We got a bunch of visitors!!!!!!

Herro. I am Sterling. Thank you for your joyous applause. I would like to take this beautiful moment that you and I are now sharing to formally and profusely apologize for the neglect that has been so evident and unjustified in our infrequent updating of this blog. We are sorry. Perdonanos. Pardon us. We ask humbly for forgiveness.

This is Alex. It has been over a month since we last updated this blog. Much has happened in the last month and a half since we wrote. For instance, a couple of American ambassadors came and visited us at our humble, yet better-than-any-other, school. We felt pretty special when we heard they were coming. We even dressed up for them, even though it’s pretty stupid to dress up in the heat and humidity of Yap. The ambassadors checked on how we were doing. They asked us questions and let us ask them questions. It was a darn good treat to be able to hear news of the outside world. We asked about America, world news, policies, bills, and other things. They answered the questions willingly and we, in turn, answered their questions on what we thought needed to be changed or put in motion on Yap. I’m bored from writing about this, so I’m passing the keys to Sterling.

GOOOO AMERICA!!!!

I never get bored writing to you lovely people back home. I’m not mean like Alex. I love you all very, very much and I don’t even know you all. Not too much has changed here. It’s still hot and Alex and I still look real good. One day we were warned of an incoming Tsunami!!! I was pretty excited about the idea of seeing a huge wall of water come crashing into the island. It would have been bad though I think. From all my long years of experience and wisdom I have learned that tsunamis are bad. later we were warned of an incoming Typhoon!!! But that didn’t happen either. I’m getting really tired of having my hopes of adventure dashed on the proverbial rocks of not having things happen…… wow that was a lame sentence. I’m bored of writing.

Alex now. Pastor Rojas of the General Conference came to Yap. This guy’s pretty cool. He’s got the most impressive moustache we’ve ever seen, and he packs the wisdom to back it up. He and Pastor Jano (from the Guam-Micronesia Mission) were here for a few days to check up on us and to take care of some business. Sterling and I had the privilege of taking Pastor Rojas all around Yap on a picture-taking, moustache-toting tour of the island. He was able to give us some very good advice on various issues, as well as tell us some very entertaining stories about this or that. It was a blessing to have him here, and he spoke (and played) for us before he returned home. Much thanks, Pastor Rojas! Sterling’s turn.

Sterling say, “Shout out home skillet!!” Which is English means: It was very nice and educational to have you come and visit us here on our beautiful island of Yap. We wish you many blessings and a life filled with never ending mustache hair.

We’ve had many great visitors in the past few months. Our most recent was Canvasback!!! Since I work for them I’m obligated to tell you that they have a great website which can be reached from any modern computer with internet access. The address is www.canvasback.org. There you can find great mission stories and pictures!!! That’s my parents’ website!!! I’m very proud of my parents.

Anyway, Canvasback’s visit was amazing. Along with a team of orthopedic surgeons, nurses, and dentists, they brought along a few of the most important people in my life. Aw!!! Yeah they brought our good friends Kelli, Doug, Cameron, and some new friends like Doug’s girly friend Christina, this dude Tanner, a cool girl Camille, and another cool girl Jessy. Also, Chris Howell, the fearsome Judo master, carpet dyer, and part time super hero came along mostly to beat me up. I think that’s really his motive for coming on all the mission trips we’ve been on together. Luckily my army of 6th graders protected me from a serious beat down. I knew they were good for something.

The team remodeled the middle school classrooms while also doing a week of prayer and a VBS program. They did excellently on both jobs. GOOOOOOOO CANVASBACK!!!!! Actually the youth team is called Canvasback Extreme which adds a cool and hip sound to the name. Alex’s turn!

Gracias, Sterling mi hermosa. Since the last time we wrote, the third quarter at Yap SDA School ended, which meant we had to tackle finals and parent-teacher conferences. Some of our kids did well; others didn’t. However, as teachers we can see that both our teaching and our students’ grades have improved overall. One of my kids had a GPA of less than 1.5 first quarter. I made the decision not to drop him down a grade and to keep him in grade 4, and this last quarter he achieved a GPA of over 3.5! Not all of my students have improved so drastically, but I still see growth and it makes me feel incredible. As for the conferences with parents, they went well. At least for me, they did. It is nice to be able to be the professional one as you sit across from someone a couple times your age and tell them that you know what you’re doing.

Only a few days ago, we (all of the guys from our apartment) got back from our spring break on Palau. We were surprised to see how different the country was from Yap, even though they’re both islands in the Pacific. Palau has nice roads, real street signs, ‘air con,’ multi-story buildings, restaurants, and ‘plenty’ people. We were blessed in many ways and we felt like God had a lot to say to us while we were there. We experienced many things there, including (but not limited to): Jellyfish Lake, where we were able to swim with a multitude of virtually harmless jellyfish; the Rock Islands, which are a myriad of small islands made of (you guessed it) rock which seem to float on the surface of the candy-colored turquoise water; Peleliu, a Palauan island state of 600 people which saw some terrible and bloody conflicts during World War II and still sports rusted tanks, war torn buildings, and a plethora of other artifacts; the I-Don’t-Know-The-Name-Of-It waterfall, which was fun and refreshing; Palau Mission Academy, the SDA high school on Palau which enrolls many students, some of which we befriended and played soccer with; the stellar student missionaries in Palau; and more. I realize that this list is getting too long to be engaging anymore, so I’ll let Sterling finish off. We may or may not post pictures for y’all.

This is Sterling signing out for Sterling and Alexander’s Bogus Adventure. We hope to write again soon. We love you all and we miss you. Peace yo!!