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Merry Christmas

No new pics with this post.  I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  We don't have Internet at home so I've come down to the college on one of my vacation days to get online.  I will try to post some pics on the day after Christmas to show you how we spent our Christmas day.  Just imagine over a 1,000 people  in a building without any air conditioning dancing for 12 hours straight.  It really is an awesome time.  I think of it as all the Whos in Whoville celebrating Christmas.  When everything was taken away from them they still got up and sang and danced.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

Sister Teichert and I visited four Wards in May.  We helped teach the new song "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" to the Primary children.  This visit we just taught them the first verse and taught them the signs in sign language to help them remember the words.  It was amazing how fast they learned and how beautiful they sound.  Music is in their soul and they all love to sing.  Sign language is helpful for them to learn the words of the song because they are all English learners.  The little three year-olds and Nursery children don't know much English but they still try.  Yes, the Nursery children come to Sharing Time and then go to their class.  I'm amazed how well they sit still and behave.

This was supposed to be a video clip but it didn't get copied over correctly.  Here are the Rita Primary children.

The Jennrok Ward Primary children showing me the sign for "love." Notice the kid looking through the window!  The Rita Ward has about 60 kids and fills up this entire room.  Rita and Jennrok use the same building and of course meet at different times.  Since there is not enough classrooms in this building, after Sharing Time the classes pick up their chairs from this room and find a place outside to meet.  This means sitting in the sun for an hour since there is no shade or trees to give shade around this building. 

An earlier Sunday in Ajeltake with the Primary children.

And the Laura Ward Primary children.  When these children meet in the Primary room, they just sit on the floor since there are no chairs for them.

This is the back of the Ajeltake Branch Chapel.  The breeze from the Lagoon filters through the windows and keeps the chapel from getting too stuffy inside.

If you were to stand at the back of the Ajeltake Chapel and look East you would see the Majuro lagoon.

The baptismal font in Ajeltake.

Elder and Sister Steed teaching the youth of Ajeltake.  This was their last Sunday before they were transferred to Kiribati.

More of Laura Beach III

On May 8, we took another trip out to Laura Beach with the Senior Missionaries.  Here is Gary chatting with the Bell's.  This was our last outing with them before they went home.

Some driftwood in the sand.

More Driftwood at the tip of Laura Beach.

Sister Teichert waving from the Lagoon side of Laura Beach.

My feet in the lagoon side of Laura Beach.

Near the tip of Laura Beach.  When I say tip of the beach, that means at one side is the ocean side and the other is the lagoon side.  The tip of the beach is around to the right of the trees.  Well the trees are pretty much at the tip.  So, the ocean side is on your left or west.

Ocean side of Laura Beach.

We found some great shells on this trip.  Gary of course found trash but he didn't spend the whole day picking it up this time.  He took some time to relax.

Laura Beach III

Laura Beach

A hermit crab is living in a colorful shell but didn't want to give up his home. Sister Davidson is holding the hermit crab while Sister Teichert is tyring to get the hermit crab out the shell.  Oh well, it was worth a try.  We let him stay in his home.

Majuro Stake Center, Long Island Ward

About a five minute walk from our apartment is the Majuro Stake Center where the Long Island Ward meets.

There was a baptism scheduled on April 3.  When we got there, the gate and the building was locked.  We arrived before the missionaries.  They came a little later but didn't have the key to get into the the building so they could start filling up the baptismal font.

Elder Jaksina climbed over the fence.

Here he is with his great smile.  He is from Florence, Arizona.

The basketball/parking lot at the building.

Someone finally came with the key to the building.  The font was filled and the baptism services got under way.

Home Sweet Home

Here are some pictures of where we live in Long Island on Majuro.  I took these pics in April.  The picture above is of the missionaries' apartment diagonally across the street from us. Yep, that's their laundry hanging on the line.

Here is another view of where they live.

This is the street directly across from our apartment. It is a little dirt road that goes back a ways to the oceanside.  There a several homes along the road, not very big homes and not much in them.  The people mostly sleep and sit on the floors of their homes.

This concrete building is where all of our water is stored.  We get water from the raingutters and from the city on Monday.  We don't drink this water but we do use it for washing.

The third and fourth windows from the right on the second floor are our bedroom windows. 

These are the stairs leading up to the second floor.

This is looking towards the US Embassy.  A few houses past the Embassy is our church building. 

That's our neighbohood!

Jersey's Quilt

What Have I been doing lately?

  I wanted to get this quilt ready for Jersey since she has been waiting for it for seven years.  Yes, I know that is a long time but I did it!  The middle of the quilt has been done for seven years but the rest has been added on since then.

New Grandson!!!

Congratulations Megan and Adam!  A new baby boy for you and a new grandson for us! 

When I got to work this morning and turned on my computer, I noticed my Skype connection was taking a long time to connect.  I also couldn't connect to the internet.  Then Skype finally connected and I noticed that Rhiannon and Megan had called me.  Something must be up.  Maybe the baby came overnight and I didn't get to hear first hand about the birth.  I noticed Rhiannon had called me just ten minutes before I had got to my office so I tried her first.  No answer but I did leave a message.  Then I called Megan.  She answered and told me they had gone to the doctor that morning and was told to get to the hospital right away.  They had called me on their way to the hospital and left their message on the Skype voicemail at 5:00 a.m. Majuro time.  She also told me that the hospital nurses said she would probably have a quick labor.  Wow, it sure was.  Rhiannon called me back when she was just pulling into the parking lot.  I didn't get to talk to her for very long because Adam was calling her.  Then about an hour and a half later later Rhiannon called back.  I thought it would be just an update of what was happening but she said, "He was born at 3:04 p.m."  What? She had the baby?  I couldn't believe it was so fast!  Six pounds eight ounces and eighteen inches long.  Healthy Baby Boy!  I can't wait to see him.  Thank you Megan and Rhiannon for keeping me informed.

Jersey

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERSEY!

WE LOVE YOU AND WE'LL SEE YOU SOON!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

This is what I found one day at CMI.

Laura Beach October 17, 2009

On Saturday October 17, 2009, we went to Laura Beach with the Lytles, Bells, Hewstones, and Sister Diane Teichert.  Everyone brought something to share for a picnic lunch.  Elder Hewstones seranaded us on his harmonica by playing "Waltzing Matilda" and Diane sang along.  As you can see, the beach is made up of tiny bits of coral.  I also got a picture of a little hermit crab eating some coconut that someone left on the beach.  Sister Lytle, Sister Teichert, Sister Bell and I found some cool looking clam shells along with other shells.  The clam shells have scallops on them - almost like ruffles on the shells.  I didn't take a picture of them but I have a huge collection of them now.  Gary spent most of the time cleaning up the beach as much as he could (surprise). Here are the Hewstones walking out on the reef.And here is Gilligan, I mean Gary, searching for buried treasure?I guess not, just a life raft with a huge hole in it.

A few more views of Laura Beach.

October 10, 2009

The Long Island Ward Young Women had a picnic near the airport in October.  Sister Lytle picked me up with Sister Tiechert. Edit:  I didn't think this post was made because it was taking so long to upload and Gary was ready to go home.  Here is the rest of the post:  We met the YW at the picnic area.These were taken from the Lagoon side of the island. 

These were taken from the ocean side of the island.  Basically across the street from the first picture.  The island is very narrow in this area.