Merry Christmas with love.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

On Monday evening, we experienced such a affirmative moment as we saw the anticipation of a single lady and a family from our Delap Ward, who are going to fly to Honolulu to attend the temple.  This will be one many firsts for all of them: leaving the Marshall Islands; traveling on a plane;  being in a big airport; riding on an escalator; eating in an American cafeteria; being on an island that has rivers, lakes, and mountains, street lights; and being gone for six days.

 

Sweet family: father, mother, two daughters,
and son. Single sister to the far back right.
Matching dresses for this important
trip.

Bishop Ned, those going to the temple;
Bro. & Sis. Winchester - who planned the
trip for them; and E/S Preston.

To watch them as they were wide-eyed looking in the very small craft and food marts at the one gate airport in Majuro, made us wonder what they will be their countenance when they experience Honolulu.

Another moment of excitement:  Three elders and one sister arrived from the MTC today.  What a beautiful bright intelligent group.  We feel that they will definitely lift the bar.  Elder Erikson is a darling red headed young man from Colorado. (We quickly gave him the sunscreen lesson.  So many of our fair missionaries arrive and forget to wear sunscreen their first day, because they just feel that they are only getting in and out of cars.  Every one of them became so sunburned.) Sister Maka is from Tonga. She is a beautiful young lady, who is grounded in the gospel and speaks Tonga, very good English, and already has a handle on Marshallese. Elder Ete is from SLC, Holiday area - an Olympus HS graduate - made Elder Preston's day. He seems very confident and it is evident that he has been a leader. The buff Elder is from NZ.  He was an incredible rugby player.  When he went to Australia to play, he learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became a member.  At the age of 25, he chose to quit his rugby career and go on a mission.  Unknown to him, his younger brother living in Brisbane, Australia, was also taking the missionary lessons and had joined the church.  Since he entered the MTC, his entire family has joined the church. 

Elder Erekson, Sister Maka, Elders Ete & Tuilagi.
New missionaries - Dec. 18, 2017.

AP's, SLT, and new trainers are
part of the welcoming group.

These are four really dedicated young people who are ready to serve the Lord. 

Thursday, we spent the morning doing apartment checks.  Wow!  We have a lot of work to talk to some of the landowners concerning the safety of apartments.  Also the furniture has a few needs.  Living in a third world country does have its challenges.  Still these needful apartments are so much better than where most of the Majuro residents live.  Here's hoping for the best.  

 

Humidity and poorly built
walls not helpful.

Not sure how walls received new holes.
Leaking AC doesn't help.

Fragile chairs and 250 pound missionaries
are not a good match.

Sofa has a few needs.

Do you think that we need to look for some new ones? We would close some of them, but it is hard because there are no other apartments to rent.  The price is ridiculous and the quality is so sad.

Even though the apartments are a challenge, we have many missionaries who are crowded in small places and still try to be organized and orderly.  

Four of the finest!

These two sisters have one of the nicest flats,
even though the AC, the shower, and the
toilet have challenges or might not be
working.

These three elders live in an 12 x 10 apartment at the
back of the Stake House.

Marvin, who is a smart 31 year old PII employee, arrived today to look at our dryer. It stopped working the day after our water damaged from the exploded water heater in the apartment above us.  After completing a thorough check with the support of his helper, he was trying to pull the vent hose up to establish a better connection.  Surprised by the weight, he moved it again.  Long story shortened - the dryer hose was full of water.

Men at work.

Drain that vent!

Lovely colored dirty water in the dryer vent.

Marvin and his helper.

 It works much better when it does not contain water.  

Of course a baggie of homemade Christmas cookies and bottles of cold water will remind them that helping in our apartment is a plus.

Senior couples are investing a lot of time in trying to provide a meaningful Christmas for our young missionaries. Since they come from so many areas of the Pacific, plus the states, their Christmas traditions vary. I am very pleased that our baking was done in advanced and frozen.  With all the other preparations, it made our lives much better. 

We attended a baptism in the Jenrok Ward which was to start at 6:00PM.  It did finally start at 7:20PM. We are stilled challenged by the mindset that time is a non item.  Everything went well the sister missionaries who taught the missionary lessons were very in high spirits about this important moment in time for this young priesthood aged boy. 

Two sister missionaries on each of
the newest member and the
Bishop's son who did the honors.

Traveling home was between the speeds of 5-15 miles an hour through the middle of "town."  We were cheerier when we got to the bridge on the other end of town and were able to travel our noted 25 miles per hour.

We took a short break from everything and headed for the ocean during low tide to see if Craig could get a picture/proof of the blue starfish. He actually picked them off their shelves in the ocean and I was able to snap photos. I'm sure that he will write it up, so watch for the real pictures. 

Our young missionaries are so animated about the calls and/or Skype to families or someone in their home communities during December 23-26, 2017.  Since we are a day ahead of the states, we have to get creative.  Craig and I are in charge of all of these communications - one down and many to go over these three days.

Today, Sunday, December 24, we senior missionaries are preparing a feast for 6:00PM.  After the eating marathon, the missionaries will be taught by our Mission President and then they will get to relax in front of a sweet Christmas movie.  While President and Sister Larkin and all the young missionaries do so, the three senior couples will be delivering packages to the many missionary flats as a surprise when they return after the Christmas Eve Festivities. 

Packages are labeled, organized by flat, and ready to
deliver.

Craig and I have fewer deliveries, because we are to return and serve the pumpkin pies, brownies and ice cream at the end of the movie.  The other two couples will be traveling to the opposite ends of our island.  The traffic has been really slow lately, so they might not make it back before the event has ended.

Our little Christmas tree is decorated with one strand of lights; limbs sprinkled with red bows and two glass Christmas ornaments, an incased snowflake and a dolphin.  (I am very partial to glass ornaments particularly clear glass that reflects the Christmas lights.) 

 

2nd year for our little tree.

It looks as though we have big gifts around the tree, but most of the items tucked inside are small.  These are the only sized boxes that we have available so that one is not able to guess the contents immediately. 

On Christmas Day, the various church congregations across the country perform the Biit in each of the churches, which is a dance with singing and a lot of whistle blowing to change directions or steps.  Our seven LDS Wards will perform in our Long Island Stake House starting at 10:00AM.  This is the kicker:  All the missionaries plus the senior missionaries will be performing first.  We have practiced once for our 20 minute performance.  We will certainly be comic relief for many.

Even though we have asked many people how the Biit connects to celebrating the birth of Christ, we still have not received a real answer. We recognize that it does connect all ages as they perform in their congregations. The dance movements are to represent and tell a story about the Marshallese people in earlier years.  When I asked our instructor (one of our Marshallese missionaries) about what story our dance relates, he didn't know and neither did anyone else.

The people start practicing in October and during the two weeks before their performances on Christmas Day, they practice 5-6 times a day starting at dusk and often going until midnight.  We'll have pictures next week to show the thrill that they seem to experience.

We are thoroughly grateful that we do understand why we celebrate Christmas.  Even though the gifts, food, and surprises are eventful, there is nothing as important as having the knowledge of the birth of our Savior and what His resurrection and atonement means for each of us.

As you enjoy the Christmas music, please listen to a favorite from childhood - Away In A Manger.  The last verse always makes us fondly think of all of you, whom we love so much.

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.

Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas.

We love you,

Elder & Sister Preston