Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas.  Lots of food.  My turkey took longer to cook than the directions said.  We had to walk as fast as we could to the dock. Lee was pushing a loaded down cart.  I was carrying everything I could. We were the last ones on the ferry, but we made it.

The kids had plenty of Christmas presents. I saved up my grocery bags and gave all the kids a bag to carry all their goodies home.

Lee carried his hand pump over to blow up all the soccer and footballs. The powers that be have been cutting back on everything here on Kwaj.  They decided on Christmas week to make only ONE delivery of mail.  I was not a happy camper!  Good news is we may have Christmas for two or three weeks.

We received more boxes on the one day we did get mail from the Steven & Leandra Reeves family.  Steve & Leandra are family and they have been very generous.  We also received more boxes from Paul Hester and the Shiloh church of Christ.  Thanks to everyone for a great and very blessed Christmas.  The kids were very excited.

Christmas Blessings

This little sweetheart turned three yrs.old this month. She can't walk, talk, or use her hands, but she will give you the biggest smile you have ever seen.  She has the biggest smile when Lee sings to her.

We received several boxes of Christmas goodies this week from the Robert Darby family, the Steven Reeves family, and Dean & Becky Lightfoot.  Dean & Becky have been a great help to the Marshallese people from the beginning of our mission.  We received several boxes from the Paul Hester family and the Shiloh church of Christ.
It has been Paul Hester and his families love for the Lord and their dedication to spreading the gospel to the Marshallese people that has kept this mission going. They helped start this mission in the first place. Paul has spent many, many thousands of his own dollars to come to the islands at least once a year to work on the church house or building and to hold gospel meetings.  Anything we need, they are there for us. Thank you & God Bless you for all your support to the mission on Ebeye & Gugeegue.

Little Sponges

We had about 50 kids today. Heity did a wonderful job teaching the kids and leading them through a related craft about Moses.  All of our teachers do a great job teaching the kids Gods word in their own language.  It is not easy teaching 50 kids that range in age from toddlers to high school and keep all their interests.

Yolanda does a wonderful job leading the kids in action songs that the kids love so much. Father Abraham is one of their favorites.

We received our mail only once last week.  Everyone is getting Christmas packages.  They are going to have a package avalanche on Tuesday when the next mail comes in.
Thank you to the Monica Wiggens family for three boxes for the kids Christmas.  Monnica has been teaching her family to give to others almost from the beginning of our mission on Kwaj. Thank you also to the Robert Darby family for two boxes for Christmas for the kids. 

Saturday Is Last Day

Saturday is the last day to mail your Christmas presents for the Marshallese kids.  Go to my Nov. 8th blog and get all the directions. It is a gamble as to whether it will get here before Christmas if you mail it later than Saturday.  We only receive mail on Tues. & Thurs. & the PO is busy around Christmas. Go to the Post Office and get a large APO/FPO box. Take a couple hours to go to the dollar store and buy $20 worth of toys, games, coloring books, crayons, books, summer cloths, etc.  Take everything out of the packages, put it in the box, tape all the seams shut (it is a gov. box), address the box to the address on my Nov. 8th blog. and pay $12.50 to mail it to me for Christmas for the kids. We wish you all a blessed & joyous Christmas.

Your Blessing is Needed

December is here and Christmas for these children depends entirely on your generosity.
If you can help these children have a blessed Christmas the mailing dead line is Dec.10th.  You can put the packages in the mail the week after that, but it becomes a gamble as to whether it will arrive in time for Christmas. They can use any size summer clothes (we have more boys than girls), toys, games, balls (take the air out for shipping), coloring books & crayons, books, tooth brushes & paste, soap, & shampoo. The girls wear their hair in pony tails so they can use anything to put their hair up. Bless your children, your Bible class, or your church  by helping others have a blessed Christmas. Look at my Nov. 8th blog (two blogs ago) for our address & mailing instructions.

Christmas Mailing Dead Line in 25 Days

We had a great worship service this Lord's day.  It rained coming & going from church but it was not a down poor and we had a good crowd.

The kids love to sing and listen to the stories from the Bible.
If you, your family, your Bible class or church can help the Marshallese people have a blessed Christmas there are only 25 days left before our mailing dead line.  Instructions are in last weeks blog. Blessings to all.

Time To Get Busy For Christmas

It is time to get busy for Christmas.  We will be having our Christmas on Ebeye in the school class room this year. 

The Marshallese people's needs are great. Toys are always wanted most by the kids. You can take the air out of the balls to make more room in the box.  Lee and I have a hand pump we can put the air back in them before we carry them to Ebeye. We can use any size non-stained, clean clothes. Keep in mind that it is always summer here. The customs of the people is for the girls to always wear a dress or skirt and blouse with short sleeves and shorts underneath so they can play and not worry about anyone seeing their bottom. The boys pretty much wear everything that American boys would wear in a warm climate. Shorts, long pants, T-shirts, etc. Almost everyone wears flip-flops and sandals.  Personal body cleaning products, soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes, tooth paste, etc. are always needed for kids and adults.  Our youngest kids are toddlers now and toddler size diapers are always needed. If you can help in a big way or the smallest way, anything and everything is so appreciated by the Marshallese people.
The only way to get a package to us is by the US Postal Service/Priority Mail. The post office will give you an "APO/FPO" box in two different sizes (usually found in the lobbies). You can stuff all you can in the box (with any amount of weight) for the same price. We have sent some really heavy boxes that way. When you bring the box back it will cost $10.95 to mail the smaller box and $11.95 to mail the larger box. It would be best to reinforce the boxes with tape since they have so far to come and there is so much Christmas mail. Of coarse you can take any box to the post office to mail to us by priority mail but the weight will matter in that case. Since the box is going outside the US, you will have to fill out a white customs form (also usually found in the PO lobbies) that they will attach to the outside of the box. The packages need to be mailed NO LATER than the week of Dec.10th. Anytime after that would be a total gamble as to whether it would get here in time for Christmas or not. Lee and I have to carry everything to Ebeye on our backs, so we need the time to make more than one trip. Address it to: Lee & Avis Cummings CMR # 701 PO BOX 1652 APO, AP 96555-0017  If anyone wants to send a check please make it out to Avis Cummings (not to the c of c) and I will spend it on the cost of our Christmas meal and taxi’s from Gugeegue.  God's Blessing on you all for your help.

Singing Praises To The Lord

Our kids love to sing songs in church. I bought a camcorder so you could watch the joy they have while they are singing praises to the Lord.  The powers that be on Kwaj have been promising  to deliver faster Internet for the residence since we arrived. I can rarely get on line when everyone is off work on Sunday & Mon.  Our dial up is supposed to be 56K. We usually have 2K.                                                                         We had a good day of worship to show you.  The kids sang songs in English and Marshallese and Peterson brought God's word to the adults. Prayerfully, one day soon, I can share those blessings with you.              

Sunny Day

The Lord provided us with a beautiful sunny day today for worship.  Our members from Gugeegue made the trip just fine.  Praise God for our many blessings.

This is part of the school building that we meet at.  It is falling apart in many places.  Notice the missing rails on the stairs.  

These are the bathrooms at the school. The available water depends on the water catchments being filled by the rain. There is a water facet on the right that is the only source of water for the kids.  These bathrooms are not available during our church service.  If we need to go to the bathroom we have to walk back towards the dock area and use the bathroom at one of the local stores.  BYOT. Bring your own tissue. Thank the Lord for the many designer bathrooms at your church and the well kept schools your kids and grandkids attend.

Broken Record

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, or repeating previous entries for you young whipper snappers,  it poured rain while going to church again today.  The kids had a good time playing in the streets in the deep water.  We had to walk through water up to our knees to get to the church building.

We received five plus inches yesterday and there was no way to get to the classroom without wading through the water.  Every inch of us was soaked. When we went to the dock to catch the ferry, strong winds came in and the waves picked up. The wind was blowing the rain so hard we could barely hold on to our umbrellas. We were afraid the rusty cover over the dock was going to fall on our heads.  We walked over to the nearest building to block the wind and rain until the ferry showed up.

When it rains that much there is no way for the taxi's to be able to travel the Gugeegue road. Six kids and six adults waded through the flooding and made it to church.  We had a great worship service and praised God for filling up the water catchments for everyone.

Plan 'B' Often Used

It did not rain on the way to church today but it did rain several times during the week so we still had to walk around mud puddles. This is the path leading into the school yard.

This is one of the better class rooms. The teachers desks do not have legs.  Count your blessings teachers. 

We had around 50 kids for Bible Class.  Our group from Gugeegue did not make the trip to Ebeye in time for church.  Our teacher was in that group so we had to throw next weeks teacher into this weeks spot.  Peterson & Yolonda kept the kids busy singing while waiting for the teacher. Our teachers are great. They have stepped in when things have not gone as planned several times.  Praise God for our teachers.

Jobs Needed

It rained again today on the way to church.  We had to walk around many mud holes in the school yard.  God has blessed us with the rain to fill the peoples water catchments.


It has been pretty scary on Kwaj lately.  They laid off around 25 Marshallese and fifty something Americans. Anyone who quits on their own are not being replaced.  No one from church have been laid off yet and we are all very thankful to God for his blessings.

Making a living for the Marshallese people is very tough.  If they do not work on Kwaj there are very few ways for them to earn money to support their families.  Everything is so expensive that whatever you do make does not go far. We have one of our Sisters who sells sandwich bags of popcorn for a quarter to earn money to support her and her daughter. They sleep on the floor of another couples home. She works at any odd jobs she can find.  There are many people on Ebeye & Gugeegue who are needing any way to make a living. There is no Internet and only a few phones. If anyone has any idea of how people can earn money, send me your ideas.  Count your blessing if you have a steady job and you can provide for your family.

BLESSINGS

 We had a good crowd of kids for class and our teachers did another wonderful job teaching God's word to the kids. It was raining so everyone got wet walking around the mud puddles to get to the non air conditioned class room.  If you rode to church in your air conditioned car on a paved road,  picked the closest parking space on a paved parking lot, sat in an air conditioned building on a cushioned bench, you need to praise God for your blessings.

Lee taught class and led some songs. Peterson led some songs in Marshallese and did a great job preaching the sermon.  Thank you Lord for putting a strong desire to spread God's word into Peterson's heart.

If you have water available to you when you turn your facet on,  you need to thank God that he has blessed you with that privilege. We are in our "rainy" season and for the first time since we have been here it is actually raining quite often (the past rainy seasons have been dry).  That is very good for everyone on Ebeye & Gugeegue because they get their water by catching it as it runs off their roof into a water catchment.  This pic is of the water catchment that Paul put up at the church building.  It is the Cadillac of catchments.  They catch the water on Kwaj on the airport runway and they bless us by having the water available when we need it. Thank you Lord for the rain you have provided to fill up our water catchments.

GREAT TEACHERS

Yolonda does a great job every week leading the kids in songs.

It is hard to see, but a kid at the dock had a crab on a string. What a pet!

Our teachers do a wonderful job teaching Bible stories to the kids.

Traveling Visitors

Robert & Sandra Darby and Cala traveled from TN to OK to visit with us while we were on vacation in the states. Robert was one of the three preachers who came to Kwajalein to build the church building on Gugeegue. Robert & Sandra have a strong love for the Lord. Blessings to their precious family.

Great School Year

Peterson & Yolonda have been working several nights a week teaching the kids Bible stories & songs out of their one room home. They have around 40 kids learning God's word. Peterson & Yolonda are hard workers for the Lord and a real blessing to the church. Lee had to make two stacked high trailer trips to the dock to get all the boxes to the church building. The girls back packs full of school supplies ready for the girls to pick up. The only thing better than getting the school supplies is getting your Mother to carry it home for you. We had enough supplies to give the younger kids a couple pencils, paper & ruler. Every child went home with something. After all that we had enough supplies to give the teacher who graciously lets us meet in his room every week. God's blessings on all who made this the greatest school year for our kids.

School Supplies

We have several people to thank for providing a fantastic start to school for the Marshallese children. Thank you to Paul Hester and the Shiloh church of Christ for back packs, school supplies, diapers and personal supplies. Thank you especially for all the personal notes of encouragement written to Lee and I from the members of the Shiloh church. Thank you also to Brad & Sandra Dodd for several boxes of school supplies. Brad & Sandra have been a huge supporter of our mission with the Marshallese people. Thank you to Dean & Becky Lightfoot from Cedar Park, TX for school, personal supplies & toys. The Lightfoots have been a great blessing to the kids. Thank you also to the Walnut church of Christ for school supplies. Walnut has been a tremendous blessing for our kids. I put all the paper, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, crayons, colored pencils, calculators, & markers in the back packs and some how Lee and I will find a way to carry everything to church Sunday. I have no doubt our kids will have the best start to school they have ever had. God bless all for your generosity. I will post pics Sunday

OKLAHOMA

We are in Oklahoma getting to know our grandson. Julianna had a virus while staying with us. Her mother had it, Lee caught it and now I have it. Unfortunately it canceled our trip to California and Lee's presentation at the Hanford c of c. My sister is in remission from cancer but her immune system is low and she has shingles. I felt that exposing her to a virus that seems to get passed around so easily was not what my sister needed right now. My sister, Virginia, is very miserable with the shingles. Please keep her in your prayers.

States Bound

We will be taking our grand daughter home at the end of this week. She has been bored with us most of the time, but we have loved having her here. We will be spending a month in the states on vacation. If you are around Hanford, CA on Aug 1st, come hear Lee give a presentation about our missionary work in the Marshall Islands at the PM service at the Hanford church of Christ.

Rip Roaring Time

This past week we received a box of flip flops the 6th grade class in VBS from the Walnut C of C in Texarkana, TX decorated for the kids at church. Walnut has been a huge blessing for the Marshallese kids at church for almost a year. What a great bunch of Christians to help some people half way across the world. The kids were thrilled to get a new pair of shoes. Thank you also to the Shiloh C of C from AL. for school supplies. Shiloh is a small congregation with a huge heart. Part of the supplies are still on the way but we are expecting those to come in soon. We had to meet in the "small" classroom again this week. It was so crowded and we were so pressed for time while we were passing everything out, I did not get pics of everything I needed. We had to leave to catch the ferry before everything was handed out. I am sorry about that. I tried. Our members held an honor celebration for our grand daughter after church. They sang to her and gave her many gifts. She said she felt like a princess. We then had a fellowship together and ate some food the members had brought. Thank you to the Marshallese people who have made Lee and I as well as our grand daughter so welcome. They are a very loving people. I have told you many times that you must be flexible over here. Every Sunday is a new adventure. This week Lee was hauling several boxes to church to give to the kids. He bent over to pick up one end of the dolly he used to carry the boxes and RRRIP. His whole backside was hanging out. Because of a bad back, I carry a cushion to sit on. He hung the cushion on his belt to cover his air conditioned bottom up. Thankfully, there was a store open with some Levi's that fit him. I had never seen a pair of Levi's in that store before. Julianna and I were LOL. Everyone in that store knew he was in there with a cushion hanging off his backside. They were probably thanking God for that cushion. I know Lee was.

Flexible

If we have learned anything since we have been in the Marshall Islands it is you MUST be flexible. We were locked out of the school room we have been meeting in....again. We ended up in another school room one of our members aunt teaches in. Things can change on a dime here. We have some great members who have followed us all over the place. I think we lost some of our crowd by changing rooms, but we did what we had to do and got all the lessons done.