Happy Family Church

 When we arrived at the Happy Family Church, located under a tarp, a ways north of the Micronesian Mall, the three young ladies in the photo above were leading song service.   Many of the members there are from Chuuk, and Palau.  There are two families of Pohnpeians, the parents were born on different outer islands.  I enjoyed talking with a lady who was born on Kapingamarangi, later moved to Pohnpei, and now lives on Guam.  She misses her life on Kapingamarangi, and thinks the simple life there is the best.  She can speak Kapinga, Pohnpeian, and English.

 The property the church meets on was recently purchased.  Before this they met under a tarp in a grocery store parking lot.  They have a container on the property for safe storage of their chairs, electronics, lights, etc.  They put up and take down everything every Sabbath, except for the shelters.  A family lives on the property for extra security . 

 They don't have a piano, but they do have a recording of the hymnal on a computer, and play a recording of the hymns for everyone to sing along with.  The words are projected on the screen. 

 I am not sure how many people were there, but I am guessing it was well over one hundred.

 This young lady, named Veena, helped with the song service, and also did an excellent job of telling the children's story.  She is age 16, and her family is from Palau.  I loved how the young people were an essential part of the church service.  The earliteen/youth class studies the adult Sabbath School lesson.

 There was a good group of small children eager to hear the story, all sitting on bare plywood stage.

 Four young people I know, Rose, William, Araya, and Caleb, beautifully sang in harmony, "I Delight to Do Thy Will."

 This amazing lady, Jessica, was the speaker of the morning.  She used to be a Baptist, but started learning more about God on the SDA radio station.  She loves the Adventist message, and says she is so glad to be free of drunkeness and smoking.  She loves the Sabbath and God's people.  Her message was "What to do with the Giants your Life".  She used the Bible, and had four clear, helpful points.  What an excellent sermon!  I heard she also writes music and sings.

After church there was a potluck, featuring rice, some curry, a few casseroles, cucumbers and lettuce attached to the head.  Everyone had at least a little bit to eat, but there wasn't much more then that. 

There is a group of ladies who meet after church potluck every week to have a Bible study, and pray for each other.  They asked Robin and I to talk to them about women's ministries.  I asked for five minutes to think about it, a then talked about how women make such a big difference in a church, teaching and helping everyone in the church and holding it together with prayer.  It is women ministering in the church. Robin talked about a single women who made a difference in her church, all by herself, even though no one else was supportive.  Through her efforts church attendance went up 20% in just a few months, and people loved attending that church.  Each woman has something special she can do that makes a difference in their church.  The ladies opened up and and talked about some of their special needs and challenges, and we prayed for them.  It was a blessed afternoon.  I was so happy to be there, loving these precious ladies.

 We hope to attend this special church several more times before we leave the island.