Week 28 in Tarawa

This past week has been taken up with doing DIBELS reading timings, teaching ED 385 Assessment, and preparing for the New Beginnings program.  We drove to Betio on Friday with Sister Alldredge and Sister Wier, our mission nurse and mission mother.  We were glad to see local workers repairing the damaged causeway between Betio and Bairiki.








While in Betio we stopped by to visit the sister missionaries.  We were impressed with their cleanliness and organization.  Notice their goals on the wall behind them.










On the wall behind the door were their lists of investigators and baptisms.

Here is yours truly making little sailboats with the 8 Young Women's values on the sails.  We borrowed the idea from our Principal's Conference.  The Theme this year is about embarking in the service of the Lord.









These next three pictures show the decorations for the New Beginnings program held in the chapel Friday evening.  The Young Women did a beautiful job singing "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God" and "I Walk by Faith".  I got to play the brand new piano which I helped assemble just 2 hours before the program started.

The tallest young women on the right is Leilani Solomone.  She is a senior at Moroni High School and also the Young Women's President!
(NOT the Laurel President, the YW Pres.)








We knew the Young Women had planned a dance after the program, but we didn't know that the Bishop had arranged for the young men to perform.  The Young Women seemed very pleased.  We also didn't know until the very last minute that the Bishop was providing a very nice dinner.  Sister Sumner had baked 8 dozen cupcakes thinking that was all there would be for refreshments.





While shopping in Betio, we stopped at another trade fair and happened upon a real treat: Nestlé's Quik!  That was the best chocolate milk I've had in at least 7 months.  It's funny how sometimes you miss the little things.

Weeks 26 and 27 in Tarawa

 

These past two weeks have been filled with reading fluency timings (DIBELS), classes, church assignments, Relief Society birthday celebrations, a field trip, a baptism, and even some shopping. We managed, however, to go to the Golden Restaurant with Elder and Sister Waldron and Sister Alldredge for a wonderful meal at sunset on Friday, March 20th. Even after being here 6 months we still can't help but be amazed at the beautiful sunsets.

Many have inquired about storm damage here.  Typhoon Pam passed 1000 miles south of us, and heavily damaged Vanuatu, but the high tides and swells still caused some serious damage to the roads on Tarawa.  The first picture shows half of a main road eaten away between Eita and Bairiki.  The second picture shows huge concrete blocks tossed clear over to the other side of the road on the causeway between Bairiki and Betio. 

On Wednesday, March 11th, the Taiwanese ambassador spoke at our student officer induction assembly after pinning the officer's badges on each new student officer.  He gave a very interesting talk about how students can achieve much more than they think they are capable of.  Note the new piano in the lower left corner of the picture.  This is the piano I brought back from New Zealand.  The school finally has a piano that works in the chapel.

On Friday, March 13th, the Tarawa West Stake Relief Society birthday celebration was held on our campus.  This was the booth for having your picture taken.  We had ours taken but decided we've already posted enough pictures of ourselves.

After refreshments, the dancing began.  We liked this picture because it conveys the exuberance of the people for their dancing.  Even the little kids get out and dance.

The next day, Saturday, March 14th was the two-stake Relief Society birthday celebration in Bairiki.  These are all the senior couple sisters who were present.  From left to right they are Sister Baber (she was visiting with her auditor husband from Majero), Sister Waldron, Sister Bogh, Sister Wall, Sister Sumner, and Sister Alldredge.

Here is one of the many birthday cakes served at the 2-stake celebration. The two pictures below show more of the traditional dancing.  Each ward was assigned one of the Pacific island dance styles.  Our ward was given Hawaii, so our sisters did the Hula.  Our ward was assigned the colors yellow and blue, hence the outfits above.

 

 

After returning from the Relief Society birthday celebration, we were able to witness another baptism in the ocean behind our apartment.

On Thursday, March 19th, the Interhouse track and field day was held in Bairiki. This picture shows the 6 teams lining up for the parade past the stadium where we sat and judged the marching.

Weeks 24 and 25 in Tarawa (and New Zealand)

 

On February 26^th we left for the Principal’s Conference with our principal, Lita Iabeta.  She is an amazing person and has done much for the church as well as for Moroni High School.  She even assisted with the translation of the Book of Mormon into Kiribati.

We rented a car and drove down to Hamilton only to find that the temple was closed for cleaning on Friday, Feb. 27th.  We had a wonderful visit with the senior missionary couple from Farmington, Elder and Sister Monson, in the visitor center.  A week later, after the Principal's Conference was over, we again rented a car, drove the hour and forty five minutes and attended a temple session.  Sister Sumner was also able to do some initiatory work.  The temple was small but beautiful.  At the temple we met another senior couple serving in Auckland as name extractors.

 

Since the temple was closed, we drove in the rain to Rotorua, New Zealand’s “Yellowstone”.  We walked around looking down into bubbling mud pots, one of which spit some hot mud on me (no harm).  We walked along the lake edge and came to a Mauri exhibit of a war canoe that was pretty amazing.

Saturday morning, Feb. 28th, we decided to ride up on the Skyride tram and try out the mile long luge run.  Actually, I purchased the tram-luge run package without Sister Sumner knowing.  She was a good sport, however, and agreed to give it a look. You can see Rotorua and the lake in the background.

We took a picture of a family getting ready to go down the luge run.  Seeing little kids and grandparents going on the run gave Sister Sumner confidence to give it a go.  Afterwards, she wished I had bought more than a single run.

One of the attractions at the top of the tram was a jelly bean store.  These three pictures were made entirely of jelly beans!

There's Gollum admiring my precious!

We drove from Rotorua to Matamata to see Hobbiton, the set used for the Shire in the Hobbit movies.  We stopped at this visitor center in town and were informed that the tour would take three hours and cost $75 dollars each, so we took a few pictures and left.

The theme of the Principal's Conference was "Embark", the same theme for Young Men and Young Women this year.  We heard from the area presidency and our ITEP and Seminary and Institute leaders during the 3.5 days of the conference.  We came away recharged and refreshed to return home and fulfill our callings as ITEP missionaries.  We found it so helpful and enlightening to meet and discuss our efforts with the ITEP couples from the other islands whom we had never met before.  The "Embark" theme fit so well with the island schools in the South Pacific.

We loved all the decorations, but especially loved these table centerpieces.

This shows the layout of our conference meetings as seen from where we sat.  The principals sat in a large U in front of the ITEP couples.

Thursday afternoon, we went as a group to the marine museum in Auckland to learn more about the history of South Pacific island boats.  We toured this replica of a twin hull boat that was used to cross the Pacific in ancient times.  This replica was actually manned by a volunteer group from Hawaii who were sailing to many locations in the Pacific.  This replica, however, had very modern navigation and communication equipment on board.

We took a brief boat ride around Auckland.  This is a view of the city from our boat.

We were told to be sure and try the local fish and chips meal.  The meal was delicious for both of us and a handful of seagulls.  They would come right up to us at the table and take a French fry right out of our hand.

The Auckland skyline is famous for this needle-like structure, which can be seen from 30 or more miles away.  We could see it from the balcony of our hotel, the Spencer on Byron, in Takapuna, and even got to watch some fireworks launched from the needle to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Takapuna is known for its relatively recent volcanic activity. At low tide we went walking out on the lava flow where we could see the remnants of trees that had been destroyed by the lava flow, leaving circular rings and holes.

Being in New Zealand was a lot like being back in the U.S.  We realized, while there, that this was most likely our last excursion from Tarawa before our mission ends about a year from now.  It's hard to believe that our mission is one third over.  We feel so very blessed and privileged to be able to serve the Lord here.

We've been incredibly busy since returning, but will try to post a brief blog for week 26 in a day or two.