😎 2 Years in Paradise : 2018

I am sitting here going through pictures and contemplating what to write in this blog. I know these next 3 weeks will be a blur of activity and I will not have time to write another blog until after we get home. I will write one more after we arrive home.

Susan and I traveled to two outer islands to administer the Moroni High School entrance exams. The first one we went to was Makin. We spent 3 days there and had a wonderful time meeting the local people and members of the Church. It rains much more in Makin than in Tarawa. We had no running water or electricity. For Susan it was quite an experience and an eye opener to how our young Missionaries live and serve on these outer islands. We both have a greater appreciation and love for these young men and women.

These are the chain of islands called Makin. We were at the island at the top where most of the people live. It is not a big island. We rode around it on bicycles in about an hour

Taxi ride to the Council House from the airport.

Home of the Church Group Leader. They were so kind to us and took good care of us.

Cats in the kitchen munching on food scraps in the bucket that are intended for the pigs.

Its a good thing that the cats and piglets get along.

Our "Hotel" room. No running water, no electricity. Bucket bath for a shower.

Susan trying to flip the bucket in order to draw water from the well. She couldn't quite get it. The members ended up helping us draw water.

This is looking out from our room towards the Group Leader's home.

Had this spider jump out of my rolled up sleeping mat. A large female with an egg sac. She was about 4-5 inches in diameter.

We ate lunch and dinner every day with the church members, and breakfast with the Church group leader’s family. Pancakes for breakfast and fish & rice for all lunches and dinners. It is amazing the different ways you can fix fish & rice.

After meals naps were appropriate. In fact they encouraged it.

The land that the Church maneaba sits on was given to the Church by the granddaughter of the last King of Makin. She was a wonderful lady to meet and talk to. She is the one in green.

We had 4 kids show up to take the exam. It is a 2 hour exam. The young lady got tired so she took a 5 minute nap. They all worked hard to finish the test. The test covered English and Math proficiency.

Even Elder Belshe took the test since he didn't have anything else to do.

There is our luggage awaiting our flight out.

While we were waiting for our flight out we rested in a Bula.

This quote was written on a beam inside.

Makin is a beautiful island with beautiful people. We will always remember it and the people we got to know there.

The week after we got back from Makin the mission had a Zone Conference. It was good to see all the missionaries from the outer islands.

During the week we moved the Elders out of the beloved "barn" house in Temaiku into a new apartment. They felt like they had died and gone to heaven.

Later that week was the Teachers Day celebration at Moroni High School. It was a hot day and everyone was "Hunting Shade".

Not sure what this is. It is not lobster. It looks like some kind of big sea bug. They gave me a taste. Tasted kind of like a sea bug, hehe. Naw more like lobster.

The Teachers were asked to perform their Garlanding dance for the students to see.

What fun activity day isn't complete without a tug-of-war contest.

That weekend was District Conference. They held a cultural night celebration which was a lot of fun. Many of our missionaries danced with the branches they were serving in.

The following week we celebrated Teachers Day nation wide at the large KUC maneaba in Teaoraereke. The President of Kiribati, Pres. Muamua and his wife were in attendance. Moroni High School was asked to perform the Garlanding Dance. Sister Belshe and Sister Needham danced with the teachers. The President asked the two of them to do a solo dance again. So after his remarks they performed the Garlanding Dance again. I have the video on my Facebook page.

The next week we flew to the island of Abemama to administer the Moroni High School entrance exams. This time Elder and Sister Hansen came with us. They were there to perform some financial training to the Branch President and his clerk.

The planes are a little small inside.

There is the airport on Abemama

This was our taxi truck driver. He remembered us from the last time we were on Abemama. A very nice man. He was always available to take us where ever we needed to go.

This is the Missionary's house on the north end of the island. It sits right at the end of the airport runway.

We stayed at the Taotin Hotel. They have bungalows right on the water with bathrooms, showers and solar power.

We had fish and rice for every meal except one, we had lobster.

We had about 15 students show up to take the test.

This is the Branch President and his Clerk that Elder Hansen did the training with. They did the training while we did the testing.

In our spare time we went around the island just to see what was there. This was a wing off of a WWII float plane. That was a big clam shell.

We spent a little time with the Elders on their Pday.

This is the wreckage of a F4 or F5 Wildcat WWII american fighter plane.

Saw this little girl sitting in this wheelchair donated by the church. Her grandma uses the wheelchair.

An island gas station.

This was a WWII Japanese barracks.

Yes, there is a man inside that fishing net.

We stopped at the Elders house on the south end of the island. This was one of the houses that Susan and I had contracted with the owner of Taotin to build and rent to us for the Missionaries. It is a nice house and is in a great location.

On our last day there we went to the KSS School and gave them some sports equipment for the students to use. They were very happy to receive this gift.

After we got back on Tarawa and we helped the School administration staff finish up next years student registrations. We have been reviewing the TVET programs registration to insure that there are enough students applying to support the program. We have been working with the TVET teachers to prepare for next year.

Our area manager and the CITVS moderator will be coming next week to do a year end review of the programs.

I have been cleaning up my garden area since most of the plants are done producing. The cucumbers did very well and the leaf cabbage is still going great. The egg plant is still producing. The tomatoes only produced about 5 tomatoes and kids stole 2 of them. My banana tree has put on fruit but will be ready to pick after we leave.