Week 15 in Tarawa

Week 15, Christmas week.  Christmas in Tarawa has been very different in some ways, and very much the same in others.  This is a picture of a large bird that came to visit on Christmas day.

Raison filled cookies

Raison filling

Things that were the same:
We made English toffee and small gifts to give to those around us.
We prepared and listened to lessons on the birth of the Savior in church.
We watched touching Nativity programs.
We listened to Christmas music on my I-pad and the radio.
We got together with other couples to celebrate.
We baked cookies to share.
We decorated our apartment.
There were lights on the stores and some houses

Things that were different:
We attended our first Christmas program in October.

Filling Stockings

We didn't rush around madly shopping for last minute Christmas gifts.
Our decorations were simple and didn't take much time or effort to put up.
Our Christmas cooking was minimal so we didn't gain 5 pounds.
We focused on service such as preparing stockings and serving a meal for the young missionaries.
We spent more time studying the scriptures and pondering on the great gift of the Savior.
The weather was warm and rainy, no cold or snow.
We truly appreciated the importance of family as we Skyped with children and relatives.

Serving Christmas dinner to the missionaries

Brownies with little rat decorations

Potato Salad

Week 14 in Tarawa

You would think that with all the students and faculty gone, it would be a quiet and boring week.  Not so. When we woke up Monday morning, we found this 2 inch-long nearly dead cockroach lying in the middle of our kitchen floor.  Yuck!  We had been warned about them, but this was the first one we've seen.  Elder Sumner keeps the doors and windows, which don't seal very tightly, well sprayed with Permethrin, a church-issued bug spray.





 Last week we received an invitation to attend a reception at the National Maneaba for the retiring U.S. Ambassador, Frankie Reed.  They invited all the American nationals on Tarawa. The church was well represented with the senior missionaries and young elders.  We traveled to the reception with President and Sister Weir and  really enjoyed the opportunity to visit with them.  The reception was not actually in the Maneaba, but on a beautiful patio next to it.  We have been past this area but had no idea that a spot so beautiful was there.  We had the opportunity to meet the ambassador, and also the President of Kiribati. They were both warm and gracious people. The hot topic  of the night was global warming.

Wednesday evening President and Sister Weir took all of the senior missionaries out to dinner as a Christmas gift.  We went to our favorite restaurant, the Golden Restaurant, where we had our first romantic dinner out.  Again it was sunset and so beautiful.

Friday we went into Betio to do some shopping.  We were looking for a coconut shredder, called a kautuai (pronounced cow-too-eye), and were told to go to the stadium to the TTT office.  We found one which you can see sitting on the stove behind Sister Sumner in this picture.  When we got to the stadium, we discovered that there was a trade fair going on.  There were all kinds of little stalls set up both inside and outside of the stadium. It was fun to wander and look. We even found booths selling soft ice cream cones and popcorn. 

We also found some Christmassy place mats and a table runner which you can see in front of the lovely Sister Sumner.                                                                                                                                                                              
When we returned home, the stake primary was having a big celebration.  The children were so cute.

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party.  It was a pot luck dinner featuring a roast pig.  For a while there was more food than people,  but the people came on Kiribati time, an hour after it was supposed to start.  Sister Sumner made some delicious BBQ meatballs which went very quickly.  There wasn't much food left when it was over. From left to right are Elder Bogh, Sister Bogh, Sister Sumner, and Sister Aldredge, our mission nurse.







Our final adventure of the week took place over two days and involved a very persistent crab in our toilet.  We tried flushing him down with bleach, but he kept coming back.  Finally we snuck in without turning on the lights and caught him with a pair of long tongs.  Unfortunately we threw him back into the ocean without taking another picture.  The result of this experience is that Sister Sumner no longer reads her Kindle in the bathroom and turns the light on when getting up in the night.

We wish you all a most joyous and merry Christmas!  Love, Elder and Sister Sumner 

Week 13 in Tarawa

Thirteen is considered an unlucky number, so maybe we should just skip this week.  Not!  It was actually a very interesting and good week.  As you know, school is out and all is quiet at Moroni High. Again Not!  The first picture is of the friendship basket that I received Sunday in Relief Society. Now I have to fill it and give it to someone else. 

The teachers were here for their final week of finishing everything up.  In the middle of this we had an important visitor, Brother Brent Buckner (for those in the Ogden area, he is the son of LaMar Buckner from South Weber), the director of temporal affairs in the South Pacific.  If you're not sure what that means, he is over all of the church's facilities in the whole South Pacific.  He was here to inspect our facilities and see how they are being used.  If he doesn't think they are being use appropriately or are not needed, he has the power to shut them down.


In honor of his visit the school and service center had a faculty devotional where he spoke to the faculty, and then on Tuesday night a cultural event.  This was entirely done by the faculty and staff of the school since the students are gone.  They spent many hours practicing for this in the two weeks prior.  There was a potluck dinner in conjunction with the cultural event, but much of the food was ordered in.  It was the nicest cultural event I have seen.  At this even as in all events I have participated in, the guests (that always includes the senior couples) are served first and have to eat while everyone else watches.  They won't consider eating until after we have eaten. This is a picture of all the senior missionaries and the Buckner's.

When the first dance started I noticed the head garlands and silently prayed, "Please only give them to the Buckners".  However, at the end of the dance when Turian smilingly placed a garland on my head I graciously smiled and said "Thank you."  Within moments I could feel movement in my hair and began picking ants off of my face and clothes.  At home I tossed the garland onto the white counter and watched the ants scatter. I understand that the garlands are a sign of great respect, so, I suppose, a few ants are a small price to pay.

Wednesday the senior couples had the opportunity of hosting the Buckner's at dinner.  We served drumstick broccoli divan, rolls, fruit salad and coconut and lemon pie.  It was a very good meal.  We were able to learn a lot about the church's concern for the wards and stakes to become self reliant.  When he was asked specifically about air conditioning in the chapels Brother Buckner said that every part of the world is so  diverse.  Building a chapel like we do in Utah doesn't make sense in an area like this where a Maneaba type church would be better suited to the culture and the climate. After the dinner they gave us each a beautiful mounted picture that Sister Buckner had painted.  Our is hanging in our bedroom. It makes the room a lot homier.

Friday was the school Christmas social.  It was held in the Maneaba shown in the picture and it was beautifully decorated. At this function, again we were asked to eat first and again, everyone got a garland.  I only found one ant this time.

On Saturday we went with our ward to work at the Learning Garden.  That is one of the truly beautiful places on the Island.  It was begun while the Rasmussen's were here and is struggling under the care of local members who have never gardened.  It was a truly beautiful day.  It was cloudy and rained off and on so there was always a cool breeze blowing from the ocean. I could have stayed all day. We dug trenches, shredded leaves and pulled weeds.  We harvested some cucumbers and tomatoes (which the senior missionaries purchased). Elder Sumner was even able to get the rusty old chipper working again so we could shred the cornstalks and leaves and fill the trenches with mulch. We really did work, the picture is after when we were having lunch.


Saturday night I tried my hand at making fudge from homemade marshmallow crème and cocoa.  We now have some nice hot fudge sundae sauce.   
                                                          
This final picture was taken at low tide when many people and dogs were on the reef digging for clams and other types of sea food.

Today, December 14, marks three months that we have been here.  It's hard to believe how time is flying.

Week 12 in Tarawa

This has been a quiet week at Moroni High.  School is out and the only sounds during the day are the workers fixing up and improving the facility.  Two days this week we had a crew of students who were working off part of their tuition by cleaning the mold off of the walls and porch.  It looks much nicer now.  In the evening the classrooms are quiet but the basketball and tennis courts are in full operation until about 10:00 every night.  The courts are lit and young men, women, and children come to play basketball, volleyball, tennis and soccer.  Some just come to hang out with their friends.  It's the best entertainment around.  There are no movie theaters, bowling alleys, malls, game centers or anything else, so they come and play.  I think they are better off.

When we first came to Tarawa I noticed a lady who was always here cleaning.  She cleans and attends meetings of all kinds and just spends her day at the school.  Her name is Ruineta.  She is not an employee but is here more that most employees.  I learned that Ruineta was one of the original 12 students who went from Tarawa (before there was a Moroni High) to Liahona High in Fiji to get a high school education.  She served a mission in Tarawa, and later became a teacher at Moroni when it was first opened. I don't know what happened, but somewhere along the way she experienced some problems and gave up her teaching job.  She is one of those who feels more at home here than anywhere else, and while she is no longer able to teach, she spends her life in service to the school.  There are those who avoid her now because she sometimes says off the wall things and sometimes has outbursts.  I believe she is one of God's special children and if we only saw her as God does we would be honored to know her.  She gave me permission to take her picture and use it in our blog.

Week 11 in Tarawa

 

       

This evening (Sunday evening for us) we had another beautiful sunset, made all the more beautiful by the inclusion of the lovely Sister Sumner. That’ll get me some brownie points! ;-)

We have been here almost three months already.  Time is flying by so quickly, soon this will all seem like a dream.  School is out for their summer break and everything is strangely quiet here.  In the morning there are no sounds of students cleaning, in the day the bells ring but no one answers, in the evening there is almost a stillness.  I say almost a stillness because the basketball court, soccer field and tennis court are always in use in the evening.  Lately, volleyball has been the game of choice.  It takes up half of the basketball court but there are games of basketball going on at the same time.  We have found that this is a good time to play a little tennis.  We also play a little in the mornings, but I usually go in and do other things while Elder Sumner plays with the good players.  So far he’s 4 and 0.

This Thanksgiving we have had cause to think of the many blessings the Lord has given us.  Starting with the simple things, we are grateful when there is electricity and water to take a shower.  Four mornings this week there was no water, and on two of the mornings, no electricity.  As we spoke with our children and family members, we were grateful for the goodness we see in all of them. We are thankful for the love and support we have felt as we’ve been away.  We were also grateful for turkey legs (poultry in Tarawa only has legs) when we got together with the other senior missionaries for a Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a very traditional dinner.  We all met at the home of Elder and Sister Waldron and everyone brought what they had.  We had turkey legs, dressing (stove top of course), mashed potato pearls, jello sweet potatoes, rolls, and condiments.  Not to forget the pumpkin pie and carrot pudding.  We had much to be thankful for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, in church, I was impressed with the talk one young man gave.  He told of an incident that happened on the bus yesterday.  Buses here are vans with lots of seats.  They are independently owned and some are in better condition than others.  They are all overcrowded but essential for people to get around the island. He and his friends were on an overcrowded, uncomfortable, bus.  The bus stopped for a woman and baby who wanted to get on but she couldn’t unless someone gave up his seat.  The bus driver looked back through the bus and looked at this young man.  She said, “You, boy, get up.”  He was angry and felt like the bus driver had been rude to him. He was about to give an angry reply and refuse to get up when he remembered the” 10 B’s”.  You may be familiar with President Hinkley’s   “6 B’s”, but here they have added four more. One of the B’s is “Be humble”.  He gave up his seat and felt good when the woman was grateful to be able to get on the bus.  He then gave a beautiful talk on humility.  We recite the 10 B’s everyday in our leadership devotional, and during school the students recite them everyday in their devotional class and they are posted everywhere.  The “B’s” are Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true,  be humble, be prayerful, be involved, be strong, be kind, and be still.  The world would be a better place if everyone lived by those inspired standards.

   Today we gave the Relief Society – Priesthood 5^th Sunday combined lesson.  We chose to present Elder Dean Davies’ talk on the Law of the Fast.  He spoke in the Priesthood session of the last General Conference.  We invite you all to read it and secure for yourselves and families the great blessings the Lord has promised to those who live this law.  Next Sunday is Fast Sunday.  Be sure to fast from the biggest fanciest meal you can imagine when you contribute your Fast Offering.

All our love,

Elder and Sister Sumner

 

Week 10 in Tarawa

Friday, November 21st was Moroni High School's graduation.  It was great.  The effort put in by students, faculty, and senior couples was amazing.  Music rehearsals, marching and name reading rehearsals, sewing, baking, set up, and decorations kept everyone busy and up late at night for several days beforehand.  Even Sister Aland, our visiting area ITEP coordinator helped. 

The sign at the back of the podium, "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet" was their theme this year, and was hand painted by a teacher. Sister Sumner helped the valedictorian prepare her speech.

 
After the graduation, a wonderful feast was held.  It included many traditional dishes such as roast pig.  You can see the blouse that Sister Sumner was up until 1 a.m. sewing.  Fortunately, one of the other senior sisters, Sister Waldron, sewed by vest.

After the feast, a dance celebration was held.  The teachers danced for the students, the students danced with their parents, and then we were invited to dance with the students.  But mostly the students danced with each other.  I was supposed to accompany a musical number, but the piano wouldn't work.

As part of the dance program, students performed several dance numbers wearing formal attire they sewed themselves.  Each group had a theme color, with the boys wearing vests matching the girls dresses.  They promenaded around the basketball court and paused on the stage for pictures. The stage they are on was build just for the program. There were footsteps on the court alongside an iron rod which lead to the (Christmas) tree of life beside the working fountain!

 

 On the way to see the World War II relics, we stopped by the church sponsored Learning Garden.  There we found the stake president and a handful of members working!

On our P-Day, Saturday morning, we showed Elder and Sister Aland, our area coordinators, around Tarawa.  The first picture shows the rusted remains of some ship parts (?) exposed at low tide.

This is one of the Japanese guns used against the U.S. marines in the World War II battle of Tarawa.  I read on the internet that of the nearly 6000 Japanese troops defending the island, only 17 survived.

Sunday evening the senior couples got together to celebrate the Aland's 40th wedding anniversary.  Clockwise from the left are Elder Wall, Sister Bogh, Elder Bogh, Elder Waldron, Sister Waldron, Elder Aland, Sister Aland, Sister Aldredge, and Sister Sumner.  It has been a crazy busy week.  The Aland's visit was very helpful for us because they had served as ITEP missionaries on Tonga before being asked to serve as the South Pacific area coordinators.



Week 9 in Tarawa

 

This has been a crazy busy week for us.  Thanks goodness we finished teaching our class last week.



 

On Monday we had guests arrive from BYU Hawaii.  The director of admissions, the director of financial aid, and the vice president of the Polynesian Cultural Center were here.  It was great to receive training from them because we are frequently asked to help students who are applying to go to BYUH.  We are now official BYUH applicant facilitators.  We were saddened to learn how few students from Kiribati complete their applications: only 14 out of 43.  Of those 14 who completed their applications, only 4 were admitted.  We hope to improve those numbers by helping them learn English better.  This is a picture of a dinner of cheese meatloaf prepared by the Senior Sister Missionaries.  But hey, I helped, too! Our mission, President Weir is at the far end of the table with Sister Weir on his right.

 

 

On Tuesday, I (this is Elder Sumner typing if you couldn't already tell) made a hanging file cabinet and organized two months worth of papers laying around our apartment.  We bought a plastic storage box that was just the right size, then I went to the wood shop and made the two wooden rails that you can see the folders hanging from.  I screwed the wooden rails to the insides of the plastic storage box, and Viola!

 

 On Wednesday we prepared meals for the 25 young Elder and Sister missionaries for their zone conference.  Sister Sumner gained understanding of the parable of the 10 virgins when she neglected to cook her spaghetti noodles in advance.  She missed the last hour of the conference when the mission president and his wife spoke.  They both gave inspirational talks.  He spoke at length about Moroni, and I learned things I hadn't understood before.  He had to be an amazing person to go through all that he did.

Wednesday evening Lita took us all out for dinner at the same restaurant we ate at on our date last week.  Lita is seated on Sister Sumner's left.  We ate family style so we got to taste most of the Chinese dishes they offer.  James is on my right, John is on my left, and Mike is to John's left. We kidded them that if Mike's name were Peter, then we would have been visited by Peter, James, and John.  They thought that was funny. 

Thursday we were asked to visit a public elementary

 school and I played the piano for their Christmas singing.  The video clip shows them singing Jingle Bells at the tops of their voices.  We tried explaining what a one-horse open sleigh was, but I don't think they understood.  There are no horses or sleighs on Tarawa.

This is the video of the kids singing.  I'm not sure it's going to work.  Rats.

 

This is the classroom we visited.  They did not remove the desks and chairs for our visit.  They don't have desks and chairs.  The kids sit on the floor.  There are no playgrounds or playground toys, either.  The kids run around in the sand in front of the school.  They have no running water.  The wash stations use water from plastic jugs.

 

The decorations you see hanging from the open ceiling are made from all sizes of bottle caps and can lids.  The paper on which Sister Waldron wrote the words for the Christmas songs was saved from packing crates.  It is an understatement to say they have very little in the way of school supplies.  Teachers and kids in the U.S. just don't know how good they have it.

 

After visiting the school Thursday morning, Elder and Sister Waldron, the self-reliance senior missionaries took us to visit the Learning Garden.  You can see the sweet corn just to the left of Sister Sumner's head in this picture.  The gardeners had let the corn get overripe because they didn't know anything about growing sweet corn.  This is where we purchased a dozen ears for $1.20.  That's right: ten cents an ear. While it was a little tough, the flavor was sweet and wonderful.  Where else in the world can you get fresh sweet corn in the middle of November?

 

 


Friday night there was a reception for Elder Adolph Johansson of the 8th Quorum of the Seventy.  Afterwards there was a pot luck for all who attended.  We were amazed at the variety of foods that were brought.  They are sitting on the basketball court underneath the lights.  This picture was actually taken around 9:30 p.m.





Sunday afternoon was the Seminary graduation.  243 students received diplomas or certificates of achievement.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  The students were all dressed in white.  Elder Johansson gave a wonderful talk about the importance of treasuring their certificates to help them remember what they represent: their efforts, the efforts of their teachers, the efforts of their parents, and the efforts of their church leaders.  Whew!  Next week is looking very busy as well.

 

Week 8 in Tarawa

You'd think that after all this time we would get creative on our title.  Sorry, no creativity left.  This weekend makes two full months and we are beginning to feel like oldtimers.  We've driven the dusty , bumpy road all the way to Betio and back in rain and shine, day and night. We've scouted out the places to get the best bargains. We've walked on the reef.  We've learned to buy onions, potatos and oranges whenever we find them.  We've sprayed our house daily to keep down the micro ants.  We've sifted through a sack of rice picking out the bugs. We've hung our laundry out to dry by the sea. We hardly blink when the power and water go out. We've routinely dumped water buckets filled with leaked water out until we finally, just today, got the sink repaired.  We've chased geckos out of the house.  We've gutted lobsters, and tried island delicacies like breadfruit, but not sea worms.  We've taught lessons in church, school, and assemblies. We've smiled when once again we've had a garland full of microants placed on our heads.  We've endured blaring dance music that threatens to destroy what little hearing we have left, and we accept wandering dogs, cats and rats as normal.  In other words, we are loving it here.

Tonight we had the ultimate romantic date.  We happened to have access to a car so we decided to go out to eat.  We found a little Chinese restaurant that we call the Las Vegas restaurant because of the bright lights.  We had never been there; we've only eaten out once before.  To our surprise, it was lovely and had a beautiful deck right next to the lagoon.  We were the only ones there for a long time.  We sat next to the rail looking toward Betio and watched the sun set over the lagoon. There was a cool breeze and everything was perfect.  Even the food was good. When we finally stood to leave, we turned around and saw the most amazing full moon reflecting across the water.  It was a really perfect night.

I have been seeing the comments about police brutality on Facebook, both pros and cons.  I am not going to comment one way or the other on that, but I want to share an observation from here.  There is little crime on Kiribati: the major problem is alcoholism.  Last Saturday, as we left a major store, we were approached by a very drunk man wanting money.  The security guard immediately moved in and escorted him away.  What impressed me was the kind and gentle way he did it.  He put his arm around the man and walked with him down the street then left him in the care of a friend.  There was nothing but kindness in the action.  If only we had more of that everywhere.

As this is the end of the school year, students are busy taking national final exams.  It's a really big deal here because it affects school funding from the government.  This picture shows students taking such an exam in the semi-outdoor setting of a "maneaba".  The temperature was in the mid 80's, with relative humidity near 100%, and only a light ocean breeze to cool them.  Can you imagine students in the U.S. putting up with such conditions?



We heard singing outside last Monday night, and when we opened our front door, this is what we saw: Family Home Evening on the basketball court for the dorm students.  The man standing on the left is Bishop Banimone.

 

 Finally, we had a pot luck after the final class presentations to end our SPED 200 class.  Yup, we got wreathed again!  It is always a great honor, but we never feel worthy of it.  We never cease to be amazed at how much we are honored and respected here.  It's very humbling to say the least.

Best wishes to all,
Elder and Sister Sumner