Life on Ebeye

A whole new world has awakened for me here on this little island in the pacific.  Life here is basic, simple and laid-back. And the people here are all so nice, beautiful, happy, AND short like me!  When we got our mission call to serve here, we really didn't have any idea what we were heading into.  I only know that our calling was inspired and that our Heavenly Father placed us here for a reason.  What that is I do not know, whether it is for someone here, or if it is for my own growth and to learn what humility is.  I pray fervently every night that I might be of service to these sweet people and that I might know how best to serve them.  President Monson gave a wonderful talk in conference and talked about how we can all grow from our trials and life experiences. He said, that as we learn and grow we will become stronger to face the trials that are placed before us. Not only to persevere and endure, but to become spiritually stronger as we make our way through sunshine and sorrow. I hope I not only persevere and endure, but can become spiritually stronger in the process.

Moving on....... We flew from Majuro to Kwajalein, which is the army base.  President and Sister  Weir and a couple of missionaries going back to Lae Island also accompanied us.   There we were met by a member whose husband is the Doctor on the base, Kathy Skinner. We also met another couple the Soks as we were loading up our luggage. Yay, American people we can get to know!  We took advantage of the food on base and had a nice Subway sandwich before loading onto the ferry for Ebeye.  Ebeye is a tiny island that services Kwajalein.  Actually it is full of the island people that were kicked off the base and told they couldn't live there any more.  Makes one not so proud to be an American when you find out things like that.  So, they all live crowded on this tiny island no larger than a mile.  10,000 people live here, of which about 1,500 of them work at the base.  Some of the  others work locally at the small shops, what few there are, and the rest are supported by those few that do work.  The main roads are paved with sidewalks, but to get to most of the homes you have to wind through narrow alley ways to reach the homes.  The surface there is either gravel or dirt.  Once in a while someone actually has concrete.  Most are tiny homes, with barely any furniture, if any at all.  Most of them sit on the floor, and expect you to sit on the floor with them, too. That concrete is hard!  The majority of the homes have no plumbing, or just a hose, so I guess my apartment is a palace!  Can't post any pics yet, but Check out Facebook.