Matt's Letter to the North Congregation

 August 20, 2010


To the congregation in griffin georgia, on the north side,

Matthew a follower of the lord jesus christ and brother to all in the faith. I am aware of your works and the tireless hours you've spent in the declaring of the good news. .... I've always wanted to begin a letter that way, but then, i've never written a letter to a congregation before! There is so much to say, but i figure it would be rude of me to take up the whole service meeting( or whatever meeting that we're having), so i'll do my best to keep this short but sweet.

Life in kosrae is very rewarding, not because of the luxuries that are to be found on this island (there aren't any), but because of the work that is being done. Every day is started off on a spiritual note with
the considering of the daily text, and the theme of spirituality is continued through the day regardless the assignment. I find myself surrounded in a spiritual environment all day long, and this has been
so refreshing. There are about 15 workers in the group that i'm with. Each day at the site we get an opportunity to see Jehovah's blessings in action. From the smallest of things- a local donating a watermelon
to the group (a watermelon costs about 16 dollars here!), to the events that leave you in awe- 30 volunteers pouring 70 yards of concrete by hand, on a roof, in the middle of the summer!

This event solidified two scriptures into my mind forever- proverbs 3:5,6 where we're reminded to trust in Jehovah with ALL your heart and do not lean upon you own understanding, in all your ways take notice of him and he himself will make your paths straight. And Isaiah 40:29-31 where Jehovah promises to give the tired one power and the one without dynamic energy he makes full might abound.

In my experience with concrete, the day of the roof pour should never have happened. We were
an undermanned group, it was pouring down rain, a huge and i mean huge mangrove tree fell across the main road on the island cutting all power to the site and preventing workers from making it to the site. Everything SEEMED to be going wrong. I learned a valuable lesson that day. As the morning progressed Jehovah's hand in matters became more evident- The islanders were not deterred by the rain or the fallen tree, instead of driving they started walking. As the first batch of concrete was being mixed, the rain inexplicably stopped and did not start again until the batch of concrete had been poured. The small group of workers showed energy and power that can not be explained in words. Throughout the 10 hours of pouring concrete, everyone worked tirelessly all the while with smiles on their faces.

Jehovah is an amazing father. There is truly no one that comes close to rivaling his glory. Our assignment no matter where we are on this earth is to trust in him with all our hearts, not leaning on our understanding, and letting him make our paths straight. Focus all your energy on the doing of his will and he will NOT let you tire out. I traveled 7000 thousand miles to learn this lesson, I look forward to the months ahead to see what other valuable lessons are in store.

I miss you all very much and think of you often. I can see all of your faces now as I write this letter, I think most of you are smiling right now, not because of the tie that Don MacDonald is wearing, but because you are in the same spiritual environment that I am in Kosrae, and the same environment that all are brothers are in throughout the world.... We're in Jehovah's organization. Here it is safe and it is
comforting. Here is where we seek refuge from all the hardships of this wicked world. This is where we belong and this is where I look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Much love to all of you,

Matthew

Great Weekend! July 4 - by Dad

Most July four weekends pass as unnoticed as a Ford Taurus in the other lane.  However, this weekend was truly memorable! First the big pour at Flakes Mill K.H. went very well and turned out nicely.  The brothers worked hard and put down 183 yards. It was all pumped except for the last two trucks. The locals spread a great feast. We ate under the big trees on picnic tables and had some fine association.  As usual everybody split after lunch.  The committee headed over to Conyers to check out the next job.  Joey and Nicole came to the site and did all the cutting with Soffcut II.

I came home feeling totally spent physically but charged up spiritually.  Got in the bubbly pool. Mom came in too after getting home from visiting Lydia at the hospital.  Joey and Nicole came over and brought steamed mussels.  We made spaghetti Bolognese to go with the mussels, had a few bottles of wine, and returned to the hot tub.  The music changed to 50s rock and roll at unusually high volume levels.  The girls started dancing. And then as darkness covered the acreage, Griffin (which municipality must not own a calender) started their anual fire works display. Well it was quite impressve from our perspective, and a lot of fun, and a big laugh that the show came a day early.  It mitigated the guilt of enjoying it.

The real super cookout came the next day.  After a rousing talk by Richard Stusak, where we were told that the English letter T came from the god Tamuz, and that church steeples were representations of male members, we went over to Dave Cunningham's house. There were representatives there from at least 9 congregations, and everybody brought lots of food.  All the hunter, killer, cooks came out of the woods with their smoker grill trailers and heavy artillery trucks and made some great barbeque.  It was like some kind of  competition for them I'm sure.  We got the benefit no matter who thinks they trumped the other. One such survivalist smoker chef had a camoflage truck, camoflage coveralls, and even camoflage flip flops (Barbie goes to Afganistan). There was plenty of good conversation, a lot of reminiscing over the old days.  It was good to see all the brothers and sisters there who have endured the ravages of time. (Time is a great teacher but it kills all its students.)

So today is Monday July 5.  It would be nice to get back to a normal life but now, after all of that, the world considers this a holiday.

Been Having Daily Conversations with "The Kid"

Every day now I light up my skype at about 6:30 a.m.  Matt is usually there and playing with his computer just before bed.  If you want to know what time it is there just add 3 hours to the time here and think opposite. In other words 6:30 a.m. here is really 9:30 p.m. there. Remember too that they are a day ahead of us. If you are going to bed at 11:00p.m. on Wednesday here, add 3 hours which give you 2:00.  That is 2:00 p.m. Thursday there.

So what I have gathered is that the island is as paradasaic as we can imagine. The people are super friendly but their stand of living is well below ours. That has nothing to do with their happiness however. The project is going along well and on schedule.  The food is good and definitely above the standard of the locals. While they are working hard they also have a lot of fun too.  Matt is making some buddies for life.  He looks like he is putting on weight although that may just be the wide angle lens in his camera. He knows of a bank there where he is thinking of opening an account. There is an ATM there too.  I am not sure about restaurants yet.  He does receive email just like always but his iPhone is as useless as cufflinks to a panda. 

I hope you are following his blog at catcherinthekosrae.blogspot.com

Looking forward to Sunday when we will have  Pizza, some specialty salads and cold beer, and talk to Matt before he goes to morning worship.

Remember the time for the call is 3:40 p.m. our time right here.

A Matthew Communique!

We heard from Matthew tonight. I got the email on iPhone at the K.H.  It was so good to hear that he is enjoying the project there.  I am going to post his email here:

Greetings from Kosrae. all is well. lots of activity


here this week. the branch overseer from guam visited us, he's one

of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. i had the privilege of having

him work with me for a couple days on site, that's been a highlight

for me. everyone here is so kind and loving, it's truly amazing.

tuesday after work the crew, including the branch overseer and one of

the missionary couples here all played volleyball. as the sun set,

the ocean roared, bats started to awaken and take flight, i

couldnt help but smile at the wonderful environment I’ve stumbled

upon. only in Jehovah’s organization. miss you all and love you.

Matthew

quick update

hello family! just finished my first full day of work in kosrae, it
was a very nice day. its very humid and hot here, thankfully there was
a nice breeze today which made the heat bearable. i spent the day
hauling and installing ceiling jacks in preparation for the missionary
home roof pour. its going to be a 70 yd pour, we have 10 men including
myself working on site. shaun, one of the missionaries here in kosrae,
worked with me all day today, i like him a lot. he reminds me a lot of
chris benetados. everyone here has been very kind, the food has been
great, and the rooming is nice, considering how almost everyone on
this island lives in dire poverty. the branch rented out two locations
for the workers, one is a five bedroom hotel on the water (the view is
amazing), the other is a three bedroom house a couple miles down next
to a mangrove. i am living at the house. based purely on location, i
without question drew the sure straw. but in reality, i prefer my
situation to those at the hotel. morning worship is at the house,
laundry, cooking, food, is at the house. and so far the couple that
seems most enjoyable is at the house. anyway, there is much more to
share but i'm exhausted,dirty, and hungry. love you all, have a nice
weekend at the assembly. tell the humbert"s i met an old friend of
theirs in hawaii. her name is michelle although im sure that im
misspelling her name. she is part of the bethel family, her dad is on
the branch committee. maybe they'll know who im talking about.
matthew

Bad girl!

Already a rebel biker girl

Pool

You can learn a lot of things from the father

Sanding the floors

MTI magnet

The Kosrae Blog should be visited - by Dad

Well Stephen's addition to this journal showing the site of the new construction at Kosrae also contained a link to an international servant's blog all about Kosrae and the actual project there.  I caught Stephen's article on the iPhone and didn't see the link to the web site.  But tonight while I was googling for redi mix on Kosrae, up it came.   I was so excited to see that there was EVERYTHING I had wondered about and all the pictures of the project too. I quickly phoned Matt but he said that he had already seen it.

If it went over anybody else's head you would definitely want to go there and learn all about the project.
Here is the link:
http://www.latitudethirteen.com/?page_id=2

by Dad.  Wed. night

Aaron

Well, nothing really exciting to report from middle child. My house is
moving along at a laggard pace. I am happy though with the outcome so
far. I really do owe a lot to my family. Every one of my brothers has
been out here on more than one occasion to provide furtherance to the
project. And Angel has been lovingly patient with me during this
mentally enervating time. But foremost is the Padre. Not time nor
money nor words can repay my debt to him. Countless times he has been
here for me working on inglorious, plodding, but often painstaking
tasks.
These times are exciting! So much happening in the family. We
have such a magnanimous God and Father Jehovah who has taken great
care of us in these Last Days. He gluts us both spiritually and
physically, and we are thus beholden to him for it. Praise Jah!!
Aaron Scibetta

Kosrae

Matthew is about to go where no Scibetta has gone before!

With a population of 9,000, Kosrae is the most eastern of the Caroline Islands. The island is located 370 mi (590 km) north of the equator, between Guam and the Hawaiian Islands. Its land area is 42 mi.

Kosrae is a high island that is largely unspoiled and rarely visited. Kosrae is becoming a destination for scuba divers and hikers. The coral reefs that surround the island are kept in pristine condition through an extensive mooring buoy system. The reefs are seldom visited, and contain miles of hard corals, some said to be thousands of years old.

Dense vegetation and steep mountains keep the island largely undeveloped. Viewed from the sea, the island's distinct shape resembles a female body. This has led to the island being called "the island of the sleeping lady."

Kosrae's airport (IATA code KSA) on the northwestern coast of the island is served by Continental Micronesia "Island Hopper" flights (three times a week in each direction) betweenHawaii and Guam, stopping at other FSM and Marshallese destinations on the way.

ACTUAL SITE OF PROJECT (from an International servant's blog):

Looks like Matt and his new friends will have some work to do.

posted by stephen

Progress on Jordan's Digs by Dad

Well the end is in sight at Jordan's place.  The sheetrock has been hung and taped. We are waiting for the final coat and sanding this week. This will be followed by the tile in the bathroom and the wood trim work. Then the floors will be sanded and stained and varnished. Then the painting will be done.  Hundreds of details have bee attended to like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC issues. Lots of little stuff has been fixed and tweeked.  The appliances have been ordered. And the cabinets will begin construction on Monday. All in all the [roject is coming together nicely.  It will be good to be able to turn it over to "the Kid" when it is ready.  He will retouch everything to his and Loren's liking.

Hey!  You guys got a big new mower!  Wonderfull!  I'll bet that among the six of us we have a square mile of lawn to cut. Then there is all those poor guys out there that have no time for grass cutting who would love to throw money at you just to free up their weekends.  Go get em boys!

Next big project is to concrete and plaster the bottom of my pool.  I will be starting that this coming week. I hope to have the water sparkling and warm before the guests start arriving for the wedding.

Keep up all the good work men.  Hold it together for a "little while longer".  Keep putting Kingdom interests first and your worries will fade faster than your monetary assets.

The Padre

stella's huge hand

look how giant stella's left hand is on my shoulder in nicoles group
pic of us in the cabin!!

Aaron Scibetta

Our Amazing Jordan

The family has been all abuzz about Jordan's invitation to set up a branch of Orion Manufacturing in Austrailia. Regardless of all the details, it is very good to know that our youngest member has had such a good influence on his employer that the man zeroed in on him as the one person in his organization to assume that responsibility. We can't imagine what a wrenching decision that must have placed before Jordan and Loren.

Most recently, Jordan's employer has observed the great strain that this proposed move has had on the two them. He very insightfully has told Jordan that the position is open for him on his own (Jordan's) time table. Consequently, Jordan will be setting up housekeeping in Griffin after they get married, and the overseas thing is something that they could dream and plan about at their own pace.  Isn't that wonderful?

While it might have been exciting for all of us to think of Jordan living in a remote and exotic location, and that we all would have an easier time in our own travels visiting them in Austrailia, I am sure that we are happy that Jordan and Loren are going to be close to us for the first part of their lives together.

So let's get busy getting that house together, and getting the pool filled with water, and getting the water out of Aaron's chimney, and helping Angel and Janique start their business, and cutting our own lawns, and washing our own windows.  The wedding is coming up much sooner than we think.

The Papa

Everybody Looks Good!

Picture of Group by Nicole

Letter to Muriel

March 29, 2010

Dear Muriel,

          I know that you love to hear about family doings so I am taking this opportunity to tell you about a wonderful time we had this past weekend as a result of our children's love and generosity.

          Because we are presently inundated with projects and work to do especially related to the upcoming wedding, your dear daughter and I decided to forgo any festivities to commemorate our fortieth anniversary.  Apparently our children and their wives felt that this was too big an event to simply allow to pass unnoticed.

Weeks before the date we began to get strange messages in our email.  At first we thought they were viruses because they were inviting us to some "never seen and yet never to be repeated" performance, and they were addressed to Elaine's little known but very beautiful middle name Isabelle, and to one of my alias names used only in roll playing, impersonation, or document falsification.  So unusual were the cryptic messages that we at once deleted them.  However, as the days passed Jordan asked if we were reading our email and encouraged us to look more closely at the messages. We did.  We discovered that there were many characters involved in this performance all of whom bore no direct resemblance to ourselves nor to our progeny. But in some uncanny way all these characters were subtly reminiscent of  events in our own lives, or they forced images that we projected in our early times together to resurface. Even the names of these characters were unusual yet they hinted of our children's characteristics. One such character was Gonzo who by coincidence was a temporary nick name for Jordan during a period in his life that he was not all together neurologically coherent. Another was Ryan Yeusuf  Phillipe,  which was a corruption of a flattering name given to Joey during a post pubescent era where he displayed unusually handsome and attractive, totally uncharacteristic  qualities.

          To get back to the point, we began to get photographs that conveyed a bizarre likeness to us. These images were of  people who looked something like we do/did but yet they were not us. Some of them were contrived by apparent masters of photographic retouching and put our likeness into situations where we never were but now appear to have been – like in the company of  Roy Orbison himself.  We even got authentic looking airline  boarding passes for first class transportation to this upcoming event.  Strange too was the fact that this play was part of a three day event that we were asked to reserve on our calendar, and the dates included the day marking our fortieth anniversary!  It became obvious what the plot was in spite of the fact that all the kids feigned ignorance and advised that we should consult this mysterious "blog" (an information source on the internet that is maintained in an ongoing way so as to be up to date with a particular subject).

When we went to this blog we found only more cryptic messages and very strange images that only served to obfuscate the facts still further.  But one thing was for certain, the Scibetta boys and their wives were up to something , and was probably going to be too much fun to miss.

          Our suspicions were confirmed. The day of the event arrived.  Our doorbell rang, and there to pick us up was Joey and Nicole.  They had their gleaming Volvo in the courtyard with the trunk gaping to swallow our luggage whole. Our seats were reserved with little handbags with travelling amenities like slipper sox, ear plugs, lip balm, blindfolds, and vomit sacks  (I guess so that with warm feet, we could puke our guts out through shiney lips, not seeing any of the results and not hearing the moans of onlookers).  The seat pouches had snack bags with fruit, cookies, cashews, and water bottles. After we "took off" there was beverage service, homemade muffins, and then time to close our eyes and rest, to the sound of the purring engine and the drone of the girls conversation. The two and a half hour drive seemed like only a few minutes to me. The car then left the pavement, no not that way, but we turned on to a gravel road and continued for a few miles as the forest grew more dense and quiet. Signs of human habitation became less frequent as nature's presence began to dominate the scene. We pulled up to a huge log structure. The car stopped and the engine was shut off. The quiet was deafening. Mesmerized by curiosity and obsessed with weeks of anticipation we moved slowly in a trance-like state to the front door. As the door was opened, before our minds could catch up with the things our eyes had just seen, all of our children standing there in the foyer, with their wives, and little Stella, sang out "surpri-is"! Elaine shouted out with glee. I still had not fully tuned in as my upper lip stretched the skin beneath my nose and my lips parted just slightly enough to say humpfh, followed by a big smile of delight at the sight of the eleven people I love the most all standing there with adoration and anticipation written on their beautiful youthful faces. The champagne corks popped. The glasses were filled, and the next few moments were filled with the cacophony of humans happy, excited, giving, loving, and kissing and hugging.

          There was a sign saying happy  40th anniversary splayed on the beam supporting the loft above.  The theme was about Paris where it all began. The French theme continued throughout the festival adding a note of sentiment and continental elegance to the whole affair. The fire in the giant stone fireplace was blazing, and the smell of baked lasagna was in the air. We were escorted to our quarters where fresh cut flowers added to the beauty of the architecture, the furnishings, and the scenery. Outside of sliding glass doors was a balcony with plush lounge chairs, a suspended swing, and a view of the deep woods seen through the mist and parted by the sight of a serious river moving swiftly over shallow rocks, whispering and mumbling to us "forget all you have to do and just relax, and enjoy". The lodge was no creation by some deranged survivalist hermit communist woodcutter. It was a intelligently designed and carefully crafted log structure capable of housing at least 12 people in luxury with even more than the comforts of home. It had a 22' glass wall looking out to the woods.  Even the kitchen was a chef's dream – and Leigh orchestrated activities there like the conductor of  a "seasoned" symphony. The food was endless. The drinks kept coming. The place was awash with laughter and gayety for three days.

          The "never seen before and never to be repeated" play was a riotous  7 act performance complete with hand painted backdrops, costumes, and makeup.  With subtle, and some not so subtle innuendos to our life's experiences, unusual and unique expressions, and depictions of the quirky character traits of their family members, they enacted seven scenes calling to mind heartwarming and hilarious events in our lives before kids, and in the lives that we have lived together as a family with five young men all of whom were so exotic in their behavior as to approach the threshold of eccentricity. (They get it from the Stranne side.)  There were restaurant scenes, house scenes, references to articles of clothing, furniture, old suitors, and a whole whiz-bang of clichés.  Who would have guessed that their young minds had recorded all that stuff, or that now they would be able to remember all of that.  The whole thing was a surrealistic trip down memory lane punctuated with gut busting laughter and warm melancholy.

          I knew that you would enjoy hearing about this event. We are looking forward to seeing you at the first opportunity.

                   Son-in-law

                   Michael

Hi choo choo

posted by Aaron

Pictures by Mike

Angel and Stephen at the river

A lot can happen in forty years