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Episode 19: Ellery Miller - Marshall Islands & Tacoma, Washington - Majuro, Tarawa, Mili
56 Plays11 days ago
First sister back to the Marshall Islands post COVID!
Ellery Miller's missionary journey to the Marshall Islands was a unique one. Starting in 2022, she was first reassigned to Tacoma, Washington, for a year. Her prayers were finally answered when she became part of the first group of international missionaries to return to the Marshall Islands after the COVID lockdown.
Throughout her time there, she was a member of the only companionship of sister missionaries on the islands. Today, Ellery continues to serve the Marshallese people by teaching at the MTC and studying mental health in the islands.
#MarshallIslandsMajuroMission #MarshallIslandsKiribatiMission #MarshallIslands #Kiribati #Majuro #Tarawa #Mili #TheIslandsPodcast #theislands #PacificIslands #PacificIslanders #Micronesia
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Transcript
Introduction to Ellery Miller and her Mission Experience
00:00:01
Darin Tingey
All right, this is another episode of the islands podcast. We have another guest sister missionary who served in the Marshall Islands, Ellery Miller. Ellery, give a quick background on you.
00:00:15
Ellery Miller
Hi, I'm Ellery Miller and I'm from Centerville, Utah. i served 2022 to 2023 and I was reassigned because of COVID for the first year in Washington Tacoma Mission and then was the Marshall Islands for the last six months.
00:00:29
Ellery Miller
So
00:00:30
Darin Tingey
And you after the mission you taught at the MTC?
00:00:33
Ellery Miller
yes, yeah, I've been teaching at the MTC for pretty much the whole time I've been home and I've been home like two years so I've been super lucky, yeah.
00:00:43
Darin Tingey
And you're currently at BYU, is that right?
00:00:46
Ellery Miller
Yep, at BYU. Love it.
00:00:48
Darin Tingey
Do you know you're studying?
00:00:50
Ellery Miller
Yeah, sorry. I'm should have given you a better intro. I guess I'm a psych major. I'm graduating in the spring and I'm hoping to go to law school in the fall.
Senior Capstone Project on Mental Health
00:00:57
Ellery Miller
so
00:00:57
Darin Tingey
Oh, whoa, big time.
00:00:59
Ellery Miller
Yeah, and I am doing my senior capstone right now on mental health in the Marshall Islands. So when I went back, I just, spoiler alert, went back and visited in May. I did qualitative interviews with Marshallese people asking about their understanding of mental health, which was super interesting.
00:01:13
Ellery Miller
And I'm going to work with a professor at BYU on that. And then I'm also part of the BYU Pre-Law Journal, and I'm writing an article on the Compact of Free Association which is the treaty that the U.S. s has with the Marshall Islands. so And like for law school, I really want to do like immigration law or adoption law for the Marshallese people.
00:01:29
Ellery Miller
So I'm still a big fan of the Marshallese people and the Marshall Islands.
Cultural Practices and Adoption in the Marshall Islands
00:01:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's way cool. You'll have to send me all the info so I like i can post it on the yeah um the Facebook for for that podcast. That's so interesting. and um That just reminds me, you mentioned the immigration law.
00:01:49
Darin Tingey
and and I just thought about like the guy in Arizona who was arrested a couple years ago. i don't know if you saw this.
00:01:56
Ellery Miller
Yes, horrible.
00:01:58
Darin Tingey
He was a former missionary in the and the Marshall Islands.
00:02:00
Ellery Miller
I know.
00:02:03
Darin Tingey
And he had an adoption like scandal going on where he, I mean, we can talk about the culture of the Marshall Islands, but like in the Marshallese culture, like, like, you know,
00:02:15
Ellery Miller
With children, it's like so fluid.
00:02:17
Darin Tingey
yeah, it's like, Oh, Hey, like say we were siblings, you know, and I had two girls and you had a boy and a girl and then you just had another boy.
00:02:18
Ellery Miller
I know.
00:02:26
Darin Tingey
And I'm like, Hey, Hillary, like, can I have your son? Like, I don't have a son yet. And like culturally, you would just like have to give me your son. Like that's just how they work.
00:02:35
Ellery Miller
Yeah.
00:02:38
Darin Tingey
And so adoption is such like a weird thing in the Marshall Islands. And so I want, you know, I wonder like this guy probably had good intentions beginning of like having all these Americans adopt Marshallese kids. But the same time, like he was like, then he started making money off of it. And like people didn't really know what was going on.
00:02:54
Darin Tingey
ah wild.
00:02:55
Ellery Miller
I know, I read about that, and that was just so horrible, and that made me be like, okay, that is just, like, not what I want at all, because, like, it really is such a unique culture that is really hard for Americans to understand in terms of, like, their concept of, like, adoption and, like, our concept of, like, adoption, like, the kakajoriri, like, yeah, the way that they take care of kids is just really different, and so I think that would be something interesting to, like,
00:03:20
Ellery Miller
use my language skills to like help them with but yeah there was a lawyer in Hawaii who just got disbarred for like similar stuff like taking advantage of Marshallese women so it's horrible but yeah
00:03:29
Darin Tingey
No way.
Mission Call and Reassignment Challenges
00:03:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah, their culture is so unique. I remember on Lai, one my favorite families, people that sit Lai probably know him, or even Ebi, the Lung Ba, the family.
00:03:43
Ellery Miller
yeah Mr.
00:03:43
Darin Tingey
They were telling me like, the
00:03:44
Ellery Miller
Langebot was my companion
00:03:46
Darin Tingey
Okay, cool. Yeah, there's Langbada. It's like a big Lai name.
00:03:53
Ellery Miller
Thank you.
00:03:54
Darin Tingey
So Helamung and Thaklin are the couple that I'm talking about. And their youngest son was Pique. And he would get like a huge cooler from Maduro like every time a boat came in. I was like...
00:04:06
Darin Tingey
dude, this kid's like five years old. Why is he getting like this huge cooler with his name on it and all this stuff? And they're like, oh, well, he's technically like, he's our son biologically, but my sister adopted him from us. And I was like, what?
00:04:25
Darin Tingey
Like, tell me more. And that's when he was telling that got the culture. And he was like, yeah, basically they didn't have a son and they asked if they could have our son. And so we said, yes, but can we raise him?
00:04:38
Darin Tingey
And so it was like a little like way around for them to like have, let them sit, let his sister like have a son, but also for them to like keep him in their family. And he, anyway, they just like send him like huge coolers full of food and stuff like as their son.
00:04:48
Ellery Miller
yeah
00:04:54
Darin Tingey
And i was like, that's so cool.
00:04:56
Ellery Miller
that's awesome you have just like a godparent essentially yeah
00:04:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah, thats exactly what it is.
00:05:01
Ellery Miller
It's interesting. I know that Kitabas have a word for it. What's the word when you like ask for something, but you kind of have to do it. It's like a request.
00:05:07
Darin Tingey
Bubusi, yeah, Bubusi.
00:05:07
Ellery Miller
that's like yeah It's kind of like that. I feel like we're like, there was so I served with the Marshals community in Washington State as well. And that was the first time I had heard of it was in Washington. And I was asking one of the friends we were teaching about like her children and she like showed me a picture of another son that she had.
00:05:26
Ellery Miller
And I was like, Oh, where is he? Like, I've never met him. And she was like, Oh, my brother's raising him. And I was like, Oh, why? Like, I just like, didn't really get it the first time, like I was hearing about it.
00:05:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:05:36
Ellery Miller
And so it is super unique. And like, sometimes they give them back, which is interesting too, because then it's like you were raised by this family, but then you go back to your biological parents. So definitely very interesting.
00:05:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I'm excited to kind of vicariously learn through you on all that stuff as you get into law and whatnot. But um let's back up start from the beginning so you got your mission call funny enough right before this we started recording this podcast ellery was like we've talked before and i'm like what like she's like you sent me an email right before my mission about the marsh islands i had and then we found it we found the email i found i sent her stuff about the marsh islands somehow someone connected us if you're listening
00:05:55
Ellery Miller
you
00:06:07
Ellery Miller
script
00:06:19
Darin Tingey
tell us that you connected us, but I connected you with some Marshall or I got connected with you saying some Marshall stuff, but you got, you started your mission in 2021, is that right? Okay.
00:06:29
Ellery Miller
Yeah, very end of 2020. Well, very beginning of 2022, actually. So it was January.
00:06:34
Darin Tingey
Okay. and
00:06:35
Ellery Miller
So yeah, I got my call September and i was so excited. So I had like four months to kind of like process it and like hear from people who knew people who had served there. So like I said, I don't know who connected us, but someone did.
00:06:47
Ellery Miller
um And then I started January of 2022.
00:06:50
Darin Tingey
Okay. And did you know at the time, like Marsh Islands was still kind of closed from COVID?
00:06:57
Ellery Miller
I did. And I was pretty bummed. And also, they had just had an issue with the airport because like, the only airline that flies, well, like United Airlines was refusing to fly there, because their airport wasn't up to code, like something had happened with the roof, and it was like about to cave in.
00:07:13
Ellery Miller
And I read a news article about it, like the month before my farewell. And I was just like, I'm never going there. Like i was so sad.
00:07:18
Darin Tingey
No. yeah So like there's like yes I have to code we're not flying to the Marshall Islands.
00:07:27
Ellery Miller
Yeah, basically, because like, for those of you who don't know or haven't gone yet, like their airport, it's awesome, but it's pretty small. It's smaller than the Kitabas one, and the Tarawa airport.
00:07:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:38
Ellery Miller
and I mean, United Airlines is like kind of has a monopoly on flights to the Marshall Islands, and it goes through Hawaii. And so if United is like, we're not going to fly there, then nobody will. So the church just...
00:07:49
Ellery Miller
I just was like pretty sure there was no way I was going to make it. I was hopeful for like the end. But as my mission went on, it definitely got harder and harder to like have hope, especially because sister missionary months are 18, sister missionary missions are 18 months.
00:07:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:08:02
Ellery Miller
And so I knew like, I need to make it there within the first year. It's not like the elders who I got there with, like they had done 18 months somewhere else, which is also crazy. But yeah.
00:08:12
Darin Tingey
That is crazy. So you got you went in the mtc you're like, hey, I'm still learning Marshallese, hopefully cross my fingers, send my prayers, then I'll get to the Marshall Islands.
Arrival and Cultural Immersion in the Marshall Islands
00:08:22
Darin Tingey
was Was there anyone...
00:08:27
Darin Tingey
Uh, like how many people were in the MTC with you?
00:08:30
Ellery Miller
Yeah, so it was actually crazy because the Pacific area has five languages and there was only seven missionaries total for all five languages. So me and one elder were going to the Marshlands and then an elder and sister were going to Kitabas.
00:08:42
Ellery Miller
And then one sister was going to Fiji. One other was called to Samoa and one other was called to Alaska Tongan speaking. So he was the only one who made it to his like original assignment. All of us got reassigned and it was so hard at the time because we were just like obviously so excited and really wanted to go to our original assignments.
00:09:00
Ellery Miller
um And it was just, I don't know, like we just had to have a lot of faith. And it was it's cool because now, like like i said, I work at the MTC and the same area, the same five languages, we have 108 missionaries going to like different missions speaking Marshallese or Tongan or Samoan.
00:09:12
Darin Tingey
crazy
00:09:16
Ellery Miller
So just way different vibes right now at the MTC than when I was there.
00:09:20
Darin Tingey
yeah but seven and the whole the whole island missions because they just basically shut down from covet they're just like hey covet we're just closing our borders no one can come in or out
00:09:29
Ellery Miller
Yeah. and Yeah. And there was another elder who had gotten called to the Marshall Islands. There was a few elders who had gotten called before me, but I think I was the first sister after COVID called to the Marshall Islands.
00:09:40
Ellery Miller
So that was like pretty interesting too, because I was like, who am I going to be with if they send me there? But then I found out my native companions who were like the biggest blessing.
00:09:48
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:09:49
Ellery Miller
yeah.
00:09:50
Darin Tingey
So you get reassigned for a year. You go to, the um did the other elder go to the same mission as you for reassignment?
00:09:58
Ellery Miller
No, so he went to West Virginia.
00:10:01
Darin Tingey
Wow. And then you went to Tacoma, Washington.
00:10:04
Ellery Miller
Yeah, and I was super lucky because there actually was a significant Marshallese population in Tacoma, but they had never called missionaries there Marshallese speaking. So they have Marshallese speaking missionaries in like Spokane, in um Oklahoma City, in Bentonville, Arkansas, in Fort Worth, Texas. Like they actually have a lot of missions in the states that are Marshallese speaking, but never to Tacoma.
00:10:25
Ellery Miller
So it was actually a huge blessing because there was this kind of like untapped population who like had never really been preached the gospel in their own tongue to quote like the NC 90 11. Right. And they were kind of just like, not waiting for me, but waiting for us like a kickstart. Like after COVID, I feel like things were just hard for everybody in the, like everywhere in the church.
00:10:44
Ellery Miller
um But there was a Marshallese branch or no, it was just a group in Washington that like really needed some like life breathed into it. And it was cool because I got to like really practice my Marshallese and really do a lot of work with the Marshallese people living in Tacoma.
00:10:59
Darin Tingey
That's so cool. So how much of that one year were you serving in the Marshallese area or speaking Marshallese?
00:11:07
Ellery Miller
Yeah. Yeah. So I was speaking it for about six months because I was in a Samoan ward, which covered the boundaries, covered the whole mission. So like my companion, I could go anywhere to teach Marshallese people.
00:11:20
Ellery Miller
And then the last two transfers before I went to the Marshall Islands, I was in the Marshallese group ward, which was like really frustrating because right when I got to the mission, I found out there was a Marshallese group. I was like, oh, put me there right now, president.
00:11:32
Ellery Miller
And he waited a bit, which was like very wise on his part because I got to learn like how to be a missionary in the English wards. And then I went to a Samoan ward where I did Marshallese work. And then I was in the Marshallese group for two transfers.
00:11:43
Ellery Miller
So, yeah.
00:11:44
Darin Tingey
where the marshes people like so pumped to have you there.
00:11:47
Ellery Miller
Yes, they were so kind. and I was so bad at Marshallese. It's not even funny. And they're just nice. Like, I've had friends go to other missions, like Korean speaking or even like Spanish speaking. and they'll be like, yeah, like if you speak bad Spanish, like they just laugh at you. Or like, if you're Koreans bad, you just get like no one listens. And the Marshallese are, I feel like the opposite. Like, i just feel like, I mean, maybe they laugh, but it's not like...
00:12:09
Ellery Miller
I don't know if it's never like mean spirited. It's always like they want to help you be better at Marshallese they'll be like, wow, look what makare am kanono kajima. Like you're so good at Marshallese. And I'd be like, I don't know anything.
00:12:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:12:20
Ellery Miller
So it was awesome.
00:12:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah, you just say, yucqua and you're wow, good qui tell it like you're like, what?
00:12:26
Ellery Miller
up
00:12:27
Darin Tingey
I just said, i that's it.
00:12:30
Ellery Miller
But they were so nice. And I feel like it's because they just love when people like try to learn their culture. And like they really want to share their culture with others. And that was a big thing in the group that I served in Because it's a group, it's connected to a ward.
00:12:43
Ellery Miller
And so like... they tried to have, they had like a big like Marshallese party. And that was like right before i went to the Marshall Islands. So I'd been out like a year. And it was just one of the most interesting experiences because like the Marshallese people said it was gonna start at five.
00:12:58
Ellery Miller
So I showed up at the church with my companion at like 4.45 to help set up. And there's not a single Marshallese person there. And so then the ward members start showing up at five and no Marshallese people are there.
00:13:04
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:13:09
Ellery Miller
So we're calling all of the members. We're like, where are you? They're like, we had a funeral today. And you know, Marshallese people, if they have one thing in the day, that's like kind of takes up all day, especially a funeral.
00:13:19
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:13:20
Ellery Miller
So we're like, where are you? And like, no one's coming. So the Marcius people kind of start showing up like later, but they haven't cooked the food yet. so they're like cooking the food. And it was just like funny.
00:13:31
Ellery Miller
I, ah the time was like kind of feeling stressed because I was like, oh, these like ward members are expecting like, ah to be like a word party that like starts on time and ends on time but then it was actually really awesome because they performed a beat and that was really cool like the Marshallese people got to show like they brought in a big pig and they cooked it and they performed a beat and so it ended up being really great but I was so stressed the first like hour when no one showed up yeah
00:13:56
Darin Tingey
Your first introduction to island time. Like, yeah, it'll be okay, sister.
00:13:59
Ellery Miller
yeah
00:14:03
Darin Tingey
We'll get there eventually. We'll cook the food eventually. This thing will probably go later than what you're allowed to be there for. But that's so funny. ah Did you have a hard time practicing the language when you weren't like even involved with Marshall's people? Did you kind of, did you put it to the side or did you practice every day?
00:14:23
Ellery Miller
So I practiced every day and I was actually so lucky. Literally God knew exactly what I needed for my mission because that was right during COVID when like Facebook work was huge. I don't know if it's as big anymore. I know in the MTC, they just said no more Facebook because it's like missionaries in the MTC don't need it, period.
00:14:39
Darin Tingey
Sure.
00:14:39
Ellery Miller
And I do think Facebook work can be kind of like... counterproductive like missionaries might waste more time than they actually like find people but for me like I feel like every man woman and child has like three Facebook accounts like Marshallese man woman and child so it was like actually great because I started like a Marshallese Facebook page for my mission but like I'm not in a Marshallese group or anything but I just like would friend people on Facebook and like call them and try to teach them over the phone and so like
00:14:54
Darin Tingey
That's true.
00:15:08
Ellery Miller
My first area, I was teaching this girl named Martha in Spokane. So, like, same state, but, like, across the state.
00:15:14
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
00:15:14
Ellery Miller
And she ended up wanting to get baptized, but long story, like, her boyfriend wouldn't let her, but her son got baptized. And it was actually, she was, like, the biological sister of another Marshallese elder I knew. So, like, an elder had been adopted from the Marshall Islands he was really young and grew up in Sandy, Utah. Yeah.
00:15:30
Ellery Miller
And we got we all got connected and he got to meet his like birth sister, Martha. So it was like literally my first transfer, I got to have this cool miracle over Facebook. So it was hard. it was definitely like not even close to living in the Marshall Islands. But like I still tried really hard to learn Marshallese.
00:15:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah, and in that year, were other people assigned that were supposed to go to the Marsh Islands to Spokane, or sorry, to Tacoma, or was it just you?
Missionary Work Post-COVID and Community Integration
00:15:57
Ellery Miller
There was one and his name is Elder Weaver. Did you have him on the podcast anything?
00:16:00
Darin Tingey
ah Yep, he was. I do remember him mentioning that you guys, he got there, then he goes to the Marsh Islands, like right when he got there, right?
00:16:06
Ellery Miller
Yes. So he was in Tacoma with me. Yeah. So yeah, he was in Tacoma with me for like four weeks or maybe a full transfer. um So it was right around my one year and we got to go together. So he was the one.
00:16:20
Ellery Miller
Yeah.
00:16:22
Darin Tingey
So, right, you get to that point of, okay, I'm going to the marsh islands. Did they like they tell you couple weeks in advance, like a week in advance?
00:16:33
Darin Tingey
It was like, tomorrow you're flying out, sister. What was that like?
00:16:38
Ellery Miller
Honestly, the whole process was kind of confusing. And I feel like it was a mix of like the mission department as well as the Marshall Islands has a really like lax visa thing as in like there's no visa.
00:16:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:16:48
Ellery Miller
And so I think the mission department was a little confused because in September around my nine months, they sent me ah visa for Kitibus and I emailed them back and I was like, am going to Kitabas first or like, cause I'm called to the Marshall Islands and those are different countries. And they were like oh, our bad. We thought those were the same country.
00:17:05
Ellery Miller
And so like the mission department didn't even know, like, I feel like the Marshall Islands kind of gets swept under the rug, which makes me so sad. So that was hard. Cause I got sent visa for the wrong country. And then in January I got permanently reassigned.
00:17:19
Ellery Miller
So my mission president was like, I'm sorry, sister Miller, you're not going is what the mission department said. And I had asked to extend so that I could go because I wanted to go so bad.
00:17:28
Darin Tingey
I will do a two-year mission.
00:17:28
Ellery Miller
And so I was like, let me go. And then i was so dramatic. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to go home early and just move there. And my mission president was like, no, you're not. So I wanted to go so bad. And I was just, that was like the hardest week ever of just being like, wow, I'm never going to get to go.
00:17:44
Ellery Miller
And then a week later, i got sent visa papers. And I called my mission president. I was like, what in the world? And he was like, I made some calls like you're going and I was like, you're the best. You're my.
00:17:54
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:17:54
Ellery Miller
You're so amazing. And so then I fill out like this paperwork and I got blood work done and it was really expensive. And then like a week later, they're like, oh, just kidding. You didn't need to do any of that.
00:18:06
Ellery Miller
you can just go. So it was just so funny because there was like, the there was wasn't really a visa, but they were really confused on what we needed. and then they scheduled my flight for February 21st. And then they were like, oh, sorry, nevermind. Like it was just so confusing it with the missionary department.
00:18:22
Ellery Miller
And then I finally got to go March 7th. So it was really back and forth and a real test of my faith. But March 7th, I got to go with Elder Weaver.
00:18:31
Darin Tingey
And did you meet up with any other missionaries in Hawaii that were also going there the same day?
00:18:37
Ellery Miller
Yes, so I got to Hawaii at night and I slept with the STLs in the um Honolulu mission. And then they took me to the airport like 4 And that's where I met with Elder Karchner and Elder Becker and Elder Mahi. And Elder Karchner and Becker had served in Hawaii for 18 months.
00:18:53
Ellery Miller
And Elder Mahi had served in Oakland, California for, I think it was Oakland, for like 16 months. Like it was pretty crazy that we were all getting to go. And I asked them, I was like...
00:19:05
Ellery Miller
Did you ever think you'd get to go? And Elder Becker was like, I kind of gave up hope, but Elder Karschner still believed. I was like, well, good for him.
00:19:13
Darin Tingey
What was that like, like totally leaving a mission that you've been in for a year? Like, was it, did it feel, did it feel right? Were you sad to leave Tacoma at all?
00:19:29
Darin Tingey
were you just like, I'm just so pumped I get to go to the Marshall Islands? Yeah.
00:19:32
Ellery Miller
I was so pumped to go to the Marshall Islands. It had been my dream since I got my call. Like, I i really wanted to go. Once I got to the mission, i was like, oh, like, I do miss some things about Tacoma. Obviously, like, a stateside mission, you have, like, Amazon Prime and, like...
00:19:48
Ellery Miller
a nice car.
00:19:48
Darin Tingey
yeah Okay, so give me the the first day you fly so super early morning flight you fly it in what are the reactions.
00:19:49
Ellery Miller
And so I definitely like once I got there and like the novelty of it wore off, I was like, oh, like I do kind of miss Tacoma. But really, I love the Marshall Islands. And like, I knew I only had a few months. So I was like trying to savor and make the most of it.
00:20:13
Ellery Miller
Yeah, so we fly in and we, I mean, there's just nothing like like flying over Medjaro Atoll and you're just looking at the tiny landing strip and you're like, no way we're landing there. um So you land and then we get out and it's so humid. It was rainy. It was overcast.
00:20:29
Ellery Miller
And i almost like kissed the ground. I was so happy. And then we met the Kendall's who are the mission. They were the mission presidents. They just got released.
00:20:36
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:20:36
Ellery Miller
And they were just so kind. They're from New Zealand, so they have the accent, which is amazing. and then we go to the mission home and my two companions, Sister Longa Bada and Sister Alex, who's also from Lai, if you know Emeritha Alex.
00:20:50
Ellery Miller
um I don't know her mom's last name because her mom's the one who lives on Lai and she has different last name. But...
00:20:55
Darin Tingey
Boro. ah bad ah ah yeah Did she go to Kiribati eventually?
00:20:56
Ellery Miller
Oh, so you know her name? Are you talking about Tanika Borro?
00:21:01
Darin Tingey
well
00:21:03
Ellery Miller
was talking to her neighbor.
00:21:03
Darin Tingey
I'm thinking Tanika. Yeah. I baptized Tanika's mom.
00:21:07
Ellery Miller
oh no way my gosh I love sister Borough so yeah I'll get to her in a sec but um it was sister Alex so she is the oldest in her family so you might not really and don't know if you need
00:21:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:21:18
Darin Tingey
No, I know. I know she is. know she is. I remember now.
00:21:22
Ellery Miller
okay okay yeah um so I meet them they had gotten pizza from MIR which is like the Marshall Islands Resort restaurant it's like the only place to
00:21:31
Darin Tingey
resort in quotations. Yeah.
00:21:32
Ellery Miller
and ah Yes, the MIR pizza. And i was like, wow, there's pizza here. And the mission home is like the one place on the island with like garage. Like it's like a noticeably nicer home.
00:21:45
Ellery Miller
um
00:21:45
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:21:46
Ellery Miller
And we just had like a mini like meet your companion mission conference kind of. So at that point there was... four sisters and four elders, and two of the sisters were in Ebi, so I never actually, like, met them as a missionary, because that was their last transfer, and then I was with two Marshley sisters, and then the four elders I'd come in with, Elder Weaver, Becker, Karchner, Mahi, all had a Native companion, so it was amazing, because it was, like, more Native missionaries than us, and I was in that first group back, um and they took our picture, and, like, Wilmer Joel, he's, like,
00:22:19
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I know him.
00:22:19
Ellery Miller
the very prominent members he's amazing he works for the martial arts like journal and so he put it in the news so i have like a newspaper clipping of like me and the other missionaries it's like lds missionaries return was awesome so yeah okay
00:22:33
Darin Tingey
Wait, that's so cool. that That needs to easy to send me that picture. That's awesome. ah Yeah, like to be back, to be the first one back to the mission is the craziest thing.
00:22:47
Darin Tingey
um
Visiting Outer Islands and Cultural Reflections
00:22:48
Darin Tingey
So cool. And the first sister too, first like American non-native sister. And also like when I was there, like we didn't have native missionaries.
00:22:57
Darin Tingey
They always got sent to the Philippines or even if they got called to the Marsh Islands, president was sending to Kitabas, right?
00:23:01
Ellery Miller
I'm just...
00:23:04
Darin Tingey
um It's like, what what was that like to like have native companions?
00:23:10
Ellery Miller
I think it was the biggest blessing. i think I couldn't have done it like on my own or with like anyone else who didn't speak Marshallese. It was so perfect because they spoke Marshallese all the time to each other.
00:23:21
Ellery Miller
And so like I would just listen to them and I just picked up on so much so many more nuances of the language than I had ever like learned. And I just realized like the best way to learn language really is to just like hear Marshallese people talk all the time.
00:23:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:23:34
Ellery Miller
um and they were just so funny like I just realized that marshals people are so funny they're always like making light of everything and like in a good way and i it was my biggest I feel like i went on I got some restaurants literally just to be friends with like sister long about and sister Alex so sister long about it it was her last transfer so I was sad because I only got to be with her for six weeks and
00:23:35
Darin Tingey
Absolutely.
00:23:56
Ellery Miller
Um, and then she went back home to Ebi and i got to be with sister Alex my whole time in the Marshall Islands. So me and her are like this, like we're so close and she actually moved to Utah. So she's in Bountiful now.
00:24:10
Ellery Miller
So I like go to church with her in the Marshallese branch and like, I'm going to have her come to my ceiling in November. Like she's still my best friend and I just love her. And then the last Marshallese companion I had was sister Boru because when I was about to leave,
00:24:25
Ellery Miller
It was literally just me and Sister Alex in the whole mission, in the whole Marshall Islands side, I guess.
00:24:29
Darin Tingey
Just two sisters.
00:24:29
Ellery Miller
And just us two. Yes.
00:24:32
Darin Tingey
And like elders have kind of trickled in this ah by this point.
00:24:32
Ellery Miller
In the whole.
00:24:36
Ellery Miller
Yeah. So after six weeks after we got there, there was like a group of like six elders or maybe more. And then like another group of elders came in, but still no sisters. Yeah.
00:24:47
Darin Tingey
Dang.
00:24:47
Ellery Miller
And so the mission president was just like, I mean, there was a Marshley sister, Sister Boro, whose mom you baptized, who was called to in Kitibis.
00:24:54
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:24:57
Ellery Miller
And I got to go to Kitibis for a week and I met her there. And that was, and we all got along really well, me, her and Sister Alex. And I think that was when he was like, okay, I'm going to have Sister Boro replace Sister Miller. Because Sister Alex couldn't just be alone. Like it was so crazy that there were two sisters in the whole mission and one leaves. And it's like, what are you going to do?
00:25:14
Ellery Miller
Yeah.
00:25:15
Darin Tingey
You would have thought like you got your call like a year plus ago. You would have thought they would have also called some other sister missionaries to the Marsh Islands. Or maybe they're just like, actually, it's going be closed for who knows how long.
00:25:27
Darin Tingey
We just won't call anybody.
00:25:29
Ellery Miller
And they had called about six sisters from like Tonga and Papua New Guinea, but they have a really hard time getting visas, I feel like. So, yeah.
00:25:37
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:25:38
Ellery Miller
So actually, like, I think like a transfer after I left, all the sisters who had been like backlogged in the system finally made it. So we did have like six sisters after I left, which was like it made me so sad because I was like, it would have been so fun to be with a lot of sisters.
00:25:46
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:25:55
Ellery Miller
But because it was a little lonely, like it's hard to never do exchanges. Like it was really good. The sister Alex was like my favorite companion ever and the easiest to get along with because if I'd ever needed an exchange, I just wouldn't have been able to do it.
00:26:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:26:07
Ellery Miller
um but and then yeah sister Boro was also just like so funny uplifting and like encouraging and I feel like I had heard stereotypes going into the mission of like oh like your native companions are going to be disobedient or like have trap phones and like genuinely they weren't like that at all like they were so obedient and they really wanted to be there so I got really lucky
00:26:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah, you did. there They're great. I just, i love the Marshes people. So with you being the only companionship of sisters, did you guys just cover all of Maduro? Like what was, like, did you even have an area technically?
00:26:48
Ellery Miller
Yes, that was so crazy was yeah right when I got there there was literally like how many words are there in major row seven there was five companionships and seven wards and so me and sister Alex sister Longavada covered all of Long Island which if you know is so long like when I just went back in May to visit i went to a baptism and all the missionaries in the ward came plus the senior couples and there was 15 missionaries including senior couples in Long Island alone.
00:26:55
Darin Tingey
Seven, yeah.
00:27:05
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:27:14
Darin Tingey
I know. It's crazy.
00:27:16
Ellery Miller
It was crazy. I was like, and like, just like driving through Long Island. I'm like, wow, I never knocked on that door. i never knocked on that door. Like I definitely spent a lot of time in Mormontown and like, ra like by the, by Bishop Levi's house.
00:27:29
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:27:30
Ellery Miller
So yeah, so I was actually in Long Island my whole time in the Marshall Islands. Part of that was because like the president didn't, um like the elders were more like Daylup and Rita and I feel like he wanted to keep them in like the city and then I think he felt like Azotake and Lara were
Continuing Connection and Contributions
00:27:46
Ellery Miller
too like far away like he kind of wanted to keep us by the mission office so yeah
00:27:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah, he's going to keep sisters close. So did you live? Where did you live?
00:27:56
Ellery Miller
I moved a couple of times. At first I lived in C27, which is in Lodzakar.
00:28:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's a mess.
00:28:00
Ellery Miller
It was a senior apartment. so it was nice. And we got a car because no senior missionaries yet. um The cars were so old. It was so funny. I was like, how are we still driving these? Because in stateside missions, you get a new car every year.
00:28:10
Darin Tingey
Oh, wow.
00:28:12
Ellery Miller
And yeah.
00:28:13
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:28:14
Ellery Miller
And so in the marshlands, it was like 10 years old, which isn't that old, but it was like obviously really rusty from like the salt water. in the air anyway and then i moved to the chapel house which is right by the Long Island Chapel and a lot of the chapels in Medjaro have chapel houses I'm not sure about a lot of the outer islands I know that they built one online and then when I went to Millie they had like a little hut that was like I it just made me so grateful for my little chapel house right next to the chapel
00:28:22
Darin Tingey
Sure.
00:28:42
Darin Tingey
I lived in that chapel house in Long Island.
00:28:45
Ellery Miller
oh really ka we nice it is tiny but I honestly didn't hate it like
00:28:45
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's tiny.
00:28:52
Ellery Miller
I mean, like I said, Sister Alex and I were close. There's no way we could have done it in a trio. So that was when it was just Sister Alex and i But I always felt safe there.
00:28:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:29:00
Ellery Miller
Like, I never felt unsafe in the chapel house. And then I felt really safe in Lajacar. So then for my last transfer, we lived in B12, which is right next to the mission home. Because we were getting ready for the senior couple to move in.
00:29:13
Ellery Miller
So I got super lucky housing-wise.
00:29:14
Darin Tingey
Nice. Yeah, you looked at some great places on Madreau.
00:29:18
Ellery Miller
Anyone listening, it don't get your hopes up. I had the best housing in Mejaro.
00:29:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah, you really did. My first two nights in the Marsh Islands, I was in a large school department as well, preparing to go to E-Buy, and the zone leader had one.
00:29:34
Darin Tingey
So i got to stay in one of those, and then the chapel house.
00:29:36
Ellery Miller
It is nice.
00:29:40
Darin Tingey
But yeah, Mission President's home is really nice in the Marsh Islands. It's like super nice.
00:29:44
Ellery Miller
is
00:29:44
Darin Tingey
like It's an American house. I was like, this is really nice.
00:29:47
Ellery Miller
It's big. has upstairs. And, like, same with the – I went to the Mission Home in Kitabas as well. And those are both, like, kind of, like, sanctuaries, I feel like, because you're, like, okay, I can, like, not worry about cockroaches here, geckos.
00:30:00
Ellery Miller
Geckos aren't that bad. The Chapel House in Long Island, like, geckos would just come in all the time. And I really liked them because they scared away the cockroaches. I hate cockroaches. Like, our legend car apartment was infested with cockroaches.
00:30:12
Ellery Miller
And you just, like, couldn't eat any food, like – you couldn't like leave anything out like I would eat a can of green beans every day because it was like you open the can and you eat it right then like you can't you think because like one time I made bread and the cockroaches like got in it it was really sad so yeah
00:30:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:30:27
Darin Tingey
There's no saving food unless you put it in the fridge, maybe.
00:30:31
Ellery Miller
yeah but even then the cockroaches get in there it's crazy so
00:30:35
Darin Tingey
So how was the work like come you know with with they're not being I guess foreign missionaries there were natives but foreign missionaries in the marsh islands like was it did COVID kind of just wreck the church as far as members not going and were people like pumped to have missionaries back how was that?
00:30:57
Ellery Miller
Yeah, the Marshallese people are so respectful of missionaries, as I'm sure you remember, and any RM can attest to, is, like, they are so respectful, and they just, like, love the missionaries, which I think is awesome that they, like, think we're just amazing. And it kind of gives you, like, an increased, like, sense of commitment and, like, standard to live up to because you want to be good for them, obviously.
00:31:20
Ellery Miller
um i do think COVID made it hard, like, not having missionaries, um But not that missionaries should ever be like running the church. Like i do feel like when we came back and they were like, oh great, now you can teach seminary.
00:31:32
Ellery Miller
I was like...
00:31:33
Darin Tingey
ah
00:31:34
Ellery Miller
It's not like super our job. Like liked it. I liked being with the youth, but like every Sunday we'd like get done sacrament and we'd walk to Relief Society and the Relief Society president would sisters, can you teach? And I'd be like, yes, like we totally can.
00:31:46
Ellery Miller
and it would just be hard because I would like, i I mean, my language wasn't very good and my, yeah. So it just really stretched me teaching like Relief Society every week, but it was really good.
00:31:58
Ellery Miller
I do feel like I wish that, like, there was a little bit of a different relationship in terms of, like, not expecting the missionaries to literally do everything. But it's hard when there aren't that many members. Like, you kind of do want the missionaries' help. But I know that it's, like, gotten a lot better.
00:32:15
Ellery Miller
So...
00:32:16
Darin Tingey
yeah i I know what you're saying as far as like oh ah elders can you teach sisters can you teach she's like no like guys it's not my job like you have a ward you all have callings like and it's almost like tough love like this is how you guys grow right yeah but I'm sure it was good for your language just to practice and what not
00:32:36
Ellery Miller
It was so good. And now I'm really close with all the youth. Like when I went back, it was graduation. I went back end of May. So it was like, i didn't even plan it that way. But all the youth who were graduating, I had taught them in seminary when they were like 16. So it's actually really cool because that's who I got the closest with for sure.
00:32:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's fun. And i I heard, so when I back in last August a year ago now, I heard that like, COVID, like people just saw coming to church. And so like the missionaries were really focusing on Maduro to like really build up the membership again and activation. But I also heard that like thousands of people left the Marshall Islands once they lifted their restrictions from COVID and they all went to the States, like just so many people. And I actually visibly like noticed how less packed it was on Maduro and EBI.
00:33:23
Darin Tingey
um
00:33:25
Ellery Miller
It is a big issue.
00:33:25
Darin Tingey
and
00:33:26
Ellery Miller
That's what the president of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, she's identified out-migration as the biggest issue facing the Marshall Islands. Not diabetes, not like financial insecurity, not food insecurity.
00:33:36
Ellery Miller
Out-migration is the biggest issue facing the Marshall right now. Just crazy.
00:33:40
Darin Tingey
It's like, I can't blame them for trying to chase ah ah different, you know, you could say better, but different life in the States. um But also like, you know, the Marshall Islands is so great.
00:33:55
Darin Tingey
You should stay there and build it up. And yeah.
00:33:58
Ellery Miller
Keep your culture. Don't lose your culture.
00:34:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's probably the most important thing, right? It's the culture, right? ah
00:34:04
Ellery Miller
Yeah.
00:34:05
Darin Tingey
and And you're like, oh Outer Islands, like stay on the Outer Islands, like live like the old way, but also they don't want to live the old way. Like as much as we want to preserve that culture, like I wouldn't want to live that way forever.
00:34:15
Darin Tingey
It's like I...
00:34:16
Ellery Miller
Right. Like, no AC. Like, I'm one to talk. Like, I need AC. So...
00:34:20
Darin Tingey
Right, exactly. So it's like, I want them to preserve culture and like old ways, but also I want them to stay in the Marshall Islands. I feel like, okay, if we want people to stay in the Marshall Islands, like outer islands need to get, you know, AC and um ah running water, like all these different things that like, it probably won't ever totally have.
00:34:36
Ellery Miller
Thank you.
00:34:39
Darin Tingey
But if we want, if Marshall Islands wants to keep people, they got to increase their standard living big time.
00:34:45
Ellery Miller
Yeah, and so it's interesting because I talked to the commissioner of education in the Marshlands, and she was like, we're really looking for people who are willing to, like, go teach on the Outer Islands because she said they're really struggling with, like, even educators.
00:34:58
Ellery Miller
And that's another reason that people leave the Outer Islands is for their kids to, like, my two companions who were from Lai, they really spent a lot of their lives in Ebi, going to, like, middle school and and high school. Yeah.
00:35:10
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:10
Ellery Miller
I don't know if you know Bishop Levi, like he was the bishop of Long Island and now he's in the state presidency.
00:35:12
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:35:15
Ellery Miller
He's who I stayed with when I went back. So he's like my idol. He is going to get like a mansion in heaven that we've never seen before. um And he has stayed in the Marshall Islands in spite of the fact that he like, he actually did go to college in Oregon.
00:35:28
Ellery Miller
um And he's very smart. And it's not like he like doesn't like understand that like there's like things about America that he would like, but he genuinely loves like our, like a, you are the outer Island. And that's where he wants to retire.
00:35:43
Ellery Miller
And so I think for, yes, that's where he grew up.
00:35:43
Darin Tingey
He wants to retire to Aur? No way.
00:35:46
Ellery Miller
That was where he was before high school. So that's his dream is like, get to retire there. And so he's part of that generation. That's like, still does want to live that old way of life.
00:35:57
Ellery Miller
But I think a lot of the rising generation doesn't, want stay the Marsons. I don't know if you ever met anyone deported, but like at Ledger Car, there's like a grounds crew. And like, i would talk to the guys when we'd exercise the morning, we'd just go run around the like Ledger Car, you know, parking lot.
00:36:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:36:13
Ellery Miller
And one of the guys was like, yeah, I got deported. Because you can get deported from the US, even though you're not like a citizen of the US, but you like have the COFA thing.
00:36:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:36:22
Ellery Miller
And he was like, but it's like a five year thing. So he's like, I'm going back in two years. Like, he was just like, I'm just doing my time here for five years. Like, that was interesting to see.
00:36:30
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
00:36:30
Ellery Miller
him Yeah, he had a job, whereas like a lot of Marcellus people his age might just like, chill. He like wanted like, because he had like basically grown up in America, he like knew that he wanted to have this like hourly wage, which was interesting.
00:36:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it is it is one of the saddest things for me to see, partially people leave to the States. And if mission levi Bishop Levi wants to go to Aoud, that'd be awesome.
00:36:54
Darin Tingey
And send missionaries out there and he can you know the branch president on Aoud.
00:36:58
Ellery Miller
Yeah, immediately. yeah
00:37:00
Darin Tingey
That would be so awesome. Yeah, he's the man. So funny enough, he was the bishop when I served there in 2016 to 2018. um the twenty eighteen And then when I went back in August, he was still the bishop. And I was like, dude, you've been a bishop for a decade.
00:37:14
Ellery Miller
10 years. No, literally when I went to his office the very first time we met with him and he had a picture of the first presidency, it was still President Monson, President Eyring and President Uchtdorf. And I thought it was so funny.
00:37:26
Ellery Miller
I was like, why do you still have them up? And he was like, I've asked them to send me new pictures, but they haven't. Like he's been the bishop since President Monson and before then. So crazy.
00:37:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah, and the bishopric was the same album, and I'm i'm blanking on the other guy's name.
00:37:38
Ellery Miller
Ryan Edinger.
00:37:39
Darin Tingey
Yes, they were the same bishopric 10 years ago. Bless their souls.
00:37:45
Ellery Miller
Which there, yeah, I was going to say, like, the commitment of the members who were active in the martial islands is unlike anything I've seen, like, anywhere else. Like, if you're going to be active and, like, be a leader there, then you are, like, so amazing because you really are just, like, doing a lot. Like, Bishop Levi is amazing.
00:38:05
Darin Tingey
It's probably, you know, you know they mentioned the president Marsh Islands. It's also probably the biggest reason the church isn't growing as fast as it could be in the Marsh Islands is because so many great members leave.
00:38:17
Darin Tingey
um The stake president on E-Buy, when I was there, he left to the States.
00:38:18
Ellery Miller
Yep.
00:38:22
Darin Tingey
And like so many, I think even the former Romero,
00:38:24
Ellery Miller
Ned Iney was in the state presidency. He just moved to the States.
00:38:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah, they they all keep moving to the States. And I i think I asked Chachi Petit one time, i said, um you know if if I said, how many Marshallese-speaking wards or branches are there in the States?
00:38:42
Darin Tingey
I think there's probably more than this, but I said seven. And I was like, that's a whole other stake in the Marshall Islands if they had all stayed. um Because Marshall Islands often...
00:38:50
Ellery Miller
I did it to me. Yeah.
00:38:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it is probably Marshall gets compared to Kitabas, right? But it's different because so many people are leaving Marshall Islands than Kitabas. They all stay there.
00:38:58
Ellery Miller
Kiribati, it's way harder to leave. Like, actually, the one week I went to Kiribati was so eye opening. So it was like, wow, these are just not the same country at all. Like, it's like apples and oranges. And like, I think something for me is that Kiribati has the church school.
00:39:12
Ellery Miller
And I wish that like, we could go back in time. i'm like the church we've built a school on Medjero because a lot of the members go to the Assumption, the Catholic school and the church.
00:39:15
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:39:21
Ellery Miller
I just found this out. The church actually pays. Like there's a church member, a very wealthy member in the States. I don't think it's like the church, but it's church member who actually pays the tuition of every single young adult or like youth in the church who wants to go to a private school because it's better than the Marshall Islands High School go geckos.
00:39:39
Ellery Miller
Um, And so i I wish the church had built a school because that would just like exponentially increase the growth of the church. And yeah, just like with a lot of the people who are out migrating, it is the college age.
00:39:53
Ellery Miller
And so that's why like the YSA in the Marshall Islands isn't really like growing like it totally could be.
00:39:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah, you I totally agree with you. i I also saw that the high school helped so much. You even see in Tonga, like the church has a bunch of schools and they're like, that's the reason church like boomed, right?
00:40:09
Ellery Miller
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:09
Darin Tingey
So tell me, why did you Kittivist? Like, what was that like?
00:40:12
Ellery Miller
It was so fun. So Elder Wakalo was the Area 70 at the time. I think he still is, and I don't know if you know him, but he yep, Fijian.
00:40:19
Darin Tingey
Fijian?
00:40:21
Ellery Miller
Yeah, he was doing a mission tour. And at the time that I served, there weren't APs in the Marshall Islands because there were like 10 missionaries. So there was one zone leader and one STL. And then the Kitabas had APs because they had about 60 missionaries.
00:40:34
Ellery Miller
They opened before us and had a lot more natives.
00:40:35
Darin Tingey
Okay. Wow.
00:40:37
Ellery Miller
So the two APs came to the Marshall Islands, including my companion, Sister Soto, my MTC companion, because funny story, she got an ingrown toenail and they went to the doctor and the doctor like didn't know what it was, even after she and her native companion described it.
00:40:50
Ellery Miller
And the doctor was like, we're going to have to cut off your foot. Like he just didn't know what to do. So President Kendall was like, nope, we're sending her to the Marshawns. So she comes to the Marshawns and Bishop Ackley, who was a doctor, took it out like super easy. So it was really good that she didn't have to lose a foot.
00:41:04
Ellery Miller
So she came to Marshawns with me for a week and then I got to go to Kitabas with her for a week. And um it was with Elder Wakalo, so I just went with the zone leader and I got to like, yeah, just do a mission tour.
00:41:17
Ellery Miller
And it was awesome.
00:41:18
Darin Tingey
So cool.
00:41:18
Ellery Miller
The
00:41:21
Darin Tingey
thought it was so different, right? Like even flying in, it's like, well, the islands like really wide and the lagoon is really shallow.
00:41:26
Ellery Miller
lagoon is so shallow. And it's just like, Medjaro, it's so cool. You stand on Laura and you can see Rita. You're like, that's the whole island. um
00:41:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:41:34
Ellery Miller
And Tarawa, it does feel bigger. Like, it just feels a lot bigger.
00:41:39
Darin Tingey
Did you like, what did you do when you were there? Just kind of hang out like try and learn some Kiribati?
00:41:44
Ellery Miller
Yeah, I lived in a house with a bunch of other sisters. And that was crazy, too. Also made me very grateful for, you know, my ledger car apartment. And we just went to lessons. Like, I just got to go to lessons with these Kitabas sisters. And people are always like, oh, is Kitabas and Marshallese, are their languages similar?
00:41:59
Ellery Miller
feel like they're not similar at all. I did not understand anything.
00:42:01
Darin Tingey
No, they aren't.
00:42:04
Ellery Miller
And it was funny because, like... I mean, the members were just funny. Like, I feel like in the marshlands, they'll be like, oh, Google and mop. Like you're really full. Like after you eat and it's like a compliment, but like this one lady was making us food and she made everyone like a piece of bread with like tuna. And she gave me two. And then she says, mean, kid of this. And I was like, what'd she say to sister Soto? And sister Soto was like, she said, you're fat. So you need two. And I was like, what the heck? Like, they all told me that in kid of this. And I was like, definitely not in the best physical shape of my life, but it was still so funny.
00:42:32
Ellery Miller
yeah. And they have a word like kabuki bookie, which means like big booty. And it's like I got tried on for a dress and the girl like um measuring me was like, oh, kabuki bookie. And I was like, so embarrassed. Like, it was just funny. I felt like everyone was making comments about my body, which was weird.
00:42:46
Ellery Miller
And then. um
00:42:48
Darin Tingey
That's Kitabas for you. That's Kitabas.
00:42:50
Ellery Miller
I don't even know if that's like just my experience for my one week or if that's like a general thing. But my and then the last day President Kendall was like it was there was like a zone conference. But President Kendall let Sister Soto and I kind just do like a tour of the island. So I got to go down to Beso, which is like the elbow, bottom. And then I got to go all the way up to like before you go on the bridge.
00:43:12
Ellery Miller
Did you ever go to torowa
00:43:13
Darin Tingey
so but Yeah, yeah, I did.
00:43:15
Ellery Miller
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it was so fun. Like, I am so grateful to President Kendall for bringing me along and for letting me just like drive the whole island and see the like Japanese World War Two memorials like that's so cool. So Kitavis was really awesome. It's a beautiful country as well. I'm biased. i think the Marshawn's the best, but...
00:43:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah, there's no comparison between the two at all. There's no competition between the two sides the mission at all. oh That's funny.
00:43:41
Ellery Miller
fuck
00:43:42
Darin Tingey
ah Yeah, you're probably like ah one of the only sisters ever to be able to go to both like that. ah
00:43:47
Ellery Miller
and me Yeah, I'm so lucky.
00:43:48
Darin Tingey
that's like that Sisters didn't do that ah when I was there. And I haven't heard of anyone, any sister going to both. Usually it's like an elder that was AP, got pulled over, you know, stuff like that.
00:44:01
Ellery Miller
But yeah, I like,
00:44:02
Darin Tingey
And you got to go to an outer island like yeah while you were there in the Marsh Islands?
00:44:06
Ellery Miller
Yes, here to Millie. I actually like brought out this book. My mom made like a book of all my emails. And this is the picture of me on Millie because think they were so pretty.
00:44:13
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:44:15
Ellery Miller
Like some of the Mejuro beaches just have like trash on them and they're not as, they're like rocky.
00:44:16
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:44:20
Ellery Miller
But Millie was the outer island that I got to go to. um So like out migration, like we talked about, like the population when I got there was 80 people live on this outer island and like 40 are members or whatever.
00:44:33
Ellery Miller
But like they hadn't really been doing the sacrament since COVID. So I know that there's elders there now because I read their weekly emails because I taught them and they've been doing amazing work. So I know sacraments been reinstated on Millie.
00:44:46
Ellery Miller
And that's fun fact. I'm sure you know the outer island where Amelia Earhart was said to be like maybe crash landed. So.
00:44:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah, I forgot about that. ah So did you go to Millie as a missionary, or is this a post when you went back in May?
00:44:58
Ellery Miller
As a missionary. Yeah. With the president.
00:45:01
Darin Tingey
So he's just like, hey, Sister Millie, you want to come? Like, what was it?
00:45:03
Ellery Miller
and yeah He was just the nicest guy ever. Like, I feel like he was so awesome about wanting us to have like a good, fun mission, which not that my other president didn't at all. I just feel like President Kendall prioritized that more than i feel like most mission presidents would. But yeah, I got to go with the zone leader and the district leader.
00:45:23
Ellery Miller
And Sister Alex came because she was like my companion. So she got to come too. So it was awesome.
00:45:27
Darin Tingey
And did you guys just ground the plane for like a little bit or
00:45:31
Ellery Miller
yeah was just one day that we chartered the plane. we were supposed to leave at 8 a.m., m but, you know, air marshal, it's like air maybe. So we left at, like, noon. And it was, like, a 30-minute flight, super short. And then that was was a landing that I was really scared of because there's no landing strip. It's just, like, grass. It's, like, the thickest part of the island. They've just kind of turned into a makeshift landing strip.
00:45:50
Ellery Miller
But we land, and they immediately gave us, like, the lays, and they gave us a ton of bananas. Millie has, like, the biggest banana. production in the martial arts, I guess. And we walked not even a mile to like the end of where people live. And that's where they've built like a chapel and the like house where you live. So yeah, crazy.
00:46:11
Darin Tingey
So cool you got to see an Outer Island. Again, that's another thing. like Sisters never went Outer Islands and the Marsh Islands like never.
00:46:17
Ellery Miller
Yeah, I'm sad I never went to E-Buy. That's actually my biggest regret. Like, even when I just went back this last time, I was, like, going to try to make it happen. But to see Sister Lange bought it because she has a cute baby that I really wanted to see. But I just didn't make it happen. Yep.
00:46:32
Darin Tingey
It's all right, you'll go again when you're doing this whole COFA stuff and you'll have to make a few other trips.
00:46:37
Ellery Miller
ye
00:46:39
Darin Tingey
um Well, what, well your last last few questions here, what, ah I don't know if i can say your favorite area, like you served like the whole, you know, the whole island, but I guess what was your favorite area within the island?
00:46:54
Darin Tingey
um And then your favorite food and your favorite cultural or favorite thing about the marsh islands?
00:46:59
Ellery Miller
Oh, nice. um Okay, well, favorite area since I was in Long Island the whole time, i really enjoy Ruk, like Sebalabalup. Like, you know the 7-Eleven, like, gas station area, like, that they call Sebalabalup? That to, like, the bishop's house is super fun.
00:47:18
Ellery Miller
And then, like, there's some really strong members named the Alfreds. who also live like in that area and I feel like we just had so much help with like teaching because the Alphards were there so we could always just pull one of them for a lesson which is so awesome um so yeah Long Island has my heart forever and favorite food is mei kelel which is like the breadfruit that's been mashed with like coconut milk so yummy and you can't find it anywhere in the states like
00:47:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:47:44
Ellery Miller
When I went to Hawaii last summer with my friends, I was like, could see breadfruit on the trees, but I was like, does anybody like sell it? And they were like, no, because I feel like it's not really like a touristy thing. Whereas like coconuts, this also made me mad because coconuts are also like one of my favorite, probably my second. and you know, in Hawaii, they charge you like 12 bucks for a coconut.
00:48:04
Ellery Miller
And I was like, no, like you don't get it.
00:48:05
Darin Tingey
It's...
00:48:06
Ellery Miller
These are free in the Marchand. Like, can you please just give me one? Yeah, make LL breadfruit. It's kind of an acquired taste, but I really like it.
00:48:13
Darin Tingey
Yeah, so good.
00:48:14
Ellery Miller
It's so like, yeah. And then what was your your last question?
00:48:20
Darin Tingey
um What was your favorite thing about the Marsh Islands?
00:48:25
Ellery Miller
I think my favorite thing about the Marshall Islands was just the, I mean, the obvious answer is the people and just how welcoming they are. i never felt like rejected or I never felt like anyone was I don't know what even the right word is. I genuinely feel like everyone there like had some degree of like Yahweh for each other, like love for each other.
00:48:48
Ellery Miller
And even if they were like the pastor of the church that hated us, they would still like look us in the eye and talk to us. It was really interesting how like I just, I really did feel like so loved by the people and it made me so like want to live my life differently with like the people in my life. And yeah,
00:49:05
Ellery Miller
I guess my second favorite answer would just be like the ocean. The ocean is so beautiful. Like I, would just do comp study at the airport beach park and just like look out at the lagoon and like watch the waves. I could just watch the waves endlessly. So yeah.
00:49:18
Darin Tingey
Yeah, the ocean. I miss it. And it's just always there. it's just right there. Sunsets are beautiful. Sunrise, same thing. It's just just calming to have the ocean right there. And I almost forgot to ask you about like teaching teaching the MTC. like Just quick, you've been teaching for how long?
00:49:36
Darin Tingey
Or are you still teaching?
00:49:37
Ellery Miller
Yes, I'm still teaching. So I was teaching right when I got home from my mission. And then i took a six month break because I lived in Washington, D.C. and I was interning. So I took a quick break, but I'm back. And so I know almost every single missionary in the Marshall Islands.
00:49:51
Ellery Miller
And I feel like that was such good closure for me because like I only got six months in the Marshall Islands. And that was so hard. Like I really wanted to have served all 18 months in the Marshall Islands. And I feel like when I left, I was like, oh, I didn't even like make that much of a difference. I didn't like baptize 10 families. It was just i really wanted to make more of a difference.
00:50:10
Ellery Miller
And I feel like the way that I've been able to do that somewhat is by like teaching at the MTC and just like testifying of the importance of like turning the Marshallese people to the restored gospel like they obviously all believe in Jesus Christ but helping them recognize like the true church is like so critical and the mission is just amazing like going back in May I got to go to both zone conferences east and west and to see like 50 60 missionaries when i served and there was 10 like that was really cool so the work of the Lord is progressing in the Marshall Islands I can testify to that
00:50:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's pretty cool. You teach them all and then like read all their emails and vicariously live through them and experience the full two years or 18 months through them.
00:50:49
Ellery Miller
yep
00:50:53
Darin Tingey
That's so fun. I did that with an elder who just just got back because he served. He was from my like home stake and I just read it
00:51:00
Ellery Miller
Oh, what's his name?
00:51:01
Darin Tingey
Arnett, Elder Arnett. think he might have been trans.
00:51:03
Ellery Miller
Oh, yeah.
00:51:04
Darin Tingey
I don't know if you know him, but...
00:51:05
Ellery Miller
No, he was the transfer I didn't teach, like, the six weeks before I got home, and yeah.
00:51:10
Darin Tingey
I would just read his emails and read email back and forth. I was like, dude, i'm just I'm just living through you. It's been great. but And then I saw him and I went out there in August, which was a lot of fun. but
00:51:19
Ellery Miller
That's so fun. Did you jump in the bridge? Was that you?
00:51:22
Darin Tingey
I did not jump in the bridge.
00:51:25
Ellery Miller
Okay, usually Karaketake told me that some RMs came back and, like, jumped off the bridge into the water.
00:51:31
Darin Tingey
That's funny. No, I came just my wife and my parents. So... um That was a great time. i I wish I could have stayed there for a whole month. I would have had enough to do. Well, el this was, um, a great episode.
00:51:45
Darin Tingey
Thanks for coming on. You have such a ah fun story and like, like to persevere through the year of like not being in your original side mission, but to stick with it and then go to make a huge impact in the Marshall Islands as one of the first missionaries back is one of the coolest stories ever.
00:52:00
Darin Tingey
So, uh,
00:52:01
Ellery Miller
Aw, thank you. Thanks for having me. It was so awesome to reminisce.
00:52:03
Darin Tingey
yeah they Yeah, absolutely. This was another great episode of the Islands Podcast.