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