Week 48 in Tarawa

We had a number of events happen this week besides our usual teaching activities.  This week was Counseling Week at Moroni High School.  The theme was Embark from D&C 4:2.  The theme was introduced on Monday with a logo contest.  Students were challenged to create their own artwork to portray the theme.  The winning entries were given prizes.  Sorry, but we don't have pictures of this.  Guess who were the judges!!

Tuesday's theme was Heart.  Students created valentine-like paper hearts with messages which were posted all over campus.  Heart shaped cakes were made by the baking classes so each student could have a piece of cake during homeroom.

Surprisingly, many boys were involved in the baking and decorating as well as in the clean up afterward. 


Wednesday's theme was Might.  The assembly was about the might of counseling, with prizes for the best logo's given out by us. We saw many disappointed faces in the audience when Sister Sumner announced that only on-time entries were considered for prizes.  Sorry, no pictures here, either.

Thursday's theme was Mind.  Members of the faculty acted out various careers which the students had to guess--like playing charades.  Correct guessers won small food prizes.

Friday's theme was Strength.  Arm wrestling competitions were held for each grade and for girls as well as boys.  We didn't know when we suggested it that arm wrestling is actually a very popular sport in Kiribati.



At our Leadership Meeting Thursday afternoon, Lita, our principal, asked us if we could fill in for her at the University of the South Pacific (USP) open house the next day, Friday, August. 14th.  We were planning on preparing for our next class, but were excited to be able to go to this activity instead.  At Bairiki Square there were talks and dancing.  Later we drove to the new, huge, USP facility being built in Teaoraereke.

This is the USP President addressing the audience.

The dancers performed beautifully.

And, once again, we were garlanded by the dancers.  It has only been a few years since we had even heard the term "selfie", but here we are, doing it to ourselves just like teenagers.

When we were invited to get in line for the USP building tour, we were asked if we had our own transportation.  To make a long story short, we ended up busing 8 other people back and forth in the van we were driving.  Here's the group that came with us posing in front of the building.  Those in white are Marine Training Center (MTC) students and faculty.

The exterior of the building, we were surprised to find out, is painted, white pine wood slatting.  The wood has been treated so it doesn't taste good to termites.  We'll see about that.

The bottom floor is designed to be open to the outside. There is a wheelchair ramp zigzagging all the way up to the second floor.  Here's part of our group trying out the wheelchair.

Much to our surprise, the wheelchair appears to have been donated by the church.

This room is designated to become the library.  We were told the pink sheetrock is a special grade that resists the heat and humidity of the Kiribati climate.

This view from the north end of the 1st floor is looking toward the northeast.  The main road and the lagoon are visible, along with water storage tanks and a satellite dish for internet.

This is looking south from the north end of the 2nd floor.  It is designed to feel like the inside of a Maneaba.  All the structural steel has been hot dipped galvanized to resist the corrosive effects of high humidity and salt air.  We were told the design life of the structure is 80 years.

I don't think Sister Sumner has worn a hard hat since she tore down the old Wasatch Elementary School.










On Saturday morning, while I was attending the priesthood session of stake conference, Sisters Sumner, Weir, and Alldredge went to the Eco farm to buy eggs for the Zone Conference lunch on Wednesday, August 19th.

This shows the cleaning and sorting building on the right, with the chicken pens further back on the left.  This is not what you usually picture an egg farm looking like, with palm trees swaying in the background.

What would an egg farm be without chickens!

Here's Sister Alldredge supervising the egg cleaners and sorters.  We had ordered 9 dozen eggs, and they were working on filling a 20 dozen egg order that same morning.  That'll keep those hens busy!
We were surprised to learn that the eggs are not washed, but are only lightly sanded off with sandpaper.  In other words, they could still have chicken poop traces on the eggs.  We wash them carefully at home before cracking them open.

Finally, as I mentioned above, this weekend was our stake conference.  This is a picture of our principal, Lita, speaking in the general session on Sunday (this) morning.  I was asked to speak on the subject of ward councils at the adult session Saturday evening.  I hope I was able to make what could have been a dry, boring talk interesting.  Janet says I did well, but I happen to know she is very biased.
Time seems to fly by faster and faster.  We finished EDU 312 this past week, except for grading the final exams. This coming week the students have mid year exams.  It's hard to think of a new school year starting back home already.