Another amazing Gawai 2014 celebration!  Here is our banana tree, connected to the lighting in the middle of our Masai chapel.  All the fun treats are hanging from the banana leaves, with balloons and pineapples, grapes, and, of course, bananas.  All the children run around the tree and get as excited as Christmas morning, waiting for the people to come up with their machette and cut off the treats and place them at the bottom of the tree.  Our Gawai party started at 5 PM and we ended around 9:30 PM.  Lots of fun.

 Right before the cutting of the treats, all the Young Women dress up in their traditional costumes from East Malasyia.  Patricia and Mia are on the far right.  They are the sweetest sisters in Bro. Rantai and Sis. Sani's family.  Then, next to my sweetheart is Fauzina, Brother Uki's granddaughter and next to Fauzina is Erneshia.  Pres. John is right in the middle of things.
The elders enter the room first and dance around the tree and then the girls, in their traditional dress, come in and dance around the tree before the cutting ceremony.

 Our elders in Masai began the program with a beautiful song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me".
Elder Crum (who already went home today) is on the far left, then Elder Robins (our short elder), with Elder Jin playing the piano and Elder Thatcher behind him.  Elder Thatcher has been in Masai for 7 months now and is finally getting transferred this week.  Next to Elder Thatcher, holding the music is Elder Tan and then Elder Takin.  Elder Tan and Takin are native Malaysians.

Here is the classic picture of me dancing around the tree.  I'm going after President John, the Branch President, with the machette in hand, which you cannot see.  The person who is handed the machette dances around the tree a few times and cuts off one or two items and then gives the hat and the machette to another person to go up and dance around.  We ran out of battery power in the camera, so we don't have the picture of Linda dancing around the tree. She was good.

 This adorable little boy is Brother David's son.  After all the elders and the traditionally dressed girls danced around the tree, he stayed in the middle of the chapel and just kept on dancing to the beat of the music.  He was so cute and everyone kept clapping for him.  He danced around the tree about 4 or 5 more times and didn't miss a beat.  He's going to be quite the Gawai dancer when he grows up.  He's going to have all the Iban girls after him.

This is our wonderful Brother Rantai.  He started off the dancing around the tree with his traditional vest and hat and the machette attached to his waist.  Bro. Rantai and Sis. Sani are great members that live quite a distance away from the Masai church building.  They are always there each week, with their 3 daughters, Patricia, Mia and their youngest one, Angela.  Patricia joined the church first and then, through her example, she brought in the rest of her family.  They have been members for just over a year and a half now.  They are strong and dedicated Saints.
After all the dancing and singing and clapping, we all move upstairs and have the delicious food.  The food arrived before 5 PM and then it just sits in the pans until we ate around 8:30 to 9 PM.  I'm so convinced that the Lord watches over His missionaries, because we never get sick from eating the food that sits out for hours.  We had delicious lemon chicken, and pork, noodles and rice, lots of vegetables and fruits and an entire pan of prawns.  These shrimps are longer than my entire hand and you are suppose to just pick them up and eat everything.  You start with the head, including this long antenna and two little black beady eyes, then the body including the shell and legs and finally the tail.  Ibans and Malaysians eat the entire thing, since the prawn is steamed and the shell is not as hard to chew and swallow.  I had a hard time with that, because I kept focusing on the experience, in a few days, of the prawns coming out the other end and how painful that may be.  All those shells and tails that don't digest.  Where else are they suppose to go.  All in all, it was a great party with lots of people having a wonderful time together.  The Masai Branch really knows how to put on a great Gawai celebration.