Inspections, Inspections!!

One of our privileges is to help take care of the    Elders here on the island.  Every transfer time (6 weeks) we do apartment and vehicle                  inspections.   On our island we have three          companionships with separate living                   accomodations and two different vehicles.  We   have a form that is to be filled out each time we go to inspect their apartments.  Not only do we   check for neatness and cleanliness, but we also   check to see if their sheets are being washed,     they are spraying to keep the insect population    under control, the 72 hour backpack is filled and   ready for use, and the fire alarms have batteries   and are working properly.                                                                                                               

It started out white!

 Every apartment here on the island, including our home, has a water filter system that is used for drinking water.  Some of the apartments have city water (which is not fit to drink) plumbed into their apartments for use in showers and and washing machines.  Some of the apartments, like ours, have rain barrel water plumbed into the house which is better, but best if not used for drinking.  So we also have a water filter system to use for our drinking water.  We check these filters on a regular basis and insist that everyone change the main filter each month or at least every 6 weeks.  Sometimes we cannot believe how horrible the filter looks after only a month or 6 weeks of usage.

 Elder Wright does the vehicle inspection on the cars each time.  He checks the tire pressure and treads, all fluids including oil, transmission, windshield, power steering, and brake.  He makes sure all the safety features are working like the windshield wipers, since they are used everyday here, and all lights, turn signals, etc.  He also checks for cleanliness which is a major issue  trying to keep a car clean with the rain, mud, and sand that is constantly tracked into the interior of the car as the Elders get in and out often all day long.


We have learned much about our terrific Elders,who work hard each day to serve the Lord and teach the gospel, as we go from one apartment to the next.  Each companionship is unique and special.

Which tie shall I choose today???  The Elders never seem to be in short supply of ties.  Family and friends send them, and they trade with other Elders, and are the recipient of many more when they have a companion who is transferred or goes home.








Do you think there might be room for one more picture??  All these pictures seem to help keep them focused on the reason they are here.

Some Elders have a parking lot view from their apartment or maybe a view of local banana trees, but then there are those who can do their daily studying on a lovely wide balcony overlooking the harbor. A marvelous  way to start out each day!

GPS TRACKING

Our handy dandy GPS Tracker

Going up to Morsal

Starting in October of last year we were given a GPS tracking device to locate members using North and East coordinates.  Our assignment was to get a copy of the members living in each of the two different branches, find their home, and record coordinates for their location.  It has taken us about 3 months to complete this for all of the members who live here on Kosrae.  No one has an address here such as a house number or even a street name.  There are 4 main municipalities on the island and numberous smaller areas associated with each municipality.  Each smaller cluster of homes has its own name.  The people living here on the island know all of these smaller groups and their names, but for us it took a lot more figuring out. 

We took a member of each of the different branches with us as we went out searching for homes.  Without them I don't think we would have found everyone.  Some of them lived off the main road and back in against the mountain.  I didn't even know some of these roads existed.  We traveled down some very small narrow roadways covered with lots of green over growth and when we went after rainy days it was even more muddy than usual.  A nice 4 wheel drive vehicle would have been better than our Yaris that scraped bottom more than once.

Elder Wright recording the location of our house.

We found many wonderful people as we have been doing this and everyone that we met was very friendly as are most of the people living on this island.  We tracked all members; those who are very active and those who are less active.  This was our first time meeting many of them. 
Elder Wright liked driving the car and taking pictures so there are not as many pictures of him doing this, but he was very involved also.  He talked to the members as I recorded the readings.

Now that we are finished, this information will be given to our Mission President.  This will be helpful as they plan for building locations and even smaller groups that can meet together more often.  With transportation being one of the major challenges on the island this will allow them to start some smaller Church groups where there are a concentration of members living.