January 2012

This week began with a trip to the ER.  Sister Bonnemort was walking to church, and stepped off the sidewalk and took a spill into the dirt (the dirt here is made of hard sand).  She landed on her left shoulder and skinned her knee.  She was in a lot of pain, but had full movement of her arm.  We nursed it with hot/cold packs for the day and she took some pain meds, but by Wednesday, it was still in a bunch of pain.  I could tell that it was swollen as I couldn't feel the same bones on that side as I could on the right.  I had her call Dr. Burton, who is her Area Medical Advisor in New Zealand.  He wanted her to have an x-ray from the Hospital, so he could advise treatment.  Not what Sister Bonnemort wanted to hear.  We had seen pictures of the Hospital, and let me just say, it isn't your American Hospital scene.  

 Sister Bonnemort being seen by the ER nurse.  They were very quick to send her to Radiology for an x-ray.  

 The Radiology department.  All the buildings open to the outside.  

 Before X-Ray, Sister Bonnemort seems a little apprehensive about going into the room.  She also was nervous about sitting in the chair (notice the missing arm on left and missing piece on right).  The X-Ray tech was very nice and gentle.  After the X-Ray, she called a doctor who read it and said there were no broken bones.  We were in and out in about 1 hour.  Now that wouldn't happen in America that quick!  

 Sisters, Ogborn, Thorne, and Bonnemort all have birthdays in January.  We celebrated with pizza.  We learned how to make them last month and used our experience to make them even better.  Elder Ogborn tried to make pepperoni out of the sausage here, but it didn't quite make the taste test of a pepperoni.  But we had bacon, pineapple and BBQ chicken pizza that was pretty good.  

 President and Sister Shaw were here this week.  It is quite the trip for them to make it down from the Mission Office in the Marshall Islands.  Because there is no reliable plane service between Majuro Marshall Islands and Tarawa, they have to go the long way around.  Majuro to Honolulu, Honolulu to Fiji, and Fiji to Tarawa.  Each with an overnight stay.  So instead of a 1 1/2 hour flight, it is a 3 day flight.  We were happy to have them, they bring such energy to the mission and have such good ideas for improvement.  We went to dinner twice to the same place that has really good Chinese food.  

 
Here we are at the table.  Elder and Sister Ogborn, President and Sister Shaw, Sister Bonnemort, Elder and Sister Thorne.

 The restaurant sits over the water, and all of a sudden at sunset came this fire red scene.  It was like out of a movie.  As it got darker, the red just got redder.  Every day is an amazing sunset, but I haven't seen one this vivid.  

 Postcard perfect right off the back deck of the restaurant 

 Attack of the Breadfruit

Sisters Barlow, Bonnemort, Rebeta, and Ogborn

Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions.  They are very rich in starch, and before being eaten they are roasted, baked, fried or boiled.  When cooked, they taste like a potato

  

 This may seem like an easy process to cook the Breadfruit, but it is very difficult.  There is no way that I would ever prepare one of these.  Step one is to cut the skin off, much like skinning a pineapple, but takes 10 times longer, as the skin is so sticky and tough.  You have to use copious amounts of oil to keep the sticky down.  The whole process took about 1 hour.  And after there is this sticky super glue mess all over everything.  

 Sister Rebeta, (the Island expert) frying up a batch.  They really do taste quite good, they have a potato chip like flavor.  Breadfruit trees usually produce large crops at certain times of the year, preservation of the harvested fruit is an issue. One traditional preservation technique is to bury peeled and washed fruits in a leaf-lined pit where they ferment over several weeks and produce a sour, sticky paste. So stored, the product may last a year or more, and some pits are reported to have produced edible contents more than 20 years later!!  

 

 We had another baptism.  This is Elder Rubena with Nei Beiaa and his wife Ten Teuai.  Also Baptized was Taiteiti.  Also present is Elder Tiree

 New Missionaries arrive.  We had 7 new missionaries come on this Thursday.  3 stopped here on their way to the Marshall Islands.  They will be here until they can get a flight. 

 Sisters Valo, Barlow, Rebeta.  New arriving missionary Sister Balenacagi from Fiji, Sister Gardner, and new arriving Sister Roota from Kiribati

 Newly arriving Elders Jordan from Napa Idaho, Elder Whippy from Fiji, Elder Fesoli'a from New Zealand, Elder Green, Sister Roota from Kirbati

 Sister Roota, Sister Balenacagi, Elder Atantaake, Elder Ketene from New Zealand