LDS Missionaries helping out in Mangilao, Guam

About a two minute walk from our Bel-Air Gardens apartment on Corten Torres Street, Mangilao, Guam, lies a bus stop in need of the "right kind" of attention. Sister Carla McClellan, pictured left, put together a service project to revamp this school bus stop.

Sister McClellan, Elder Meyer, Sister Martin, Sister Roberts, Sister Orrock, Elder Waimila, Elder Walters, Elder Seguin

Her plan was to involve the Micronesia Guam missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who would be arriving on different flights, days before a Leadership Training Conference, held at President and Sister Mecham's home.

Elder Walters scraping off old paint and graffiti

When the missionaries arrived and began removing the graffiti, many local residents and school students thanked them for working on it.

Sister McClellan mentioned that the government coordinator overseeing projects like this, didn't even want a "before" picture posted on their Facebook page because the Graffiti and swear words were so bad. They usually post the "Before" and "After" photos to let the community know what's going on.

The initial scraping and cleaning lasted about two days. Different teams/groups would go at different scheduled times to help out. This ended around noon on May 31st.

Elder Lyman, Sister McClellan, Elder Holt, Elder Malais, Elder Cook

Later that day they began painting the base coats. As they were painting the fresh new look, many more people came by to tell them how much better it looked than before.

Elder Obray, Elder Selander, Elder Hansen, Sister McClellan, Elder Cook,
Elder Holt, Elder Gardner, Elder Malais, Elder Bowers

Sister Norgrant(top left), Elder Jeppesen & Elder Land(top right), Elder Obray and Elder Selander(middle),
Elder Bowers(bottom left), Sister Whipple, Sister Ande and others mentioned before(bottom right)

During the few days that followed, Sister McClellan continued to paint the family and the song title, "Families Can Be Together Forever".

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints literally believe this, as couples are married and families sealed by God's authority for time and all eternity in holy temples. For more information, see lds.org or click this link LDS Temples (Mormon Temples) - The House of the Lord.

Sister Martin and Sister McClellan,
just about to paint some more.

 Sister McClellan, the Micronesia Guam Mission nurse, missionary, and free lance artist, enjoys painting landscapes on canvas in her free time. She has had very little free time however. As the nurse for over 100 missionaries, on over 10 islands from Palau to Kosrae, she hardly gets a breather.

This bus stop was painted by missionaries in June of 2013.

One year ago she organized another group of over twenty missionaries to help her paint another community eye sore that turned into this beautiful bus stop. This one had the song title "Love at Home", another family oriented theme.











After a few more hot summer days and a few mosquito bites, the project was finally completed.

Congratulations to all who helped!

The final pics.

Family painted by Sister McClellan

Helpers included Elder Lyman and Elder Hansen who traveled from Awak, Pohnpei. Elder Holt and Elder Bowers came from Saipan. Elder Malais and Elder Dopp flew in from Palau. Elder Cook and Elder Gardner from Palikir, Pohnpei also pitched in. Elder Waimila and Elder Meyer traveled in from Yap. Sister Martin and Sister McClellan live in Mangilau. Sister Roberts and Sister Orrock currently live in Sokehs, Pohnpei. Elder Walters and Elder Seguin and Elder Walters who live in Harmon, Guam. Sister Norgrant who just flew in from Saipan. Elder Jeppesen and Elder John who drove down from Dededo north area. Elder Obray and Elder Selandar are from Nepukos, Chuuk. Sister Whipple and Sister Ande who also drove down from Dededo to help out. Elder Despain and Elder Land also traveled all the way from Kosrae for the weekend.