Week 58 in Tarawa

Wednesday, October 21st was the annual awards assembly.  Lita and a committee of teachers worked day and night (literally all night for two nights in a row) selecting the students who earned the awards, writing certificates, and wrapping presents.  While we offered to help several times, they only allowed us to help present the awards. There were several hundred awards given out as they were given in all subjects and in all grades.

A lot of this week was spent cooking again for the 15 new missionaries who arrived on Thursday, October 22nd.  We set the food up at the institute building while all of the mission leaders drove a fleet of trucks to the airport to collect tired and culture shocked missionaries.

Here the missionaries are gathered in a circle with President and Sister Weir to receive instructions on the important things they need to know right away.  After eating they all had a chance to bear their testimonies.  We weren't able to hear them because we had to hurry back to teach our class.  Later that evening Elder Sumner was able to sign them all on to computers in one of the labs so they could send their first email messages home.

Friday night the students planned a farewell celebration for Lita.  Despite the pouring rain, everyone stayed and put on a beautiful program.  The school is organized into houses that are named after prophets of the church. Each house prepared a presentation, decorated a cake and presented gifts to Lita.  She has worked at Moroni since she was a 23 year old returned missionary.  She has been principal for thirteen of the twenty-six years she has worked at Moroni High School.  It's hard to imagine Moroni without Lita.


This is one of the cakes that the students decorated.  There were six couples sitting in the front so they had each of us cut one cake.














Lita and her husband cut the cake after being garlanded and presented with many gifts.  Lita is wearing several layers of shirts and lava lava's.

Saturday morning was the Young Women In Excellence program.  Girls from all of the wards in the East Stake met at the chapel.  They decorated the classrooms with things they had accomplished while working on their personal progress then had a spiritual meeting with President Banemone as the main speaker.  He reminded the girls of the message President Pearson gave last week to know who they are and to stay true to the gospel.

This is the table in the room we decorated.  Sister Solomone did most of the work.  I supplied pictures that I had taken of the girls during the year.

This is an example of the decorations that were done.  Notice that everything is woven from the leaves of the Pandanus trees.  I am constantly amazed at the beautiful work they are able to do with just the materials nature provides.

This room was set up by another ward.  Notice the table full of goodies.  They sold many of the things that the girls made and a variety of food.  The money was donated to the stake mission fund that is sadly in the red. There are so many young men and women here who have no support from anyone to help them serve missions, that it is difficult for the local wards to keep up.

There was a fashion show and talent show as part of the program.  Just like girls everywhere, the girls participating were anxious to have their hair and makeup done.

These are the Sister Missionaries who were good sports and modeled with no advance warning.

Each ward was assigned a type of apparel and had three girls model.  These girls are modeling Sunday Best.

While I was at the Young Women's program, Elder Sumner attended another baptism in the ocean behind our apartment.  The Elders were unable to use the font because the Young Women were using all of the rooms.

Elder Smith told me that they were able to use the ocean because the tide happened to be just right.  When the tide is low, it is dry clear out to the reef.  When the tide is high, it pounds on the sea wall.

Last of all, Elder Afatasi, one of our favorite missionaries, stopped by this afternoon to get his suit.  He is leaving for Kritimati (Christmas) Island tomorrow and will go home from there next February, just a few days before we leave.  He gave us both necklaces that his mother had made for him to give away.   He admitted that they were supposed to be for a couple who had gone home some months ago so he gave them to us instead.  I told him to tell his mother that the best thing she gave us was her son because he is such a wonderful missionary.








I have been reading a book by Elder Holland. He spoke in one of his talks about the challenging times we live in.  Let me leave you with this parting thought from the book:

"Be true and faithful.  Live your religion.  Stand straight and be firm--and if there's a little wind blowing, just put your face into the wind and go forward.  And when you can't go forward, just stand.  Just plant your feet and stand immovable for a while if that's all you can do.  Be faithful and be true and love the Lord, because He loves you"

Week 57 in Tarawa

It has been a busy week as we prepared for the Bell's from BYUH and the Pearson's from New Zealand.  As we were out shopping last Monday we gave this group of three boys small lollipops while they watched us gas up the truck at Betio Gas.  They followed us as we drove next door to the Wishing Star store to purchase food and paper ware for the upcoming dinners.  I snapped this picture as we were leaving the store.  They were obviously enjoying the lollipops, but we couldn't help wonder why they weren't in school.

On Tuesday morning we enjoyed some of the fruits of our labors.  Three of our teachers completed the requirements for their ITEP Teaching Certificates.  We asked John Bell, BYUH Academic Vice President to do the presentations at the faculty meeting.  From left to right the teachers are Titeebwa, Rebwa, and Tanouea.
We are so proud of these teachers for doing all their classwork for us on top of their regular teaching responsibilities.  Earning these certificates is not a trivial thing when you are raising families, serving in the church, and working a full time job.

One of the marvelous traditions in Kiribati is the way they honor guests.  Their singing and dancing is a joy to behold.  It's obvious to us they enjoy doing this even though it means after-school rehearsals the whole previous week.  The teachers in our Tuesday and Thursday classes were excused from the rehearsals, but nearly all other faculty members, their families, and service center people were there.

John and Rhonda Bell were the recipients of the singing, dancing, feasting, and souvenirs.  We felt a closeness to them because John was the Stake President back in Provo who set apart two of our grandchildren, Corey and Shelby, for their missions.  We had a chance to share memories as well as discuss the needs of our students as they prepare to attend BYUH.  They were so kind and loving to us and everyone on campus.  We will remember their visit for a long, long time.

We spent a good part of Thursday preparing two crock pots of chili and 3.5 dozen Halloween cookies for the Missionary Training meeting with President and Sister Pearson, President and Sister Weir, the senior missionaries, and the young elders and sisters from Tarawa on Friday.  Needless to say, the physical food was as wonderful as the spiritual food.

Friday morning, as we were loading the truck with the food and drinks for the meeting in Temaiku, a group of Form 7 (grade 13) students came by to sing us a farewell song.  This coming week is the end of school year dance, and most of the Form 7 students will either go on missions, find jobs, or begin taking classes at local colleges or trade schools.  I wish we could download the video so you could enjoy the wonderful words, harmonies, and spirit of their song.  The student with the baseball cap is Bwereniko, a very talented pianist who will be greatly missed at Moroni High School.

Here we are a Temaiku awaiting the arrival of the Weir's and Pearson's.  It was decided that after they arrived, only one person would take pictures and then share them with everyone, but that hasn't happened yet, so you only get to see the preliminary pose.

President Pearson, of the Seventy, who is our Area President, along with President Weir and their wives presented a marvelous, spirit filled training session.  The emphasis of the training was on remembering who we really are and being a disciple of Christ.  He taught us that we all were disciples of Christ before we came to Earth.  Our job as missionaries is to help people remember who they really are (sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father) and re-awaken that knowledge in them through the power of the Holy Ghost.  We were truly lifted and inspired by their words and by the Holy Ghost.

After the meeting, while we were waiting for President Pearson to finish his interviews, the missionaries spontaneously began singing hymns.  I got to accompany them on the piano.  Another joyous treat!

Speaking of treats, the lobster lady came knocking at our door Saturday.  It had been many months since she had come by.  We bought these two beauties, which I promptly cleaned.  We invited Sister Alldredge, our mission nurse, over that evening for a sumptuous lobster feast.  They were delicious!

Next week we begin teaching EDU 200, Human Growth and Development.  It is sobering to realize that this is the last class we will be teaching this year.  Time truly "flies on wings of lightning".

Week 56 in Tarawa

 

Just another sunset in paradise (actually Kiribati).

In preparation for the visit of several heads of state including the Prince of Monaco, the Moroni High School students cleaned up the beach across the road from the school.

 

 

This is the Christmas program from this past week.  We have the program this early because some of the students go home at the end of October.  This suits Sister Sumner just fine since for her the Christmas season begins after October General Conference!

 

Tuesday, October 6th, was Sister Alldredge's birthday.  It was hard to keep it a secret, but we did it.  We knocked on her door with the elders and sang Happy Birthday, after which she blew out her candles.

 

After blowing out her candles, we went inside for a wonderful birthday meal of pizza, which everyone enjoyed as a special and rare treat.  There was none left over.  The dessert was a wonderful carrot cake made by Sister Sumner.

 

Friday morning I got out the telescope to see the conjunction of the Moon with Venus.  Many missionaries and some students and guards were able to see it also.

 

 

I took this picture with my cell phone showing crescent shaped Venus towards the lower right and the crescent Moon on the far left.

 

Now that we have been here a year, we start to see repeats of things we experienced last year, like the early Christmas program and, on Thursday afternoon, a teacher's day celebration.  This year it was a little hectic because there were many leaders of other small countries visiting Kiribati and the ministry asked students to line the road and wave as the motorcade drove by.  This was at the same time that the students had planned a teachers' day celebration.  They ended up letting school out right after lunch so there would be time to do both.  This is one of the signs that decorated the cultural hall.

The teachers were presented with garlands, both leis and head garlands.  These were all made of leaves, I suspect that it would take all the flowers on campus to do flowered ones.

Here are Elder Sumner and I wearing our garlands.

Some of the boys in the dorms have organized a group that they call by the creative name of "Dorm Boys".  They love to perform and everyone loves to watch them perform.  They are really good at the traditional dances.

The girls don't have a group, so they chose one of the best dancers to represent them.  The tub at her feet is part of a funny thing they do here.  When a dancer is good people will come up and spray her or him with perfume and put a tub down for gifts.  I've never really seen any gifts in the tub, just the tub.  Notice the students standing outside the window? There was plenty of  room inside for everyone, but many students refuse(even after repeated invitations) to come inside and just stand outside and look in the windows.

Along with everything else, this week was also parent conferences.  It was originally scheduled two weeks ago but the poor internet connections made it impossible for teachers to get the grades done.  Now there isn't much time for students to make improvements.  School ends in November for most and this month for the form 3's (9th grade).  Unlike in America; when they finish their exams, they are finished for the year.

 

Saturday morning Tioromaia and Iutita stopped by before conference and we invited them to breakfast.  Gloria is growing fast, she enjoyed eating a banana and some toast, and drank milk from a glass. It was rainy and cool as we went to conference, I could imagine that the weather was not that different than in Utah.  When we got home and saw the pounding surf out of our back window, it didn't look like Utah at all.

This past week has also been a beehive of activity for work on house 7.  We are having two special guests coming next week, John Bell, Academic V.P. of BYUH, and President Pearson of the Seventy, who is our Area President.  The work crew has painted the house inside and out, replaced the overhead fans, replaced the lights, and installed new windows.  It's looking very nice.

As we have listened to conference, we have been impressed with the wonderful and timely messages.  We felt the spirit testify to us of the truthfulness of the words spoken.  We hope you all took the opportunity to listen and be filled spiritually.  One talk that we particularly like was the one by Bradley D. Foster who told the story of Pablo being interviewed to serve a mission.  Pablo was well prepared because of the things that his father had taught him.  Each year he took the opportunity to warn Pablo of the kinds of experiences he might expect that year.  The father also let Pablo know that he could and should come talk with him as he experienced these trials.  We wished that we had heard this talk years ago or better yet, thought of it ourselves.  We would encourage all of you parents to take this message to heart and have those conversations with our grandchildren.  The title of the talk is "Never too Early, Never too late." so we are trusting that we are not too late.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 55 inTarawa

Sister Sumner still faithfully walks every morning unless it is raining.  She walks with Sister Alldredge and, when she's here, Sister Weir, our mission president's wife.  It's a glorious time of day to walk as the sky brightens in the east while the air is still relatively cool,  but she still comes back drenched in sweat.  This picture is one of dozens she takes of the beauty of this island.  They are always greeted with "mauri" by the locals who see them so regularly, and by the children who wave and smile while calling out, "I-matang", the local word for white people.

Monday, September 26th, Sister Sumner baked chocolate chip cookies to take to our missionary meeting and our ITEP class.  She had to go to the office for a few minutes with one of our teacher-students, and asked me, Elder Sumner, to take the cookies out of the oven when the timer rang.  To make a long story short, we both blew it!  I stepped out of the apartment for a while with the missionaries and forgot the cookies.  As you can see, they came out a beautiful golden brown, but edible only by me.  Sister Sumner half forgave me, however, when she discovered that she had set her timer for 4 hours instead of 4 minutes.  I enjoyed a batch cooked "my way", and Sister Sumner has finally forgiven me the last half.  Everyone loved the "unburned" (as she calls them) cookies shown at the top of the picture.

Armine Solomone helped the girls plan a service project for their activity Wednesday evening.  They made sock dolls for the nursery.  I am the proud donor of three pair of socks which made 6 dolls!

Her the girls are sewing up the socks where the legs are cut.  Notice the lollipop sticks in their mouths that Sister Sumner donated to make the activity just a little sweeter.

Here the girls are stuffing the socks with shredded foam.  They often seem more comfortable working while seated on the floor than at a table.  Most homes don't have tables and chairs, so eating and many other activities are done in this manner.

Leilani, Armine's daughter, is the Young Women's President.  I don't mean "the Laurel President", but the YW president.  Ours is a student ward, after all.  She is gluing parts of the faces onto the socks using hot melt glue.  She is using a lit candle to melt the hot melt glue because there are no glue guns here!  Just another example of how people here make do with what they have.

Here's the finished product.  The children in the nursery will be delighted.  Obviously, this young woman is still relishing her lollipop.

At a surprise faculty meeting Thursday morning, Mike Carthew, the man on the right and the Area Director of Church Schools, announced that Lita, our principal for the past 13 years, has been asked to become the Director of Seminaries and Institutes on Tarawa.  Many tears were shed as she spoke of her 26 years of experience at Moroni High School.  We have grown to love and respect her immensely in the past year, and we will miss our daily interactions with her when she leaves her principalship on December 1st.

Our new principal, starting December 1st, will be Banririe (pronounced Ban dee dee ay), who is currently our 1st Vice Principal.  He is also the 1st counselor in our Stake Presidency.

Only her hair dresser knows for sure, but since I'm the one who colors her hair, and Sister Alldredge is the one who cuts her hair, we can categorically state that she looks at least 10 years younger than she did last week.

Saturday evening we had another micro ant invasion.  Amazingly, they found the lollipops we left on top of the fridge in a sealed Ziploc bag.  We didn't realize that a lollipop stick had poked a tiny hole in the side of the bag.  The sealed edge of the bag was touching the wall beside the fridge, and the ants came marching in big time.  If you look carefully, you can see the ant bodies on the paper towel remaining from our Battle of the Lollipops.  I had to shake ants off of each lollipop one at a time, which wouldn't have been so hard except that these lollipops have hollow sticks.  The ants would crawl right up through the sticks to find the exposed candy inside.  The wrappers kept the ants off of the outside.  We hope we got all of the ants out or some unlucky lollipop licker is in for a rude surprise.

We've been able to hear bits and pieces of General Conference live, but we will be able to watch all sessions next weekend when the Stake replays the broadcasts from DVD's they receive. The translation department here will be busy all week doing Kiribati voice overs so that the people here can also hear the words of our prophet and apostles.  We loved the talks we've heard so far, especially Elder Holland's talk on the divine roll of mothers and how much their love is like the Savior's love.  We love our mission.