Merry Christmas

We had a nice Christmas even though we are 7000 miles away from home. Christmas Eve we all jumped in the truck and drove down to Long Island. We sang Christmas carols as we went. The Assembly of God church put on a Christmas program. We got there at 7:20 and it was supposed to have started at 6 or something. Anyway, it was in full swing and we looked really bad walking in late. It was ok though because the program lasted until 9:15. I don't see how we could have missed anything.

A bunch of different singing groups got up. They ranged from little kids to groups of islanders from different islands such as Fiji, Tavula, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands. Some of them sang really loud with a lot of energy. It was long for me though.

Christmas Day we had dinner at 3 pm. It was very good with lots of food. I played Chess with one of the other guys. Then Chad came up and played Rudy, who is much better than me. Chad beat him easily. He has been playing sense he was 10 years old and he says he thinks at least 10 moves in the future. I don't even know how that is possible. I have a hard enough time counting 4 moves in the future. I think he won some type of championship.

After the meal we went upstairs and opened gifts. Everyone brought a 5 dollar gag gift and we played the elephant game. If the truth be told, Ben and I forgot all about it until the last minute and just brought stuff we got in packages from home. Some people put some real thought into it. I really wish I had gone out and gotten something. The popular gifts were a machete, a box of teddy bears and chocolate, and a toy sword that glowed and made noises. There was a 3 trade limit. I almost got the machete because I heard someone say two trades and I thought I had the last trade, but I was wrong and it got taken. The funniest thing all day was that Rudy bought some really stupid gag gifts like a Hannah Montana ball with candy in it. He decided to go through some complicated thing so that he could get the box of chocolate and ended up opening a present. Somehow he didn't recognize that it was his own present and got the Hannah Montana thing. No one would take it from him because it was super lame and everyone laughed about it all night. They decided it served him right.

That was pretty much Christmas Day in Majuro. Tonight Nicole came back from her week long trip to Pohnepei. She says it's a beautiful island. I'm happy here so I don't really care if other islands are better. The group is awesome and I know we'll have many more good times in the coming weeks and months.