Where in the World is Perry & Smitty?: Pohnpei Youth Retreat

I’m not sure the best way to combat jet leg. I use to allow a few days of rest when going back and forth. Now, I have decided it almost easier to jump in. So, jump in is what I did.

I arrived on the island of Pohnpei at about 2pm after a 10-ish hour journey from Hawaii stopping on a few random islands before I got here. For the first five hour leg, I sat next to a super interesting photojournalist/filmmaker who was going to the Marshall Islands to interview the president on a piece he is working on covering global warming and the effects it is having on the islands in the Pacific. No matter what your belief is regarding this subject, I have seen gigantic changes in the coral reefs in the 15 years I have spent on the islands. It is very sad.

After landing…getting off in the rain (getting off a plane with stairs like you see in the old movies) and waiting over an hour for my luggage (which is kind of ridiculous considering there is a ONE plane that comes in a day), I had a couple of hours to mentally try to gain composure before kicking off my first Catch the Wave Youth Retreat. I was so tired.

The two day youth retreat was a blast! The Nazarene church has gone through several leadership changes during my time in Micronesia. (Actually, I remember when there wasn’t even a Nazarene Church here in Pohnpei!) After my last time here, the missionaries had to leave for health reasons, leaving the work to a couple of local pastors. Sadly, one of them has been running from the Lord for several years now and that church in the village hasn’t been meeting. The other pastor for the church in the capital city works a full time job, so he has very little time to pour in to ministry. That being said, their youth work here had diminished.

Less than two years ago, a Korean couple was sent here as missionaries. (They had previously been missionaries in the Philippines for over 25 years!) As I was trying to make connections to start coming to Pohnpei again to do some ministry activities, this sparked in them a desire to regroup and kick off new youth ministry. They had their first official youth meeting about a month ago with just a few teens. Each Friday night, the ministry has grown. We had 15 teens at the two-day retreat. (This may not seem like a big number, but it is actually quite amazing!)

I rented a room at a hotel for us to use. This gave us a restroom and power so I could use the projector with PowerPoints and videos. Since English is not these teens first language, any visual aides are a big help. We played lots of games….had lessons…participated in small groups (Named: Chicken Ladies, Bulldogs, and Frog Ki-ru. FYI: Ki-ru is the Pohnpeian name for frog)…enjoyed meals together (so much food)…and just enjoyed getting to know each other. As you can see, Perry enjoyed himself (and they enjoyed Perry)!