Be Thankful

 We had a great day worshiping the Lord.  The kids were well taught about sowing the seed by one of our dedicated teachers. Our kids don't have tables to color on or chairs to sit on, but the story is the same.  They love to listen and they make due with what they have.

We had another good day in our English class.

Ebeye still does not have their public water system fixed.  I have heard it may be six months before  they will get it up and going.  That is what happened when they lost their electricity a couple years back.  Kwaj sends tankers full of water that are pumped into the Ebeye water system.  Be thankful for reliable water and electricity.  Not everyone provides that reliability. Praise God we have had some rain to go into the private water catchments.

Sunday Classes

These are the boys that were in our kids Bible  class today.   At Christmas time we have twice as many kids at our Christmas party. Christmas is on Sunday this year so we will have a very full day.

 These are the girls that we had in Bible class today. Keep in mind that they wear shorts underneath their dresses so they do not have to worry about their bottoms showing.  They also wear their hair pulled back in a pony or pig tail.  Anything to hold their hair up would be good.

We also have about a dozen full grown teens.

We are having a good size group in our English class. It is going well. The hardest part is keeping everyone awake since this is the official Sunday afternoon nap time. :)

If you can help provide any amount of Christmas for our kids, the list and mailing instructions are in the two previous posts. If you, your class, family or church can help, please let me know by emailing me at nothertz@gmail.com.   Blessings to all.

Christmas Mailing Info

Be very thankful that you live at a place where you always have water and electricity.  Ebeye has been without running water to the houses for two weeks.  

It can take anywhere from one week to 30 days to get our mail.  Media rate is the most economical for books, movies, CD’s & paper, but only those products & nothing else can be mailed by Media rate. The heavier you pack the box, the better the rate.

 The fastest service is US Postal Service, First class/Priority.  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 is best to reinforce the box seams with tape since they have so far to come and they get tossed around a lot. Packages must be less than 70 lbs & 130”.  You can send any box within those rules by priority mail in which you will be charged by the weight. Again, reinforce the box with package tape.  DO NOT leave anything wrapped in original packages, unless it has too many parts to keep together (like a puzzle, jacks, etc).  Take the tooth paste out of the boxes and just send the tubes.  The packaging just takes up more room in the box and Lee and I do not need extra weight to carry over to Ebeye.

Since the box is going outside the US, you will have to fill out a (sometimes multiple) white customs form (found in the PO lobbies) that they will attach to the outside of the box. The packages need to be mailed NO LATER than Dec.3rd. Without any notice last year they decided to deliver our mail the last two weeks before Christmas only ONE day a week. That caused half our Christmas to arrive a 

week later.  We ended up having presents two weeks in a row and the kids did not mind a bit. 

We live on an Army base so every box has to be loaded either on to our two wheeler, cart or our back to walk to the dock.  The boxes then have to be unloaded to go through security and loaded back on to the cart or two wheeler to be carried to the ferry where we unload the boxes onto the ferry.  They are not allowing people to take as big a load with them on the ferries this year, so we may have to make even more, smaller load trips. When we arrive at the dock on Ebeye, the boxes are unloaded off the ferry and we have to reload the boxes onto the two wheeler or cart.  We either pull it to the school where we are meeting on Ebeye or if we are going to the Gugeegue church building, we have to pay a taxi (small pick up) to take us to Gugeegue on the roughest road I have ever seen. If we go to Gugeegue we also have to pay for several more taxi’s to take all our members to Church and our Christmas celebration. The taxi’s cost more on Christmas day.  In the past they have charged us $50 round trip to go to Gugeegue.  The biggest gamble with going to Gugeegue is whether or not there will be gasoline available to run the taxi’s.

Address:

Lee & Avis Cummings

CMR 701 BOX 1652

APO, AP 96555-0017 

If you would like to send a check to help with our taxi’s or the Christmas meal, please make it out to Avis Cummings. DO NOT ADDRESS TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.  They will send it back.  God's Blessings to everyone for your help.  

CHRISTMAS LIST - 2011

Making a living has gotten harder each year for the Marsahllese people. Their needs are greater than ever.  Everything costs three times more on Ebeye where the only place they can shop is. 

Toys, games and books of any kind are always wanted by the kids.  Soccer balls, volleyballs and basketballs are most the popular balls.  You can take the air out of the balls to make more room in the box.  Lee has a hand pump and he pumps the balls back up for the kids.

Notice the type of dresses the women wear in this pic & the next pic and that most of them put the hair up in a pony tail.

We can use any size non-stained, clean clothes for the kids. Keep in mind that it is always summer here. The customs for the girls is 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 girls and women always wear their hair up in a pony tail or twisted up all the time.  Anything to put your hair up is always needed.  The boys wear everything that American boys would in a warm climate. Long pants, shorts, T-shirts, dress shirts, etc.
All the adults and kids wear flip-flops and sandals. We have a foot for any size. Diapers of almost any size and baby products are always needed.  The kids can always use school supplies of any kind.  We have about 10- 15 teenage girls and boys.  I saw some MP3 players for about $20 something at Wal-Mart on line the other day.  Any of the teens would love that.  Any of the adults would love one too.  There are very few radio stations to listen to in the Marshall Islands.            

It is much more important for the kids to get the Christmas gifts, but the adults appreciate your blessings too. The Marshallese people usually wear bright colors. They are usually short in height. The adult men wear pretty much what American men do. Long pants, shorts, t-shirts, dress shirts. The women wear short sleeve dresses, skirts and blouses but enough bright colored material to make a dress would allow them to have a dress made in their customs.  The women like American jewelry too, usually in gold colors. We have several teachers in the public schools and they always need teaching supplies.  Small umbrellas or ponchos are always good for the adults.

With everything costing three times more, personal body cleaning products, soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes, tooth paste, etc. are always needed for kids and adults.  I have been teaching English to the adults.  We can use any kids books good to practice reading.

If you can help in a big way or the smallest way, anything and everything is a blessing for the Marshallese people.

I will give mailing instructions next week. 

Time for Christmas Preparations

We had a good group of kids for Bible class. Our teachers do such a wonderful job teaching the kids God's word in Marshallese so the kids can understand God's word.


The adults are doing well in English class.  We will finish the pre-K level of phonics next week.


I know it seems really early to think about Christmas.  But, believe me, it is not when you live 7000 plus miles away. Lee and I knew that the Lord was sending us to the Marshall Islands to do his work.  But, we had no idea what he had in mind when we left for Kwajalein. Thus, we were not sent into this mission nor have been supported by any congregation or elders. Our thinking was much smaller than where the Lord has lead us in the past three years.  The Lord has provided a different group of Brothers and Sisters from different congregations to bless our kids with the only Christmas presents they will get. We have had some families who have blessed us every year. It is a good way to teach your children or grandchildren the blessings of giving to others. If your family, children's or adult bible class or congregation can help the Marshallese people have a blessed Christmas, we would be very thankful. Talk it over with your family or group  or class and I will give more details in the next couple weeks.
We usually get our mail delivered twice a week, but sometimes it gets delivered to Kwaj only once a week. That made half our presents arriving in time for Christmas last year and the other half arriving the week after Christmas.  The kids did not mind having two weeks of presents, but the earlier the boxes are mailed, the better.
Kwaj is a military base. Lee and I carry as many boxes as we can every Sunday when we go on the ferry to Ebeye for worship.  We either use a two wheeler or an aluminum cart we own. The dock security has decided lately that large items can not be taken on the ferry. We do not know how many boxes they will allow us to carry at one time this year, but I know the Lord will find a way for us.
Blessings to all.