Doing Actual Work - final project

One of our "jobs" for the year was that we were supposed to paint the metal brackets on the house in order to prevent rust/corrosion to them. When we arrived, we noticed the brackets looked like this. Not exactly what we'd imagined. We didn't even know if we should touch these, much less try to do anything with them.

After consulting with the owners and a local repair shop, we were instructed to do what we could toward replacing all of the backets! This was by far our most intensive job at the house. From checking 3-5 different stores in Koror for the pieces, ordering some of them from Guam and having others hand-made, to getting them painted, to removing the old corroded ones (without having the proper tools) and adhering the new ones, it was a lot of hard and sometimes very frustrating work. But very rewarding too :)

Just a few flowers

Palau had SO many beautiful flowers!

Sundays with Secu

Nearly every Sunday we spent on Angaur, we stopped by Secu's (say-coo) house after church for a cup of instant coffee.

I still remember the very first time she invited us over ... we didn't hear her calling out to us and turned to see her running after us, yelling "Jaaayyy-Son!" trying to invite us over. That first Sunday turned into a habit that we grew to love. We often talked about the exact same things we had talked about the week before, but the time spent with this special lady became very special to us. She is a very unique lady who became a sweet part of our Palau life.




Secu eats, sleeps and lives in the kitchen of her house as she cannot get easily up & down the stairs to her house and now just stays in the kitchen.

She lost all of her teeth many years ago and when fitted with dentures, threw them away because she didn't like them. She now puts her Betel Nut into a small cap and crushes it up with a special Betel Nut hammer before putting the mixture into her mouth to "chew."

One of her grandson's with the pig she is raising to give as a gift for the one year anniversary of her sister's death in December.

Bathroom and shower facilities at Secu's house - very typical set-up for those living in Angaur.

Everything Jason

Jason had a great time this past year ... doing backflips off of cliffs, climbing trees, growing facial hair and playing with the kids of Angaur. Here are a few images of him doing some of his favorite things :)

A Trip to Peleliu

The weekend before Jason's parents arrived in Palau, we had the opportunity to visit Peleliu (pay-lay-loo) island (Angaur's closest neighbor). We'd been hoping to visit, but things had never lined up for us to be able to go, so we were thrilled to be able to go!

As we approached Peleliu, dolphins played in the wake of our boat!

Peleliu's charming harbor
Riding in the back of a truck as we made our way to Peleliu's village.


Our accommodations - a beachside missionary house that we were able to stay in for free! It had running water, electricity and many other wonderful ammenities.

Peleliu's evangelical church

















Mangroves




One of the local resorts

A Mangrove Crab for dinner!


Some very colorful crabs!
















We weren't sure what these creatures were, but they were hilarious to watch! They would skim along the top of the water and underneath it, then pop out and sort of crawl around on the beach. So weird!









Our friends who were letting us stay at the missionary house and also brought us the terrific Mangrove crab, also brought us this fun lunch the next day. It was especially meaningful since we know how little this man made and yet how continually generous he was to us.

























This swimming hole was AWESOME! It is brackish water, but much cooler than the ocean and so much fun to jump off the edge into!


























This is our year in a nutshell! (Ha ha!)