Sunrise

We love our morning sunrise walks, but this morning was especially beautiful.  Alma 30:44 "all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth; and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets, which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

A New School Year

 I love the beginning of a new school year.  This will probably be my last "First Day of School."

Before school training: Fatele and Mary

Gathering for beginning assembly

First Day: Instructional Assembly

Teachers at first assembly

Lita, principal, addressing students

Tipo Solomone, Vice Principal

Banririe, Vice Principal

Moving into the dorm

Temwaiku Chapel Dedication

Temwaiku Chapel

Sat. Jan. 18 was a full day as we attended the dedication of the Temwaiku chapel. It is a beautiful building right next to the ocean. There were a few government invited guests and some from Taiwan who work here as well.  It was a wonderful service and I loved the choir.  After the program, the guests were taken on a tour of the building with four short presentations: Missionary work, Saving the Rising Generation, Strengthening the Family, and Helping the Poor and Needy.  That was followed by a cultural program by the       youth and of course a HUGE feast.  They roasted four pigs. 

Lita's presentation on 'Strengthening the Family'

Banririe's presentation on 'Self Reliance'

Babai, Elder Rasmussen, Titeebwa

Choir

Preparing the feast

Sister return missionaries were our Ushers for the day

, Sister Cassita, 

Children waiting for the program to begin

Enjoying the feast

Buying Eggs

It has been raining for two days now and it’s our turn to go buy eggs.  We borrowed Elder Youngberg’s truck and made our way to the “Egg Lady.” When the kids are here on campus she comes and delivers eggs to the school cafeteria and to us, but with no kids we have to go get them. The rain was coming in buckets and they were still gathering eggs, so I waited in the truck while Rich stood in the rain with an umbrella waiting.  I felt sorry for the poor chickens.  They had tried to cover their cages but they were getting soaked. The eggs are now $.60 each or $7.20 a doz.  Some are very small and some are huge.  We even had a double yolk once. 

We are grateful for the rain since we depend on it for all of our water needs.  But without sunshine our solar powered hot water heater doesn’t work.  Our water hasn’t totally turned cold but is now barely warm. It’s been nice to have cooler days, but I also like my warm showers.  Americans – we are never satisfied. 

Walk to Biketawa

A great way to spend a  P-Day. We were invited to join the Moroni Ward on a campout on the island of Biketawa (where we went last May for the husband-wife retreat).  We had no desire to lie on the ground all night fighting the mosquitoes, but we did want walk there and enjoy the day.  At 6:00 this morning we went with Elder Youngberg and Elder Robison and drove to Buota where we parked the car and began our journey.  We walked across the channel to Abatao as the tide was low and the water was only knee deep.  On the other side of Abatao, instead of crossing the ‘Broken Bridge,’ we walked to the east of the island where tide was still low enough that we were able to walk across to Tabituea without the elders changing their shoes.  I had just worn my Tevas so I didn’t bother to change every time we came to water.  This was the longest of the islands and we found another broken bridge which we did cross to the next island of Nebeina.  On the other side of Nebeina we walked across the channel that again was only knee deep to the island of Kainaeba. It is a very small island and only took us about 15 minutes to cross. 

Top left: The island of Biketawa, Lower left: Rich swimming
Right: Walking across to Biketawa

Now we could see Biketawa, our island destination on the other side of that channel. However, the tide was coming in the water was quite deep crossing over to Biketawa.  The path Rich and Elder Robison took found them both swimming and I didn’t want to get my camera wet.  Elder Youngberg found a shallower path so I followed him.  I still stopped and put my camera and i-phone in a plastic bag and wrapped them in my hat. Holding my backpack and hat over my head I walked across.  The water came up to my chin with me on my tip toes but my camera and

i-phone are still good.  According to google earth we estimated it was about a 5 mile walk but it took us three hours by the time we stopped for pictures, let the Elders change shoes, and make it across five channels of water. I was grateful for a coconut frond mat in the maneabwa for a cool rest out of the sun.  After a short nap we went swimming in the beautiful, blue, crystal clear water, but the current was so strong we didn’t stay out long.  Rich retrieved water from the well so I could use the toilet and shower.  Sister Tune prepared us a great meal of rice with chicken curry and mild soy sauce chicken.  After lunch Brother Tune brought us back to Moroni on his boat, arriving at home at 3:00 pm.  As we walked through the villages of grass huts and bouias along a dirt trail surrounded by coconut palms and pandanus trees with a blue sky over head and the amazingly blue ocean, I am truly humbled at the creations of our Heavenly Father.  What a beautiful world we live in.  I was also surprised at the large number of people living on the island of Tabiteuea.  Brother Tune says there are some who are members there and they have their own gathering on Sunday. They are members of the Buota Branch but that would be a couple hours walk one way just to get to church.

Christmas



E & S Robison, Sis. Youngberg, E & S Wall, E & S Rasmussen,
Sis. Talataina, Sis. Ucunibaravi

On Dec. 23 we met with the other seniors to enjoy Christmas treats, a short video, “Christmas Mission,” and exchange gifts. It was a delightful evening. The rain was coming down hard and when Elder and Sister Wall arrived a few minutes late, they blamed it on the winter snow storm and how slow the traffic was because no one knows how to drive in the snow. We all enjoyed a laugh.
  





Christmas Eve was spent baking six dozen rolls for the next day’s dinner and orange rolls to take to Titeebwa’s family party. Titeebwa came around 6:00 and she treated us to dinner at the Chinese Pacific restaurant.  We then went to her family’s maneabwa in Temaiku. It was supposed to start at 6:00 but Kiribati time it started around 8:30. Her family consisted of three of her sisters and her older brother and their families. Little ones were tired and were falling asleep on their parent’s lap. They had a Christmas tree, which was really a branch cut from a tree and put in a large ten can filled with rocks. It was decorated with a string of battery operated lights, a few ornaments, and purple balloons. There were a few small gifts under the tree wrapped in plain type paper, newspaper, or aluminum foil.

Titeebwa with two grandchildren (The girl in the pink is our
dancer.)

 All of Titeebwa’s family belong to the Kiribati Protestant Church.  After singing a couple of their songs, we were asked to introduce ourselves.  It was a great opportunity to tell non-members who we were and what our calling was as well as to share our testimony of the birth of the Savior, His life and teachings, and His atoning sacrifice.  I love experiences like that. One brother-in-law in the family who is a deacon in the KPC spoke but of course it was in Kiribati and we didn’t understand him. We were then asked to pass out the presents as one of the sisters took the presents from under the tree and called our their name. Some were hesitant to take a gift from an I-Matong, but most were excited and eagerly came forth.  About half way through, the sister, told the kids they needed to dance for their gift.  Some did a little dance but there were a couple that really put on some moves to the delight of everyone. It was Dad’s turn when the name of one little girl around four years old was called out.  She stood, put her hands on her hips, cocked her head and eyes to one side and slowly moved towards Dad with all the hip movement she could make. It was the show of the night as we laughed and laughed. As I watched the children eagerly open their presents, I realized they all had small bag of chips and were thoroughly pleased.  I then passed around the bag of Starburst which they enjoyed.  It was truly an enjoyable evening and I felt honored that Titeebwa invited us.

Getting ready for the big meal. 

Enjoying the feast. 

 Christmas Day was busier than ever. It started with an 8:00 am baptism of five sisters which they termed as White Christmas. Then we had the great opportunity of Skyping with the family as they had all gathered at Angie’s.  We were able to see them open their presents and we opened the ones they sent to us. We then hustled to finish preparing dinner for the missionaries.  I cooked a 25 lb. ham which barely fit into our oven, made 6 doz. rolls, and 12 boxes of Stove Top Dressing.  After a great dinner of ham, potatoes, rice, dressing, gravy, salad, banana pie, pumpkin pie, and lemon bars we spread a table cloth over the leftover food.  The Elders and Sisters enjoyed a couple of movies, and then came back and ate ALL of the leftovers. We had 47 in attendance including the Seniors.  It was another great fulfilling day.

Sis. Tauteoli, Sis. Temau, Reerei, Terouta, Anna, Elder Risk, Elder Tarati

Rabangaki, Sis. Tauteoli, Tiakana, Nikaua, Sis. Temau

Sister enjoying a Christmas feast

Elders turn to eat

Getting ready to burn the Yule Log sent to us from Janine. 

 

Bishop's Garden

Elder Rasmussen, Elder Youngberg: Building the Teaching Mwaneaba

On Sat. Sept. 28 we joined the Eita 2^nd ward in their walk-a-thon. We thought it started at 7am but come to find out they actually began at 6am. So we had Elder Bush take us down to the Bishop’s Garden where we met up with them. It’s about a 15 min. drive by car. Remember the road is bad so it really wasn’t that far; maybe 6 kilometers.  Elder Youngberg has been working extremely hard to complete the structures in the garden before they are released in April. The first building was the shade house, then they built a teaching mwaneaba.  Next will be a composting bin, bathrooms with composting toliets, and finally a large mwaneaba as a meeting place.  They were able to use the wood from the old Temwaiku chapel to construct the teaching mwaneaba. 

Tioramia showing how to sew on the thatched roof
made of pandanus leaves. 

Once we had all gathered we cleaned around the area where some construction is going on. It didn’t take long when you have that many people working together. Many hands make light work. When finished we began our walk back to the high school. It took us about an hour and forty minutes. The bishop made sure we had plenty of water because even at that early hour it was getting hot. With all the smells of wood burning for their meals and all the beautiful foliage it did remind us of a camping trip.

Clean up

Every little boy loves a pile of dirt!

Moving the wood pile

Walk back: Highest point on the island; 4 ft elevation

By the time we made it back we were soaked with sweat. However, it was fun to be with the saints of the Eita 2^nd ward. This ward makes sure there is always some activity planned or in progress.

Next Week: Teaching mwaneaba complete

Cutting some cabbage