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.