July 5, 2016

Today we helped 5 students print up their registrations for the University of the South Pacific. The forms and money need to be in by this Friday, July 8 and July 7 is their independence day so most of them were not waiting for the last day. The students said the lines are soooo long if they wait until the last day. Daniel Dafolo (who came home the day we arrived) was at our house by 9 a.m. to get his paper printed, which we were able to do. He returned later asking about the Returned Missionary Scholarship money to pay for his fees. Lynn and I just looked at each other because we had no idea what to do for it. So we called Renee in New Zealand and she email us the form, which we helped Daniel fill it. (This should be at least 8 weeks before school registration but he hasn't had that much time.) There is a place where it asks for an amount of money the family will contribute. (The church wants them to realize that this not something for nothing.) He said $100. After 45 min. we had everything done except the Branch President's signature. He asked us if we could drive him to where the branch president worked. We agreed (which Sampson's have told us not to do too much for them because then they won't want to do it themselves and they expect it.) When we found the business, the Branch President came out and talked with Daniel and us. He said that Elder Nish expected every family to pay at least half of the fees. Daniel did change his family's amount to $500. And Lynn gave him notice that next time it should be half. I wish we knew this kind of stuff before hand.

Church

Our first Sunday here we attended the Honiara Branch, which is just across the street from our compound. There is a nice building and it was a functioning branch.

Last Sunday, we attended the White River Branch, where we will be going from now on. It is a small branch, that is just learning how meetings run and using agendas. There were about 60 people there, with quite a few children. The primary had about 31 children and the Relief Society had 11 women. The music was a keyboard that played the hymns but the young man in charge stopped it 10 minutes before the meeting. I really wanted to get up and play it myself. But I don't want to seem too pushy. And the whiteboards were anything but white. I hope to find some cleaner and get over there before Sunday (it must be the teacher in me when I see such a dirty whiteboard to want it cleaned). Talk about the emerging church. There is so much to teach and instruct on.

We had tacos for dinner and we used a taco seasoning packet that was made in Australia! What would the Mexicans think?

We have had several little lizards get in our flat. Lynn has been able to chase them out through the louvered windows. None of the windows shut real tight. Sister Granger emphasized the use of mosquito repellent and repellent spray for clothes and that we need to check and make sure our window netting doesn't have any openings. With lizards getting in, we must have a hole somewhere.

Sister Sampson had us drive to two villages, the first one is “Green Valley”. Definitely not similar to St. George's Green Valley. All of the areas are built on hillsides and these people walk everywhere. So the steep hills are nothing to them. We took a few pictures of the “gated” community.

We then drove to Neho village, which is right next to Green Valley. The dirt roads are narrow and rutted with houses built on poles, also.

gated community

dogs are everywhere

This has been a good time to arrive here. It is their winter here so it hasn't been as hot and humid yet. It will give us time to get acclimated. It has rained almost every day this week. Early this morning it poured for several hours. One lesson I learned the first week, always go slow down the outside steps. They paint the steps and when they get wet, they are very slippery. So I was holding the hand rail but slipped and fell down several steps. I wasn't too hurt (big bruise on my hip and sore on my leg, scraped arm but nothing too serious) but my pride was gone because it happened in front of the two women who do the yard work here. Now I take all steps slow and one at a time.