February 2017

February 2017

Flooding

We experienced a tropical storm on February 6. It was windy with continual downpour of rain nearly all night. We were so grateful to be snug in our little flat. At 1:30 a.m., we received a phone call from Pres. Lausao saying that at least 3 families homes had been flooded and the families were at the church building. We called Elder Fuimaono at 6 a.m. to let him know what was going on and he called Pres.Sauseru. We all went out to White River to check everything out. The only food I had was some water and bananas that we took with us. After delivering the food at the church, we went to the homes that were affected—Edna's and BweBwe's. The water had gone down by the time we got there but you could see where the water had been. We then took time to check out other member's homes. And then we headed over to the Burns Creek area. There were quite a few member's houses affected because Burn's Creek was a huge river. We found Wendy's house surrounded by water with a flooded bottom level. There were others...Pres. Koke's house...We then needed to get across the Lunga River bridge to check out the other side of Burns Creek branch. To do that, traffic was backed up because of the flooded creek (that runs parallel to the river) had turned into a running river going across the road and they were only letting on vehicle at a time through. It was finally our turn—we were both a little nervous. We could feel the water lugging down the truck but we did make it. We checked out the other side of the branch—they were fine and then waited in line to cross the flooded road again. We could tell the water level had gone down even though it was still 2 feet deep but it didn't seem as bad as the first time.

flooded road

member house in Burns Creek

member house

Wendy's house

Wheelchairs

The ship container with 300 wheelchairs (donated by the church) had been sitting on the dock for weeks waiting to clear customs and for the government. Elsie, who is in charge of the wheelchairs and over the rehab clinic and doing a 2 week training class for several people from other islands, was finally able to get the container delivered to the hospital area. At the end of the training, we were invited to the closing ceremony and Lynn was able to help present the certificates. And then we had a hand-off ceremony in front of the container the next week. We arranged to help unload the container that Saturday, which turned out to be a bad day to get helpers there. It was Honiara's branch conference leadership meeting. So we had 5 young men show up and help us unload almost all of the wheelchairs. It took about two hours.   

Visitors

We had several visitors this month. Sulu from Fiji ,over vehicles and new accounts, Honare, our FM guy, from Vanuatu, and Howard, FM over the Pacific, from Fiji. It was pretty interesting to see them work together and seperately on their pwm areas.  We took Sulu where she needed to go.  She worked on setting up vendors and inspecting the vehicles.  She helped us at the computer company where we are approved to buy 11computers for the hospital.  It was great to have her help.

Just before they came, David Lakisa was here. It is always fun to have him and enjoy dinner with him, even though he doesn't require much from us.

New Welfare Project

We were able to get our welfare project, buying computers for the hospital approved. We will be purchasing 11 desktops and 2 laptops. It is pretty exciting to think that we will have a part in helping the hospital with that.

School Visits

It is the middle of the 1^st term so we are starting to pay school fees. We have been to St. John's, Mbua Vale, Perch, Eden, Burns Creek, HIPS, Honiara High, Lunga, Vura, Norman Palmer...just to name a few. We have had a BIG problem with names. The parents put one name on the P-13 application, a different name at the school, and the church records have a different name. What a mess!!! These people just don't understand how hard the record keeping is. They use a tribal name, a family name (which could be a mother or father's name) or whatever...I did get some fun pictures...I really liked the picture of the “wonder horse” at St. John's prep. Amazing.

Maclean Sauseru

Maclean left for BYUH this month. He will really be missed. The Fuimaono's talked to him about having a fireside so he could talk one last time. He had invitations printed and was ready to go when Fuimaono's changed everything and made it a missionary/plan of salvation/going away party for him. It was maybe a good idea but way too long and detailed to be much of a missionary time.  So the presentation went for 3 hours and then there was YW dancing—10!!! A lot of people had to get a transport so left early. If it wouldn't have been for seeing Maclean, we probably would have left too. We went to see him off at the airport. That was fun to see how excited he was to get on with his life.

Self-Reliance Classes finish

We had our Success in Schools, My Foundation, and Job Search classes finish this month. Each branch was able to have several people receive certificates. It is always fun to see how excited these people get over a certificate.

 

And the usual...

We keep having our English/piano classes. It has been a great way to get acquainted with the members.

And the baptisms just keep coming...

One of the sisters in English class was baptized this month. That was pretty special for Sister Sanders.   


I'm having BIG issues with this site.  When I click to add caption, it deletes my whole text.  When I click remove, it deletes my whole text.  What a mess.  Most of the pictures are self explanatory, I hope.  My favorite picture is the "wonder horse" that I saw at a school.  Pretty interesting.