Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Dennis is a little sad because we won't be having our traditional Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage with Geoffrey and Leah. I couldn't see fixing a big corned beef for just the two of us and so he is being a good sport and looking forward to a lovely dinner of BLT and soup.

This past week was National Library Week and so the library held various activities all week long, including a spelling bee. On Monday evening they held a library carnival. I went over and helped for awhile. We had Sumo wrestling in those big sumo suits, dart throw, ring toss, and the biggest hit was the dunk tank. The library student workers all took turns being in it and everyone had a great time even though the weather was a little chilly. After participating in each game, they were given a ticket and then they brought it to us for a free hot dog, bag of popcorn, and cotton candy. Unfortunately, the cotton candy machine died and so we had many disappointed students.

This is a picture of the poster they did promoting the event.

This is a photo of Meaka, one of the student helpers who works in Tech Services with me. He is from Papua New Guinea and will graduate in April. He is very excited to go home and hopes to get a job there as a teacher. He has not been home in seven years (counting his two year mission)! His brother is also a student here and he told me they will be the first two from their village to get an education. He is fun to talk to. He loves to try new things. A couple weekends ago, he went on the BYUH bus down to "town" to try out ice skating. He said it was very cold and very hard when he fell and landed on his behind.  This weekend some of his friends are taking him camping over to some island. The library was giving the helpers the leftover hot dogs (ugh!) and some root beer floats last week and in he comes with a cup of warm root beer and ice cream inside a hot dog bun!


This past week the weather has been cold and very windy. The windows in our apartment all have glass louvres that you are supposed to be able to close. Of course they are all corroded into a permanent "open" position. I have been freezing and wrap up in a blanket every night. Dennis thought this was a funny picture but I just think it is sad.

Last night Dennis got out a blanket and wrapped up too. I think I will ask TVA if they can fix the windows. They will probably get to it once the weather turns hot and we are dying of heat and humidity.

This is a picture of Dennis' little garden in front of our apartment. We tried growing some cherry tomatoes but they didn't make it. The geranium and the aloe vera plant like this climate the best. No one else has any plants by their apartments.

The 'highlight' of our week was to attend the groundbreaking of the new Marriott Courtyard. There were protestors out by the road with signs telling people to 'leave country country.' But this is such a good thing for the people in the area. Not only will there be another choice for people when they come to visit besides Turtle Bay but they will also be hiring many town and university students to work there. It will be fun to watch it go up.

Ground breaking big shots

Ground breaking little shot

Last night we met with our Indonesian students. It was our turn to do a presentation and Dennis did a great job. We got information from Patti on the history of the church in Indonesia and then we played a trivia game, asking them questions about the church in their homeland. They actually knew a few things and learned some new information. The church started there in 1962 and was dedicated to the preaching of the gospel by Ezra Taft Benson and Bruce R. McConkie. It has shown steady growth but still most of the people are not even Christian. He ended by talking to them about what it means to be a pioneer. He explained that they are the next generation and will do much to continue building the church in their homeland. I enjoyed learning about Indonesia and seeing how focused and dedicated these kids are. Growing up in the church was surely a very different experience for me than what they are experiencing.