Here in Chuuk I have the privilege to be part of a program called "branch Sabbath school." Almost every Sabbath at 4 pm my group and I walk to a nearby house. There, we find several children waiting for us. We go inside a church member's home and we do a program for the kids. The kids are all different ages and do not speak or understand English very well. Despite not being able to understand us the kids come and love it!
We start by singing songs with the, then we have prayer (in which they repeat what we say). We continue singing our high energy action songs and then come to our Bible story. This last Sabbath I told the story of baby Moses. I tried hard to use my hands to describe things I was saying and to use small words that they would understand. Next we give them a coloring sheet that has to do with the day's story. We often color with them or sing Chuukese songs with them as they color.Each week we give them a memory verse to memorize and if they have all the little "memory verse slips" at the end then they "graduate." When they graduate they get a special prize (we don't know what this is going to be yet).
We end the program with a few more songs, another prayer, and passing out a small snack! When we ask these kids to line up for their snack it is the cutest thing ever. They all want to be in front, so, the line is SUPER squished!I have to admit, that I already have a favorite kid her name is OneFirst, and she is adorable. She is the ONLY blonde Chuukese girl I have EVER seen. I may or may not be envious of her amazingly tan skin!
This experience, that started about 2 months ago, was my first time inside the average Chuukese home. I knew that our SM apartments were considered "luxurious" by the student (often time they will ask to come into our apartment during lunch just to sit on our couch). The average home is 1 large room. It is encircled by windows that have bars over them and some have small swivel windows that can help keep rain out. The roofs are nailed down steel panels. If you can see in the picture where there are boxes on a small table, that is everything they own. There are a few other things that they hang from their roof, but that is the extent of what they have.
They sleep on mats that they pile up during the day. The other picture is of their kitchen. they have a small propane stove they use and as you can see, not much else. This house happens to be Right by the ocean, it has a beautiful view. Homes will usually have their own out house a little ways from their house. It is made out of steel panels and looks to me that it could easily be tipped over.
This last week, Typhoon Bopha was suppose to hit Chuuk. The last time they had a typhoon here was 2002, and it apparently did a lot of damage. They have to worry about flooding and mud slides, which can be very dangerous. The missionaries and I would have been perfectly safe, but not all the locals would have. Not only would there be no refuge from the rain, but high winds would easily rip their roofs and out houses apart. The typhoon, thankfully, stopped moving and changed directions, completely missing Chuuk. Although, other islands are now in danger, we are thankful for God's protection over Chuuk.