This is a gift that the wonderful people at church gave us for Christmas. These were entirely made out of coconut shells. We also received several assorted sea shell trinkets.
They even have hair made from the coconut. Pretty unique and cool.
The Marshallese people are still celebrating Christmas on Ebeye. They go until 2-3 am every morning We still had a good crowd at church Sunday morning.
Thanks to Vickie Long and the Walnut church of Christ, Lee and I had another cart and luggage full of Christmas gifts for the kids on Christmas day.
We had a great lunch of turkey, ham, dressing, rice, BBQed chicken legs, cold slaw salad, rolls, and all the trimmings.
Heity put up a Christmas tree. We had the boys cloths on one table and the girls clothes on another. School supplies, coloring books, crayons, shoes and personal products around the tree.
The kids were so excited to get all the gifts. Times are really hard everywhere. It was a real blessing to have so many give.
Thanks to you and your generosity, we had a great Christmas. God's Blessings on you all.
We carried the biggest part of the Christmas gifts so generously sent to the kids to the church building on Sunday. We filled our cart and luggage and pulled them over. The boxes kept falling off the cart. We could not tie them down because each box had to go through the security xray machine.
We pulled the cart and filled two pieces of luggage. We took the luggage last week too. When we made it to the Ebeye dock, both of our taxi's were not there to pick us up. Lee had to walk down town (a block) and try to flag a taxi. There wasn't too much room in our truck for the kids. Most of them had to ride in the other taxi. When the taxi's came back to pick us up after church, one of them had a flat tire. You have to learn to roll with the tide around here.
Later that night they had Scuba Santa on Kwaj where Santa Clause comes out of the ocean with his scuba tank. Santa's helpers drag a chemically lit Christmas tree out of the ocean behind him. The kids always enjoy it.
Thank you for Christmas boxes from Monica Wiggins who has generously sent supplies since we first started our work on Gugeegue. Thank you also to Audry Mauck and the Edmond Young Marrieds Class and Vickie Long and the Walnut church of Christ who sent many boxes of Christmas goodies for the children. God Bless everyone for making Christmas possible for the children from Ebeye and Gugeegue.
Lee and I filled our luggage full of Christmas gifts for the kids Sunday on our trip to Gugeegue for worship. The kids are getting excited. I bought a huge turkey and ham.
We have many generous angles helping us with Christmas for the kids this year. Thank you to Douglas & Amber Joy for the big box of boys clothes and games.
The Marshallese people have a huge Community Christmas celebration every year. We are hoping we can find a taxi to get to Gugeegue on Christmas day.
Lee played in the Community Band at the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. I thought he did really well. He has struggled to get good enough to play with the band. He took the horn to his warehouse office over the summer to try and make up for 40 years of not playing. He improved over the summer but only gets to practice once a week since school started. I took a short video but our dial up connection isn't going to let me attach it. The guy playing the other tuba used to play for OU. He is really good.
The Tree lighting went dim when the lights on the Christmas tree would not light.
There is nothing like cotton candy at a Christmas celebration.
We received several boxes this week. Thank you and God's Blessings to Dean & Becky Lightfoot, Joel & Sarah Schoop, the Mills Family, the Waldrum Family and Wayne & Yvonne Hinds.
We are going to go to Gugeegue on Christmas day to pass out the toys for the kids. We will then have a Christmas Feast with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
All packages must be mailed no later than this week. We are in the middle of the Pacific and the amount of packages at Christmas is tremendous. We only get our mail on Tues. & Thurs. The sooner you get it in the mail the better our chance of getting it before Christmas. Of course, the kids will be grateful no matter when it comes.
We had a few more kids today at church and we had to get an extra taxi (dual cab pick up truck). About halfway there the one we were riding in decided not to run. One taxi had picked up one load before we got off our ferry. He stopped on the way back and took us the rest of the way.
This is a pic of one of the taxi's running just in front of us on the way back to Ebeye. The kids love it when one taxi passes another one. You would think it was a horse race. We let off everyone just before the rain began to come down. We made it without getting wet. It's not as bad getting caught in the rain here. At least it isn't cold outside. You don't get cold until you walk into a house or office with A/C.
Thank you to Brad and Sandra Dodd for sending several packages for Christmas. They were very generous and we really appreciate their big hearts.
If you are mailing Christmas for the kids it would be best to mail it this week. The package might make it after this week but it will be a big gamble.
We want to thank Joel & Sarah Schoop for sending clothes and toys for the kids Christmas.
We also want to thank Robert & Mary Martin for sending toys for Christmas. Robert is the preacher who held a meeting in Gugeegue a couple summers ago.
If you are sending any boxes for Christmas for the kids, it is time to get them in the mail. We really do appreciate your help providing Christmas for some sweet innocent souls.
Time really flies when your having fun. I don't know where this year has gone. Lee and I will be here two years in March. WOW! That doesn't seem possible.
Nothing is in writing yet with Lee's job, but we feel this is where the Lord has put us. Not much of it has been easy, but HE never promised us easy. We would like to see some things change for the better. Please pray that the Gugeegue church of Christ will grow in all ways for HIS will for this church.
It is not to late to give to others this Christmas. Teach your children, grandkids, nieces, and nephews to give to those who are in need.
There is more room in the boxes if you take the items out of their packages. Unless, of coarse, it is something that needs to be kept together, such as crayons. Take the air out of any balls to make more room in the box.
Instructions for mailing and suggestions for gifts are in previous blogs.
If God has Blessed you this year and you can help it would be very appreciated.
This is Joey. He is Heity's grandson. Heity's father started the church of Christ in Ebeye. Joey's father joined the Navy last summer.
This is one mother and her family. The baby is one of the baby boys that was born last August. The little girl was a baby when we first started coming to the Gugeegue church. Her name is Ruthie Ann. I called her Rosie for three months before I discovered her name was Ruthie Ann. Now I call her Rosie Ruthie.
Times are hard for everyone but if God has blessed you this year and you can help in any way with Christmas for these precious little souls, please go to the previous post for instructions. We need your help.
Where did 2009 go?
The kids are singing "This little light of mine."
It is time for those who can help with Christmas for the children to start gathering things and get it in the mail. In order for us to have time to receive the presents, the deadline for mailing should not be any later than the week after Thanksgiving. Preferably the week before.
They were replacing the outside layer of one of our radars the other day. The crew decided to make a Halloween face on it for grins.
It was pretty funny looking and got everyone's attention.
Thank you to Jack and Sandra Cummings for sending Halloween candy for the kids. A man by the name of Yoseph has given us sandwiches every Sunday for the kids for the last month. Thank you all for your generosity. God's Blessing on all.
The kids did great today even though they had to get wet riding in the taxi (back of a small pick up) when it rained on them on the way to church. The good thing is it is always warm here so you don't freeze to death if you get wet. They didn't know anything different so it did not bother them.
We had some Santa helpers this week. Dean & Becky Lightfoot sent a box with toys, personal items and kids clothes. Monica Higgens sent some clothes, toys and things I needed for class. Arlene Floyd helped me find some things I wanted to buy for the adults this year. Savings are great when you are buying in larger numbers.
If you can help buy one thing or a box of things for the children of Gugeegue church of Christ, please plan for that now and start sending whatever you can afford soon.
Today was Lee's birthday. I baked him a brownie and put some candles in it. It looks like we should have called the fire department. Of coarse we may need a water hose handy when mine comes up in a few months.
God's Blessings to you all.
These are some of the baskets some of the Marshallese ladies made on Manit Day which is a celebration of the Marshallese Culture. The men showed how to make rope out of coconut husks and they opened a coconut with a machete so you could drink the coconut milk and eat the fresh coconut. Pretty interesting.
While we were waiting on Ebeye for the ferry to come from Kwaj, these kids gathered to take turns jumping off the dock. This is the only time we have seen them do that.
An adult came by and ran them off the dock and they all went to the nearest beach to play some more in the water. Kids are the same no matter where you go. They will have a blast playing with their friends with no toys at all.
A man gave us a sack full of sandwiches on the ferry on the way to church for the last two weeks. He was taking it to Ebeye to one of the other churches. He had seen us several times on the ferry and asked if we were going to church. We said yes and he handed us the sandwiches and said, "give these sandwiches to the children." WHAT A GREAT EXAMPLE FOR US ALL!
We have had a good number of kids for bible class for the last couple months. It is not too soon to start thinking and planning for Christmas. We have to start early because of the slow mail and because Lee and I have to carry everything over to the church building on our backs, so it takes us more than one trip to get it there. We do not have any church backing so we have to rely on individuals who are willing to help on their own or who can organize their class or friends to help. It is best to mail boxes no later than the week right after Thanksgiving. Any time before that is great. It can take anywhere from one to three weeks to get a package to Kwaj. We have gotten mail as much as two months later.
The baby boy above was almost nine lbs. when he was born. The locals are all short people so he is much bigger than the other two babies that were born with in weeks of each other.
This little girls mother looks like she might be out of high school, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Thank You to Monica Wiggins for sending little girl clothes and some baby toys for the kids. Also a big Thank You to Gina Blankinship for sending diapers, wipes, bottles and such. The mother's appreciate everyone's generosity. They have so little, it amazes me how they make it.
Our internet has been down most of the week end and it is still questionable as to how many times I will have to try to post this. Wish me luck! I have already tryed three times.
It's pretty hard to see but there is a baseball backstop in the background of this field. This is the softball field on Ebeye. It is also part of the trash dump. The mounds you see in the background are mounds of trash. They play softball on this field during the week in the evenings. No sliding into the bases. Count your blessings people!!
The plane that delivers mail to Kwaj broke down at the beginning of the week so we did not get any mail until Saturday night. The mail employees came in Sunday and sorted everyone's mail and opened for a couple hours so everyone could get caught up on their mail. We should have another big load on Tuesday. Just part of the package.
We had a good number of kids and adults Sunday for worship. We took two very full taxi's over and ended up with three coming back. I'm not sure how we did that, but whatever works! It was a good time to worship God. The babies that were born at the beginning of August are all growing so fast.
Our Post Office has changed our address to further assist in their sorting process. Our new address is:
CMR #701 PO BOX 1652
APO, AP 96555-0017
It will get to us with the other address but probably not as fast (which is crazy anyway out in the middle of the pacific ocean). There is no such thing as fast on Kwaj. It comes with the package.
Lee and I carried as much as we could carry to church yesterday. Thank you to Monica Wiggins who sent some baby girl clothes and school supplies for all the kids. Monica's children, Austin and Rachel, also sent a cash donation they had saved and given to the children on Gugeegue. What a wonderful way to teach your children at a young age to give to others. The mothers divided the school supplies among the kids.
Thank you also to Bonnie Howell who sent several boxes of baby boys clothes. I intended to get a pic yesterday of the mothers dividing them up, but the taxi's 
were waiting on us. The mothers were so grateful to get the clothes. They said to give you all a big "Thank you." Most do not have a job and they would have so little without your help.
One of the mothers gave me the plant hanger on the left. It really is pretty with a plant in it but I was afraid it would walk off outside. It is made out of sea shells. The fish on the right was given to us for Christmas. God's Blessings to you all.
Church service was very interesting today. Paul Hester went home on Monday and Lee is in Honolulu today on his way back home from classes in San Diego. We had two full taxi loads come to church. There were two men that were just baptised about a week and half ago and the rest were women and kids and no preacher. I talked one of the men through doing a great job for the Lord's Supper. I had a DVD to play on the TV and player for a sermon. I taught the kids class, we took the Lords Supper and I tried to pop the DVD in the player and the player wouldn't work. I walked a really fine line trying to not preach to the crowd but giving a really short run down on what they missed. All I could do was apologize and say, Lee will be back next week. We missed you Lee! Please come home soon. We need a preacher! Amen Brother!
We had another mother with a baby show up at church today. The lady on the right was one of our regulars who came with her friend (or relative) who has a 3 week old baby girl. She had little boy clothes on him. She probably heard we give baby clothes to new mothers, but that is okay. She was at church and we have the chance to tell her about Jesus.
If you have any baby girl clothes please mail them with some disposable diapers this week to
Avis Cummings
PO Box 1652
APO, AP 96555
Please keep in mind it is 86 degrees every day of the year here so onsies and shorts or dresses for girls are great. Also keep in mind that this baby is already 3 weeks old. Babies grow fast, no need to send newborns. Start at 3 months. Any baby or kids clothes of any size will not go to waste.
Blessings to all.
Thank you to Greenlawn church of Christ for the support they sent to help pay for the taxi's during our Gospel Meeting. We have to pay to catch the taxi between Ebeye and Gugeegue. The absolute worst road I have ever been on in my life time. This pic is of one of our taxi loads.
The mission was a huge success.
We have six new brothers and sisters in Christ. That is more than double what we did have.
The building is so close to being finished we can actually see the end of the tunnel. May God Bless you all for your help.
Thank you to Paul Hester who worked many long and hard hours to preach and teach to the lost. He spent a lot of his own dollars to make this mission a success.
Paul baptised six new brothers and sisters into Christ.
Paul worked really hard on the building. We are so close to finishing we can smell the end.
The bathroom was almost finished. All we like are a few plumbing parts that we could not get locally. Paul put in a new water catchment to catch the water running off the roof so we can flush the toilet or anyone staying at the church building can take a shower. I can not begin to name everything Paul did.
Thank you Paul. The Gugeegue church is very blessed to have you in their corner.
A big thank you to Angela Caswell and Dean & Becky Lightfoot for baby clothes, toys and personal items for the kids. Nothing ever sent goes unused.
To God be the glory! We had a wonderful day 4 of the Gospel Meeting. We have six new brothers and sisters in Christ who were baptised in the pacific ocean. This is Jessica, Heity's daughter, who's Grandfather was the first Christian on Ebeye.
The Angels are rejoicing with Jesus Christ in Heaven.
Our brother in Christ. God has provided some men to lead the Gugeegue church.
These are all six who confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and were baptised. The two on the right side are husband and wife. Their five kids have been coming to class for quite a while. He works on Kwaj. She is related to Sapong, the husband of Heity who passed away. Rejoice! And again I say Rejoice!!
