Adventures in Paradise 7

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE 7

Kia orana, everyone! Out excellent adventure continues on a somber note. Bart Nelson, our son-in-law (Kristi’s husband) lost his mother due to a single-car rollover accident last Thursday. We send our love to the whole family and want them to know that they are in our prayers. Having said that, we are also stuck once again, by how fleeting life can be and how  we should all make our moments count. Gloria was a great example of this. Her grandson, Brent Nelson, who is currently serving in the Phillipines wrote to his family about his love for the family and his grandmother in particular. He mentioned her sincere charity for everyone. She was happy when those around her were happy. She was wise and didn’t tolerate bad behavior; rather, she expected you to live up to your potential. Brent also mentioned how excited Gloria would be about anything that her family accomplished. He mentioned her cherry pie and all the dinners that they enjoyed together. Gloria was a hard worker and so much of that hard work was spent on family in one form or another, including geneology.  Having known her, myself, I can truly say that she had lived a life that left her ready to meet her Heavenly Father. While it is true that she could have accomplished many more things in her life, had she lived, she was not one who was unprepared to move on. We will all miss her and the example that she set for the rest of us.

We have had an assortment of adventures this week and would like to share them with you, along with photos of memorable moments. As we find ourselves missing the Thanksgiving festivities, we are at the same time taking stock of things that we had not considered to be blessings before. While driving, I asked Ward , “Is this a road?” Never before have we not known the difference between what is a road and what isn’t. We are thankful for address and street signs at home and will never take them for granted again!  We have natures alarm clock outside our windows (notice, that I said plural). The roosters have their own timetable and you don’t want to turn the bathroom light on in the middle of the night! Those old birds think that bathroom light is the sun and they start crowing like crazy!. We are now thankful for alarm clocks that we can set to our own specifications!  We are grateful for a light summer rain that waters the flowers and lawns, not the twenty-four hour deluge that happened here yesterday.  Many already simple homes were flooded and the owners had no choice but to let the waters recede over the next day or two.  We have noticed that many children come to church without shoes. I have now come to realize that this is because they do not own shoes; not  even a pair of flipflops. I have never had to go without shoes and will think twice from now on, when I choose which shoes to wear for the day. They concept of footwear matching an outfit is almost unheard of here. I will never look at my oven the same way again. Many homes here have only a one or two-burner hot plate. I have become semi-famous for my baking. I don’t think that it’s so much that they find it tasty,but rather that I have an oven at all!  We will never walk into a fully stocked grocery store and not be grateful; not only for the myriad of choice, but also that we can afford to buy pretty much anything that we want. Fresh milk is unheard of here. You buy a box off the shelf and then refrigerate it. This is the same for juice. We try not to drink homemade juices at any of the feasts, as we are not sure what water they have used to make the juice. We buy bottled water every week. Many times, we will return from a feast and head straight for the refrigerator, as we are sooooo thirsty, having not dared to drink anything. We have found a store that keeps their eggs  refrigerated and they also carry some frozen chicken from the U.S.A.! Because of the humidity, you cannot find comet or ajax or any powdered cleaner and the salt clumps up almost immediately upon opening. I have mentioned before that I cried when I found a bottle of Heniz Catsup. Well, you get the idea. Please take a moment and be grateful for the bounties of your lives. May I say, however, that this is our perception. People here believe that they live in paradise and that they are the lucky ones. Many have been to other countries, including the United States and think that there are too many people in one place, that we are too rushed and that we live in spaces that are too confining  for them. They are as grateful for what they have as we are. It's a true blessing to bloom where you are planted. 

We attended a baptism on Thursday evening. It was also Leonard’s eighth birthday and it was a sweet day. This young man has a huge smile and you can’t help smiling too, when you see him. We had only met the family only once before, so we were surprised to be invited back to the home for a little (huge understatement) dinner and birthday cake. Having described feasts before, we assume that you may have an idea of what went on, but this defies description! The custom here is to sing happy birthday at the beginning of the evening, have the birthday person blow out the candles and everyone yells, “Hip. Hip, Hurray” three times. Then the feast begins. As we hardly knew the family, we took a seat at a table far from the head table, but the grandfather came to us and told us that we were to sit in a place of honor at the head table. I am learning to just do it and not feel like we are interlopers, as this is another  way they have of showing respect. I might mention, here also, that you might think that more people would chose to be baptized in the ocean, as it sounds very romantic to us. Their view, however, is that the ocean is there every day, but the baptisimal font is something very special. Again, here is a show a reverence for this ordinance.

Two days later, the president of one of the branches turned  60 and of course it was cause for another huge celebration. President Williams sat in a chair of honor. He wore a lei and wiped away tears as each of his children spoke about what he meant to them. One daughter talked about the memory she has as a younger child, listening to her father and his brothers sing in harmony. The four were in a barbershop quartet and her birthday wish for herself was to hear them sing together again. Please pass the tissue, as it was beautiful to hear those four men sing together in perfect harmony. Again, do I have to say that there was a feast?  These people are sweet, and so willing to share their homes, their lives and their tables.

For the sports-minded, we would like to share two traditions that occur each year on our Rock (Rarotonga). The first is the Sevens tournament. This is rugby heaven! Teams compete with each other for three days. Each team has seven players on the field at a time and they play seven-minute halves. There is no padding, no helmets and no mercy! People dress up in funny costumes and parade around the field. Some win prizes for most inventive, most colorful, most whatever. We have included a photo or two to give you an idea of this.  Last Saturday, the Vaka Evia (Ava) festival began. A vaka is a canoe or vessel. The ancient people used very large ones to travel from one island to the other. Now these canoes can be for one person or a team and there are races and ironmen and ironwomen competitions for the week. We have noticed some huge logs in the park next to the warf and see that each day, some are looking more and more like canoes as  master carvers work on them. Due to the influx of visitors, Saturday market has been extended to three weeknights and will go late into each evening’ The last few nights, we have been lulled to sleep with the drums and singing from an Island show down the beach from us. Who needs and ipod?

As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We will be thinking of you on Thursday and want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. We miss you all and are mindful as well, that for many of you, a blizzard is in your forecast. Please travel safely and enjoy your time spent with loved ones. I am tempted to try the island version of a pumpkin pie. Someone gave us a huge squash, and  although Squash Pie does not have the same ring to it as Pumpkin, I may just have to give it a try anyway. The big question is whether or not I want to spend 8.00 a half pint for whipping cream! We did get an early Christmas present, though. We are going to spend the week before Christmas in Tahiti! Not a tough gig, as my musician son would say. You are in our thoughts and prayers and we hope that all is well.

Love to you all. Ward and Susan   Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in the Cook Islands

Blessing the Vaka Log and Workers

Begining the carving of the Vaka Log

More carving

More Log carving

Celebrating the 7's tournment

7's cheerleaders

More 7's cheerleaders

7's Cheerleaders

Member Tariu and friend after winning his game

Lenorad at his birthday party

Lenorad & his father after being baptised

Sunset from our back yard

Sunset from our back yard 

Yesterdays flood in Avarua

Avarua flood

More Avarua flood

Ward and Tariu after waitng for our wives