Week 38 in Tarawa

We didn't take all the pictures we wanted to, but we hope this blog conveys a better idea of what a typical work day and a typical P-day are like.  Unless it's actually raining, Sister Sumner and Sister Alldredge go for a 30 minute walk every weekday morning at 6:15 a.m.  This was one of the rare mornings I happened to be with them.  Sister Weir, our mission president's wife also happened to be there to take the picture.  This picture doesn't show the road construction or the doggy do that makes morning walks hazardous.
We always carry a small rock to scare away the growling dogs.

After a shower and breakfast, we head over to the school for either a faculty meeting, shown here, or an administration devotional.  Since this was Monday, we had a faculty meeting, which starts with a hymn, a prayer, and a spiritual thought.  I usually play the piano.  We always have to sit in front with the administrators, even though we're really only advisors.  After our devotional, we help Lita, our principal, by walking by all the classrooms to see which teachers need substitutes.  The lack of phones and email, together with bad roads and overcrowded buses, makes communication difficult for teachers who are sick or just late.

 

 

Most mornings we begin work together in our office.  We check and answer email, grade papers, and prepare lessons.  We try to get as much done over the internet as early as possible because once school starts, the internet is impossibly slow.  When we work together, I sit just to Sister Sumner's left, which makes things rather cozy.  We have learned to divide up our tasks so that I can go back to the apartment and work on our own laptop.  Any downloads for teaching materials are done at the apartment because the ITEP Wi-Fi connection there is much faster.

Here I am working on our personal laptop at the office in our apartment.  In addition to working on our ITEP class material, I often help returned missionaries with their BYUH applications by scanning and sending documents required by BYUH.  I also often call BYUH to resolve problems or get answers to questions raised by the student applicants.                                       We also do classroom observations for student teachers and prepare professional development lessons for the faculty.

Wednesday starts with an assembly in the chapel and cultural hall.  This is our view from the front looking out over the student body.  On Wednesdays, the students wear their Sunday best clothes instead of the blue and white school uniform.



Here I am at the driver's license bureau in Betio. Last Wednesday I was asked to get my Kiribati driver's license.  I need it for another form of identification to be able to cash checks for the missionaries at the local ANZ bank.  This is one of the responsibilities I'll be taking over from Elder Bogh when he leaves, which he took over from the Wall's when they left.  We hope more senior couples will be called to serve here, but so far none are in the pipeline.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays we teach ITEP classes from 4 to 6 p.m. We're sorry we didn't take a picture of this week's class.  At 6 p.m. we go immediately to the TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning) computer lab where we help students with their BYUH applications, administer SLEP (Second Language English Proficiency) tests, and help students with their English learning.  This is why I'm eating a sandwich for supper in the computer lab, since we're there until 9 p.m.   We are always super busy in the weeks before BYUH application deadlines.  At other times, we can do work on our own lesson preparations.

This past Friday morning, as we left for devotional, we were amazed at the continuing three-a-day training of our student athletic team.  They have been training hard for the Interschool Competition which takes place during the Kiribati July Independence Week celebration.  Moroni High School has won this event 4 years in a row and the students have been training for over a month to make it five in a row.

This past Friday afternoon was the annual church employee fitness activity.  This picture shows the sisters playing basketball.  While there wasn't a lot of scoring, there was plenty of action, which sometimes more resembled rugby than basketball.  We were divided into four teams which competed in basketball, and tennis court ping pong using a volleyball.  Before the competitions everyone did jazzercise to warm up.

The four men's teams also competed in basketball.  Needless to say, the blue team I was on won.  If you look carefully, you can see me with a blue hat standing right under the basketball hoop.  I did OK for an old man playing with people half my age. Right after the competitions, we had a wonderful meal served right out on the tennis court.

Saturday is our Preparation day (P-day).  Yesterday I grated 3 coconuts for Sister Sumner's wonderful granola cereal.  Sister Sumner baked three loaves of bread and made a batch of granola cereal.

When Sister Sumner bakes, I get dishwashing duty.  Actually, she nearly always cooks, and I nearly always do dishes.  I think it's a pretty fair arrangement since she cooks up such wonderful things to eat.  After cleaning up the cooking messes, I started the laundry and vacuumed the apartment, just like missionaries on P-days all over the world.

We love the way freshly dried clothing smells after hanging out under the eave of our back porch.  The ocean breeze helps them dry quickly.  We don't mind doing laundry in full view of the ocean and the sound of the breakers crashing on the coral reef.  As we begin the second half of our mission, we marvel at the wonderful experiences we've had and how we've grown to love the Kiribati people.  The Savior taught us that the only way to serve Him is by serving our fellow beings.  In the process, we come to love both Him and the people we serve.