Sep 2 Friday
Pres. Granger had ok'd us to get to new phones, so we thought we had better do that before the new couple arrived. Our phones were the first generation that we all used 15 years ago...punch a key three times to get the correct letter, etc. We had Leonard from White River help us. We picked him up at work and then drove to town and the phone store. We ended up getting Samsung's. They are sooo great to use and they were on sale because of Father's Day.
Sep 3 Saturday
We taught institute in the morning. There were about eight YSA's that attended.
That afternoon, there was a district activity for Father's Day (which is Sunday), which Lynn attended. They listened to Pres. Sauseru talk for about 1 1/2 hrs. and then had activities...ping pong, rugby, basketball, Lynn played the keyboard for them to sing to and then they were fed...and it was a typical feast: half a chicken, rice, slippery cabbage, watermelon, bread, and a few other things. Lynn came home sooo stuffed.
Sep 4 Sunday
We went to the airport to pick up the new couple, the Fiumaono's. It was fun to see them arrive. We took them to the Honiara branch to meet the members there. The Fiumaono's are from Samoa and kind of know the culture and really fit in here. They can even speak some pidgin.
Later that day, there was a YSA fireside for the district. So the four of us missionaries went and spoke a minute on marriage. The Fiumaono's have been EFY directors for years so they had a few good stories to tell. It was a good meeting. While there, Eddie received his mission call to Australia. He leaves in December. It was so fun to have the whole group there as he opened his call.
Sep 5 Monday
We (two couples) went first thing to the bank to get the Fiumaono's on the account. After spending 45 minutes there, we walked out with an application....Then we thought it would be good for them to get some groceries so we went to the ATM but it wouldn't take his card. So we went into town to the main bank only to be sent to one across the street, only to wait to find out his card was blocked. We then went to get their driver's licenses. Elder F was able to cash a few American bills for SI money and we bought some bread, went to the post office and the phone store. They ended up getting the same phones that we did. They went to the open market. After a short break, we went back to get a few groceries. What a hectic, wait in line day.
The Fiumaono's are such giving people. They bring down food for the kids in the center to make sure they are fed. Actually, Sister Fuimano is always feeding someone. She justs like to do that.
Sep 6 Tuesday
We needed to get the mission trucks registered so headed into town. Found the building...funniest thing, there was a nice building empty as we walked through it to get to the place to pay for the inspection. The cashier wasn't there and they didn't know when he would be there. So we head to the government building to pay something else. We can't do that until the inspection is done. We give up for the day on that. We were able to get the papers handed in at the bank today, which was good.
We had to fill gas tanks for some Elders and help buy some cleaning supplies.
Sep 7 Wednesday
Lynn's birthday. I made some brownies to share with everyone.
We tried again to get the trucks registered. The Fiumaono's had a friend in the government that helped us get things done. It was great. Here is what you have to do: pay for the inspection, get the inspection (they test the lights, honk the horn, kick the tires), pay for the insurance, then pay for the registration at the central building.
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| getting the truck inspected |
Sister Fuimaono wants to get the YSA involved in cleaning up around town. She is asking the YSA to get up every morning at 5 a.m. and help clean the streets around the compound. We'll see what happens. They both have a lot of energy and want to get so much done.
Sep 9 Friday
We attended a marriage for a couple. He is a member but his wife isn't but will be getting baptized tomorrow so they needed a church marriage.
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| The "newlyweds" |
Sep 10 Saturday
Clean up crew from the Honiara Branch. Early morning...2 trips to the dump!!! We had no idea this was happening. We came up to get something for English class today and saw all of them coming back.
We taught our first English class at Burns Creek Branch. There 10 young women and sisters there. It was kind of interesting to see what they knew and could handle. We're trying to incorporate writing their life story with English. We'll have to see how that goes.
We had 10 baptisms today.
Wed. Sep 14
Lynn took Pres. Maseru to look at an unfinished water tank project. The platform is finished, just needs the tank moved on and a roof to put rain gutters on it to run into the tank.
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| platform |
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| checking supplies |
We visited two schools today to check on how much money our students still need to pay. It seems that if the fees aren't paid by this term, then they can't come back to school for the last term. We have 8 more schools to check with. One of our students came into the center today and I had to let him know that his family needed to pay $1000 for school (the amount they agreed to pay at the beginning of the year). He was kind of shocked and worried. There is no concept of budgeting over here. They just live from day to day.
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| Honiara High School |
As we were leaving this school, one of the teachers approached us and asked us about our religion...if we believed in Christ and what our pastors were like, etc...It is so refreshing to be in a country where religion is part of their lives. We gave information about meeting times and location and now we hope he comes on Sunday.
YIKES!!!! Tonight, while we were eating, there was an earthquake. Everything was shaking. Someone heard on the radio that it was 6.0 on the Richter scale. We only felt minor shaking so the epicenter must have been far away. Still it was a little scary.
Thurs Sep 15
We had a District Teacher Training Meeting, that we were teaching at. We had some videos that go with the sections in the book that we were going to use. But, of course, we had some technical difficulties...after several minutes and trips back to our office we were able to figure something out. If there is one thing we have learned over here...nothing is simple or easy. The sad part...it wasn't very well attended...maybe 25 people.
Sat Sep17
We taught English at the Burns Creek Branch. There were about 10 women there. It was pretty fun to teach people who really want to learn. We decided that next Saturday, we would have a 30 min English class and a 30 minute piano class.
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| Burns Creek English |
We had 9 baptisms today also.
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| baptisms |
Sun Sep 18
Normal day at the White River Branch. We held the My Path presentation in each of the branches today. This is the beginning of our new round of classes that we will be starting next week. In all of the branches, we had 73 people attend. That is amazing.
Tues Sep 20
I usually teach English class here at the compound, but today we were going to help a member, Simon Peter, with some metal roofing for his water tank. So English class was kind of short. We picked up Simon Peter and then his roofing and then we had to find some downspout for a water tank, which is right by Simon Peter's house. This water tank is for Betty and her village.
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| Betty |
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| Another water tank |
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| Carrying wood home |
(We just learned that the guy in the yellow shirt sold a church water tank...not the one in the picture...can I say again what a mess these tanks are.)
Saturday Sep 25
We took our "roadshow" to Burns Creek this morning. We taught English (we never know who is coming). We had three groups going; one was printing letters, one was needing some instruction with words, and Lynn worked with two that can read and understand pretty good. It was kind of intense...but rewarding. I hope they all come back next Saturday.
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| Rose & Ethel..beginners |
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| Betty & Surii...advanced |
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| Silverter & Simon...intermediate |
We then set up two keyboards and taught Betty and Surii how to play "There Is A Green Hill Far Away". I hope these two sisters will keep coming back. Even though everyone wants the youth to learn, the older sisters will be staying in the area and would be a great help to the branch.
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| Surii |
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| Betty |
We then went to the baptisms for two people, the older man was a minister for an Evangelical Church. When he bore his testimony, he said how this church was the only true one.
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| 2 baptisms |
Sunday Sep 25
I was pretty nervous for today. We are starting our new classes in each of the branches, so 6 classes, with new facilitators. I was to stay and White River and help there, Lynn was going to Burns Creek and Joyce Kuse would be at Honiara, with Sarah Hosiei.
At church, it was the children's sacrament meeting program. Definitely not like our programs. There were three talks by children, A short talk by the Primary president and counselor and one SONG...I Am a Child of God. (I have got to teach them a few new songs.) A little girl was sitting in front of me during the meeting and she started to cry and look around. I was able to coax her to sit on my lap. And she feel asleep. What a great feeling. The Sunday School teacher wasn't there so they asked us to teach the lesson. I was so thankful that I had downloaded the teacher's manual and Lynn and I were able to use that to teach with. After that, I went into the Primary and wanted to teach the children the chorus for Nephi's Courage. As I was in the middle of that, they came and asked me to teach Relief Society because the Relief Society president didn't even show up and they didn't know what to do. So again, thankful that I had downloaded the book, I taught the sisters.
After the meetings, we started our self-reliance classes...but the people were kind of confused. I have a hard time trying to figure out how simple to make directions and have them understand. Thank goodness Leonard Haiora was there (a returned missionary who speaks pretty good English.) He was able to help me clarify who was going into which class. Once we got started, things went great. The classes at the other branches seemed to go pretty good too. WHEW!!! What a relief that was.
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| White River SR Class |
After the Success in School class, Velma (whose daughter fell asleep on my lap) talked to me. She really wants to learn to read better and wondered when we would be starting classes. (Even if it is just for her, we will do it.) Then she needed to talk about her life and her struggles (inactive son and husband, who don't treat her very good). She told me a little bit about her life and how excited she was to join the Church. Tears were shed and hopefully, she felt better.
Lynn came back to pick me up (he figures it takes about 14 minutes to go from one end of the town to the other on Sundays when there isn't too much traffic.) and then we went to Honiara chapel for our district committee meeting but there were only Lynn and I and Joyce...so we cancelled it. Later we met with Pres. Sauseru and talked about trying to get some more computers for the Self-Reliance Center. He really wants to help the students with their studies. He had a few ideas and then we told him about our friends and family who we had asked to raise some money for computers.
Monday Sep 26
THE DAY OF FIRSTS!!!!!
1. The internet was working (after 3 days of it not) and I checked my emails to find out that our ward had raised over $700 for a computer for our YSA center!!!! WOW! We are so excited and happy.
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| left computer no internet, right computer very dim |
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| A few YSA's |
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| Maclean |
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| YSA center |
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| Lovelyn |
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| Graven |
2. Our first full P-day...nothing scheduled but to go with Fuimanono's to drive east on the road to the end.
3. The first clean river we have seen on this island, the Mberande River. The family we saw there said it wasn't to drink but it was clean enough to play and wade in.
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| spending all day at river |
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| clean water |
4. Our first papaya, given to us by the mother of the family playing in the river.
5. Our first mango...YUM.
6. Our first coconut inside that is actually the beginning of a tree.
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| mango |
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| papaya |
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| coconut |
On our way back, we took the Fuimanon's to the tank museum...not to pay and look just to show them. The man in charge remembered us and made sure we shook hands.
It was a great day. Pretty nice to finally have a break.
Wednesday Sep 28
We went to White River branch for a Young Men's activity. The schools are on break this week. They asked us to bring a church movie for them to watch. So we took our big TV (it accepts USB) that is in our office and off we went. (Thank goodness I had downloaded the movies that were shown in the Legacy Theater). George Otto was the president and he had Freddie (future missionary) give a talk and then he had figured out a scripture chase game. And the teams needed Bibles...and guess who didn't have theirs...right US...oops. George had prepared food (TONS of rice, ramen noodles with hot dogs or sausage or chicken wings, and watermelon). He had the boys dish up and then we started the movie "Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration." They really liked the movie. There were two non-members boys there. Pretty great activity. George Otto has been accepted to attend the church school in Samoa, starting in January. George is also the branch clerk. He will be missed when he leaves in January. (He is the 2nd from the left, white shirt in picture.)
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| YUM??? |
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| White River YM |
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| White River YM |
