It's the little things

This little guy was running around during conference.  Isn't he darling?!

My morning walk:

Earthquake

Last Friday morning we had a VERY noticeable earth quake!   It was a 6.1, and only  21 Km (13 miles) under the ocean.  Yikes!!  We had just returned from pickleball, Greg was outside, and I had just walked in our apartment.   All of the sudden I heard what sounded like a loud, rumbling train, and then the apartment started shaking!  Sister Roundy started yelling for everyone to get out of the building.   It seemed like it shook for 10 minutes, in reality it was probably 10 seconds.  What's scary about earth quakes here is the threat of a possible tsunami because we are only about a mile away from the ocean.  We have a swimming pool at our complex and the water was just sloshing back and forth.  I've felt a few tremors at home, but this was way different.  Some of the grocery stores had things falling off the shelves, there was a big crack in the mission office, but there didn't seem to be too much damage damage around town.  All of these islands are volcanic, so it does make sense.

Monday evening,  the Granger's finished their last zone conference with the missionaries here in Efate.  It was hard for them, they love the mission and the missionaries so much.  That evening after they finished the training, the missionaries put on a little program for them.  They dressed up in island wear and proceeded to do a version of island dance.   Though they lacked rhythm, it was a fun show to watch!  Afterward, we all lined up to shake the Grangers  hands and give gifts of appreciation.  We seniors pooled our money together and got them a beautiful carving that is carved from a nut.  They are pricey, but it was well worth it.   Many pictures were taken that night.  They will be leaving the mission on 2 July.  The Duquette's will be arriving next Saturday, the 30th.  Then, on the 7th of July, the new office come from American Somoa.  They will replace the Davidson's.

Last night (Saturday), we attended the adult session of stake conference.  Elder Cardon, a member of the Pacific Area Presidency, talked to the people about the adjustments made in the priesthood organization, what ministering is, and how we go about doing it.  Clips were shown of some of the Apostles and President Nelson explaining how we should care for, and be aware of one anothers needs.  It was done very well, I just hope the people understood.  We use such big words in American, so it's hard for these people to understand sometimes, you have to choose words they know.  It will take them two or three words to describe one of our big words.  Greg, a young man from the stake, translated for Elder Cardon and had a bit of a hard time trying to translate a word or two at times, because there wasn't a word in Bislama.  He did a great job!  He is a real sweetheart.  After the meeting all the couples went to dinner and enjoyed a good meal and visit. 

When we got to conference on Sunday morning, we decided to sit outside with the people to watch conference on a television they had setup outside.  It was a really nice day and it felt good to be outside.  The Grangers gave their  farewell address to the people.    There were many tears shed because they love the Grangers.  They gave 100% at all times!  They were a great help to us as we traveled the islands for the audits.  They introduced us to the branch presidents, told us the best places to stay, and were just plain good to us.  We will really miss them. 

We're getting ready for family home evening at out apartment and I just wanted to get this post off.  I'll close for now, but know how much we love you.  Love, Greg and Ann

Sisters Veronica’s School

On Monday, we went with the Roundy's, to sister Veronica's orphan school to deliver the skirts and shorts that I made for the pikininis.  I ended up making 32 skirts and 25 pairs of shorts (for the little boys).  She was thrilled to have them.  Sister Roundy gave her a sewing machine and taught them how to sew these items, so now some of the mama's can sew their own uniforms.  It's all about self reliance! All other schools have uniforms for their kids, and now this little school as them too.  Not all of the children there are orphans, but many are and different families look after those that need a place to live.  It was fun to look in on the kids in their classrooms and see what they were doing.  Since we can't understand Bislama real well, it's hard to tell how good their education is.  Sister Veronica started her little school out by making rolls and selling them for 20 vatu (about 20 cents) each their in her village.  She used that money to buy school supplies, and was meeting in a little tin shed for school.  To me, she is the mother Teresa of Port Vila.  When the Sackley's (previous humanitarian couple) found her, they got going on helping to get a school built for her kids to meet in.  It was built out of tin and wood, with humanitarian funds.  She was also given a big water tank.  She deserves everything she needs.  Greg and Elder Collette did some electrical work for her so that they could have a little bit of lighting to see a little better.  These dear people are soooo poor as far as material things go, but poor in spirit they are not.  I'll attach pics and a video for you to see.

Last Saturday morning, president Granger had all the district presidents from the other islands come in for one last training before he leaves the mission.  That morning, we were all playing pickleball, as ususal, wouldn't miss it, and on the court walks presidents Morgan (Tanna) and Sausaru (Solomon Islands).  They were there to play pickleball with us before the meeting.  They had so much fun!  They were like a couple of kids.  In Tanna, they have nothing like this going on for the people.  In Solomon, the Fuiomauno's  (senior couple) play it at their complex.  I think president Sausau has played with them a little bit.  It was so funny, they would jump up and down and get real excited when they played well.  So cute.  None of us had our phones with us to take a picture.  Darn!  It would have been fun to take some video.  

We've started to make airline and hotel reservations for the audits.  We'll be going to Tanna and Solomon Islands in July.  The dates that we were given hopefully won't change.  With a new mission president coming, you never know!  We'll soon find out.   President and sister Duquette will be here on July 1st.  I think they're coming from Orem, Utah.

Our bug problem is slowly getting resolved.  When the cleaners came Monday, they cloroxed the floors and vacuumed the furniture the best they could.  The cushions on the couch are not removable, so I can only imagine how much icky stuff is in the couch.  They vacuumed the best they could.  I stuffed cloths soaked with permitherine (insecticide) down the sides and back of the couch, hoping that might take care of it. It seems to be working.  We'll be more careful when we travel, we've read up on what to do.  

The Roundy's are going to Fiji for some humanitarian training today.  They asked us to take a class for them while they are gone.  We will be working with the kids on math and english.  They have a packet of worksheets with spelling and math that they work on each week.  They started out with about 10 kids and are down to about 4.  It gets a little discouraging when they don't show up to learn.  I posted a little video of the kids just prior to this post.  

Today is Saturday,  Sister Tucker asked me to go with her to help her outfit two missionaries that are visa waiting here in Port Vila.  One is from the island of Tanna going to Brisbane, Australia, and the other is from South Africa going to Malekula.  We tracked all over town looking for clothes, shoes, flashlights, shave kits, watches, belts...I think it's universal that most men hate shopping!  Those poor elders, they were grateful for their stuff, but were glad when we finished.  Neither one of them could speak English very well, or they probably would have pleaded for us to take them back to their apartment!!  What's nice is that when missionaries go home, they leave a lot of their clothes and other things behind.  We have several suits, lots of white shirts, skirts and tops.  We just wash them up for other missionaries to use that come in from the islands and various places.  

Tonight is potluck and games at our apartment.  I am making a pasta/chicken bake, others will bring a green salad, fruit and dessert.  When it's at your place, you make the main dish.  We will eat dinner and then play games.  Elder Lindeman has downloaded a few professional pickleball games off of YouTube for us to watch.  That will be fun to see, the pros are amazing to watch.  If you haven't seen pickleball being played, log  on to YouTube and watch.  Utah is suppose to be one of the fastest growing states in pickleball.  Well, I'll closes for now.  Take care and I'll email again soon.  Love you all, Greg and Ann

Photo Booth

Elder and Sister Roundy went to Fiji for humanitarian training and asked me to take an English class for them.  When class was over,  the kids found Greg outside waiting for me.  He was showing them an app called photo booth.  It's kind of a kaleidoscope of your face.  They really got a kick out of it!

Another Mission Already?! Post

Good, rainy, morning to you all.  It's been raining like crazy this morning, but we are loving it because it's also cool.  I actually have a blanket on my lap!  It is winter here though, so it will be much nicer.  I've been waiting for things to write to you about.  Things are a little slow.

Last week we all went to this place called the garden of eden.  It's a little park that some of the locals have really put some work into.  It's a nature trail that has been groomed beautifully, that leads to a fun place to swim.  It also has a place to have a BBQ, so we're looking forward to doing that sometime.  The water was as clear as glass, because it's fresh water.  Elder Collette found some worms and threw them in the water to see if the fish would bite, and boy did they.  We saw some amazing plants that you would only see in the jungle.  It felt so good to be there in the peace and quiet.  This is one of the places that people go to when they come off the cruise ships. When we got back, we met out by the pool and had lunch that we all pitched in on to make.  When it's fast sunday weekend, we usually have a Saturday morning activity and an early lunch because of fast sunday being the next day. 

The Lindeman's told us they looked on the church website to see if any of our positions were advertised.  They said, that they were the only ones not listed.  We decided to go online and see for ourselves, and sure enough there was the assistant area auditor listed.  Out of curiosity, Greg wanted to look at what was available on the military missionary side of things.  When he got to military service opportunities, he hit a key that then generated the message that said something like, " your bishop has been notified of your willingness to serve a mission!"   WHAT?  OH NO!  We're not even home from this one!   We hurried and emailed Bishop Taylor and told him  it was obviously a mistake.  He emailed back and said something like," I was wondering what you were doing."   How embarrassing!

President Granger called yesterday wondering if I would prepare new file folders for his files, so we went to the office.  I'm so glad we went, because some of the missionaries were leaving for the airport to go home.  Two of my favorites were on their way, so it was nice to see them and say good bye.  Elder Piohl was going home to the Philippines, and Elder Villinueva to Tonga. Before missionaries return home to a foreign country, they can take an English test, administered by the Lindeman's. The test lets them know how well they are doing in the English language, so that when they go home, and want to enroll in college programs offered by the church, they will know if they need to learn better English first.

I've become the seamstress for the mission. I've moved on to making little black shorts for the little boys, instead of skirts, for the orphan pikinini school.  They are the cutest little things and pretty easy to make.  Sister Roundy made the  pattern up.  Though I am making some of the uniforms, she has taught the mama's how to sew them also.  She was able to buy a few hand crank sewing machines (no electricity) where they live, and fabric.  It's all part of the humanitarian services.  The kids are suppose to do a march from one park to another next week, so we're hoping to  get their uniforms finished for that.  I'll try to get pictures.  I'm so glad to have these projects in between audits!  Greg will be attending a meeting this weekend with all the district presidents from the other islands in Vanuatu, New Caledonian and Solomon Islands.  He'll be doing some training with them and maybe scheduling audits.  It's hard to believe this is our last audit cycle. 

You're probably wondering what's going on with our "move in" bugs.  We told Stephen, the apartment manager, that we don't see any signs of the "official" bed bug.  Those creepy little things are red (from sucking blood out of you), and you are able to see them.  They leave a red, itchy welt on your skin.  We have looked very carefully in places where they would be, but no sign of them.  Stephen doesn't think it's the "bed bug."  He thinks it's something else.  He's going to get something to put on our mattress.  As far as the couch goes, which is black leather,  I think I explained that when you sit on it, you can feel something crawling on you, but you can't see it.  Stephen says that it's ants.  They are so tiny that you can't see them.  I got desperate and googled remedies for crawley things you can't see.  Some lady said she wipes her couch down with windex.  Remember the father in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding?  He used windex for everything!  So funny.  She thought maybe it was the ammonia that worked.   I have been doing that, and it seems to help.  Stephen is going to have the cleaners go through all of our apartments and clean our floors with bleach.  I have to keep reminding myself that "it's a jungle out here"!  We're also wondering if we may have brought critters back in our luggage for Malekula after the cyclone!!  Yikes!  Who knows?  Well, I'll close for now, hope you're all enjoyed the beautiful weather at home.  

We love you all!   Love, Greg and Ann

Check the leaf out. It was in the,garden of eden park.