary as both were open. Then, I was asked to be the second councilor in the branch presidency.

My jaw dropped to the ground.

It's not that being in the branch presidency is that huge, but it feels that way when you are in it. As clerk or secretary, you are simply there. You take notes and organize, you don't make the decisions.

The branch presidency to me has always been older wiser men who I looked up to and respected. So, how did I become one? Is this calling going to work toward training me for Branch President? Can I be the kind of councilor that I want to be? Can I live up to my potential? Why did they pick me? Will people see this young kid on the stand and think they don't have to listen to what this whipper-snapper has to say?

Last Sunday, the branch was asked to sustain me by raising their right hand. This is to provide the membership a say in branch leadership. As far as I could tell every hand went up. Any opposed by the same sign? No hands that I saw. I sat down on the stand, looking ahead at the now seemingly large congregation in front of me.

Hang on tight, the ride is just starting to begin.

The Church and Guam...

Sure, the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints is true. I have no question. But, I think that due to certain local attributes, the Church is just a little less true here in Guam.

Honestly, it wasn't long after I moved here before I began to yearn for the way the church was in the mainland. I know people love to dump on "Utah Mormons" and the Church culture. But Guam's corrupted Church culture is worse by far.

I don't mind that I live in the boundaries of a district instead of a stake and a branch instead of a ward. Heck, it's an interesting experience to see the difference. But I do mind the way things play out here.

For the first four months I was in Guam, I had no home teaching assignments. I never had a home teacher assigned to me while I was single. Being single, most people wouldn't invite me over for dinner or to get to know them. (I could do a whole other post of how single adults are treated in the Church.) There were few if any branch activities and no elders quorum activities at all. When a query of why we never do anything as a quorum was asked, the answer was that we didn't have any because our branch was recently combined with another and it was too soon to plan anything.

I was very upset with that answer. The two branches were merged before I had even moved to the island. It had been at least 6 months. Also, isn't a branch merger a perfect opportunity to have an activity? One that might encourage getting to know each other? I think the honest answer of apathy would have been better than the lie.

I stayed active due to my testimony and I did have good church connections due to my fellow employees which I like very much.

When I got married, however, I expected more from the Church in Guam for my wife's sake than it could deliver.

I left my wife to go home teach others and hoped that my wife would get to see what kind of blessings I was providing for others when our home teacher came to visit. I then found out that we had none assigned to us. I approached our Elder's quorum president about that. He said that we were too active and therefore did not get home teachers. You could say I was miffed. I promptly corrected him. My wife is a recent convert, and President Hinkley has made it clear in no uncertain terms that new converts are to get home teachers ASAP. Also, I go off island frequently for work. My wife needs a home teacher to depend on in my absence should something happen. Also, just because she's active dose not mean that she wouldn't benefit from a home teacher. I can't be the only person telling her the gospel and she is still learning. I threatened to have her go inactive just so she could get some home teachers.

After 6 months on island we got assigned a home teacher. Now we have the task of trying to get them to come over. I have called the one I know a couple of times and asked him to come over. No visits yet, but at least we are making headway.

And this led me to wonder about Anna's visiting teaching. Who were her visiting teachers? Who is her companion? Sure enough, she didn't have any of those either. I took it upon myself to contact the women in charge and fix the problem. She was assigned a companion after 5 months of arriving on Guam. She was not given a list of whom she visits nor has her companion made any contact. Also, as far as I know, she is still not assigned to visiting teachers.

And the pièce de résistance that got me most recently tweaked occurred two Sundays ago. Anna was in Relief Society during a lesson on the word of wisdom. At one point they spoke about green tea. Suddenly a member of the RS raised her hand and said, "But I drink green tea every day. It's good for me." Kudos to the one Japanese sister who stood up and declared that green tea by any name was unequivocally against church policy. Many others in the room appeared to be on the fence. The tea drinking sister stood firm on her ground. Then to try to keep the atmosphere politically correct, some raised their hands and said something to the effect of, "Well, it may be good for you. And if it is, then that is OK. But that is something that you need to determine for yourself. But just don't preach that to others."

Anna came out of that meeting scratching her head and slightly puzzled. She said it seemed as if they had just successfully justified drinking green tea. Anna is Asian and from tea country. Had she been any less brilliant than she is, she could have walked away from there thinking it was acceptable to drink it. Had I been there, I would have stood up and let them know that any justification is not good enough. The Church is clear on this one. Anyone drinking it should not be taking the sacrament or be worthy of a temple recomend.

Well, I wasn't there...so I didn't get to. I had to just take it all in from Anna and clear up the confusion she was left with. But in a real ward, that wouldn't be necessary. And this is not the extent of all my woes. I have truncated a long list of things that urk me here in Guam in these regards.

I suppose this kind of stuff could happen in any ward or branch in any part of the world. But why must it happen with such frequency and intensity as it does here? I have sadly come to the conclusion that the church in Guam is just a little less true than it is elsewhere.

I hear frequent aspirations to make Guam a stake. I think it's possible, but in this current state, Guam is more likely to whither and die spiritually. To think that the Church as it is on Guam could become a stake would be laughable if it wasn't such a sad farce.

Despite this, I like Guam, and I have no intention of leaving here any time soon. But I do yearn for a functional church here. For what ever reason, the Church really is just a little less true here in Guam.