Sunday, November 28, 2010

Kingdom Hall Completed

This last week we had our CO visit.  Mark and Jackie are the ones I originally came to Kosrae with last summer, so we've had a lot of good memories together on this island.
The pioneers on Kosrae, plus a few visiting pioneers that are part of the construction group (the majority)
 The door factory line.  We spent 2 days just cutting the pieces for these cabinet doors, and 3 days so far gluing and clamping them.  Once the glue is dry...
 ...Ramir and Tyrone sand, stain and clear coat the doors.  Basically they make our work look good.
Jared and Morissa from the Construction Desk at the Guam Branch are visiting this week.  They're a big encouragement to the crew and a lot of fun.
 Shawn and Kathy working over time with us so we could have the Kingdom Hall ready before Sunday
 King of the rocks: Brennen.  After eating dinner there, I think it's actually more comfortable then the 
wooden benches, and you can just recline and take a little siesta when you're done chowing down.
After working a few hours of overtime, all the boys crashed Zak and Naomi's room on their last night before leaving for the next project.  We were getting our karaoke on.
Brand new Kingdom Hall
 Testing out the new equipment
 I can't say I've tested out this new equipment though...
After we finally finished the Kingdom Hall on Saturday, we had a little going away party for Mike since he's going back to Texas on Wednesday. But as you can see, it wasn't so little by the time the night was coming to a close.  All 15 of us in this little bachelor pad played Hoopla and Mafia! 

Monday, November 22, 2010

Monitor Lizards, Spiders and More Coconuts

Before I get started, I thought I'd share a little status report on the Kingdom Hall and Missionary Home.  The Kingdom Hall is very close to being completed.  Painting is done, inside and out, the stage is tiled, the lights and fans are all installed and the doors and windows are in the process.  We're planning on being finished with the Kingdom Hall by the end of the week.  As for the Missionary Home, it's slowly getting there.  Brandon Chinen, a brother from Guam, was here this week installing all of the air-conditioners .  It was a lot of fun having him here with us.  Mike and I are still chipping away at the many cabinets that need to be finished.  He goes back to Texas on December 1st so hopefully we're done by then or else I'll be a lost carpenter.  One of the missionary couples should be able to move in by the beginning of December.  Well there you have it.      
A monitor lizard we spotted in the backyard of the missionary home.  
This guy was kind of small, they can be grow to almost double his size.
Plenty of spiders around.  Usually they're all shriveled up after they're smashed by someone but I think this one was poisoned so you can still get an idea of how big they are, probably not as big as some places, but still a decent size I'd say. 
I may have said this before, but there's nothing like an ice cold coconut on a hot day in the tropics.  Here we have Zak giving me a peek inside the cooler of goodness.
The happy couple working together, Jake and Amy Felbe, painting the doors inside the Kingdom Hall.  
Ramir doing some finish painting outside the Kingdom Hall.  From here on out I was pretty much just walking around taking a picture of everyone around.     
With the missionary rooms having air-con now, and one of the missionary couples on vacation back in the Phillipines, Jake decided to move his office into their room for now.  So down goes the old office.
Tyrone loves demolition, but first you have to take out the more delicate stuff.
And just like that, within a matter of hours, it was gone.
Secretly, Tryone isn't actually from Palau...sometimes he just can't help but let his Arabian side come out. 
Dave the master tiler.  Tiling the stage of the Kingdom Hall.
Dave's loyal tile-cutter, Brennen.    
Over in the bathrooms, we have another tile crew.  
The tiles start with Obed, checking for any chipped corners and cracks...  
...Shem cutting the tiles to size...
...and then Alan, the tile layer.  But really, Shem lays the tile too. 
Classic Sammy Face
During this weeks service meeting, there was a big event across the parking lot in the gym.  These boys were wandering around and slowly started coming inside.  By the end of the meeting, this is what we saw.  I'm pretty sure none of them had ever been to a meeting before.  They were all ready to pose for the many who wanted to take pictures, so were Tyrone and Sammy.    
As you may already know,  on Kosrae there is Sabbath on Sundays.  So we try to get as much play time as possible on Saturday before we are forced to do nothing recreational on Sunday.  We all said that we wanted to play volley ball Saturday afternoon, but after the pioneer meeting this Saturday, it of course was raining.  We were desperate enough so a few of us ran out and started playing and eventually we had a good game going.  We thought it might eventually let up but no, it started POURING.  At one point, you couldn't even look up to see the ball coming without your eyes being pounded  by the rain.  Surprisingly though, that was probably the longest we've played at one time.  It was so much fun.          

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Containers coming and going

Javier and Matt, 2 of our International Volunteers, left the construction group last week after being here for almost 6 months.  We miss them already but at least Matt won't be gone for long.  After going home for a month or two, he's going to come back as an International Servant!
Matt and Tyrone would make breakfast for the group on Thursday mornings, a job usually done by the couples.  What normally was fried rice on Thursdays turned into cheeseburgers on Matt's last day.  I have to admit, this was my first time eating a cheeseburger for breakfast and just the idea of it sounded pretty strange at first. But if you think about it, most of it is pretty much the same, eggs, toast, bacon, a pineapple slice thrown in there, and potatoes on the side.  The only thing out of place is the patty.
Getting ready to go SCUBA diving.  We were able to get a few of us on the crew to go, 
including Jake, Brennen, Mike, Matt, Javier and myself.
One of the many mooring buoys around the island, with Shark Island in the background.  An awesome dive. 
The water out here is so clear.  The bottom right there is around 40 feet and you can still see the bottom.
Mike helped catch a barracuda and a skip-jack on the way home.  After we got back, the skip-jack turned into...  
...sashimi! The restaurant cut it all up for us.  It was so good!
The past 2 weeks I've been made the carpenter's apprentice.  Our expert carpenter from Texas has been trying to teach me the ropes of the trade.  I watched him make one closet and tried to copy what he did in this one.  Good thing you can't see the mistakes from this angle.  I've really been enjoying working with Mike.
Just as the title said, there's been containers coming and going the past week.  
This one is straight from Guam full of all kinds of goodies.  
"We miss you KHG family" from the Klingbeils.  This was so sweet, but the sign only lasted for about 30 seconds before it was dramatically ripped apart to get to the goods. 
Alan found his box of goodness
Once everything was out, it was loaded with a bunch of wood for the next project.  These guys spent 2 days cleaning and packing all of this lumber.  I'm pretty sure it was close to being air tight.
One of our two tool cribs was loaded onto a trailer, ready to be packed to the rim with tools and personal belongings of those of the crew who are going early to the next project.  So far Dave and Val, Zach and Naomi, and Sammy are heading to Ebeye next week to start setting up.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Chips Ahoy!

 Congregation Photo minus half of matt's face...
 These guys and their "doo"-rags...too funny  
 Matt and Brennen before the volley ball tournament.  Team Uniform: arm socks and grey v-necks
Ramir and I playing against Tyrone and Shem.  It was the perfect story: 
Team America loses against the Navy Blue Polos on the first round.  
Team America works their way into the semi-finals as the wild card. 
Team America challenges Navy Blue Polos again in the final round.
Team America wins it all!
 Matt broke his toe so he's been partially handicapped the past 2 weeks.  
I'm pretty sure whatever he's using as a cane is meant for bending re-bar.
 Tyrone and Ramir painting the curb on roof.  Fun stuff
 Mike, our master carpenter straight out of the heart of Texas, has been putting together 
a bunch of cabinets for the missionary home.  This is just one of many.  
Plastering in the Kingdom Hall, which is already complete.  Painting soon to come!
While everyone else is working hard over in the Kingdom Hall or out in the sun, I'm kicking back in the missionary home doing some finish painting.  It's very strenuous work but someone has to do it. 
Brennen hit the jack pot and discovered a little laundry mat that was selling 
boxes of Chips Ahoy! that were not expired.  He was kinda happy. 
And in the back, Alan's off to go surfing as always.