Adventures on P-day

For P-day yesterday we went island hopping. Many of the islets of this atoll are separated by narrow necks of ocean water. When the tide is down you can walk on the coral reef from island to island. You just have to get back before the tide comes back in. This picture shows several sister missionaries standing on the coral reef as we are heading to the third island out from the "mainland".

Sister Jones and Sister Bwakatii on the coral reef. Sister Bwakatii is one of the missionaries we made friends with in the MTC and she got here a week after we did. She is pretty shy so she sticks pretty close to Sister Jones whenever we are together.

These school kids in their school uniforms came out on the reef to greet us as we approached their island. They are friendly and can speak a little English.

This shows the school kids with Elder Simmons. Elder and Sister Simmons are the CES couple. They work with the Seminary and Institute programs in the branches. They are from Idaho. Elder Simmons and I hassle each other about Idaho potatoes versus Enterprise potatoes. He doesn't understand the logic of my position.

This shows the Ejit school kids lining up after recess to go back to class. Karlene could teach here but I don't know what the pay would be. The people living on Ejit were relocated here from Bikini atoll and Kili atoll during the testing of nuclear bombs on those islands in the 1950's. They want to go back but the radiation levels are still unsafe.

Although we don't look stupid in this picture, do not be deceived. This was taken during our island hopping walk on the reef. You will notice we are not wearing hats, nor do we have any sunscreen on. In fact, we don't even have an adequate water supply. We paid a price for our lack of intelligence. Sister Jones is being treated by Elder Jones for a sunburned neck. The treatment consists of ice cubes wrapped in a towel around her neck. We have not found any aloe vera plants on the island.