MMmmm...Dog Tastes Good...

What an experience the Marshal Islands was. People ask how it was and all I can say is that it was an experience, a very good experience. There were moments where I loved it, loving the people and then there were moments where I was really not enjoying it; the island felt like it was getting smaller and it seemed like there was nothing to do. This was a growing summer.
During the summer I spent two and half months on the island of Ebeye located in the largest atoll in the Marshal Islands. The main island, Kuajilein, is a US army military base and they do a lot of missile testing along with providing jobs for the people on the island. A majority of the people on Ebeye move there from other islands so they can work on Kuaj. Usually when people think of the South Pacific or Micronesia they think of lf lush tropical islands, that’s what I thought. But, Ebeye doesn’t quite fill that idea. There weren’t many trees on the island; any trees were primarily located behind the walls of people’s houses. The houses were constructed out of plywood, or any other objects they could get a hold of to make a barrier, had tin roofs, and holes in the walls covered by plywood to make windows. One person’s wall was also shared by their neighbors. Water and electricity were pretty limited and very expensive. Sometimes the island wouldn’t get its shipment of diesel which was used for the few vehicles and generators for electricity. So, we went without electricity occasionally.
We took our showers from a bucket and didn’t have running water until the last month for the sink because of a broken water pump. There was a pump that would get the water from the catchments container, about 300 gallons I think they said, and it would come out of a spout. I had to get my drinking water from a special facility because the island water would have caused some major digestive problems, which I had the amazing opportunity to experience =). We washed our clothes by hand and hung them on a line to dry.
There was quite a difference in rolls between men and women which was a bit difficult for me to get used to. The women would do most of the work; cleaning the house, cooking, washing clothes, shopping, and serving the men. The women were such servants and would roll up their sleeves and tackle any problem that came up. The men would have more of the working the job responsibilities. But, honestly I saw the men sitting down and talking, working on the vehicles/bikes, and fixing the house more then anything while the women were always cooking, serving the men food and moving.
In the Marshal Islands people don’t have much money. Ebeye is one of the poorest islands in the Marshals and you could definitely see it. Kids would run around with no slippers over rocks and glass while small babies would be walking around with no clothes. There was a lot of neglect that was seen with the kids and that was the hardest thing for me to face. During the summer my main ministry was with the youth and our weekly studies were some of the only structure these kids would get through out the week. There were kids everywhere running around from sunrise to sunset with no supervision. If a kid acted up it was very common for the nearest person to smack them and yell at them even though they weren’t the parents. Many of the kids, I didn’t find out who their parents were until the end of the summer not because the parents were gone but because everyone would smack, discipline, and tease them.
Twice a week I was involved with teaching the kids bible lessons, play games and sing song. Every Tuesday we did this “hope share” at the church and every Thursday it was at Dump Town. Yes, there was a part of town called Dump Town because the housing was adjacent to the dump. Twice a week someone would burn the trash to make more room and all the smoke would fill the city. Those days, all day, the only thing you smelled was burning trash. Kids would play in the dump finding toys in the rubbish and there were groups of men who would play baseball on the corner of it too. By this you can kind of see the condition of the island.
The island itself was not that big. At a comfortable cruising speed I could ride a bike around the island in less than 8 minutes. To walk from the ocean side to the lagoon side took maybe a one minute walk. You could stand in the middle of the road and see the lagoon to one side and the ocean to the other. One of the more interesting things I noticed about the people on the island was how much of an influence the American culture of consumerism and materialism had affected them. The Marshallese are very much people who love to serve and in doing so would put them at disadvantage but everyone helped to support the next person.
But, maybe it’s because of the TV (they had military TV which was all the popular shows in the US in their own lineup), or movies, or magazines the teens and young adults were very much into the latest gadgets and clothes. Not all of the teens were like this but many were. In the Marshal Islands it’s very common for the girls at a young age, on average 16, to get pregnant and have kids. The income would usually come from family, some outside source or the boys would get jobs. There were many cases though where these teens with families would get so caught up in buying the latest stuff like ipods, really nice clothes, or phones that it would leave there family with no food for a week because they couldn’t afford it.
So, here I am on the island noticing this and I am criticizing the people for doing this but then I realize that I have been caught in the same cycle as well. For me, this was a very humbling summer. My pride was something I really struggled with and it wasn’t through outward expression but the thoughts that would go through my mind about the people or the island. God really convicted me of that during the summer and sure worked in me in a lot of areas in my life. Though the culture was different, I couldn’t understand the language, and I sometimes felt all alone God taught me so much and was amazing. I learned and experienced so much more on what it means to serve and how it looks. I never have really had a hard time liking someone but there were people there that challenged that immensely and through it helped me to see more what God means when He says to love and what that looks like. I think I read the bible there more than I have ever read it in my life and it was crazy how it was applying to me, and speaking to me, and just so interesting. I still have a hard time reading some parts of it because they are so boring but there is so much rad stuff in it. This was a very growing summer for me, opening my eyes so much more to the reality of the life we live on this earth, the condition of our own American culture, and more of who I am and who God wants me to be. God really is a good God even though following Him can be so hard and frustrating sometimes (that’s more of my own personal struggle with stubbornness and pride). Matthew 6:25-34

Please feel free to ask me any questions about this summer or what not.