Week 62 in Tarawa

 

Friday, November 20th, 2015 was the Moroni High School graduation.  Having attended 13 high school graduations at Northridge High School in the past 13 years, I can honestly say that this graduation ceremony was as good as any I ever witnessed.  The school held two a day rehearsals for the past 4 days.  The music was truly excellent, and the speakers weren't bad, either.  The two flag bearers in this picture are our valedictorian and our salutatorian.

Sister Sumner gave a wonderful talk about learning life's lesson of love based on Carol Lynn Pearson's book, The Lesson, A Fable For Our Times.  When she finished her talk, she presented the book to our principal, Lita, who has accepted another assignment for next year.  Lita has been the principal of Moroni for the past 14 years.  We will miss her.

 Elder Sumner spoke on service as being the purpose of getting an education.  It was a great  honor for us to be asked to be the commencement speakers.  We hope they will at least remember the grand themes of our talks: learning to love and learning to serve. The theme of the graduation was, "The Glory of God is Intelligence."

As at all graduations, the kids took tons of pictures of each other.  We took pictures of them taking pictures.

The girl on the left, Lealani, is the daughter of Tipo Solomone, our vice principal.  She was also the salutatorian.

Saturday morning, we went with Sister Alldredge, our mission nurse, to do missionary apartment checks and distribute water filtration kits.  The very first flat we visited hadn't even installed their filtration system.  They told us they had been drinking rainwater collected in a big tank filled with rain draining off their roof.  It's surprising that the missionaries are as healthy as they are.  Here we are with our first ever filter installation.

The first team of sisters joined us to visit the second team of sister missionaries who were doing a service project for an elderly member.  She can be seen just behind the two sisters seated on the front right of the picture.

Sister Baldwin is shucking a coconut for the elderly member while the boys laughed at her.  The local people shuck them so quickly and easily using nothing but a sharp stick stuck in the ground.  Watching us ematangs try it must be hilarious to them.

Their skills at many native tasks are truly amazing to us.  This guy is 30 feet off the ground and seemed totally unafraid of falling.

The milk of the coconut is delicious, refreshing, and incredibly nutritious.  Of this I can speak from direct first hand knowledge.

The next apartment we visited had their filter system connected, but the box of spare filters had been all chewed up by rats.  Notice the mold at the top of their kitchen wall. Despite the primitive conditions the elders and sisters live in, they rarely complain. We bought a new refrigerator for two different apartments when we found out that theirs weren't even working.

When we visited the next apartment, the elders were having their morning planning meeting in their back year, in full view of the Pacific Ocean.  What a beautiful place to be working!  They were in a threesome waiting for another missionary to come to replace the one who had just returned home.

Along the way we stopped at the roadside gift shop where the craft lady sells us lots of take home gifts and souvenirs.  She makes them for many of the fancier stores, but we get a much better price buying direct from her.  We also pay her more than the fancy stores do, so it's a win-win situation.

Saturday afternoon we attended a baptism in Betio where 11 people were baptized.  It's wonderful to see the church growing.  We hope they receive the three things they need to stay active: a calling, a friend, and to be fed by the good word of God.  We noticed how the stake president personally and warmly greeted each new member as they climbed out of the baptismal font.  The older man near the middle of the picture bore his testimony after his baptism that the spirit had prepared him to accept all the principles of the gospel as they were taught him by the missionaries.  He knew they were true as soon as he heard them.

This has been a wonderful week for us, witnessing some of the fruits of our labors.  We worked and prayed hard for the inspiration to lift and encourage the new graduates, the young elders and sisters, and the newly baptized members.  We feel the Lord's blessings have been poured out upon us.