Sunday, October 20, 2013

We finally made it!

We left Utah on Tuesday, Oct 15th headed for the Marshall Islands via Honolulu.  We spent the night in Hawaii, and then boarded the plane early the next morning.  About an hour and a half into our flight, the pilot told us some kind of indicator light was on in the cockpit and the plane had to turn around and go back to Hawaii.  Bummer!  Apparently it's something that has to be reset before the plane can take off again, and they don't have that ability in the Majuro airport.  So..... United put us up for the night in the Pacific Beach Hotel right down on Waikiki Beach!  We had a relaxing day walking along the beach, eating, and wandering around the shops.  Unfortunately, our luggage was already maxed out weight wise, so we couldn't really do any shopping.  But we had fun looking.  We ended up being "stranded" in Honolulu for TWO days.  What a shame.  If we would have known that the first night we could've scheduled some fun activity/tour, but we had to keep checking with the airport as they kept changing our flight.  Oh, well, I know no one is going to feel sorry for us. How lucky can you get?  It did seem weird walking around Honolulu in shorts with our name tags on. 


We finally flew out Friday morning, which changed to Saturday as we crossed the International Dateline before landing.  The Marshall Islands are one day ahead, less six hours.  As we stepped off the plane we felt the heavy humidity and the tropical temperature of the islands.  Here begins our adventure!

view from the window

first sighting of the Majuro atoll

Majuro, Marshall Islands

rainy landing!


Majuro airport, with our shell necklaces

Welcome to the Marshall Islands!
 

8 comments:

  1. Welcome to your mission field! Tell us about the shell necklaces...did you receive them there?

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    1. They were given to us by the single senior sister missionary, Sister Bulkley, who is the mission nurse.. They were made by the locals from fronds and shells. I hope to get many more of these! There were 9 senior missionaries who met us at the airport, a welcome sight!

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    2. Thank you for the updates, I am going to enjoy keeping up with your mission.

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  3. Glad you made it safely. I look forward to reading your experiences on your mission. I know you will be effective missionaries.

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  4. So, so good to see you there! Our family is so happy for you and excited to hear about your experiences.

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  5. Congratulations on your mission call and we're glad you arrived safely. Elder English and I have been out on our mission now for 13 months and we are glad we made the decision to serve a mission. I'm sure you will bless the lives of those among whom you serve. We enjoyed reading your blog.

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  6. So glad you made it safely. I love this quote from President Kimball:

    "I promise that when you get your release, if you have forgotten yourself these years, all will have come to you, the things that you might have wished for yourself, and you shall have them all, even though you did not anticipate and wait for them. You shall have obtained knowledge and the spirit of the gospel, and your testimony shall have increased. You shall be polished; you shall have a sublime and beautiful life."

    President Spencer W. Kimball
    (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 589)

    You have already enjoyed some of these wonderful blessings, but your mission will become one of your greatest of all! Miss you lots xoxo



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