2 months

Sorry again for not posting earlier this week.  We had some internet difficulties.  So here's a few extra pictures to make up for the loss.

Nothing like a little karaoke after a week of construction.

One night after meeting, our room turned into a barber shop. 

First Sammy buzzed Obed's hair, and then he buzzed his own. 

This is the beautiful Kosrae, island of the sleeping lady. Do you see her?

One of my favorite things in Micronesia is how clear and blue the ocean is.

On Saturday we went SCUBA diving.  Mike and I are certified, but Matt and Javier are not, so they went on what is called a Discovery Dive.  This is where a Dive Master can take random people who are willing to pay the price to go diving for the first time.  They were amazed by the underwater world.  Matt is planning on spending the next couple of weekends to get certified.  

This is the Kingdom Hall.  We spent a couple days cleaning up all of the forms and jacks to get it to look like this.  

Alan, Dave, and Amy grouting the new tile in the Kitchen.

The fresh sidewalk.  I really like the design 

of the missionary home entrance.

Ever since Mike got his fishing pole in the mail, he's been out in front of the Phoenix fishing everyday after work.  Here's him and Sammy struggling to get the hook out.  

Packed truck after Sunday meeting, not

an unusual sight to see.

Brennan frying up some lumpia on a relaxing Sunday afternoon.  

Specially delivery!  The Millers coming to the site bearing gifts, a joyous occasion.  

You can tell they were having a good day off work, surf boards all. 

We were trying to paint the roof, but the neighbors were randomly burning their yard.  It was raining ash.  

At first we thought we were beat, but it was nothing a shop-vac couldn't fix.

The roof painting crew.  You gotta do what you gotta do to shield yourself from the hot, tropical sun, even if it means that you look like a terrorist...

Almost Done Painting!

Just as the title says, we are almost done painting the missionary home.  We should be done in a couple days. There is also a room and a half that's been tiled, and a few windows installed.  It's really starting to come together.  I'll try to post some pictures of the finished rooms next week.  We also ate lunch in the Kingdom Hall for the first time.  The forms were torn down on Friday and we ate in there on Monday.  I can't believe it's already been a month since we poured the roof.  Tomorrow one of the members of the Construction Desk back at the Guam Branch is coming to visit for 3 days.  We're all looking forward to Jared's visit.  

Naomi Debeque has been having her Japanese bible study come to

the Sunday meeting the past 3 weeks.  It's been very encouraging 

to see him come even though it can be a little distracting to sit close

to Naomi while she's translating the whole meeting to him in Japanese.  

Last week he asked me "Why is everyone so happy that I'm here?", 

translated into English by Naomi of course.

This is Mike Linn.  He's our newest I.V. from Austin, Texas.  And I caught him without a hard hat! Haha don't worry, he put one on after I reminded him.  Don't want any of them beams fallin' on y'alls head!  He's a cool guy.

Sam trying to be funny.  This is his "forced" smile.

This is going to be the kitchen in the missionary home.  Matt is the expert on these concrete counter tops and Shem helped out.







Look how flat and smooth it is...

Remir and his forced smile

Javier has been here for 5 months and finally took his first vacation day.  Midmorning we saw him go by the construction site on what seemed to be an average bike ride but then an hour later we found him like this, soaking wet under his red poncho and holding some kind of wooden spear.  When combined  with his socks and sandals, I couldn't help but laugh and run for my camera.  

Pineapples! It was a pleasant surprise to come home from work and find these guys hanging out front.  The first one of the batch ripened and was served today at lunch. Locally grown and it was delish

Left to right: Sam, Tyrone, Obed.

Sam in his natural habitat...a coconut tree.  The guys set up this net to protect the volley ball from flying into the sewage overflow.  It's no mystery why the vines on the ground are so healthy over there...

We also set up a light so that we weren't so restricted to playing volley ball only when the sun was around.  It's a bit cooler temperature wise to play at night too.  With all of this practice, we're getting pretty good if I'd say so myself.
Bump, Set, Spike!

The number of us that have been going surfing or body boarding has been growing the past couple of weeks.  Even though we're tired after work, it's very refreshing to get out there in the water.  Here we see Brennan trying to make it through some small inner waves.  

We got coconuts!

The hours are turning into days.  The days are turning into weeks. The weeks are turning into...a month and a half.  My time with the KHG is really starting to fly.  I'm trying my best to keep up with these weekly posts. So with that said, here you go.

The three thirty-three year olds.  On October 1st, all three of these guys were the same age for a day, and then the next day Matt became an old man, oh excuse me, oldER man.  For those who don't know, Javier is an international volunteer from California, Obed is a volunteer from Saipan, and Matt like Javier is an I.V. from Georgia.

We got coconuts! Every once in a while, one of the local publishers brings a cooler full of ice cold coconuts. It's amazing how refreshing some cold coconut juice is on hot day in the tropics.  

Last week we burned the condemned outhouse that the group has been using for a good 7 months.  The site of the flame filled doorway brought great satisfaction to many. 

But it didn't go without a fight.  Here is Tyrone giving it a little nudge.

Sammy and I are the coordinated gangsters.  Sammy arrived a little over a week ago.  He is the newest addition to the list of Kingdom Hall Servants.  If you have a question about the island or culture, he's the guy to talk to.  He's part Kosraen, Pohnpeian, Marshallese, and knows all three languages as well. 

This our overseer, Jake, "cutting" into the beginning of the painting of the missionary home.  This is what I'll be doing for the next week.