Christmas Helpers

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.

Anything else you want to send will be very much appreciated. Nothing will go to waste. You can get a flat rate 'Priority Mail' box at the post office with 3 different sizes & cost. They cost the same no matter how many pounds you put in it. Be sure to tape the box well. With it traveling so far they tend to fall apart, especially when they are heavy. 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.

Sweet Tooth

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's First BD (here)

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.

Happy Birthday

Tomorrow is Lee and his brother, Jack's, birthdays. They were born exactly five years apart. It is Saturday the 18th here tomorrow. Happy birthday guys. I'm going to grill a couple steaks with all the fixings, and bake a cake. Lee has some time off coming so we might go to the beach. We sent in our absentee vote this week. The great news is, we have not seen one political ad and we have already voted. We're done. YEAH! We have seen way more political garbage on the news than we wanted to see, but we know it is a lot worse in the states. None of the political ads ever influenced us to vote for someone.

Halloween

I need some individually wrapped Halloween candy for the kids. NO CHOCOLATE candy bars. It melts before we can even get to church with it. Sam's club used to have a five lb. bag of assorted candy with tootsie rolls etc. in it. They also have the large tubs of double bubble bubble gum. I have seen the individually wrapped skittles. Anything like that would be appreciated. I have seen very little Halloween candy so far on Kwaj. I should have planned this earlier. In order to get it to us in time for Halloween, you will need to mail it this week. If you can help, please let me know at nothertz@gmail.com Blessings to all.

Buster

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.

Last Day of the Meeting

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.