August 2017

Wheelchair Inspections

We were asked to do about 25 wheelchair inspections and needed to go to at least two other islands.  Our first pick was Gizo Island.  This is definately a great place--very small but a nice hotel and restaurant.  The people we worked with were so nice.  We spent one day visiting 7 wheelchair recipients.  These visits required a 1 1/2 hr boat ride and then going to different villages on a few islands in this province.  Quite an adventure.  It is quite surprizing to find a wheelchair out in the bush.  We had a mini-vacation and spent 5 days there.

We came back and did wheelchair inspections on this island, visiting 13 people from varied areas.

We went to Auki, Malaita and did 4 inspections there.  We rode in a Land Cruizer out to the villages and felt like it was better than the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland...especially because it began raining while we were out in the bush and there were some pretty muddy areas.  It was great to see this area but there isn't much there.

75th Anniversary of WWII happenings

Aug 2 Kennedy Island--we just happened onto this celebration.  The island is right by Gizo  so we just had to go.  One of the speakers said how grateful they were that some white people came to add color to the audience.  

We were so fortunate to be able to attend the celebration at Kennedy Island.  They had a great program, with a warrior canoe, warrior dancing, tribal group singing and a fantastic luncheon.

Aug 7--American Memorial at Honiara  The program was to start at 7 a.m. so we left about 6:15 and as we came close to the memorial, there were many cars and many people there.  The program was so good, with a fly over to start.  There were 2 WWII veterans there...amazing they are still alive and able to travel.

Solomon Scouts & Coastwatchers--This was at Pt. Cruz and there was another presentation, speeches, etc.  It gave us some sense of what the scouts and coastwatchers did during the war.

Doug Munro memorial--yacht club building.  This marine was instrumental in the rescue of the marines off of the island.  He used his boat to draw fire away from the boats evacuating the marines.  There was a small lunch served.

All in all a great education about WWII.

Visitors

Elder & Sister Robison came over to oversee the audits for the branches.  It was fun to have visitors, especially Elder Robinson who had been a military pilot.  He was interested in all of the WWII sites we knew of.  We went to a few new places...Hell's point, an ammunition disposal area and saw many different WWII weapons, bombs, tanks.  And then we also went to an airplane museum, which Elder Robison was very interested in.

Don Bosco Cultural Night

This was a fun evening.  The students from each province performed their tribal dances.  It took about 3 hrs.  

SOCS students

These are the students from White River Branch who have been accepted to go to school in Samoa.  We have 9 new students going next year.

Funeral

Michael Laura, who had been a member of the Burns Creek Branch Presidency passed away this month.  He had not felt well for months.  

July 2017

July 4

The only thing we did for the 4th of July was go to a Rotary club meeting.  The U S Consulate had ordered American food for the dinner and invited the few Americans over here.  That was our first Rotary Meeting.  The tables were decorated with red, white, and blue flags.  And the American meal was chips (no salsa..is that American??), cole slaw, baked beans, french fries, KFC  (their version of it..it wasn't too bad), corn cobette.  For dessert, they wanted to order apple pie but knew that wouldn't work, so we had pineapple upside down cake and ice cream decorated with red and blue frosting.  It was a pretty good meal and fun to meet and attend the Rotary meeting.

Solomon Cup Games

Solomon Islands is having their soccer cup games right now.  We went to two games on 7 Jul.  Hope we can go to the final game on Saturday Jul 15.  It amazes me how many people watch the game from the hillside and beyond the fence.  It has been fun to watch soccer...

soccer game...

Parangiju Lodge 

We went with Freeman and Ethel Misitana to a mountain lodge, where we could see the island from way up high.  We drove for about 1 1/2 hrs back into the bush.  While we were driving, we passed a logging company and were very fascinated with their portable mill that they use.

On the way there, we passed two Catholic Schools and a first for us...COWS!!!

The lodge was beautiful.  The view was pretty good except that we had high clouds so it wasn't clear to see out to the ocean and the other islands.  It was still so beautiful, quiet and enjoyable.

 We then went to the river and enjoyed seeing it..the flow and the calm areas.  Lynn wished he had a pole.  Freeman claimed it was cold water, but it felt pretty good to Lynn and I.  It was so pretty with all of the greenery around it.

Youth Conference

The district had it's first every youth conference this month.  It was a hugh success.  The Fuimaono's were instrumental in getting it organized and helping the district figure it out.  It was held at the chapel and the kids stayed overnight there.  You can tell they are used to simple things because they all slept on the floors, and the showers were a simple barrell with a cup that you could pour over your self.  We helped on Saturday, teaching a class about a section of Especially for Youth.

Pickleball

When we were at the Senior's conference at Vanuatu, the couples there were playing pickleball and we joined them.  And then they surprised us by giving us a net, some homemade paddles, and a few balls!  We had two paddles and a ball in the closet at our SR center so we have been playing pickleball every morning in the old chapel.  It is pretty fun, except that the ceiling is kind of low but it is workable.

Don Bosco Schools

We visited both Don Bosco Schools (alternative schools technical schools), asking if they needed anything.  We helped the technical school put up some raingutters on their assembly building.  The agricultural school had just harvested some rice and were letting it dry.  It was pretty interesting.  This school does need some help with irrigation pipes so they will be getting us some quotes for that.

History in the making

Elder Sanders was able to help Jeremy Raramo fill out and sent his mission papers online!!!!  The very first one.

WHAT THE ???

We had to go shopping to find sewing machine needles and look what we found...treadle sewing machines!!!  My first thought was "Wow that would be a great find in the US."  But then I did a reality check and realized that the majority of houses don't have power so of course they would need a treadle machine.

June 2017

Visitor

David Lakisa came June 1 – 4. It is always fun to have him here. We went to dinner two times and enjoyed visiting with him. We learned one thing...we tried to order dinner, a “special” at the pool side at Heritage Park Hotel, on the first night it started and NO one knew what we were talking about. We went back a few nights later and were able to order it.

Dinner with David at Heritage Park.

Baptism

Margaret's father had wanted to be baptized earlier but he knew he was going to go to work in the timber and wouldn't be here for awhile. So when he came back, he was ready to be baptized. Margaret and her mother were both sick. Kind of sad.

baptism of Margaret's father

Plumbing problems

We had have issues with our kitchen sink plumbing. The taps leaked and there was no hot water. We had one handyman come and supposed fix it but the hot water still didn't work and the tap leaked under the sink. So we tried again...this time Freeman Misitana came and at least stuck with the job. The first issue they tried to resolve was the hot water. They took apart the pipe under the house but didn't turn off the water first, so the water was shooting out, running everywhere. No one could find the turn off value. But they figured how to put it back and then started inside on the taps. What a mess. They first wanted to just fix the taps but Lynn said NO. So they then got new taps but couldn't get them to connect to the pipe right so they tried to redo the pipe that holds the tap together first by welding, which had a big hole, and then with plastic parts instead of the copper. What a mess and it still leaked. So they then bought a new pipe and put the new taps on. And hooked it up. NO leaks. Yeah. So after 5 days with no water in the kitchen, we were back to normal...kind of. To get hot water in the kitchen, we have to run the water in the bathroom the whole time to keep the hot water coming. As we were telling the workers our issues of no water, I realized that they didn't even have water so it made me feel pretty petty. One worker said he was glad he didn't have water in his house because it would make his life more complicated.

Freeman trying to "make do"

Zone Conference

This was a fast one day trip for the president. And it was not one that we were asked to join because they had to do some disciplining of the elders. Apparently, we had several elders join league rugby and they wouldn't stop. So two elders are going back with the president for a little while. We were able to enjoy lunch with everyone.

Mater's cousin

We had to drive up to the Borderline area and found this tow truck. What a laugh it gave us.

Fishing Trip

This was one fishing trip we won't forget. We were going with the Sauseru's. He reserved the fast boat and told us it would be a 1 hour ride to Florida Island. We were expecting them to help pay for the boat but...lack of communication, we ended up paying for it all. And their idea of a fast boat, 40 hp engine, is not our idea of a fast boat. It was a common fishing boat! But beside all of that it was such a fun day. Seeing great islands and tribes and a beautiful resort and beautiful white sand beaches. Lynn fishing with his hand, no pole. What can we say. It would have been great if a storm hadn't blown in and it took us a long time to get back to the dock. We were riding in some pretty rough water. The boat would go up with the waves and then slam down hard. Lynn and I both came home pretty sore from bouncing on the waves. We were very thankful to get to shore.

Here is a little story about our trip.

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1 large (?) fish   page 4

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Seniors conference Vanuatu Jun 

Arrived at Vanuatu on Saturday evening. Had pizza at the hotel. It was pretty good. It was fun to get to meet the other couples.

Our bed and turtle towels at hotel

view from hotel

Sunday was stake conference with Elder Dudfield visiting. We went to breakfast that morning and enjoyed having breakfast with him. He actually remembered us. We all decided to meet back at 1:30 but we were having lunch with Sackley's and Robison's then. So we met at 1:30 and had Elder Dudfield come back with us to Sackley's for lunch and visiting. Come to find out, Sackley's knew many people that Elder Dudfield knew so it was a fun afternoon.

Benjamin Ini from Honiara

E/S Robison, Elder Dudfield, E/S Sanders, E Sackley

Monday we went to Havannah Beach for snorkeling, swimming, eating, relaxing. After lunch, we played volleyball. It was great. We then had FHE with them at our hotel. It made us a little jealous to see what can happen if there are more couples around.

Our kick line--watch out Jetettes...Sanders, Glade, Anderson, Robison

Finally...

Tuesday we had meetings at Pres. Granger's home. The day was good and the company was great. We had lunch at the mission home—soup, rolls, cookies. That evening we had dinner at a restaurant. It was soooo good.

Wednesday morning we flew out and came back to reality. All good things must come to an end.   

May 2017

 

Missionaries Leaving

May 1 Christine Ruasu left for her mission to Australia.  She will make a great missionary.  She has to wear a wrap on her arm because she has a tatoo there.  We went to her setting apart the night before.

May 23 Ben Ini left for his mission to Papua New Guinea.  Ben's parents were some of the first members of the church over here but they are now both inactive.  Ben had been inactive but turned his life around and he is going to serve the Lord. He was set apart the night before.  Then there was a party for him at Jacinta's house.  We went up there (she lives up the mountain) and were so happy to see that his mother (she has been in the hospital for over a month) was able to be there for a few hours.  His dad didn't come but he did come to the airport.  We met Ben's father earlier and he did say he would come to church. At the airport, he said he had gone to church but didn't see us.  Hopefully, with Ben on his mission, both of his parents will become active again.   

Mother's Day Activity

Saturday May 13, White River had an activity for mothers.  It was supposed to start at 3 but actually began about 4:30.  The youth did a little "drama" and then we ate.  I made brownies for the meal, rice, chicken, etc.  And then they had 2 cakes!  What a fun surprise.  It was a good time.  On Sunday, we went up to Honiara branch before church where we met Jessie and Annie (under Sis. Fui's direction), who had made "corsages" for all of the women in the branch and they gave me one.  We didn't get a picture...it began falling apart and wilting.

White River Youth Activity

Monday May 15, the missionaries from White River came to our office to ask about some help getting the district's sound system out to White River.  So we loaded it up and headed over there.  Ronald, Eric and the missionaries had been working to make the stage and put greenery around it.  They even put up some lights.  Pretty impressive.  We then went back at 3, when the activity was to start.  But of course, it didn't start until almost 5.  Everybody brought some food.  We took tuna noodle soup.  The youth sang some songs, there was a "drama" about the prodigal son.  Several then sang songs and we finally ate.  Thank goodness I had brought containers and utensils and paper towels.  It was really getting dark and Ronald finally had to tell the youth it was the end.

School visits

 We finished up with our school visits and payments.  That is a huge sigh of relief.  There might be one or two but nothing like we were doing.  I took a little video of  the one school that Lynn justs drops me off at.  Then I go to the office while he figures out how to turn around.  St. John's school had the best preschool I have seen here.  At Koloale, we met Janet while we were there.  It's always fun to the students that we know and give them a hug.  They are so happy and appreciative.

Janet R.

Hospital Visits

On Mother's day, we made a visit to the hospital.  We went to see Alistein Tagini's wife and new baby girl.  This is the couple that had the bride price ceremony.  After there, we went to see Ben Ini's mother.  She has been in the hospital for 1 month.  She fell and scraped her leg and it became infected and she is diabetic so it didn't heal.  She is going to be another month or more in there.  It was a good visit.  She was in a building that has only diabetic patients where there are just two open rooms with beds about 5 feet apart.  Ben had spent many nights with her, sleeping on a mat on the floor by her bed.  

Alistein Tagini with wife and new daughter

Benjamin Ini and mother