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.