President Larkin was on island all week meeting with missionaries, preparing for the next round of transfers and reallocating office duties since Elder & Sister Jenks will be going home in 2 weeks. Pres. Larkin has asked Susan and I to take over vehicles, bicycle purchases & repairs, petty cash, packing of all items to be shipped out to the outer islands, correspondance with families of missionaries, continue to oversee the building of the new mission home/office, and be the point person for the missionaries to contact when they have needs and issues. All this and all of our school duties. Sounds like a lot but actually it will just make each of our days very busy but not unbearable.
There was a baptism held right behind our house this week. It was wonderful to watch, listen and feel the Spirit.
This week we have been working with the TVET teachers to get their budgets done for next year. One day they seem determined to get it done and then the next day they are off on another tangent. We don't want to do it for them so we just keep reminding them and putting a little pressure on them. We are making progress but the end of the month is coming. Part of this process are putting in requests for major changes. The Carpentry teacher needs a classroom besides the shop so we wrote up a request to convert a storage area in to a classroom.
Susan and I assisted the Computer teacher this week evaluating the students who performed their powerpoint presentations.
This week we also held a Teacher training and had the Teachers Coaches train on the SIOP principals.
Monday we had the other Senior couples and the Mission President and his wife over for family home evening. The Sister missionaries also came by during the day to use our computers to email their families. Tuesday evening we had 2 young adults come to take the SLEP test. One passed. Wednesday and Thursday evenings we just relaxed at home. Thursday evening President Larkin met with us to finalize our new temporary duties.
Susan's shoulder is still bothering her. The pain is starting to move down into her arm. During the day she feels pretty good but as evening approaches she starts hurting. Went grocery shopping on Satuday. It has been a while since we don't have a vehicle assigned to us. The Reese couple chauffered us around.
This past week we had 2 birthdays, Stephanie and Blaine. Again Happy Birthday!
This week we completed all the Budget requests and are preparing for the end of term testing that will start next week. We had another round of SLEP tests with only 1 person who passed. We have been busy with some of the Mission office assignments. I finished my first MSF (Mission Support Funds) disbursement. We also sent out packages to some of the outer islands. I have a vehicle in the shop for repairs which should be back in a couple of days. The new mission office is about 75% done and the mission home is nearly done. The kitchen cabinets have been ordered. The Mission President will be here on Sunday and will be here for a week.
Today I visited the Kiribati culture class and watched the kids weave baskets and purses. It was good to see them learning and continuing some of their cultural talents.
There is a store in Betio that the Senior missionaries call the American store. From time to time they get a shipment in that has several American products like Doritos chips, American candy bars, soda, breakfast cereals, etc. This past week we bought some Doritos, candy bars, breakfast cereal. What a treat. It may be 6 - 10 months before we see these items again. But it will be good for the next couple of weeks.
Well another week has gone by and I still have not posted this blog. The Jenks couple went home on Thursday. They were excited to get back to their kids and grandkids. They were from the Idaho Falls area. We will miss having them around. The Jenks are the couple in the middle.
President and Sister Larkin on the left. They flew back to Majuro the next day.
This past week was end of term testing for the students so Susan and I were not too busy on campus. We were busy with mission office duties. Mission President was back on Island for the Zone Conference on Wednesday. He and his wife spent part of the week moving into the new Mission Home. The kitchen isn't finished yet but they wanted to get moved in. The Mission Office is close to being completed but is still a few weeks away from completion.
Susan and I will be moving next door to house 7 in a couple of weeks. The contractor has started on building the office which will be attached to our house. Right now the space is a storage room. We should be in the house in 2 weeks. The new ITEP couple will be arriving the 1st of June and will be moving into house 6 where we are now. House 6 has been designated as the ITEP couple house and house 7 the TVET couple house and office.
The last ITEP couple who was here donated a telescope to the school. No one has touched it since so Bill has taken it out and has been looking at the stars and planets at night and in the mornings when he first gets up at 5:30. Here is a picture of the moon he took with his cell phone the other evening.
This last Thursday morning Bill was playing tennis as usual but when he went for a low ball he slipped and fell head first onto the concrete. He is OK, looks worse than it is. He keeps telling people who ask what happened that Susan got mad at him and punched him. Some believe him but he tells them the truth. Susan can't believe they listen to him.
Our days have become a little busier with the added duties. We first take care of our school, TVET duties. When we have time Susan deals with the petty cash for the mission, and she boxes up supplies that have to be sent to the outer islands. Bill deals with missionary questions and issues, vehicle problems, bicycle problems, and anything else that may come up. If needed we go to the airport to ship packages. The Reese couple usually go to the airport.
On Friday we went to this little local resturant for dinner and we had a beautiful sunset that Bill took several pictures of.
After dinner Susan and I went to a wedding of a niece of one of the school teachers. It was quite the entertainment. Lots of dancing and singing. It was the grooms 21st birthday which is a big celebration here by itself. They sang Happy Birthday to him. And then they sang the Happy Birthday song but changed the words to Happy Wedding day and sang it to the Bride and Groom. These celebrations are a big deal to to them just like they are to us. They are people of little means. It takes them a long time to save up enough money to put on a celebration like this.
These are the wedding cake dancers. At the end of their dance they bring in the wedding cake.
The groom is on the one side cutting the cake with the handle of a plastic spoon while the Bride waits on the other side.
Well this time I am going to get this posted. Have a great week. Leave a comment or 2 and let us know how you are doing.
