The kingdom of heaven is like 9 children from Yap who decided to go fishing one bright morning. With excitement in their hearts, the four girls and six boys hopped into a canoe and paddled outside of the reef to cast their lines. That day, the ocean was rough but the catch was good. Many fish had been caught and their guts were floating in the water where the children had cleaned them. Suddenly, Dale’s line pulled like crazy. In fact, it pulled so hard that Dale was thrown into the rough water as a whale took off with the other end of his line. Frightened, he looked around to see many white tipped sharks beginning to circle him. The remaining 4 boys began to laugh and point at him helplessly struggling in the water. However, the 4 girls quickly looked around the boat and saw there was no rope to throw him. Without hesitation they dove into the raging water and swam selflessly to Dale. Three of the girls began systematically karate chopping the sharks right on the tip of the nose which every island kid knows is the best place to karate chop a shark while the last girl carried Dale to the safety of the boat.
When all were safe within the boat and the boys had recovered from their laughing fits, the children looked around and saw that the island was nowhere in sight and that they were completely lost. Much worse, the fish they had caught earlier had been flung into the sea during the epic battle with the sharks. For 7 days they were lost at sea without food or water. Then, as the children began to lose consciousness beneath the hot tropical sun, a miraculous breeze picked up and the next thing they knew, the boat was carried back to the island.
There on the beach they were met by Dale’s ecstatic parents who ran to great him. He told them the story of his close call with death and the parents immediately asked the girls to come with them to their beach party nearby where they could eat and drink all they wanted. As the girls started running towards the party, the boys, sick with hunger ran towards the feast as well. But as they started out of the boat, Dale’s parents stopped them saying, only the ones who helped our son while he was in need can come to our feast. So the boys were forced to lick up the betel nut spit from off the ground in order to fill their hungry stomachs.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The After-Break Post
Hello there! It’s Sterling and Alex back again with another white-knuckle, edge of your seat, gum drop busting, nail biting, teeth clenching, pickle snatching, chicken shootin’, arm pit hairing, punkin pie makin, explosive trip update!! (two exclamation points means double the excitement)
It’s been quite a while since our last update so we definitely need to apologize for the inconsistency of our blog. I’m sorry. From this point on any writing begun with S: is written by Super Alex and anything starting with A: is written by Awesome Sterling. So remember, S: is for Alex and A: is for Sterling.
S: Very fitting, considering its designer.
A: Alex is a jerk.
I think we’ll go back to A: for Alex and S: for Sterling. That makes way more sense.
I arrived at La Sierra about 8 at night and left the next morning at 2:30. I spent the night at my house and left the next morning at 4 AM for the Oakland airport where I began my long flight home. Or here to Yap. Yeah I didn’t write the home part on purpose so I guess that’s pretty cool that this little tiny speck of an island in the middle of the ocean is now my home. I love it. I really do. Its been so tight being back even though it was amazing being back home too. I guess I realized that all those people back home are still there and they still care about us and that really makes me just want to enjoy this adventure here because, not too long from now, I’ll be back with all the people I love at home and this will just be a memory. But the time I’m spending here is far too precious to just count it down and let it go away. I’m enjoying each moment of it.
A: And so at the end of Sterling’s sweet rigmarole begins the slightly different account of dear ol’ Alex. Sterling and I had different flights from Guam, yet both were to Honolulu. This, because his flight was direct and mine was the aptly-nicknamed “mail run,” the 15 + hour flight that stops at five (yes, five) islands before landing—exhausted and panting, no doubt—in Hawaii. In Hawaii, I met up with my siblings and parents for a pleasant, increasingly rare, full-family vacation. There, I enjoyed a nice respite from the stresses of teaching as well as some sweet family time. After that, I boarded (with no small apprehension, due to my previous flight experience) a plane pointed toward Guam, landing there without a hitch. In Guam, the Guam-Micronesia Mission treated us royally, lavishing us and pretty much letting us be a part of their family. All of the SM’s who spent time in Guam are super grateful to GMM for their hospitality and kindness. They don’t even know how helpful they were in “jumpstarting our engines” again.
I echo what Sterling said above. Thank you so much, all ye who support us. Our parents, our high school and university teachers, our church, and all of our friends have been invaluable (wow, I pretty much say the same thing every time) support to us. Really, you all don’t know to what extent your support, um, extends. Again, thanks much.
S: So now that we’re back in Yap we’re working hard to get our kids ready for finals! Already! But work here hasn’t been as stressful because of the arrival of two new teachers!!!!!!!! Alex B is our new 5th grade teacher and Andrea is the 2nd grade teacher. Alex lives with us and is super. But super more in terms of how super man is super. Or how the hulk is incredible. Basically the guy is a wall of muscle. He wears this shirt that says 300 lb. bench club or something like that. When he looks at you, you honestly think just his gaze is strong enough to bench you and then toss you across the island. But no, he’s super fun. He was a fireman so Alex and I are having trouble out manning him. But no worries. Our manliness has never met a worthy opponent. Together we’re manlier than a bear watching football and arm wrestling Chuck Norris while skydiving over a mountain of steak.
A: Yes, indeed. Assimilation back into life on Yap was no issue, at least for me. From the get go, my kids were laughing at and pulling my leg hair, hugging me, and giving me a hard time. Due to the introduction of another Alex into Yap SDA, Anna has started calling me “Xander,” my family nickname, which only shows how we fuse into a family here. To counter some rather saddening reports on my state of being, I am quite happy and content, not angry and depressed as I’ve been hearing I am. Again, thank you all for reading this, sending us emails and packages, and just plain caring. Hakuna matata.
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