Snapshots of Mike and Lisa: Christmas

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Christmas Biit

I know, I know I am almost a month behind, but better late than never! Ha, ha!

Christmas this year was very different than what we had ever experienced. Of course, both places celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But, beyond that there aren't a whole lot of similarities. This was the first year we had celebrated without ANY other family around. That part was probably the hardest. Skype just doesn't quite fill in the gap, but it helps. However, since we were devoid of the usual trappings, i.e. snow, cold, presents, family, shopping, Christmas lights on the house, it didn't really feel like Christmas to us. It just seemed like another day and another celebration with the Marshallese people. Christmas on Ebeye Island is spent dancing and eating at the church ALL day long. The day started at the church around 10:00 am. with a Devotional by the District Presidency. They shared heartfelt testimonies and their thoughts on the Savior's birth and life. Then, the dancing began, and it didn't stop until well past midnight!. Their Christmas Celebration, or Biit (pronounced Beat) consists of several dances and songs by various groups. Each group is allotted about 45 minutes to perform. The morning started out with the three Primary groups (red, yellow, and purple), followed by the Relief Society sisters. After that the youth performed, then the Young single adults, and finally combined dances for each Branch. And don't forget there are three groups for each of the categories! One family group also performed, the Enos family,

Biit is a very important Christmas celebration for the Marshallese. The people here started practicing around Halloween time. So this had been their focus for the past two months. Each group had some kind of coordinated clothing, colored shirts or matching dresses. Some of them performed musical skits about the Christmas story for the beginning of their performance, before moving on to the dancing. All of them were accompanied on the keyboard with a singer or two at the microphone. There were a few vocal only songs, thrown in for variety. Most of them also had a conductor, or leader, guiding them through their steps with a whistle. And believe you me, those whistles are LOUD inside the building, along with the loud keyboard music and singing! Whew me! And might I say, they love their keyboard music with that never ending beat. At the end of each segment as they are dancing they start throwing candy and bags of chips to the audience! I think I got beaned a couple of times when I wasn't watching! I learned fast to pay attention. Some kids ended up with a pretty good haul! We really do need a larger building because it was wall to wall packed people and dancers. And the air conditioner could not keep up. I think the temperature was almost to the boiling stage before we broke for lunch! Seriously! I am not joking! I was dripping, and I wasn't even dancing. I did start practicing with one of the Relief Society groups, but ended up missing too much with other meetings. I was kind of wishing I had stuck in there and learned all the dances. (I said kind of). I guess there is always next year!

Meals were provided for lunch and dinner so there was no need to leave to feed the family. Sandwiches for lunch, and then a cooked meal with chicken and rice for dinner. Wow, what a day! I thought there would be no presents that day, but I ended up with a couple of necklaces, a headband, and a bracelet given to me throughout the day by some of the members. And I proudly wore them all day. So sweet. I will bring those home for sure!

one of the Primary groups dancing

another Primary group dancing

Enos family dancing

one of the Relief Society groups

vocals and keyboard for the dancers

packed crowd watching

our view from the stand

our MC!

After spending all day inside the church, the dancing commenced after the sun went down, and after some nourishment (chicken and rice) for dinner. The building became unbearably hot, so it was nice to go outside and watch the dances. The youth, young single adults, and Branch dances were all outside on the concrete as those groups were too large to be inside. The dances continued on well past midnight, but we didn't last that long.

cute girls wanting their picture taken

Youth dancing

Sister Whitney with the girls

girls posing for a picture, and they LOVE to pose!

Young single adults and missionaries dancing

Missionaries dancing away, again!

gathering for the Branch dance outside

Branch 1 starting their group dance

Conductor, leading with the whistle

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Kwajalein and Scuba Santa

We finally got permission to go over to Kwajalein Army base in December, thanks to the sponsorship of Dr. Skinner. The ferry ride takes only 15-20 minutes from Ebeye, but it seems like a lifetime away especially when you can't get access to get on the base. There are no cars allowed on the base (except for army vehicles), so everyone gets around by bicycle. I love it! People riding bikes everywhere. It is a very spread out, peaceful and green island. Much different than the crowded island of Ebeye that we are used to! Mike went snorkeling with Dr. Skinner and Dr. Sok while I decorated cookies with the women and girls of the Branch. They were making Christmas baskets to give away. They had a few extra cookies, so the missionaries scored as we shared the cookies with them at our weekly District Meeting that week.

look, a giant Christmas tree with ornaments!

Kwaj Young Women ready to decorate cookies

Kwajalein church members. I love Skinner's palm Christmas tree in the back! I want one! It takes up no room, and looks cool.

Hilary Whatcott and Skinners

the master cookie decorators at work

beautiful decorated cookies!

On our next visit to Kwaj (short for Kwajalein) on Sunday, December 22nd we went over so we could attend their church meetings and meet all the members. They meet in a small building there on Kwaj, but plenty big enough for the 25 or so members! They had a few visitors that day, so I think we actually had about 30 of us in attendance! They had a wonderful Sacrament meeting centered on Christ and Christmas. We were their main speakers that day. Diane Elliot read a poem, the Primary children sang "Away In A Manger", Samantha Tippetts read a story, and then Peter and Florence Parker sang a song and played the guitar.

Our talks were about our favorite Christmas memory, so our thoughts went back to our Christmas family trip to Italy in 2005. Lisa talked about events leading up to our trip, how we had previously picked up our children from their respective missions (Tabitha in Florianopolis Brazil, Nick in Riga Latvia, and now Brandon was finishing up in Rome Italy). All of their missions had overlapped in time, so it had been five or so years since we had all been together. Our four children are all close in age, so at that time their ages ranged from 20 - 25, none of them yet married (although Tabitha was getting close). Lisa planted the idea that Italy would be a great place for a reunion and to spend Christmas together as Brandon would finish up his mission just days before Christmas. And it would be another great opportunity for a missionary experience. We were able to see first hand as we had picked up Tabitha and Nick how they had affected the lives of the people they served with in their areas. The love the people had for our children was evident in every home and in every land we visited. The trip to Italy was an idyllic Christmas, spent together without presents, just each other. It reminded me of the Grinch on Christmas morning, when he said, "It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags." We had no presents to exchange, just our love and the wonderful company of one another in that beautiful land of Italy.

Mike then talked about his conversion story to the LDS church. First he spoke about being raised Catholic, and of the strong Catholic people in his family. Family is everything to him as he comes from a large family of 14 children (he is #11). He then spoke about going to Italy, and of traveling around that beautiful country with our children surrounding us once again. How on that fateful Christmas Eve, standing in the middle of St. Peter's square, while the Pope talked on the big screen, this devout Catholic man decided that he wanted to be with his wife and children for time and all eternity. The words "till death do you part" were not good enough for him. These thoughts were shared with Lisa and the children, and upon our return to the states he took the discussions in the Boise Idaho Mission home (as requested by Brent Ririe, the current Mission President) and was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on February 4, 2006 (2-04-06). Our son, Nick, baptized him and then he was confirmed by our other son, Brandon. One year later, on March 10, 2007, we were sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity in the Boise Idaho temple. Then we were sealed to our five children. Our son-in-law, Matt, stood in as proxy for our son, Shawn Michael, who had died as an infant. Now we were a complete and eternal family. Lisa's lifelong dream had finally come to fruition. As a side note: It was because of those missionary experiences with our children that we decided that it was now our turn to serve a mission.

After church we had a lovely dinner with the Tippetts family. They talked us into staying at Kwaj until evening so we could experience Scuba Santa! We visited with the members until sundown when it was time for the Santa experience. John Tippetts, their teen-age son, got to don his scuba gear and participate as one of his elves. First a live Christmas tree is brought through the lagoon by Santa's elves, and then Santa makes his arrival flanked by more elves.

The Christmas tree starts to emerge out of the ocean!

Here comes the Christmas tree, flanked by scuba elves

And there is the official Santa Christmas tree! Decorated with colorful glow sticks. And yes, it is a real live pine tree. They must've brought it from the North Pole, because those are hard to find around here!

Of course, after the Christmas tree comes out of the ocean, the next logical step would be that Santa would not be far behind. A real no brainer! Sure enough, moments later we could see the lights under the water guiding his way to Ebon Beach right where we were waiting on Kwajalein.