yoonmelody

[yoonmelody]

Merry Christmas from Ebeye

I was fully funded literally at the last minute and left sunny Kona on Tuesday, December 19th with my eight team members and stayed the night at Honolulu Airport.

Because our flight wasn’t until 7:30AM, we spent the night there for our 12 hour layover. We first settled in the baggage claim. It was quiet, cool, and two feet away from the Starbucks, but closed at 10PM. No problem! We lugged all our bags back upstairs to a waiting area. There were chairs and a nice square of space to leave our stuff. We even asked the security guards if we could stay there. They said we could, but roused us only an hour later to tell us to go “to the end,” whatever that meant, to sleep since we weren’t allowed there.

Truthfully, I was grumpy and exhausted, maybe even beginning to feel a little lonely despite being in a group with wonderful people. My 40L hiking backpack was heavy despite its small size and hurting my shoulders. I had my school backpack slung in front of me as well as my canvas bag hanging off one arm. I trudged behind, pouting as everyone continued on ahead. We finally found the “correct” sleeping area: outside in the warm, humid air with the airport traffic, on the exact opposite side of where we were supposed to check in tomorrow morning. It was around midnight now. I laid down on my beach towel on some uncomfortable blocks of a bench, no blanket, lights shining above. Our little caravan finally attempted to sleep. Since our flight was at 7:30, we could wake up at 5:30AM and check in with no problem!

NOT! Security guards woke us up at 3AM. They rushed us to pack whatever we slept on and to shuffle to our gates. Thankfully, one of the guards gave us two more baggage carts so we didn’t have to walk with our heavy backpacks all the way to the end of the airport. We checked in around 5AM after waiting in line for an hour, then made our way to our flight.

The flight was rather uneventful, save for some light turbulence. I was able to watch a few movies (they had the live action Gintama movie!!), and fell asleep for the majority of the flight from Honolulu to Majuro. At Majuro, we stopped for a brief moment, then flew to the Kwajalein Atoll.

Our plane landed on the US Military base there. It took awhile since 6 members were international. Christine, April, and I were the only ones with US Passports!

We met up with the Sudernos, the full time missionary family who has been here for two and a half years. They work with children’s ministry, teaching ESL, and other relational ministry. They moved out of their home and to the sailboat for the duration of our stay. They blessed us with rooms, a kitchen, running water, and WiFi!

The first day, we hopped right into the Good New Club Christmas Party! Since Micronesia is past the dateline, it was already Friday the 22nd! About 90 kids showed up and we sang, danced, and performed a few skits about Christmas and a short message about why Jesus came down to us.

The next day, we did a prayer walk around the island, blasting worship music as we prayed in front of various buildings and places. As we waited for Sophie and Annika to finish talking with a local woman, we ended up playing with the children in the area and spent another hour learning the games they played. Bingo and Big Man!

After lunch, we continued with our sports ministry, coming out to the basketball court with some balls and nail polish! While the guys went and played soccer and basketball, we sat near a bench and started to paint some girls’ nails. After two girls, we were swarmed by girls, boys, and mothers wanting to get their nails painted. When the rush ebbed, we began to play with the children. The kids especially enjoyed seeing me get confused with the more complex version of Bingo. After the nails, we performed two skits! He Lives In You (we did that twice, since a crowd formed and asked to see it again) and Everything.

Candi seemed to like me. She laughed whenever she beat me at Big Man and clung to my side as I walked around. Berta is older, around 9. There were so many more kids who told me their names, and I hope to remember them better as we get to know them more these coming weeks.

I also met Kio. She lives near the basketball court. She was happy when she found out that I was Korean, since she likes K-Pop!

On Sunday, Christmas Eve, we went to the Salvation Army Church to attend service around 11. Some children from yesterday yelled my name and walked beside me on the way there. It was really sweet, knowing that even after a few hours of playing with them, we had forged this relationship with the children! After the 3 hour service, we rested back at our house!

Christmas is a big event in Ebeye. They practice for their celebrations 2 months in advance! They practice from 7PM, officially start practice at 11PM and go until 2AM all week except the weekend.

We had brunch with the Sudernos, opening presents from our Secret Santas, then headed to the first church for the performances at 1PM. Other rubele, or white people, were there from the military base on Kwaj. This was the most white people we’ve seen days. We were there at Calvary Church til 5PM, and that was only one performance! The rest of the group was pretty exhausted after watching the dancing and singing, so we rested back at the house while Katie and Scott moved onto the next church. They didn’t get back to the house until 12AM!! Even then, they were still continuing the festivities.

So far, it’s been both a low energy, but exhausting week. We are careful not to burn ourselves out as we do these all these relational ministries. When we do wound care, we have about 3 people patching the kids up as the rest of us do “distraction minisitry:” playing volleyball, soccer, or even spinning kids around. It’s a full workout for everyone.

On January 3rd, we will be sailing for three weeks to the other islands, where there will be no internet at all. These people are less fortunate than the the Marshallese living on Ebeye. Ebeye gets regular ferries that bring in supplies and are close to Kwaj, the outer islands don’t have a high school or accessibility to adequate health care besides some medical dispensaries, and even then, these dispensaries often run out of medicine.

There will be another update on Sunday! Or at least I will do my best! Iakwe and Kommol Tata!

[yoonmelody]

Pensive Preparation

We leave for the Marshalls in 8 days and I’m excited and nervous! Anxious sounds a bit extreme as does worry when it comes to funding... but I believe God will pull through!

A lot has gone on these past... twelve weeks? Heart surgery in Week 4, learning about Identity and how issues and things I thought I forgot in the past were dredged up, I called people repenting for past hurts and asking for forgiveness. 

Not only was I learning, but I was also exploring Hawaii as well! I’m part of the Outdoors Adventures DTS, so we learned about outdoor survival and camped for a few weekends in places like National Volcano Park and Black Sands Beach! We fished, hike, and cooked on small butane stoves! For a Arizonan suburban gal, I think I did pretty well! :)

Our Outdoors School!

I’ve gotten to know the people here in my DTS! Most are from the States, but we even have students from Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Korea, and Norway! The Ships base is quite small compared to the University of Nations campus just 20 minutes up the street. I don’t mind, since I believe that’s why everyone here is so close! The atmosphere reminds me of my high school and college environment and I feel comfortable to be myself.

Kona itself is so beautiful, warm and tropical, cruise ships pulling into the bay every Wednesday and Sunday. It’s not too weird seeing Christmas decorations lining the streets of Kona and inside the shops. Arizona is similar with a warm winter. The only difference is the water parade we had last night! ^^

Everyday is busy, mornings start at 6:30am, 6:00am on Tuesdays and Thursdays for workouts, and usually end around 9:30pm! By then, we’re all tired and exhausted from sitting in lectures, community outreach, and ministry nights at upper campus. I’m thankful to be occupied, but also I feel as if I don’t have time to really rest until the weekends, and by then I’ll be out and about either at the beach or just hanging out with friends! 

Paradise is beautiful and fun, but I miss home and school terribly. I call my parents once a week, usually on the weekends, and I haven’t been in touch with friends from home or college often because of the time difference (3 hours between HI and AZ, 5 hours between HI and NJ!). That’s why I made this blog! So I can update and keep everyone in the loop, especially people who have supported me financially, with prayers, etc! 

My writing isn’t normally this choppy, but that’s what I get for trying to cram in 12 weeks of DTS haha! I’ll be posting updates once a week and share them on Facebook, Twitter, etc. 

Mahalo and Lots of Love!

Melody