Presentation to Uliga Public School

 On August 6th, we presented soccer, basketball, volleyball and playground balls and cones to Uliga Public School.  President Zedhkeia of our Church made the presentation.

This school doesn't have much in resources so it felt good to encourage the children to enjoy some play things. We hope the children can be involved in some sports leagues that keeps them active for their lifetime.  Regular exercise is needed to prevent diabetes. 

Fun at Billfish Tournament

We went to the Billfish Tournament last weekend. A billfish is also known as a marlin.  19 teams took part.  There was music, kiosks that sold food like this one selling grilled chicken.

This is Elder Larry Baber. He is our Mission Auditor and also helps run the Mission Office with his good wife.  He likes fishing.

These are the Daltons - Elder Dennis and Sister Barb. They are the Self-Reliance Missionaries in our Mission. They like lots of action so they came to see what was happening too.

While we were waiting for the boats to come in to weigh their catch, we watched this man catch a pretty white and blue bottom-feeding fish.

Besides marlin, the tournament also was for tuna, barracuda, and wahoo.  These are some of the tuna caught by one team. I wonder how many cans of tuna can be made from one fish?

This is the winning billfish. Do you see its big "bill" at the end of its nose?  As each boat unloaded its catch, a big crane lifted it up and weighed it.  This was a fun day.

Presentation of Donation to Diabetic Wellness Center

 This is Majuro Stake President Zed Zedhkeia. We invited him to meet us at the Wellness Center to present the Church donations.  He is a wonderful man and we enjoy working with him and appreciate his support.

 We introduced President Zedhkeia to the cooks who will be using the new equipment before we made the presentation.

 This is a picture of Tanner and Krystin Smith and staff in front of some of the equipment donated.  It includes things like a rice cooker, soup warmers, electric griddle, warming pans, new cutlery and plates. 

Here is the official presentation. Diabetes is an epidemic in the Marshall Islands and most countries in the Pacific. The Wellness Center provides wonderful holistic education about diabetes and also runs a restaurant that provides healthy meals.

Shipwrecks and Dance Festivals

 July was a busy month.  We had a typhoon that left four shipwrecks in our harbour.  This one came from the lagoon side, which is supposed to be safe.

 We enjoyed a week long visit from youth and leaders from Ebeye. Pictured in the front row are District President Seremia, Gibb and Wendy Schaffer and Mission President and Sister Weir.

 Their visit was part of a Youth Conference and Dance Festival.  Most wards youth had practised for five months. They were wonderful!

Here are all the youth at their final banquet.  They made lots of new friends.

New Ajeltake Ward

Our little Church branch became a full ward the end of May. Pictured left to right are 1st Counselor Brother Ken, Bishop Banny Lamille, 2nd Counselor Jimmy and Stake President Zedhkeia Zedhkeia.

We have visitors from New Zealand

 Our Humanitarian Supervisors Gary and Susan Winters came to see us the end of May.  They have lots of experience.

We took them to meet many key individuals related to diabetes prevention. Here are a few pictures. This is Dr. James Yaingeluo, Director of the Majuro Hospital Diabetes Clinic.

 This is a group shot showing us with nurse Nicki Hsu and Dr. Paul Chiang of the Taiwanese Medical Group.

 In between meetings one day, we took them to WAM, an organization that teaches young adults how to build the traditional Marshallese canoes. We hope to go for a ride one day.

At the end of the Winters' visit, they asked us to develop a framework for diabetes prevention in the Marshall Islands. In this picture, we met with the National NCD Committee about diabetes prevention ideas and they supported us.  We will work together - WODDE JIBBEL.

Intensive "Reversing" Diabetes" Workshop

We were invited in May to participate in an 11-day  Leaders' Wellness Workshop at the Diabetic Wellness Centre. We learned through a variety of instruction, games, exercise, cooking, and complete biometric measurements that were conducted by a doctor and nurse.

Through the game shown above and to the right we learned how our cell absorbs food and the interplay between sugar, fat, insulin and other factors. Each of us had to take the part of one element of the cell. Sister Barb Dalton is the one on the right in the cute red mask.

We learned a lot about growing food on the islands. The coral sand and heavy tropical rains cause the soil and nutrients to wash right through our coral reef to the ocean. The Wellness Centre has 5 gardens to grow food for their kitchen and restaurant.

 One day they showed us how much fat is contained in some of the foods that the Marshallese people like to eat.  Here is Dr. Zach showing that one can of SPAM has the equivalent of 19 grams of fat.

 We were expected to walk at least 30 minutes a day and also do 45 minutes of cardio exercise.  It was fun. Following our exercise we went back to our classroom to cook our lunch and supper.

This is a picture of our graduation class. There were 33 community leaders. We made many friends in the community and now all of us are expected to go out and teach workshops. We want to reduce the incidence of diabetes.