This week in Tarawa

This was a busy week in Tarawa.  We cooked another dinner for the Service Center.  The Kiribati Service Center employs people that maintain the chapels and the Moroni High School Campus  They also do a bunch of work for the missionaries and help us out with the mission finances.  They also deliver water to our missionaries' flats.  We used the school dining room again, and boy was it hot.  Those tiny fans on the ceiling don't do much to curtail the humidity.

Sorry about the blurry picture, I'm still getting used to this camera.  We attended our first Zone Conference on Tuesday.  This is a time when all the missionaries come together for training.  The elders on the Outer Islands didn't come in, they will be in for Christmas.  We are excited to meet them.

President Shaw gave an excellent message on reading the Book of Mormon.  He reads it by topic.  He picks a topic, i.e., Faith, and then read and studies each scripture that applies.  It is very simple if you have the scripture application on your phone/ipad.  Just search for the topic and there you have it.  He also gave a lesson on Challenge of Gratitude, 10 physical abilities you are grateful for, 10 material possessions you are grateful for...10 gospel truths you are grateful for...you get the idea..he then had everyone just call out one of the ten...it was amazing what some people grateful for..things I take for granted.  We had take out food for lunch...take out from the Chineeze Restaurant. (spelled like cheeze).  It was good not to have to cook.  It was funny, Elder Ogborn and I took a cooler to keep the food warm on the way back from the restaurant.  Now really, like it was going to get cold here...no way.

Right now we have 22 missionaries on Tarawa, 18 elders and 3 sisters.  We also have 2 Elders on Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, 2 on North Tarawa (only accessible by boat), 2 Elders on North Tab, 2 Elders on Butaritari, 2 Elders on Abaiang, and 2 Elders on Makin.

We will be getting 14 new Elders/Sisters in the next 3 months.  We will be busy getting their work permits, and all the stuff ready for their arrival.  We have also heard that another couple will be coming to Tarawa in the next few months.  We really could use the help, but we love to be busy anyway.

We were invited to attend a Graduation Ceremony for the St.Anne's Preschool.  This was so neat.  There were about 50 kids all dressed up in white shorts,shirts and skirts.  It was the 5 year old graduation.  They sang, danced and gave us hugs and a put a laurel on our heads.  Of course there was more food and another roasted pig.  Pigs don't stand a chance here.

 Saturday we took a drive to the East end of the island which was a dirt road.  We saw these three boys playing with these tires.  They have two sticks that they put inside the tire and run behind it while they are pushing it.  We wanted to get their picture in action, but as you can see they love to pose for pictures.  

This is a picture of the airport runway.  You really can drive on it.  We looked for planes and then just drove on.  Next time, I'm going to drive fast.  The car hasn't been over 30 mph.  The Southeast end of the Island is more rural.  I don't know why there aren't many people out here?  The church has a small meeting house and is about to break ground on another chapel.    

 I caught these kids outside our back door "riding the waves" today.  They immediately saw the camera and started to pose.  They ride the wave, not on a boogie board, but on a cookie sheet.