Snapshots of Mike and Lisa: Thanksgiving on Kwajalein

This year the church members on Kwajalein fixed a royal treat for all of us! And, oh my goodness, it was a feast! We hardly knew where to start and when to stop eating! They cooked and baked their hearts out and made us feel most welcome. We had all the usual fixings and more. Turkey, smoked pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, veggies, salad, rolls and tons of desserts. The food was so delicious and the company was the best!

Samantha Tippetts, the dinner organizer, had me ask the missionaries if the missionaries had any special food requests for the day. When I asked them they first said, NO RICE and NO CHICKEN! Ha, ha. That's what they eat the majority of the time on Ebeye. The other question the missionaries asked: Do they have REAL MILK?? Why, yes, they do. The milk we drink on Ebeye is shelf-life boxed milk, so Samantha made sure they had some fresh milk to go with their dessert.

It took us over a year of trying to get all of the missionaries onto the base at one time, but we finally figured it out. A big thanks to Steve Tippetts for digging around and figuring out the system and finding the right form to authorize the group to get onto Kwajalein Army Base! In the past we were told we could only bring those with US passports AND over the age of 21 onto the base, which left out most of our missionaries. Most of them are either under 21 or they are from another country. But for our "community event pass", the nationality didn't matter. I was able to get parent permission slips for all the under 21 missionaries, and we were set to go.

There were 12 of us in our group, 8 young missionaries and 4 of us Senior Missionaries. The other senior couple, the Schaffers, are from Calgary Canada, so this was the first time they had been able to get on island, too. It was a casual day for us, so we played games, visited, and ATE, and ATE and ATE! Unfortunately we were limited as to how long we could stay on Kwajalein, so it was over way too soon for all of us.

We even had a fun time walking down the pristine, green, and quiet streets of Kwajalein on our way back to the terminal. The Sok family even gave up their bikes and let the missionaries take turns on riding them.

Thanks again to our Kwajalein friends! You are the BEST and we LOVE you!

Hanging out at the Sok's house before dinner. Our Elders: Lutu, Sagapolu, Koi, Michelson, Seiler, and Kendall

Sister Seegmiller playing a game with Sara and Megan with Sister Schaffer in the background

Elder Becker helping Alison Sok in the kitchen

Chillin

Canada Dry for our Canadian, Elder Michelson!

Sister Moea'i, Elder Seiler, Sarah, Sister Seegmiller and Elder Schaffer

playing games

Too many cooks in the kitchen? Sister Schaffer and Elder Becker helping Alison and Jon Sok in the kitchen

Missionaries playing "Heads Up" guessing game

The girl's table! Amber, quit hiding your face!

visiting with the Kwaj members

Elder Becker visiting with Kim Waite

Sarah watching her Dad carve one of the turkeys. They were so juicy and tender!

John Tippetts and some of the Elders worked up a good appetite playing football outside! Sorry, didn't get any pictures of that.

Sister Schaffer and Amber visiting

Mike and Hillary Whatcott

time to line up to eat!

Our awesome sisters, Sister Seegmiller and Moea'i! We love you!

Elder Schaffer making new friends. We were glad Steve Tippets (center) was able to join us on his lunch hour. Especially since he's the one who made it possible for us to come on island!