Thursday, March 28, 2013
Friday
We went out again today to look at more water projects. Today we were able to visit 7 and we plan to take two more days next week to do the same thing. It has been so helpful for us to be able to actually see some of the work the church has done and evaluate the sustainability of those projects. It will help us as we put new projects together in the future.
Speaking of projects, we haven’t heard a thing about the project that we submitted so I emailed the office in New Zealand today to see what is happening. This afternoon as I was trying to download that church video again, I checked the email one more time and they had written back. They got the documents that we sent, they hadn’t asked the lady who has the pictures to send them over to them and they said that the project sheet that I sent was BLANK!!! I wanted to cry. I can’t imagine where that project went when I hit the submit button. We have been waiting all week to see if it was approved and it hasn’t even been put together yet! Now I have to start all over again on Monday. I spent hours, days, actually weeks working on that project and we have people in the village fasting and praying for it to be approved. They will all be dead by the time it get submitted!!! This is just so depressing!
We had Elder and Sister Szoka over for dinner tonight. I was glad that we had asked them, I needed a diversion. I made some brownies and then made a pizza. We had pizza with a cabbage salad and then brownies and ice cream with chocolate sauce on top. It was a good evening. We had fun.
We went out again today to look at more water projects. Today we were able to visit 7 and we plan to take two more days next week to do the same thing. It has been so helpful for us to be able to actually see some of the work the church has done and evaluate the sustainability of those projects. It will help us as we put new projects together in the future.
Speaking of projects, we haven’t heard a thing about the project that we submitted so I emailed the office in New Zealand today to see what is happening. This afternoon as I was trying to download that church video again, I checked the email one more time and they had written back. They got the documents that we sent, they hadn’t asked the lady who has the pictures to send them over to them and they said that the project sheet that I sent was BLANK!!! I wanted to cry. I can’t imagine where that project went when I hit the submit button. We have been waiting all week to see if it was approved and it hasn’t even been put together yet! Now I have to start all over again on Monday. I spent hours, days, actually weeks working on that project and we have people in the village fasting and praying for it to be approved. They will all be dead by the time it get submitted!!! This is just so depressing!
We had Elder and Sister Szoka over for dinner tonight. I was glad that we had asked them, I needed a diversion. I made some brownies and then made a pizza. We had pizza with a cabbage salad and then brownies and ice cream with chocolate sauce on top. It was a good evening. We had fun.
I took this picture after the baptism. Everyone not wearing a missionary tag was baptized, all 5 of them! It was a wonderful evening. I also thought you would like to see the outfits that the sister missionaries wear. I still don't know how they stand to wear those long sleeved tops but they don't seem to mind a bit. They look like they would be sooooo hot!!
Thurs.
We took Ana Ika out to visit water projects this morning. We went to see two that we have had requests for and then two more that were done 6 or 7 years ago. When Elder Colson comes next week we want to take him to see some of the projects that were done by the church years ago, so we are checking to see where they are and what they look like. We are also making arrangements for the water masters and village leaders to meet with us when we come again in two weeks. It was an amazing experience in many ways. First, because Ana can work magic. She didn’t know where the water tanks were in these villages, so she just had us stop and she would go talk to someone and find out who the water master was. Twice we discovered that it was the very man she was talking to. Then we would take him with us or follow him to the water tank where we could have a look at the pump and ask him questions about how it is working. Some were in great condition and had been well cared for, others were in pretty bad shape. I took pictures and wrote up a little report about each one. We gathered some valuable information for our return trip.
Ana and I decided that when we do this again tomorrow we are wearing pants and better shoes. We were walking through long weeds and mud in our best clothes.
In the afternoon I tried again to get some things done on the computer but with no success. We were going to the temple tonight but President Tukuafu asked us to represent him at a baptism down town. When we arrived we found out that he was scheduled to speak, so Alan had to put something together FAST! He did a great job and the Spirit was strong as he spoke. We couldn’t understand what the Stake President said in his talk after Alan’s but he referred to “Elder Webb” 4 times, so they must have been thinking about the same things. I was proud of Alan. It’s hard to do such an important talk on such short notice. 5 young people were baptized. It was a wonderful thing to be there and witness such a special event in their lives. Another tender mercy in our behalf.
We took Ana Ika out to visit water projects this morning. We went to see two that we have had requests for and then two more that were done 6 or 7 years ago. When Elder Colson comes next week we want to take him to see some of the projects that were done by the church years ago, so we are checking to see where they are and what they look like. We are also making arrangements for the water masters and village leaders to meet with us when we come again in two weeks. It was an amazing experience in many ways. First, because Ana can work magic. She didn’t know where the water tanks were in these villages, so she just had us stop and she would go talk to someone and find out who the water master was. Twice we discovered that it was the very man she was talking to. Then we would take him with us or follow him to the water tank where we could have a look at the pump and ask him questions about how it is working. Some were in great condition and had been well cared for, others were in pretty bad shape. I took pictures and wrote up a little report about each one. We gathered some valuable information for our return trip.
Ana and I decided that when we do this again tomorrow we are wearing pants and better shoes. We were walking through long weeds and mud in our best clothes.
In the afternoon I tried again to get some things done on the computer but with no success. We were going to the temple tonight but President Tukuafu asked us to represent him at a baptism down town. When we arrived we found out that he was scheduled to speak, so Alan had to put something together FAST! He did a great job and the Spirit was strong as he spoke. We couldn’t understand what the Stake President said in his talk after Alan’s but he referred to “Elder Webb” 4 times, so they must have been thinking about the same things. I was proud of Alan. It’s hard to do such an important talk on such short notice. 5 young people were baptized. It was a wonderful thing to be there and witness such a special event in their lives. Another tender mercy in our behalf.
Wednesday, March 20thI slept a little better last night. I still look awful but I am moving a little better today. Alan took the long way into work today so that I wouldn’t have to endure all the bumps. It is a much better road but then you have to deal with all the traffic. We hardly ever go that way.
Today we had a meeting with the representative from Australia-Aid. We are going out to talk to all of the different country representatives to see just what kind of projects they do. It seems silly to overlap each other instead of working together. We had some business cards made and now we can meet people and leave our card so they can get in touch with us if they need to. We are starting to feel quite professional. Too bad we don’t know much!! We had a great meeting and they are very anxious to work with us. They seemed very pleased to know what it is we do and we were happy to know what they do. We look forward to working with them in the future.
I spent the afternoon working on our Sunday School lesson. There are some great videos on LDS.org to go along with the lessons but it takes a minor miracle to download them with our internet. It took 2 hours but I got one done. I never could get more than the first 2 minutes of the second one, so I gave up trying for today.
We were able to go for a walk tonight. It is starting to cool off a little at night and it feels so good to be able to get out and walk. I am still moving very carefully because of my back but the pain is getting a little better every day. Movement really helps.
Today we had a meeting with the representative from Australia-Aid. We are going out to talk to all of the different country representatives to see just what kind of projects they do. It seems silly to overlap each other instead of working together. We had some business cards made and now we can meet people and leave our card so they can get in touch with us if they need to. We are starting to feel quite professional. Too bad we don’t know much!! We had a great meeting and they are very anxious to work with us. They seemed very pleased to know what it is we do and we were happy to know what they do. We look forward to working with them in the future.
I spent the afternoon working on our Sunday School lesson. There are some great videos on LDS.org to go along with the lessons but it takes a minor miracle to download them with our internet. It took 2 hours but I got one done. I never could get more than the first 2 minutes of the second one, so I gave up trying for today.
We were able to go for a walk tonight. It is starting to cool off a little at night and it feels so good to be able to get out and walk. I am still moving very carefully because of my back but the pain is getting a little better every day. Movement really helps.
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