blackrockbulletin: Adventures in Paradise 12

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE 12

Kia orana, everyone! Our excellent adventure continues with a new perspective on Christmas and the spirit that we have felt and witnessed here. This is not a wealthy nation; far from it. But, the wealth of spirit that was evident here was like nothing we have ever seen. Generosity of spirit replaced expensive gifts. Sweetness of spirit overshadowed worry over decorations and elaborate wrappings. The spirit of family togetherness far eclipsed expensive trips or holiday getaways. We might add, also, that we have felt this spirit from our friends and family who are far away in distance, but close to us in thoughtfulness. We are richer for having you all in our lives. We are also so grateful for the birth of our Savior.

Christmas Eve brought the usual rush, and you have missed quite an experience if you have not been caught in a scooter traffic jam! There was no wrapping paper left on the island, and one can’t just canoe to the next island to buy more. We received presents wrapped in newspaper, plastic bags and old DVD containers. These were all presented to us by our own Elder Santa who was decked out in a Santa hat, one of my pillows and a white plastic shopping bag beard! The gifts were thoughtful and inventive and we loved Christmas morning. The gift of a good time is always given, though the gift of being on time is not valued. Our 9:00 breakfast actually started around 10:30, and we are learning to go with the flow. It seemed that every time I turned around that morning, there was a new person arriving, most of whom I did not know. My favorite surprise guest was Papa Aerepo (Papa meaning grandfather), who just happened to be riding his rusty old bicycle past the house when one of our other guests saw him and invited him to join us. I truly wonder if Papa knew what day it was, let alone what was going on, but he came in barefooted, and found a place at our table. He was grizzled and old and very quiet. He stayed all day and I think that our gift to him was air conditioning! I did wonder, however, if someone somewhere on the island was wondering what ever happened to their grandfather! By the way, did I mention that our breakfast was held outside on our veranda. The island’s gift to us was a balmy Christmas day!

As so often happens, we had people to visit and places to go during the day. As you may recall, we had another feed, er I mean feast, to attend at 1:00 and we had planned to do some caroling later in the afternoon. Ward and I would leave and say good bye to anyone who was listening. When returning each time, we would try to guess who might still be at the house. One time we arrived, to find all the drapes drawn, the air conditioner going full blast, and people asleep on our floor and couches while a Christmas dvd played in the background. Ah, yes, the gift of a “cool” Christmas! Upon another return, there were scooters parked on the lawn, left there by the people who had come to swim in our ocean. Still later, after caroling, we arrived to find people helping themselves to another round of ham and leftovers. All the while, Papa Aerepo sat, quietly, enjoying his day. To be honest, I sometimes, had to remind myself that this was not my home, but the mission home and these strangers had stayed because they felt comfortable, which is exactly what you would wish a guest to feel. I am making a valiant effort to become more generous and accepting of new ways. Our new friends are excellent teachers! This is another one of their gifts to me. Speaking of teachers, we were touched when we opened presents left by a young couple that we are instructing. The gift was a set of mugs that said “A+ Teacher” on them.

In last week’s blog, we included photos and a poem about Christmas. We printed off those pictures and wrote the poem on the back and spent part of a day delivering them. People were thrilled and we have found that taking someone’s picture creates an instant bond. We have also found our camera to be an excellent missionary tool, not to mention, great friend maker! Our new friends here are very excited to know that they are now world-famous!

In the spirit of the season, I thought that I would share with you a few of the gifts that were exchanged. Oh, yes, we did dance around the tree with Elder “Little Grass Shack” leading the way. Yes, I know that you are surprised to hear that he got up in front of the group, being that he is so shy and all, but he did it as his special gift to us. Speaking of Elder show-off, Santa went to the prison craft shop to buy a handmade ukeulele for him. How many of you can say that you went to the prison to do your holiday shopping? The inmates make these out of coconuts. They are hand-carved and painted and are hard to keep in stock. Each uke has the prisoner’s number on it and when their item is sold, they receive part of the proceeds to put on their account so that they can buy candy bars or personal supplies. Santa also brought Ward a hand dyed island shirt made by one of the members. The elders completed his island look by giving him a pair of knock-off green Ray-Bans. Even our unexpected guests received gifts, as our sweet friend, Taina, had thoughtfully bought some “just-in-case” presents. My gift to our merry little group was a snow storm whipped up from the instant snow that we found in our ward Christmas stocking. Thank you, Marc and Renee!

At the end of the day, just as the sun was setting, we enjoyed a parade of cars and open-bed trucks circling the island. Horns were honking, people were calling to each other, and one group of drummers was very entertaining. This was nothing like the elaborate parades that we have been used to, but it was new and special to us. Again, the spirit of the island was felt in this simple demonstration.

Our ward Christmas stocking was saved until we were alone Christmas evening. After we watched the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional, we slowly opened every card and gift in that stocking. We are touched by the thoughtfulness and creativity of our friends. We found everything from stockings, to hot chocolate mix, to toothpaste and brushes. There were muffin mixes and maple syrup (Yum) and all kinds of candy that we haven’t seen in some time, including peppermint bark. We smiled at the number of breath mints and wondered if that might be some kind of a hint??? We found a beautiful calendar, post-it tabs, lip gloss, for me, I assume, and a beautifully written framed copy of “And His Name Shall Be Called” Jesus Christ. There were lovely booklets and homemade cards and sweet letters. It took us almost two hours to open everything and we were touched beyond description. Thank you, Thank you! Oh, yes, I even saved all the ribbon, wrapping paper and gift bags!

As always, we are happy and trying to work hard. We feel so blessed to have been a part of Christmas here, and still to be included in yours. As we look ahead to the new year, we wish you good health and good friends. We thought of you all this morning as we enjoyed a very wintery breakfast of hot chocolate and pancakes with Log Cabin syrup. The syrup was another surprise in our ward Christmas stocking.We will raise our cup of cocoa on New Year’s eve and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Love, Ward and Susan Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in the Cook Islands

28 December 2010

The Rarotongan Christmas parade