“Put your shoot in the ground in 3-4 months you’ll have breakfast.”

The day began before it was light with two hard , brief showers followed by a third just before breakfast. Team members experienced one, two or three more showers depending on where on the island they were. So goes the rainy season on Rarotonga.After a breakfast of fruit and french toast the team had a 7:30AM meeting with James to make final plans for the days assignments. By 8:30AM everyone had headed out of the first day of on-site work. Paul went to the Takitumu Conservation area to help Ian Karika clear trails. It was hot, dirty work, but he was rewarded by learning much from Ian about the natural history of Rarotongaand hearing the call of the endangered Rarotongan Flycatcher.Connie and Anne joined Sister Margaret O’Dwyer at St. Pauls Tikioki Home Work center on the task of cleaning and organizing shelves and sorting the teaching materials. They were impressed by the dedication of Sister Margaret to her work with the children and her prison work.Ardys and Dot had an interesting ride to the Are Pa Metria, Elder Respite Care. Moeroa manager of the center took them along on back roads and farther back to pick up the senior citizens who would spend most of the day at the center. These Mamas and one Papa shared a lot of information to Ardys and Dot.Late afternoon the team joined Debi for a short trip to the CookIslandMuseum.Sam prepared and served another delicious dinner.After dinner team members shared high points of the day and received their work assignments for Wednesday.

- Dot