Awesome Sites and Friends

We had the privilege of sharing our island with Elder and Sister Peterson, senior couple missionaries, who are doing records preservation for the Family Search division of the Church.  They came here to meet with government officials hoping to gain permission to come and record death, birth, and marriage records.  When we were not involved with our seminary or institute programs and they were not meeting with their contacts, we decided to find some of the different things on the island that we had not see yet.  It is always more fun to do things with someone else.   We found a good friendship with them in January when we attended the senior couples conference.

Not far from our house is a cave that we never knew existed.  It is called the "Wiya Bird Cave." It is a natural cave, home to thousands of resident island swiftlet birds. It was once believed to be the home of a family of real giants, the cave was an entrance to a tunnel that connects it to the other side of the island   The mouth of the cave has a large opening that goes back 60 feet.  Some of the locals go in and collect the droppings to use as a type of fertilizer.   It is against the mountain right off the main road and if you didn't know it was there you would not see it because of all the foliage growing around it and covering it from view.

We then went to visit the Kosrae State History Museum.  It was small, but filled with artifacts from the Lelu ruins which are displayed along with other exhibits on Kosrae's history and culture.  We learned that they have been ruled by many other countries starting with France and ending with Japan during WWII.  At the end of the war the United States took over the islands and removed all of the Japanese soldiers from the island.   Kosrae now is a part of the Federated States of Micronesia and the US has a type of of pact to offer support until around the year 2022.

 

We heard of this great waterfall that was in the southern part of the island so we decided to go and check it out. We had to take this dirt road that went up the mountain in order to get there.  The road was rather rough with lots of chuck holes in it.  It took us quite some time to get there as we could not travel very fast on the road.  We had a great view of the ocean as we traveled up the mountain.  We began to wonder if we would ever reach the falls. It was worth the time as this is a 30 foot sheer waterfall with a small bathing pool at the bottom.  The pool and waterfall were surrounded by thick vegetation as we were in the rainforest area of the island.  We had to cross a wooden bridge and then had an easy 5 minute walk up a shallow creek bed.




   

The next place that we went was to the Lelu Ruins.  This historical site dates back to the 15th century and is considered to be one of the most impressive wonders of the entire Pacific.  Basalt ruins of large walls, channels, streets, tombs, and living areas can be explored amidst the jungle.  This site is extremely important archaeologically in the Pacific region and represents the pinnacle of development in old Kosrae.  The Lelu Ruins, located on Lelu Island, was the capital of Kosrae and the ruling city where the Kings and High Chiefs lived.  We had to be very careful as the rocks were slippery from the moisture and moss covering them.  There were sign posts along the path giving the history of what we were seeing.  We left the ruins just in time as a torrential downpour came as we were entering one of the stores close by.  We enjoyed our time visiting these places and learning more about the culture and beauty of Kosrae.

Relief Society Celebration

Here in Micronesia the Relief Society's Birthday was celebrated during the month of March.  It was wonderful to see how these sisters from Kosrae chose to remember the organization of the Relief Society. It made me wonder how this was done in other parts of the world as well.  Isn't it great that we are all part of the same organization and feel that closeness to all the other members with the same goals and desires.  We had a program that started in the chapel under the direction of the District Relief Society President who spoke on the Relief Society History.  After that President Jonathan, the District President,  spoke to the sisters and also Elder Wright.  We had two musical numbers presented.   One from each of the two different branches.  The people in Kosrae love to sing and they have very beautiful voices.  Just as the second musical number was starting the sister sitting next to me said that they announced that I would be the next speaker.  I am learning how I need to always be prepared to contribute something because I am called on many times without any notice beforehand.  It was not too long, but I was able to talk about my love for the Relief Society and how we can serve each other.

They had a potluck dinner afterwards, filled with delicious island food.  They gave us so much food that I could have made 2 or 3 meals out of it.  There were some activities where the sisters could make these lovely floral headpieces that they wear for all of their special occasions, and that is a lot of them.
There was also a sister teaching how to weave baskets from palm fronds.  As is the case no matter where you are from, we wished that more would have been in attendance, but those who were there had a wonderful time eating, making crafts, and enjoying each others friendships.