Roofing Repairs

Having a home with beach front property is an added blessing living here on Kosrae.  Needless to say we have enjoyed every moment witnessing beautiful sunrises, hearing the waves lap against the shore and feeling the breeze brought by the trade winds.  Along with all of this wonderfulness there is some problems that do occur which can cause damage.  The main one is that things rust very easily because of the moisture and the salt air.  Our roof is out of corrugated tin and one day we discovered that on the ocean side of our house some of the edges of the roof were looking a little rusty.  It didn't take long before it became worse and with the wind some pieces of the tin were found lying in our driveway.

 When it rained the water was not flowing into the rain gutters since they no longer reached out to the gutters.  We depend on rain water for our source of water here.  We have two 500 gallon rain barrels that hold the water that flows down these gutters and keeps them filled.  Now we had one side of our house not contributing to our water supply.

We have a facilities manager for the Church who came over and estimated what it would take to fix the roof, but before we could get the supplies we woke up the next morning to discover that water was running down the wall in our bathroom and then began dripping from the ceiling and also our light fixture.  Our neighbor happened to come over shortly thereafter so he climbed on the roof to see what was the matter and found that the tin had rusted away over our bathroom and now there were two good sized holes.  Naturally, all this occurred when we were having major rainstorms.  Thank goodness our FM man, Kaston, was free and he came right away and went with Elder Wright to get some roofing supplies to fix that hole.  The Lord was looking out for us as the rain stopped just long enough for them to pull the old tin roof off and put up the new piece in its place.  Then it poured again making it difficult to totally finish the job, but it was enough until the next day when they could come and finish it up. When that hole was patched, we ordered all the supplies to fix the rest of the roof which has taken some time considering it is difficult to do it when it rains hard.

  The tin comes in 10 and 12 foot length sections and has to be cut to fit where they need it.  First the old tin is cut back to where it is no longer rusted and then a new piece is slid under it and brought out to the correct edge of the roof. It looks good now and we are getting water in our gutters.  It has taken quite some time to complete this job and there are still two small pieces that need to be put up over our door and then we can say it is finished!








         Kaston and our neighbor Eric working on
               our roof

                                                                 New Tin Roof 

We also did some roof repairs to our tiki hut a few months ago where parts of the thatched roof was worn out and holes were showing up.  We had a man make 20, four foot sections to replace the disintegrating ones. Two local men came and did the repair. Each section is on a round pole and then tied with a nylon type cord on the inside of the roof. It took them about half a day.

 

      Now all is well and we can sit again in our tiki hut in the rain and not get wet.

A Relief Society Celebration

On Saturday, March 17th we had the birthday party for the Relief Society. I thought that it was great that we had it on the very day that it was originally organized in 1842. They were able to rent a van so that sisters who lived a long distance from the church could be picked up and brought to the activity. It started at 10:00 a.m. or at least it was supposed to start then.  Most of the people arrived somewhat after that time and it really got officially started closer to 11:00--Kosrae Time.    A spiritual program was held in the Chapel where we heard four different talks relating to our theme "Charity Never Faileth" and some of the purposes of Relief Society.  In between some of the talks each of the branches sang a hymn. 

Afterwards we had lunch which included barbecued chicken and rice, along with local food which included taro, breadfruit, cooked bananas, crab, and  kool-aid to drink.   All of the eating and afternoon activities were held on the grounds behind the Church.  It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with only a light rain at one point lasting for just about 8 minutes.

Many people found some shade under the trees and then there was sweet Sister Angie who sat in the Sun because she was cold and needed to get warm.  I have a hard time imagining that as I have not been cold one day since we arrived here 14 months ago. 

The afternoon activities were learning how to make a weaving that is used in their local houses as part of a wall.  It was made from branches that were pounded with a mallet and then opened flat.  There was a definite pattern to the weaving and after it got started it took at least two or three people to do the weaving.  Some lifted up the branches while another would slide a new branch into place.  We had about three different mats being woven so that many got the opportunity to work on them.  Some of the men living in the houses nearby came out to help work on one of these mats.



Tapping the branches to make a tight fit

















The pattern now begins to show.

Another craft was the making of a flower to be worn in the hair.  It looked so easy but it took some practice to make it.  What a fun day for those who came.  We all enjoyed each other and spending time together just as many sisters all around to world celebrated the Relief Society's birthday.

Here I am 5 hours later at the end of a fun day wearing my woven hat, a flower over my ear and my local skirt and posing with Sister Nena who was in charge of all the wonderful activities.