Week 67 in Tarawa

This has been a busy week culminating in a wonderful Christmas.  We started out the week by FINALLY putting up some Christmas lights in our front window.  I wouldn't call  it nagging, but Sister Sumner had to remind me several times that Christmas was getting closer every day!

On Monday, December 21st, the Service Center held a "Vendor's Fair".  We hadn't planned on being involved, but several of the choir members came over asking if they could borrow the piano I had borrowed over the school break from the choir room.  After I delivered and set up the piano, they asked if I could play for them.  How can I turn down accompanying Christmas carols the week of Christmas.  Then they asked us if we would like to participate in the Vendor's Fair and join them for lunch afterwards.  That and our Family Home Evening pretty much took up the entire day and evening.

On Tuesday, as I was repairing the broken music stand on the chapel piano again, I heard mewing coming from underneath the pulpit.  I reached under and found this kitten that was quite hungry because the chapel had been locked up and the mother cat had been unable to get in to feed it.

I tried to feed it some cow's milk, but it obviously wanted nothing to do with it.

Finally, I asked the guards to find the momma cat (we call it the cripple cat because it limps on a badly broken hind leg and has only a raw stump of a tail).  After a few sniffs, she picked up the kitten and took it elsewhere on the campus to feed it.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Sister Sumner's famous cinnamon twists and English toffee.  We prepared gifts like this for each of the other senior missionaries, including President Weir, who will be here over Christmas.  Sister Weir is resting back at the mission home in Majuro recovering from foot surgery after breaking her foot.

While delivery some of the English toffee and cinnamon twists, we spent too much time visiting.  By the time we returned to our apartment, we found the last batch of cinnamon twists baked just the way I like them!

On Wednesday evening, we got together to stuff Christmas bags with goodies for the young elders and sisters.

On Thursday evening, Christmas Eve, we got together and decorated gingerbread men and brownie Christmas trees.

Elder and Sister Waldron had quite the artist touch with their improvised bags of colored frosting.

We all thought they turned out very professionally.

Our Christmas day started at 7 a.m. with sisters coming over to use our phone and computer to visit with their families on other nearby Pacific islands.  Elders and sisters from the U.S. had to wait until Saturday to make their Skype calls because we are 17 hours ahead of the states.

Sister Sumner put to work some of the sisters who were waiting their turns to call.  She also cooked a few dozen pancakes for breakfast for the hungry sisters as well as 48 hamburgers for the missionary lunch scheduled for noon.

Here we are feeding the hungry elders and sisters.  While there weren't 5000, and we started with more than 2 loaves and 5 fishes, it was still a miracle.

While there was not a single flake of snow, we still had a white Christmas.  In the afternoon of the 24th, we had 14 baptisms.

While it's hard to see in the picture, the breakers rolling in kept knocking the young girl about to be baptized off her feet, so another elder went out to help steady her.

We had quite a crowd of both members and nonmembers come to watch.  This picture shows the unfortunate polluted condition of many of the beaches on Tarawa.

Here's another picture of the elders and sisters enjoying American style hamburgers and macaroni salad for their Christmas lunch.

This is a picture of the senior couples along with our mission president, President Weir, front center.  We were disappointed that the chief organizer of our missionary lunch, our mission nurse, Sister Alldredge, fell ill on Christmas day and missed the lunch.  From left to right in the front row are Sister Jenks, Sister Sumner, President Weir, Sister Olson, and Sister Waldron.  From left to right in the back row are Elder Jenks, Elder Sumner, Elder Olson, and Elder Waldron.

Right after the lunch, I set up my computer and projector and we all watched a movie called Freetown, about some elders in Africa who had to flee for their lives from a civil war.  In this picture, however, we see the results of a "Hunger Games" style water fight.  It was great fun to watch everyone running around like crazy but enjoying getting soaked anyway.

On Sunday, December 27th, I was asked to accompany a musical number at the Bikenibeu 1st Ward.  As it turned out, I played the piano for the whole sacrament meeting, including the Primary program.  While I had no idea it was happening, I think the Lord did, and I was as grateful as they were to be able to provide piano accompaniment.

After our Sacrament Meeting this afternoon, the Moroni Ward had a nice dinner for everyone.  With school being out for the break, we only had about 40 people attend today.

In retrospect, we have had a wonderful Christmas.  While there was only the simplest of gift giving, and no Christmas shopping to speak of, we truly felt the spirit of Christmas.  We felt the love of God manifest by the gift of His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  This has been a Christmas we will never forget.

Week 66 in Tarawa

On Wednesday, December 15th, the combined East and West Tarawa Stakes held a Primary activity.  We were delighted to see even the youngest children enjoying dancing.  No wonder the adults here enjoy dancing so much.  They grow up with it as part of their culture.

It is a rule in the Sumner house that someone has to make raisin filled cookies at Christmas time.  So here she is, in all her glory, baking raisin filled cookies.  Only raisins are called "sultanas" in Kiribati, she's really baking sultana filled cookies!  Notice her clever use of an empty tuna can and an empty jar as a cookie cutter.

On Saturday we went to the Temaiku Branch Relief Society craft fair.  When we arrived, they were playing a game which had everyone howling with laughter.  The people here really know how to enjoy being together.  Notice the many sisters wearing the Relief Society colors, gold and blue.

Here are some of their handicrafts on display.  We purchased quite a bit of their work to bring home with us.  When the children saw I was taking pictures, they all came running over to be in the picture.

Here's another view of their crafts on display for sale.  Sisters Waldron (left) and Alldredge also bought a fair amount of their handiwork.

We were amused by their weight loss tally board.  Those are actual names and weights in kilograms, of course. This would NEVER be done in the states!

Elder Waldron bought a beautiful hand printed lava-lava, and had to demonstrate a few hip swivels while trying it on, much to everyone's amusement.

Later on Saturday evening Sister Sumner shows off her perfectly cooked world famous melt in your mouth English toffee.  I have tasted it and can attest to its excellence.  It wouldn't be Christmas without it.









With the palm trees, mid-eighties temperatures and the ocean breezes, it doesn't look like Christmas here.  We still feel the spirit of Christmas in the love and happiness of those around us.  As we contemplate God's gift of his Son, our hearts are filled with gratitude and love for our Father in Heaven.  We are grateful to step away from the shopping, the programs, and the busyness of Christmas and to contemplate the peace of that first Christmas night.  Like it says in the song, let us all "Let Him in" this Christmas season.  Make service a part of your celebration and find someone who needs a little extra love. We think of this as we tip the disabled boy who helps us park our car whether we want it or not, give money to the crippled beggar at the grocery store, feed the neighbor's  cats, give food to the starving dog who licks clean the cat's bowl after they are done, or just smile and greet others as we walk in the morning. "Find a way, make Him room, let Him in!"

Weeks 64 and 65 in Tarawa

 

Sorry for the lateness of this blog.  Upon our return to Kiribati on Monday, December 14th, we discovered that our phone and internet were not working.  The internet was out until today, Wednesday, December 16th.

We flew out of Tarawa on Thursday, December 3rd.  Because of flight schedules, we had to stay overnight in Fiji.  After arriving in Brisbane Friday morning, the first thing we did was drive our silver rental car (parked in front) to the temple.  Here we strolled around the temple grounds and made plans to come back on Wednesday.

This is a close-up of the manger scene in front of the temple. Notice the palm trees.

This is looking towards downtown Brisbane from across the street from the temple.

As we walked along the South Bank towards downtown, we stopped to look at these pelican statues made from parts of machines.  We watched a family paddle their kayaks past us.

We walked under a beautifully flowered canopy.  Many people, including lots of families, were enjoying this scene which made it seem as if we weren't actually in the heart of a city of 3 million people.















We were amazed to find a FREE splash park a little further along on our walk.  It was neat to see children and parents having such an enjoyable time together.

We were even more amazed to find a FREE swimming pool complete with sandy beaches just past the splash pool.

One more view of the FREE swimming pool in downtown Brisbane.  You can see the Wheel of Brisbane Ferris wheel in the background.

We did NOT ask the kids to climb up on the "B" and the "S" of the "Brisbane" sign.  They were just there already, posing for their families, we guess.

We walked across the bridge to the North Bank where we found a kind of farmer's market.  We had a laugh at this booth touting fruit grown to classical music and pollinated by native bees!

After being in Kiribati for over a year, it was overwhelming to see the variety and affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables available in Australia.

One of the highlights of our trip was going to see a professional performance of Les Mis.  When we first inquired about seats and costs, we were dismayed by the prices ($135 for decent seats).  But we found out that since the performance was not sold out, we could go to the ticket office 2 hours before the performance and ask for "rush" tickets.  We got two seats together on the end of row 10 for only $45 each!  It was a wonderful performance.

On the way home from Les Mis, as we walked toward the City Cat ferry boat dock, we walked past the Wheel of Brisbane which we were able to ride twice, the second time for free.

This picture is taken from the City Cat boat of an illuminated bridge.  What you can't see from the picture is that the light patterns are constantly changing.

Here's a daytime shot of the Story Bridge taken from an earlier City Cat boat ride.  By taking the City Cat from our motel by the airport to downtown Brisbane, we avoided having to drive in heavy traffic on poorly marked and confusing roads and then having to find a place to park.  The ferry rides were really quite pleasant, even in the rain.

One last picture in Brisbane, taken from in front of the Science Museum, looks back toward the Queensland Performing Arts Center (QPAC) where we saw Les Mis.

While we loved the 4 days spent in Brisbane, we actually spend 5 days on the Gold Coast in Coolangata at the Beachcomber Resort.  This is a view from the balcony looking north.

We walked up a very steep hill to the Captain Cook monument located at Danger Point.  To get a feel for the size of it, if you look very carefully, you can see Sister Sumner standing at the base of the "west" pillar.  She's wearing a blue blouse with a black skirt.  Walking around town was one of the many activities we enjoyed there.

Not far from the Captain Cook monument is Danger Point itself.  We enjoyed watching the waves crash against the rocks.  Captain Cook recorded the discovery of this place in his ship's log in the late 1700's and called it Danger Point, although there remains some controversy about whether this was the exact place or not.

We enjoyed bicycling up the Gold Coast on what turned out to be a nice cool summer's day.  Elder Sumner also enjoyed body surfing in some of the big waves coming in on the beach until one of the waves caught him and slammed him into the sand.  The abrasion to his left shoulder is healing nicely.  The Gold Coast attracts surfers from all over the world because of its favorable surfing conditions.  A resort location north of where we stayed is called Surfers Paradise.

We drove up to Mount Tamborine and took the Skywalk through the rainforest jungle canopy.  We were amazed to learn that Australia was once nearly all rainforest, but that much of it had been destroyed by logging.

We ate most of our meals in our apartment, cooking the wonderful food we purchased in the local markets.  We did eat out a handful of times, however, and the BBQ ribs we had at Hog's Breath was the tastiest meal we had there.














These 22 pictures hardly convey the wonderful time we had together on our trip.  Despite the fact that Sister Sumner came down with a cold at the start of our trip and Elder Sumner came down with a cold half way through the trip, we still loved everything we saw and everything we did.  We came back to Kiribati with a profound sense of gratitude for the blessings that are ours.  There is such a contrast between the simple beauty of a very poor 3rd world country and a modern 21st century city like Brisbane.  We have been privileged to experience the joys of both, for which we give thanks to our Father in Heaven.  We hope we can continue to show our gratitude to Him by serving the people of Kiribati during the last 2 1/2 months of our mission.