They have to trim the coconut trees every once in a while to keep the coconuts and large branches from falling on someones head.
Kids are the same everywhere. You give them a bunch of gifts and they play with the box you brought them in.
This little boy is the cutest kid. Most of the younger kids recognize that we are a different color than their family circle and they will often cry when we talk to them. This little sweety doesn't care.
Lee and I had a good Christmas day. We went to the feast at the cafeteria to eat lunch. It was raining so we got pretty wet riding our bike & trike to and from lunch. Lee complained about being too cool yesterday and today. I think he thought about getting his jacket out. Apparently we had a cold front come through. It was 82 degrees yesterday and a really cool 80 degrees today. It was 72 for a low last night and supposed to be 70 tonight. Lee said, lets cook some chili tonight. Absolutely the coolest it has been since we have been here. I realize that is nothing to what we have heard about the snow and ice in the states, but that is one of the perks of living here.
A lot of people left the island so the streets were not busy today. Lee has to work tomorrow, but with so many people gone, he will probably get to work on cleaning up the shop.
We pray everyone will have a joyous Christmas.
The kids were blessed from numerous Christians from the states who very generously sent toys and personal products.
No child or adult walked away empty handed.
Their bags were bulging with Christmas goodies. 
Afterwards we enjoyed a fellowship and delicious meal together.
Kwaj has Scuba Santa who comes out of the lagoon water to see the kids.
Scuba Santa's helpers. They drug a Christmas Tree decorated with chemical lights right before Santa came out. I think they had a hard time dragging the tree through the shallow lagoon water.
After Santa has done his thing with the kids the local sail boats put lights on the boats and sail by several times.
The stars are really bright on Kwaj. They were shinning very brightly this night.
The high surf that was supposed to be a possible danger did nothing more to Kwaj than splash up a little higher on the walls which has never happened since we have been here but nothing to worry about.
Lee and I have been carrying boxes of toys for the last two Sundays to Gugeegue. We carried two large boxes of toys, soap, tooth paste & tooth brushes today(Monday). We loaded Lee's back pack down with soap and tooth paste. It was surprising how heavy that stuff was. Sunday we will have three or four more boxes to haul over. The sea had washed over the road between Ebeye & Gugeegue and it was rougher than ever. We rode a 'water taxi' on the way back from Ebeye to Kwaj. A water taxi is a two motor boat with a bench on each side to sit. If we had not paid the extra money for the water taxi we would have had to wait another couple hours for another ferry. The ride was a little rough but not any worse than the Gugeegue rough rider road. Of coarse, the sea was not that rough today.
Thanks to all who sent Christmas for the kids. I will be more specific with the Christmas pics Sunday. Lee and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you to all who have supported our efforts to bring God's word to the people of Ebeye and Gugeegue.
Blessings to all.
We are supposed to get a ripple effect from a storm around Hawaii. The effect is a higher surf than usual. It has been higher for a couple days, but so far not that much higher. There is supposed to be a 10' surf today and possibly tomorrow.
There was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony on 'Main Street'. 
There was a good crowd.
.....And the Christmas Tree lighting. It looks crooked because it goes up a coconut tree which are rarely straight up and down.
This a part of the unofficial main street. The post office is just to the right and not in view. The building to the right has the beauty/barber shop and the white building has the Affes PX and the second floor is a part of the hotel. On the left is the Affes PBXtra and the Shoppette. Around the corner to the right (out of view) is the Affes food court. There is Burger King, Subway, Anthony's Pizza and Baskin Robins. There is an all-you-can-eat cafeteria and another fast food place at the boat dock. People cook at home a lot.
We had 42 kids at church Sunday. I was too busy to get a pic.
We pray everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Lee and I ate at the 'all you can eat' cafeteria. It was a bit expensive but it is one of the best meals of the year. They had lobster, shrimp and a fish bar, none of which Lee or I eat. They did have Turkey with all the trimmings and Virginia Ham and lots of deserts. Unfortunately, I did not see one piece of pumpkin pie. Everything was good.
This is our tree this year. Without any Grandkids around, this is all Lee and I need. These apartments are too small to put up too big a tree. My Christmas trees have been getting smaller every year. It became too much work for me to put up and take down. Lee never liked putting up lights and taking them down. We prefer to concentrate on the kids Christmas at church this year.
We have bought our Christmas for this year. The AFFES store had some adult tricycles with baskets on the back. I wasn't looking for a tricycle, but I wanted something with some gears on it. Gears do not last long here but it is easier to ride into the wind. This is the most corrosive atmosphere in the world. A brand new car or bicycle, will not last more than a few years in the Marshall Islands. Everyone understands that a bike referred to as a "Kwaj bike" is a bicycle that is eaten up by corrosion. The aluminium cart will last a little longer than a regular metal cart. Since there are no cars or pick ups, it is important to have baskets and carts to haul stuff around.
We had a special project we will reveal in a few weeks that involved some poster paint and all 39 kids were 'hanging off the rafters' but they enjoyed playing in the paint.
The kids always like to 'ham it up' in front of the camera.
We had 38 kids and 9 adults Sunday. The best numbers we have had since the meeting in October. A few of the Gugeegue locals are coming now.
We filled up the two taxi's for the trip from Ebeye to Gugeegue.
I did not get any pics of the class. With that many kids I get too busy to pull the camera out.
Lee and I were both loaded down getting everything to the church building. It was a very busy day, but a good one.
I had thanked Sandra Dodd & Amy Peterson for the 'Bible in Felt' set before but I did not have that many pieces cut out so I had not taken a pic. I bought a
standing art easel with a chalk board & dry erase board to hold the felt board on and it arrived in the mail this week. My pack mule (Lee) is going to love hauling that to the church building Sunday. Sandra and Amy also sent a case of Bibles. Thank you Sandra and Amy. The kids all crowd around the board to watch the story progress and they love it.
Thank you to my beloved pack mule (Lee) who carries everything that is sent to us for the church, usually on his back. Even though Lee is not a preacher, he works outside his box to bring God's word to the people on Gugeegue every week. It has not been easy for him, but he has hung in there and has grown for it. Blessings to all.
These are the Veterans on Kwaj at the Veterans day ceremony that was held today. The guys and gal in the front with the rifles were the veterans who did the twenty-one gun salute. There are thirteen Army men and women serving on Kwaj.
The kids in blue/white is the school band who played at the ceremony. Remarkable considering the school is not that big.
Nice little ceremony to honor our veterans. God Bless all who have served and those who are serving. We would not have our freedom without you.
This is a memorial to veterans in stain glass in the chapel on Kwaj.
We were down in numbers with the kids Sunday morning and we had more preschool than usual. We were up a few with the adults. We do several hand motion songs with the songs for the kids. It is really cute watching the preschool kids try to mimic the hand signs.
All the AFFES stores are now open. The convience store opened late last summer. The clothing store opened a week ago and the hardware, sporting goods, electronics store opened last week. This guy had a load and he wasn't the only one. We have not had all three stores open full of merchandise since right after we arrived. It was good to have some choices.
If you would like to bless some children at Christmas, we would appreciate anyone who can send Christmas gifts for the kids. We have about 40 kids that range anywhere from babies to high school age. We have four babies, several toddlers, five or six Jr high-High school age and the rest are grade school age. Those numbers may swell around Christmas if they anticipate presents.
Instead of trying to match one child with one adult I think we will stay generic and say you can't go wrong with baby dolls and soccer balls(or any sport ball). You can deflate the balls so you can get more in the box. We have a hand pump. If you then have enough room in the box you can fill it up with personal items such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, shampoo, body soap, etc. Those things are available on Ebeye but they are terribly expensive. When your parents make $1000 a year or less your priorities change. A medium size tooth paste was $5.00 on Ebeye. Personal products may not seem too Chistmasie but it is something they need and you don't have to look for sizes.
I have heard that the post office on Kwaj is crazy around Christmas. It normally can take up to three weeks to receive a package in the mail. A good rule would be the earlier you mail, the better. I think an absolute dead line to mail would be Nov. 25th. Anything after that may make it in time, or it may not.
Mail your package to:
Lee & Avis Cummings
PO Box 1652
APO, AP 96555
Blessing to one and all.
Thank you to Monica Wiggins again for sending some halloween candy, a Mini Mouse and some tooth paste. I happened to be in the convience store at the right time last week and found some halloween candy. It disappeared from the store quickly. I divided the candy up and put it in small paper bags. We were down in numbers this morning so each kid got two bags each. They were pretty happy.
This cutie enjoyed the sucker and Mini Mouse. I think he cut three teeth chewing hard on his sucker.
Thank you to Sandra Dodd and Amy Peterson for buying a felt set to help as a visual aid to the Bible stories. I used it this morning and the kids noticed it as soon as we walked in the building. They loved it. Anything that gets the story across to the kids is a blessing. I only had time to rough cut the pieces this morning. I'll take a pic of the board and pieces as soon as I get the pieces cut properly.
Lee toke half a day off from work on his birthday. We had a steak feast and I baked this cake. The decorations were scarce and the only candles on the island was four number ones so some poor little one year old will have to do without a BD candle.
One of our taxi's was broken down today so we only took one taxi. We stuffed four kids and five adults into a little king cab pick up. The kids were crammed into the back but we could not get them all in the truck. Another taxi was delivering some people along the road we were traveling so we grabbed his taxi to spread the kids out a little.
Boys are the same all over the world. They can't help hamming it up in front of the camera in every pic.
This is Little Buster which is one of the small islands on the way to Ebeye. No one lives on this island. It is only one of the many islands that makes up the Kwajalein Atoll which is the largest atoll in the world. It consists of a lot of islands connected where the reef meets up with the ocean. Some are small, others are larger. When the tide is low you could actually walk over to Ebeye if you had that much gumption.
This island is Big Buster. Someone actually lives on this island. There is no electricity on the island, but nothing like living on an island by yourself. You can always jump in your boat to go shopping at Ebeye.
I was in a store on Ebeye the other day. A box of Frosted Flakes was $9.75 and a tube of Colgate toothpaste was $4.99. Ouch! Prices are better on Kwaj. No Wal-Mart specials, but better than Ebeye.
We had thirty-seven kids this morning for Bible Class. I passed out some personal products last week that we received from Gospel Broadcasting Network and Monica Wiggens. The kids jumped on them like a duck on a June Bug. With toothpaste costing five bucks a tube they were thrilled to get some as well as tooth brushes.
This is Sandy who lives next door to the church building. She has a bubbly personality and comes around every time we are there. She has no idea how to speak English but she will repeat almost anything you say. I was counting clothes pins with her and Joey the other day and she would repeat what I said.
These are three of the boys that come from Ebeye with us every week. Great kids.
This is five of the women who came to the church services all week. Heity, on the right front row and her husband were the ones who had the dream for a church of Christ being established on Gugeegue. He helped lay the cement floor and past away at the age of 54. Paul Hester raised the money to build the building and followed through with the dream. Annie is Heity's sister and sitting next to her on the front row.
We had a great meeting with Brother Robert Martin. It has been bone dry for weeks and it rained everyday of the meeting. I think Brother Martin is kind of like the state fair. You can just count on it raining during the fair.
Thank you to Monica Wiggins for sending some personal hygiene products for the kids and to the Gospel Broadcasting Network for sending a box of personal products and craft supplies.
God bless all for your help.
We had sunshine today so we had a few more people to attend. The ferry schedules made our time tight but it should be better tonight. Robert is doing a great job with the lessons.
We went over to the church building to finish getting ready for the gospel meeting on Saturday. Robert Martin, the preacher flew in on Thursday. This is Robert painting the podium Lee made.
Lee and Robert made another bench and Lee worked on a few door issues.
Robert did a great job on the sermons. His voice carries well and he keeps the message simple and easy to understand. Robert has been preaching to the people in the Pacific for many years and he knows how to make it easy for the local people.
It rained Sunday and it really cut down on our numbers. Several people got drenched riding to church Sunday morning. We still had pretty good numbers in spite of the rain. We had just under 40 kids and I was too busy to count the adults.
This was our Sunday night group and our numbers were down but we are expecting better numbers tonight if it does not rain today.
