Bridging 2009 to 2010

I just wamted to remember this skid mark I made when it had rained so much and the pavement was slimy - I just about hurt my knee again, but thankfully didn't go down very hard...whew! Walk, don't run...

Part of the huge after-Christmas mail deluge - Elder Keeley must not have gotten a package :(

My Christmas package from the Bairds! You get a peek at my apartment!

Our Primary getting ready to perform at our Long Island Ward 5 year celebration of our Stake Center Building construction.

Our day at Laura Beach (January 2nd, 2010) began with a walk out to the edge fo the reef where the waves were crashing. The tide was way out and the coral all exposed - it was fascinating and Gary is a biology professor, so Laurie and I had our own personal tour of the reef. But we took a little long, and as we made it to the waves, I could tell that things were changing and the tide was starting to come in.

Our Search and Rescue heroes, Elder Gilbert and Elder Haddock, came out to meet us 2/3's of the way out to find out where my keys were for baptismal clothes - we were just grateful they were there to help us back with the tide rapidly coming in.

Our blue starfish - we saw many on the way out to the edge of the reef a half mile from shore - (we placed him back in the ocean:) )

The Intrepid 5 - the ocean behind us is what used to be the exposed coral reef that the three of us conquered - Elder Hewstone (in his 70's) goes snorkeling generally out there - a much more sensible way to see the reef.

My sweet Chinese neighbors came over to help me welcome in the New Year with some tuna that Don had caught that day...

Fresh tuna steaks!

My refrigerator that everyone loves to look at when they are in my apartment - my Filipino neighbors loved seeing our 10 beautiful grandchildren - notice the easily accesible lanterns when the power goes out.

Beautiful downtown Majuro - this is the main street heading east to the Government Building - in the 1970's the President created this official looking road with a median - he had a vision of tourism with the Marshall Islands Rsort on the lagoon side (on the left just outside my picture).

Sunday, January 10th - Jaycie's birthday! Joana, in the center, is leaving for Hawaii for a few months, so after church we took some pictures - on the left is Oceantie (who just returned from a mission to Georgia), then Joana (a new member of about 2 months), Laurie Patterson (grew up in Mesa AZ) and me (Laurie and I are long-lost third cousins, meeting for the first time in Majuro!)