My first Few Days

Sabbaths here are similar to America. The church is small, smaller than I was expecting. Maybe about 20 other members besides the SMs. Most of that number are little kids too. Eynee, one of the Filippino SMs informed me that many of the members are part of other Sunday churches and will go to church on both sabbath and Sunday. There is no one to play music so they have computerized tracks of hymns on the piano that we sing to. Many songs during church were sang in their language. 

After church and lunch we had a plan to go to Savior High school. This high school is considered our rival and after seeing how nice it is I don't blame parents for taking their students out of our high school and putting them in the nicer one. The high school is on the completely other end of the island and because of the roads it took us probably an hour or more to get there. Every time I drive through the island and the "market" I am always amazed with how cluttered it is. Chuuk is a beautiful green island but many parts of the island I would never use the word beautiful to describe. Houses are made of metal sheets, paint jobs are always scratched up, there is trash everywhere, it is the rainy season so many homes are flooded aong with the roads, and there is graffiti EVERYWHERE. It is on the homes, cars, and anything that could possibly have space. There are junk cars everywhere too. There are many stray dogs and cats too. The cat below is one that hangs around our school and tries to steal food from our dog, Guapa (means beautiful in Philippino). Once again I always notice how everyone is outside just sitting, laying, or standing there. There is nothing to do and it is hot inside if you do not have air conditioning so I guess it makes sense.

This is the view from on top of the Savior high school roof. The school gounds are clean and are laid out along a large amount of land, not squished together like our school. The building was built by the Japanese during WWII and is bomb proof. The building was later redone and turned into a high school. Apparently during WWII an American bomber bombed the very roof I was standing on. Recently he came back to see the building he bombed and was shocked to see that it was not destroyed like he had thought. Instead it is a beautiful building. We had worship on top of the roof before we left, and once again I was asked to do a special music on the spot.  Regardless, it was very nice.

This is me and two other Philippino SMs. I am the tallest person/teacher there. Along with the whitest :D.

 I got to try snorkeling for the first time today. We cannot just go to the ocean and swim because many parts of it are too dirty. Instead there is a resort very close to our school where we can go. The resort is where all the white visitors come and stay. The building are very nice and all air conditioned. I wish the whole island could be as clean, uncluttered, and beautiful as this place was.

When snorkeling I got to see Nemo and Dorie! Otherwise it had rained recently so the water was not as clear as it normally would be. I really had to dive down deep to get a good look at things. Either way it was beautiful and sometime I really hope to see more sea animals ( the safe ones).