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Episode 7: Damon Swain - Marshall Islands - Ailinglaplap, Ebeye, Majuro, Arno (jambo)
35 Plays1 day ago
Damon Swain served in the Marshall Islands Majuro Mission from 2012-2014. When Damon received his mission call it said he was going to be speaking English, but boy was that wrong. Damon served his entire mission in the Marshall Islands side of the mission, serving on the islands of Majuro, Ebeye, a quick jambo to Arno, and then finishing on the outer island of Ailinglaplap where he spent over 151 days. When there is demand for the class, Damon teaches a Marshallese culture and language class at BYU.
#MarshallIslandsMajuroMission #MarshallIslandsKiribatiMission #MarshallIslands #Ailinglaplap #Ebeye #Majuro #Arno #TheIslandsPodcast #theislands #PacificIslands #PacificIslanders #Micronesia
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Transcript
Introduction and Mission Background
00:00:01
Darin Tingey
All right, we're here with another episode of the Islands Podcast, sponsored by Spam. No, I'm just kidding. No sponsorships. Not yet.
00:00:13
Darin Tingey
ah But we're on with Damon Swain, which is the first elder that I did not serve with ah on the pod. So Damon, give a little intro of yourself and kind of when you served in the mission.
00:00:27
Damon Swain
Yeah, hello, hello, everyone. um So 2012 2014. um So a lot of kind of, lot of different things than I think your mission, like there a lot of like, it's interesting to listen to the podcast because there there has been a lot of changes since when I
Mission Call and Cultural Challenges
00:00:50
Damon Swain
served.
00:00:50
Damon Swain
um For instance, like when I went out, I was i had to be 19, so I had to wait a little bit before,
00:00:56
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
00:00:57
Damon Swain
so
00:00:58
Darin Tingey
So, so did you go to school before?
00:00:58
Damon Swain
um
00:01:01
Damon Swain
Yeah, so I went to a semester at Snow College, and I did i did terrible at college. I had like terrible um scores, terrible grades, and just did really bad. I just had a lot of ah lot more fun just with like hanging out with people and meeting new people.
00:01:16
Damon Swain
um Got my mission call in around that fall, so it was I think it was around Thanksgiving. um I opened up the call. It said, you're serving in the Marshall Islands Majora Mission.
00:01:29
Damon Swain
And I was like really excited. And then it said English speaking um because at that time they didn't teach it in the MTC.
00:01:35
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
00:01:38
Damon Swain
So if you don't, like if the language isn't taught in the MTC, they they don't say it, I guess. They just say it's English speaking.
00:01:45
Darin Tingey
They're just like, you're going to be English speaking.
00:01:47
Damon Swain
Yeah. and And so I thought I was, I thought it was English speaking. and And funny enough, when I got the call, um My mom was like, oh, that's where so-and-so is on a mission to.
00:01:59
Damon Swain
So there was a kid in my ward that was on the same mission.
00:02:03
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:02:04
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:02:04
Darin Tingey
What are the odds? That's so crazy.
00:02:05
Damon Swain
I know. Isn't that crazy? And I'm saying like, and ah and you might think like, oh, maybe he has a lot of young men. No, there was like four of us. So when I went on a mission, I was like the fourth or fifth one to be on a mission for my ward.
00:02:15
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:02:17
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:02:17
Darin Tingey
ah Where are you from originally? Where did you grow up?
00:02:19
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah. Sorry. I grew up in Layton, Layton, Utah. Yeah.
00:02:22
Darin Tingey
And there was only four young men?
00:02:25
Damon Swain
No, yeah, that that went on missions.
00:02:27
Darin Tingey
okay.
00:02:27
Damon Swain
There was like, yeah, like by the time I had gone on a mission, they had four four or five missionaries out.
00:02:28
Darin Tingey
okay
00:02:34
Damon Swain
They were like around my age, yeah.
00:02:34
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:02:36
Damon Swain
And so,
00:02:36
Darin Tingey
And was that guy was that guy in the Marshall Islands side or was he on the kid of the side?
00:02:40
Damon Swain
yeah, so I later learned, so he was on the Marshall Island side and kind of interesting. So I think because of that, they were going to put me on the Kitabat side. At least that's what I heard. That's what later learned. I was kind of companions with a few APs.
00:02:54
Damon Swain
APs or that or someone that was an AP at the time and he said well we were going you were going to go to the Kiribath side but that elder was really struggling and he was a really good missionary um the one from my home ward he was like fantastic missionary almost like too too good like he was too obedient
00:03:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
Missionary Experiences and Leadership
00:03:16
Damon Swain
and don't know if you know like no he was just like
00:03:16
Darin Tingey
Too good for the Marshall Islands. It's a true. It's a thing. It's a thing.
00:03:22
Damon Swain
Super, super obedient. every Every mission rule followed to the T, like way, way extreme. um But it almost like, I don't know, I later talked to him and it kind of got to his head where then he like started to restrict his diet and he got an eating disorder where like he would watch everything he ate.
00:03:44
Damon Swain
And so it's kind of like an OCD kind of thing. Um, but before I met or before he left on his mission, he was kind of huskier. and then when I got to the Marshall Islands and I saw him, I was like, oh my gosh. And I gave him a hug. It just felt like bones.
00:04:00
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:04:01
Damon Swain
Like he'd been barely eating. um but and it was really cool though, because he, ah when he heard that I was coming out, it kind of gave him some motivation. Like, okay.
00:04:12
Damon Swain
Cause they were going to send him home. They're like Hey, if you're not eating, if you're not, we can't have you. here, you know, like it was getting really bad health wise.
00:04:18
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
00:04:20
Damon Swain
Um, and so he's like, I need to stay so I can help, um, you know, elder Swain or, you know, meet, you know, a little bit later on. And so it was really cool to kind of hear that. And then we actually later became, um, companions. He became an AP because, you know, again, he was very by the book.
00:04:39
Damon Swain
Um, so the mission president loved him, cause he's by the book and didn't want him to leave.
00:04:39
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:04:44
Damon Swain
um Because he was like a hard worker. And so we later became companions. He got to kind of choose where he died after he was AP. And so we were um companions for a transfer. And then then he went home.
00:04:56
Damon Swain
But
00:04:56
Darin Tingey
That's cool.
00:04:56
Damon Swain
um
00:04:56
Darin Tingey
So you kind of had, since you had someone in your ward, you had an insight of what the mission looked like and felt like, and you're like, okay, I'm actually not going to be English speaking. I'm probably going to learn Marshallese.
00:05:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:05:08
Damon Swain
you know, that's the funniest thing. That's the funny thing. Like, you would think. But no, like i I still didn't research anything. I didn't even talk to his mom that much. Uh, like I think, I think my mom talked to her more. So I got the call on third on in, in November.
00:05:24
Damon Swain
and later got, Oh, so I, after you get your mission call, the mission president sends you a letter and says like, it's like about like three or four weeks later and says, Hey, by the way, you are learning a language. It's Marshallese and you're going to be going or like Marshallese or Kiribati, depending on where you're going.
00:05:38
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:05:39
Damon Swain
Um, And so I didn't find out until went to the MTC in March um that it was Marshallese speaking and I'd be going to the Marshall Islands because I got my tag and it was in Marshallese.
00:05:51
Damon Swain
um But it was just so funny because like I still thought, like I was like, maybe it's like the Bahamas or it's an island.
00:05:52
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:05:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah. yeah
00:05:58
Damon Swain
like I'm sure everyone still speaks English. And i really didn't do that much research. And I got to the MTC and I looked at my tag and then I looked at the person that It was like helping out. was like a senior couple or something.
00:06:11
Damon Swain
And I was like, that's not English. And then they like laughed at me. And I was like, I just went on my way. um But yeah. And so, that you know, it's really interesting because in the MTC, because you're English speaking, i was only there for like two and a half weeks.
00:06:28
Damon Swain
And in my district, I was going to, you know, i I was with people that were going to Cleveland, Ohio, English speaking, um our teachers.
00:06:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:06:36
Darin Tingey
Were you the only one going to the Marshall Islands?
00:06:39
Damon Swain
No, so there were five of us going to the mission. um me and Elder Angulao, we were going to the Marshall Islands. He's a Tongan elder from Salt Lake. And then, so we went to the Marshall Islands. And then the three others, there was one sister and then two elders that went to Kiribati.
00:07:00
Damon Swain
So, yeah.
00:07:00
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:07:02
Darin Tingey
Small group.
00:07:02
Damon Swain
So that's kind fun. Yeah, small group. we It was kind of fun. We met a few Marshallese. missionaries in the MTC so that's kind of fun to talk to them um but you know they weren't really good at English so we couldn't really talk to them but like one was really nice she gave me like Marshallese dictionary so I was able to like I was like the first one to in our group to like get like some resources and I was like looking at it and I was like I have no clue how to to pronounce any of these things but
00:07:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:07:26
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:07:33
Darin Tingey
You would have thought the mission president would have been like working with the MTC to try and get you some materials.
00:07:39
Damon Swain
giving you some mirror and material yeah yeah I know that's what I thought but yeah nothing yeah absolutely nothing so we learned how to teach which was good but yeah like like I said it was like two and a half weeks um then we went to Hawaii and then the Kiribati elders they left before us or sister they left before like a day before us and then we left after um and it's
00:07:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:08:01
Darin Tingey
So you went to Hawaii, stayed the night next to the airport, the classic sti-
00:08:07
Damon Swain
yeah you know it's funny we Yeah, we were right by the, I think it right by the airport. And we went, we were like, it was like right after Easter. And like, oh, we're so pumped. Like, let's go share the gospel. Like, just these greenies out of the MTC.
00:08:18
Damon Swain
We're like, oh, let's go do it.
00:08:19
Darin Tingey
ah
00:08:20
Damon Swain
And we went and then we tried to knock some doors. And then, like, we're talking to a few people, just sharing, like, some cards that we got about Easter and, like, and things like that. And um and then after a while, this lady was kind of angry at us and, like, you know, this is, like, the base um like ma majority of the people are in the military and this is like the base's property or something.
00:08:38
Damon Swain
So I don't know where we were, but we were like close to, like we weren't supposed to prophlate. And so hopefully we didn't get the church in trouble for that, but we were like so defeated.
00:08:46
Darin Tingey
Man.
00:08:47
Damon Swain
We're like, this did not work. And so then we just went and ate food and then we're like, ah, all right.
00:08:50
Darin Tingey
yeah Enjoy our last night in America and then on to the mission.
00:08:56
Damon Swain
Yeah. um And the funny part is, and then we got to the airport the next morning, like really early. And there were a ton of missionaries from the New Zealand um MTC.
00:09:08
Damon Swain
So that's where they would send all the Pacific Islanders that were going to the, you know, the Marshall Islands.
00:09:11
Darin Tingey
Hmm.
00:09:13
Damon Swain
They would go to the, because you didn't have to learn the language, you know. So they would just go go to to New Zealand and the MTC there.
00:09:17
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:09:21
Darin Tingey
So did you meet up with anybody?
00:09:21
Damon Swain
And so there was about five more.
00:09:23
Darin Tingey
There were five more.
00:09:24
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:25
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:09:25
Damon Swain
there's So there's five more elders, I think. Yeah. And then so so we had a pretty big intake. Um, yeah, then we got to the Marshall Islands.
00:09:36
Damon Swain
Uh, the flight was, was all right. Um, I just remember falling asleep. I was always so tired, like in the MTC and then so tired, just like, just the first part of my mission. i always just remember just always being so tired and just trying to sleep whenever I could. So I think I just fell asleep on the plane.
00:09:54
Darin Tingey
Fell asleep and woke up and saw pure ocean with a tiny strip of land.
00:09:58
Damon Swain
Yeah, they're like, oh, we're landing. And i was like, I don't even see where we're landing. Yeah, that that's surreal. Just because, also, again, I didn't look at like any of the geography.
00:10:09
Damon Swain
I know i knew like people that said like atolls, but I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know they're like these donut-shaped islands that are very skinny, you know?
00:10:14
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:10:18
Damon Swain
um Almost like an onion ring, I guess. You could call him like an onion ring island. like Little patches missing missing here and there.
00:10:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:10:24
Damon Swain
Bite marks off of the onion ring. But, yeah, it was... It was so interesting. And then just landing and then just feeling the heat. Oh, that's and that's another thing. So we we still had our jackets on.
00:10:37
Damon Swain
we They sent us with suits.
00:10:37
Darin Tingey
Because you were in the middle. ah a Because you were in MTC in the winter too, which...
00:10:42
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah. and and And back then they they did. like they Even though you were going on an island, they still made you wear a suit.
00:10:50
Darin Tingey
Oh, gosh.
00:10:51
Damon Swain
Yeah. So I remember the doors opening and just having dress shoes on. Oh, man. And my feet were just sweating. I was so hot. i was like, oh, my goodness. I've never felt this kind of heat before.
00:11:04
Damon Swain
and And just, yeah. And then when we got to the mission home, you hang up your um your suit jacket. But they didn't tell me to hang up my pants as well. So by the time at the end of the mission, when I picked up my suit jacket, I had like a random pair of pants with it.
00:11:20
Damon Swain
Yeah. that's right You know, and then coconut stained shirts. Like I looked so terrible um on the way home. but
00:11:27
Darin Tingey
Did, was the mission home still in the same spot ah in Long Island by the logic art departments?
00:11:34
Damon Swain
I think so.
00:11:34
Darin Tingey
Was it not?
00:11:35
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:11:36
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:11:37
Damon Swain
I can't remember. I think it was kind of tucked away. It was kind of but wasn't it by the mission office or no?
00:11:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah, by the mission office.
00:11:42
Damon Swain
And like that.
00:11:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah, in the corner.
00:11:43
Damon Swain
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
00:11:45
Darin Tingey
Which is a pretty, nice it was a pretty nice house. Like, like, I'll,
00:11:47
Damon Swain
i thought I thought it was way nice. Like later on, like going back to it and you're like, Whoa, carpet.
00:11:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah, ah right.
00:11:53
Damon Swain
but
00:11:54
Darin Tingey
Like this is an American house. Like that's what it felt like.
00:11:58
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:11:59
Darin Tingey
Which was like, and again, not anything that I expected. i mean, Magiro's got kind of all of the above, right? It's got some shacks. It's got some nice houses.
00:12:10
Darin Tingey
um And your mission president, who was your mission president when he first started?
00:12:14
Damon Swain
Yeah. so when I first started, it was a president Shaw. And then about halfway through my mission, it switched to President Weir and Sister Weir.
00:12:22
Darin Tingey
And Shah, was he American?
00:12:24
Damon Swain
Yeah, so yeah President Shaw, he was American. um Military background. um Pretty strict, i would say. like His whole thing was obedience like over everything.
00:12:38
Damon Swain
um And that was kind of interesting when but President Weir came in because it was kind of the same thing. was almost like two different parents. like The first one was like if you break the rules, I'll be very upset with you, you know, and I'll be really angry. And that was president.
00:12:53
Damon Swain
I feel like that was president Shaw. And then president weird came in and he said, you know, like if you break the rules and if you're disobedient, I'll be very disappointed in you, you know? And you're like, Oh man, like, I don't want to disappoint this man.
00:13:02
Darin Tingey
and
00:13:05
Damon Swain
Like I want to do my best.
00:13:06
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:13:07
Damon Swain
And and so it did kind of different approaches. Um, but it also could have been like, just cause they were different, different parts of their mission, you know, at the end and and at the beginning, um,
00:13:16
Darin Tingey
Totally. how um And mission demographics, like how many missionaries were on the Marshall side? Okay.
00:13:23
Damon Swain
o there are a lot more on the carabas side and then but on the Marshall Island side there was it wasn't too many there were only a few outer islands open at the time lie and a bone Jalowicz oh actually an island loblob so there are four outer islands
00:13:45
Darin Tingey
Okay. Mostly, ah the missionaries, were they mostly islanders versus Americans?
00:13:52
Damon Swain
Yeah, I don't know. I'd say about half and half.
00:13:55
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:13:56
Damon Swain
Yeah. Was that the same with you, or?
00:13:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah, i I think when I... Well, when I got there, like I guess two transfers before me, it was definitely a lot more islanders. And then the group ahead of me was all American. And then my group was...
00:14:13
Darin Tingey
like three fourths American and then the other third their fourth was Islanders. So it was like kind of two big waves of American elders. And then I feel like when I first started a lot of islander Islanders and then they kind of trickled out almost, which was
00:14:30
Damon Swain
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, and technically, like, my intake, um so those that were on the plane with me, it was me, you know, Utah, Elder Angulao, who is Tongan but grew up in Utah, um Elder Vano from Vanuatu, then we had two elders from Samoa,
00:14:52
Damon Swain
um one from New Zealand, and then one from Fiji,
Language and Cultural Integration
00:14:59
Damon Swain
so. Yeah, so majority majority of islanders and in my intake.
00:14:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:15:04
Damon Swain
um But yeah, so I got there. it was The orientation was interesting. I met my companion. So my first companion was Elder Takururu. He was Kiribati.
00:15:14
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:15:14
Damon Swain
So yeah.
00:15:15
Darin Tingey
That's like, that's a kid of his name.
00:15:16
Damon Swain
yeah' yeah Yeah, his name was, I think his name was Bama. His first name was Bama. And I say i always joke because Obama was the president back then, so.
00:15:25
Darin Tingey
ah that's awesome
00:15:27
Damon Swain
So he was like President Obama. But, um yeah, and so he, because of my situation, I think, because, like, I don't know, just because maybe i was supposed to go to the Kiribati or what, they didn't have enough trainers, and Takururu was supposed to go home.
00:15:42
Damon Swain
And the president really didn't give him a choice, I think, because I was talking to him about it.
00:15:48
Darin Tingey
Sad.
00:15:48
Damon Swain
And he made him extend, like, an extra transfer just so he could train Yeah. so
00:15:55
Darin Tingey
Poor guy.
00:15:56
Damon Swain
I know. he was ah So as you can imagine, my trainer was extremely trunky. Like, yeah, he did not.
00:16:02
Darin Tingey
yeah oh my gosh.
00:16:04
Damon Swain
Yeah, like a Kiribati guy.
00:16:04
Darin Tingey
well do You're gonna stay out for another six months or six weeks. That's tough.
00:16:09
Damon Swain
Yeah, yeah. And he he didn't speak English that much. He hated speaking English. Only spoke Marshallese, really. um And yeah, and my so my first area was Arak.
00:16:20
Damon Swain
So I went on the the west side.
00:16:22
Darin Tingey
Okay, yeah, so quick run through of your areas. Start in Arak, then where? Mm-hmm.
00:16:28
Damon Swain
Yeah, so Arak, and then I went to Ibai, Ibai South. um It was Ibai South, but we also had the middle as well, because back then it was the branches. So we had the first, second, and third branch.
00:16:37
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:16:40
Damon Swain
And so we covered two of those branches. We kind of, like, shared two the branches with the North Elders. um And then the sisters just had the whole island.
00:16:45
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:16:48
Damon Swain
There were sisters out there.
00:16:48
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's always how it is.
00:16:49
Damon Swain
was, like, lucky.
00:16:50
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:16:51
Damon Swain
was, like, okay. But, yeah, and so Ibai, and then when I came, I was there for a good while. Um, had some good success. was pretty hard, pretty difficult sometimes just still learning the language.
00:17:04
Damon Swain
Um, cause you know, we didn't learn NTC when we got the, when we got to the Marsh Island, they gave us a little pamphlet is maybe like 60 pages. And that's just like, it was made by missionaries. Like, ah basically like, Hey, here's the, here's the language rundown.
00:17:15
Darin Tingey
okay
00:17:20
Damon Swain
And I really struggled with it. Um, just because I didn't really do well in school. Like, I was all right, a student. as I was an OK student, but I really struggled in languages.
00:17:31
Damon Swain
Like, I think in eighth grade, I got like a D in Spanish. like but And that's that was the extent of my experience. So I really struggled, but then later um was able to progress a lot more. So yeah, so after EBI, I went to Dellup South.
00:17:47
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:17:47
Damon Swain
um they They split Dellup. And then um I went to Gendrick.
00:17:52
Darin Tingey
So, okay.
00:17:53
Damon Swain
yeah um i was there for a good good while. i had a ton of companions. I was looking at a list of all the companions I had in my mission and I just went through so many. I don't know why that is.
00:18:05
Damon Swain
and That's a good or a bad thing.
00:18:06
Darin Tingey
but
00:18:07
Damon Swain
like They just stuck me with a lot of people. like At one point...
00:18:10
Darin Tingey
ah I was say i had a lot too.
00:18:11
Damon Swain
Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
00:18:14
Darin Tingey
I had a lot too.
00:18:14
Damon Swain
Oh, you did? Okay.
00:18:14
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:15
Damon Swain
Maybe that's just the mission thing. like They're always moving people around and um sometimes there's issues or problems that they have to
00:18:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah. the long The like longest amount of time was when I was on the outer island like that.
00:18:26
Damon Swain
Yeah, same.
00:18:27
Darin Tingey
That's just kind of how it was.
00:18:29
Damon Swain
Yeah, same. Yeah, at one point, there weren there weren't enough. Like, we were waiting for the Outer Island missionaries to come back. And one of my companions was going to be, I was going be companions with um one that was coming back from Islay Lobalop.
00:18:42
Damon Swain
And, of course, like, air maybe, it didn't fly. So, like, there was a week or two, I didn't have a companion. And so I was actually paired up with one of the YSAs in the Generic Ward. Two of them, actually.
00:18:53
Damon Swain
Like, one for a few days.
00:18:54
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:18:55
Damon Swain
And I think it was just too hard for him. And that he asked like he he's like, I like ah can't do this. And then there was another one that helped me.
00:19:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:02
Damon Swain
Which, that's probably my bad. I i treated it like like they were like another missionary. um But they were just like a young man, you know, like 17 or 18, about to go on a mission.
00:19:11
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:19:13
Damon Swain
And like, yeah, I was probably too like, all right, let's go. Like, go in. i mean, i love we played volleyball and basketball every once while, like if we saw people playing. yeah.
00:19:25
Damon Swain
Yeah, they were just always so tired too.
00:19:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:27
Damon Swain
And I was like, I felt bad. Looking back, I'm like, I should have been like, tried to make it a lot more fun instead of like, we got to teach all these people. was like a leader at the time.
00:19:35
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:19:36
Damon Swain
and I know. That's the...
00:19:39
Darin Tingey
Trying to try to set the example and be a good missionary.
00:19:41
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:19:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's hard.
00:19:44
Damon Swain
yeah Yeah. And that's the thing about the mission. I think that was the hardest thing for me um at the beginning and the middle and the end. ah Finding that balance of like, following all the mission rules and like the, all the rules that you need to do, then also,
00:20:01
Damon Swain
um being kind of in touch with the culture and following that, um, and that love for the people.
00:20:08
Darin Tingey
Totally.
00:20:10
Damon Swain
And I, I didn't find that balance until the outer Island, I feel like, and I really struggled with it a lot of my mission, but that's right. I finally figured it out towards the end, but
00:20:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah, no, I definitely agree. I think, um I kind of learned it click quick quicker than those. Well, I don't know. Maybe I didn't learn it quicker than those. But because I had an islander companion at the beginning from Vanuatu and like it was an ET like three weeks into it.
00:20:36
Darin Tingey
And then my next companion was like, listen, this is how the islands are. Like it's a little more like the culture is different and you kind of got to adapt to that. And like that's okay.
00:20:46
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:20:46
Darin Tingey
And him teaching me that was like the best thing ever, because then it made it the rest of the mission a lot easier and in terms of of that.
00:20:55
Damon Swain
but Yeah, that's so true. And and that's one thing that Elder Takaruru helped me a lot too. um I feel bad. like I think we would have gotten along a lot better like later on the mission once I spoke more Shaleese.
00:21:07
Damon Swain
um
00:21:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:21:08
Damon Swain
Because we kind of butt heads at first. Because I was i was like freaking i was like, I can't learn this language And Arak is like, it's a pretty big, like you have bikes and it's a pretty big area where there's not a lot of people. So we only taught like two or three lessons like a day and didn't really talk to that many people a lot of the times.
00:21:26
Damon Swain
So I wasn't getting a lot of exposure.
00:21:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:21:27
Damon Swain
And I think one, like one time I just like broke down I was like, you need to teach me the language. And he's like, it's not my job to teach you the language. You know, I'm here to like train you and like how the mission works.
00:21:38
Damon Swain
And then he like told me like, I need to be more humble. And i was like, more humble. i was like, what? like i I was like, so mad, you know, like classic, like American elder. And, um, but then I, don't know. Like it, I really took it to heart. And then we later became really good friends.
00:21:54
Damon Swain
Um, and I just like, I don't know, toned it down a lot.
00:21:58
Darin Tingey
Well, yeah, I mean, ah you kind of had that i don't know how long you and Arak, but so Arak for those don't know, like countryside of Majuro, like very islandy, super pretty.
00:21:59
Damon Swain
So.
00:22:09
Darin Tingey
And then you go to Ebi, which is the complete opposite, where you've got like people all over each other, like, they're just living everywhere.
00:22:11
Damon Swain
Oh, man. Yeah.
00:22:17
Darin Tingey
And so you're talking to people 24 seven, like, I'm sure that was great for your language learning.
00:22:23
Damon Swain
Yeah, it was. it Well, it was and it wasn't like, i think like, um like the elder I was with, ah he was really good at the language. And like, so I still didn't feel like I got a lot of opportunities. Like I kind of wished, I don't know, like,
00:22:40
Damon Swain
talking or like listening to some of the podcasts where some of the young missionaries were together. Like I really wish that would have been my case. Just cause I, I wasn't like the, the same intake almost to like almost a year or so. Well, little, maybe like eight months or so into my mission.
00:22:58
Damon Swain
And that was finally when I felt like i was able to learn a lot more when elder Vano and I were from Vanuatu were, me and him were companions.
00:22:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:23:07
Damon Swain
but And he was my favorite companion.
00:23:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah. it's it's
00:23:10
Damon Swain
Like, I want to go to Vanuatu soon because, I don't know, he was he was awesome. He keeps messaging me.
00:23:16
Darin Tingey
Yeah, Vanuatu is unique. we have a lot We had a lot of Vanuatu elders when I first started, and then we like then we got none for a while. It was super weird, but there was a ton when I got there.
00:23:24
Damon Swain
Oh, really?
00:23:25
Darin Tingey
And Vanuatu, that'd be a sweet mission.
00:23:26
Damon Swain
Oh, that's funny. Yeah, I know. they They're so fun. They're like awesome. Great, great attitude and super humble.
00:23:35
Darin Tingey
So, so you okay, Arak, Ibai, and then back to Madra, Delap, then Jendrik, and then from there Ailing Wabalap, or where?
00:23:41
Damon Swain
Yeah. Then Jenrick. And then there, oh no, sorry. Then i became a zone leader. So i was in Uluga in the small chapel house.
00:23:51
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:23:51
Damon Swain
And so, yeah, that that was fun. um And then, so I was, so then I was, I was only with Elder Vaulu from my, from my intake. He's from Samoa. And we were so scared because we also, we always talked about this. Like, so they,
00:24:07
Damon Swain
back then they did like the AP, like one was from the Kiribati side and one was from the Marshall Island side. It's usually about like six months or so. And then they would switch.
00:24:15
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:24:16
Damon Swain
And the timing was, was kind of coming up where the Marshall Island side, there needed to be an AP. And I was so scared. I was like, it's, cause like logistically you look at it like, okay, it's out of all the zone leaders, you know, like it's going to be one of us four.
00:24:32
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:24:34
Damon Swain
And, and like, but it just seemed like it would have been me or Elder Vaulu, just because of, like, how much time we had left, and I was so scared.
00:24:44
Damon Swain
I was like, I i want to go to Outer Island, like, i like you know, like, i i hated hated going to Long Island.
00:24:48
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:24:50
Damon Swain
i feel bad, but, like, I hated the paperwork. I hated every time we went to the office. um
00:24:55
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:24:57
Damon Swain
It was, like, the worst, because sometimes we would have to help the APs, or we'd do, like, exchanges with them, um and But yeah, and luckily it wasn't me, and I feel bad, but yeah, Elder Vaolu, he had to step up and and be the AP, so I'm glad that he did, but um I shouldn't say that, yeah, but yeah, I don't know.
00:25:15
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:25:15
Damon Swain
Maybe I shouldn't say that, but i I just, I don't know. I was on a mission. I wanted to, you know, be with the people as much as I could and not deal with ah as much as the administrative stuff, I guess, but.
00:25:26
Darin Tingey
yeah but which which don't know about you guys but we don't have office elders so the ap's were the de facto office elders at the time
00:25:35
Damon Swain
Yeah, we didn't either. they Yeah, they were the they were the ones doing the numbers. So even when Waulu became AP, there were times where... There there was one time where my companion, Elder Anguilau, also from my intake, he had to go to Hawaii for a few days to get his teeth fixed.
00:25:53
Damon Swain
He had some really bad toothaches. So he was gone for like four or five days, and I had be with... um Elder Baulu doing like the numbers and the AP stuff. And we had Skype with Kiribis and talk to them.
00:26:09
Damon Swain
um
00:26:10
Darin Tingey
How was the Skype?
00:26:10
Damon Swain
And yeah, it was all right.
00:26:11
Darin Tingey
Was it good?
00:26:13
Damon Swain
Like, i don't know. it It was like really quick. Like the, it kind of laggy, but yeah, like, um yeah.
00:26:20
Darin Tingey
and kind of
00:26:22
Damon Swain
Yeah. I don't really remember too much, but yeah, yeah like we would, we'd have like these meetings and then this is also weird. So, back Back then, they didn't have a flight. think it was, is it Air Nauru that goes to Kiribati now?
00:26:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yep.
00:26:36
Damon Swain
So they they didn't have that flight. And so the mission president had to go from, like, the Marshall Islands to Hawaii, then to Fiji, and then to Kiribati or something.
00:26:44
Darin Tingey
Oh gosh. Wow.
00:26:46
Damon Swain
And so he would go, like, every two weeks or so to the Marshall Islands. And so I think that's why they had those two different um two different APs, like one from Kiribati and one from the Marshall Islands.
00:26:54
Darin Tingey
Hey, peace.
00:26:58
Darin Tingey
So was, was one AP in the Marshall Islands and one AP was in Kitabas or where did they come to the Marshall Islands?
00:27:03
Damon Swain
No, they they were both. Yeah, so they came to the Marsh Islands. um
00:27:09
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:27:10
Damon Swain
Which is kind of funny because we're ah we always kind of treated them differently. You know, like we're like, oh these guys, they think they're so cool.
00:27:16
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:19
Damon Swain
They're like, they talk about how it's so underdeveloped over there.
00:27:21
Darin Tingey
what
00:27:26
Damon Swain
Yeah, yeah. Just kidding.
00:27:28
Darin Tingey
Right, right. No, it's so true.
00:27:29
Damon Swain
It was it was really funny, like. how How, like, you kind of have that different attitude towards them, but...
00:27:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah, no, I think there's always been kind of, and I've talked to ah several different missionaries about this, like just through text about as the podcast has been going on, but like there is this like division of like Marshall Island side, Kitabas side, like, you know, everyone, Marshall Island side, like we're the better, Kitabas is like we're better, you know, or like,
00:27:57
Darin Tingey
this is better for that reason. And in the end, they're just like, they're just different, right? Like Kitabas,
00:28:03
Damon Swain
Yeah, but yeah's totally different it's almost like a yeah just a different mission. So it shouldn't be like a competition.
00:28:08
Darin Tingey
yeah, it's a different mission. And I feel like whoever's the mission president often kind of dictates how those feelings are a little bit because,
00:28:10
Damon Swain
like yeah
00:28:22
Darin Tingey
Like my mission president spent more time in Kitabas. And rightly so.
00:28:25
Damon Swain
Oh, interesting.
00:28:25
Darin Tingey
There was more there was more missionaries there.
00:28:27
Damon Swain
More members, yeah.
00:28:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And like they were really trying to get a temple. So he spent a lot of time there. But like he would be there for like two weeks and come back for like three days and then go back to Kitabas. So i was like us and the marshals, we were like, what the heck, president?
00:28:42
Darin Tingey
Uh, you know, like you don't care about us. And then when I went to Kitabas, it was like, Oh, president's great. You know, like we love president, you know?
00:28:49
Damon Swain
That's so funny.
00:28:49
Darin Tingey
And it's just funny how like, and like, and I feel like Marshall's on mission, Marshall Island side, like we talked about Kitabas and like how we didn't like it.
00:29:00
Darin Tingey
And I guess it was because president was always there. But when I went to Kitabas, like no one talked about the Marshall Island side. No one was like, Oh, you know, Marshall Islands. was just like, Oh cool. It's another part of the mission.
00:29:10
Damon Swain
Yeah. That's funny. is are there because and Maybe that's the case because like I feel like there's a lot of Kiribus people um in the Marsh Island.
00:29:22
Damon Swain
Like, even in my first area, like in Arak, there was like the, they called it like Gilbert East Town or something, like gi Gilbert Town or whatever. yeah.
00:29:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah. So it, it's funny when I was doing the Kitabas branch in the Marshall Islands, after I got back from Kitabas, I could go anywhere in Maduro that there were Kitabas people.
00:29:42
Darin Tingey
So I went to Adak and I found a bunch of the Kitabas people there.
00:29:44
Damon Swain
oh yeah
00:29:46
Darin Tingey
and like, none of them came to church ever or whatever, but it was fun.
00:29:49
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:29:49
Darin Tingey
Cause like, they're like, Oh my gosh, this elder's speaking Kitabas to us. And then my last area in Ulaga, I'm like hanging out, and i need a ride somewhere and the kitabas guy's driving a truck and he's like oh no what's up and i'm like hey can we hop in he's like yeah man come on like and i was like no way like the kitabas connection is coming in clutch like at the end of my mission here
00:30:09
Damon Swain
lovely
00:30:12
Damon Swain
Yeah. That's so funny. Did they still a ton of, like, demon dogs in that area because in the arak when you visit man when we rode our bikes through that area i remember first getting there and being so scared like and then like elder ducker ruth like just keep riding they'll like you know they'll pan out they'll just stop running after you and i was like ah
00:30:19
Darin Tingey
oh but
00:30:32
Damon Swain
like it'd be like super dark and all these dogs just like chasing after us um you have to carry like a stick like hit up
00:30:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I i didn't. Oh my gosh, the dogs are insane. I didn't have any run into an Adirak, but in Ajitaki I did. i remember this dog would chase us every freaking day. And so finally, i and like sometimes I'd ride faster than my companion and like whistle at it so that like it would come and like get my companion.
00:30:59
Damon Swain
That's what my companion did to me.
00:30:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:31:01
Damon Swain
That's what my trainer did. I swear.
00:31:03
Darin Tingey
It was pretty fun. was pretty fun. But um finally we got sick of it. And I was like, all right, I picked up a rock before. And I was like, all right, Elder, going to ride ahead of me. And sure enough, he rides ahead of me.
00:31:14
Darin Tingey
That dog comes running out so fast and turns. And I just nail him with the rock. And it just like, you know, like, like cries and runs away.
00:31:22
Damon Swain
Yeah. Oh, that's
00:31:23
Darin Tingey
That dog, that dog never chased us again. Never again.
00:31:27
Damon Swain
awesome. Yeah, i we had a similar thing where Elder Randall, my second companion, um he got sick of it, and he just got this huge, big old stick, probably from, like, a, I don't know, like a, yeah, it was, like, ah from a bub tree, so it was, like, nice and pointy, you know, and he just, like, he just, like, waited for the dog, and I remember him hitting it, and the dog did, like, a 360 in the air, like, it was going to bite him, and he just hit it in the face, and I was like, you probably just broke that
00:31:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:31:45
Darin Tingey
Yeah, prickly, yeah.
00:31:54
Darin Tingey
you Yeah, they are mean.
00:31:56
Damon Swain
That dog's jaw. And I'd feel bad, but those dogs are everywhere, and they're so mean.
00:32:03
Darin Tingey
Oh gosh. So
Exploration and New Assignments
00:32:04
Darin Tingey
back to Ulaga, is this where you got to go to Arno for a day?
00:32:04
Damon Swain
Anyways.
00:32:09
Damon Swain
Yeah, so because I was kind of helping the APs a little bit, like we were kind of doing a lot of exchanges, while and this is early on with President Weir, kind of and i feel like President Shaw, he had shut down a few of the Outer Islands and the Marshall Islands side.
00:32:24
Damon Swain
He didn't feel like they were kind of worth the trouble. um And they just weren't.
00:32:28
Darin Tingey
Do you know about ah the Kitabush side?
00:32:28
Damon Swain
They weren't. I
00:32:29
Darin Tingey
did he keep Do you know if he kept Owens open over there?
00:32:33
Damon Swain
don't. ah Yeah, I don't. I don't know too much. i But if I imagine, I would think that he maybe have closed down a few there as well and just focused on the main islands. um Because once President Weir came out, he was like, he really wanted to open everything up and just kind of, you know, as as best we could. So.
00:32:53
Damon Swain
Yeah, so the APs were kind of investigating. They met a lady that had a house that that was a member and she lived in Arno or had a house there. um So we talked to her and then I was with... So this was when my companion was in Hawaii.
00:33:08
Damon Swain
And so we did some research. We talked to the Leroy of Arno. um Just ask your permission, like if we could you know proselyte there and and go there.
00:33:13
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:33:17
Damon Swain
then... and then
00:33:18
Darin Tingey
So real quick, for those that don't know, that's the chiefess. In the Marshall Islands, they different chiefs. So it would have been the the the lady the lady chief, the Leroy there.
00:33:25
Damon Swain
Oh, yes yeah,
00:33:30
Darin Tingey
Sorry, continue on.
00:33:31
Damon Swain
Yeah, and and so we talked to her, and she said, yeah, it was a little awkward, but she was like, yeah, go for it, you know? um And Arno's really close. Like, if you look at a map, it's really close to Mejuro, and you can actually take, like, a ferry. There's a ferry that leaves, like, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
00:33:48
Damon Swain
and i call it a ferry, but it's just like a little fishing boat or something.
00:33:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah, a little boat yeah
00:33:52
Damon Swain
Yeah, just Just little bow. And then you. And so, yes. So we we kind of planned it all out. um They said, OK, go for it. Go take take a look at the house. Take some pictures of it.
00:34:05
Damon Swain
Maybe find some members and then come back. So because like it it left Monday, Wednesday, Friday, i think we left like a Monday.
00:34:11
Darin Tingey
boat, yeah.
00:34:12
Damon Swain
um My companion had come back.
00:34:13
Darin Tingey
OK.
00:34:14
Damon Swain
So there was three of us and we just all went. um it was really fun. Like we so the boat ride was like an hour and a half. I get super bad motion sickness. So I was just trying so hard not to throw up the whole time, like getting too thick.
00:34:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:34:28
Damon Swain
And luckily, like I was able to hold it down. so it's good. So just an hour and a half. um yeah In fact, on the way back, it was raining like really hard. and And there was like a little bit of cover on the boat and all the people, you know, were like hu it like huddled and and my companions were huddled over there.
00:34:44
Damon Swain
And I was just like, I was just chilling in the rain because it like helped me not like throw up. Like being cold like was,
00:34:49
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:34:50
Damon Swain
helping me like, i don't know, helping my body so I wasn't seasick. um But yeah, so we got there. And when you were in the Marshall Islands, was the World Teach organization there?
00:35:02
Damon Swain
Like, it's where they like, not like teachers.
00:35:03
Darin Tingey
um Um, yeah, I know.
00:35:07
Darin Tingey
I can't remember. i think they might have had a few, but not a lot, if if I remember.
00:35:13
Damon Swain
Yeah, I think it was, I think was dying down.
00:35:14
Darin Tingey
but But I do remember reading about that. Yeah.
00:35:17
Damon Swain
Yeah, so World Teach um is basically like a volunteer, kind of like the Peace Corps, but it's only one year, and you would go, and they just send you to random islands on outer islands, and you'd just teach the elementary, and you'd be there for about like a year.
00:35:29
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
00:35:31
Damon Swain
Really cool. I don't know I always wanted to do it when I got home, but you had to have a bachelor's degree, um and I think they stopped it. but So when we went to Arno, um we're in the main part of – I don't even know what it's called. I should look.
00:35:45
Damon Swain
But the – There were missionaries in Arno a long time ago in a place called Ine, and I think that's the most populous part. um But it's a ways away from the dock area that we were in.
00:35:58
Damon Swain
um so you have to take a ah car, but it's just so ha or like a truck. And it just so happened that the World Teach people were there, and they had a teacher in Ine that they were going to visit. so it was cool. So we just hitched a ride with them.
00:36:10
Damon Swain
Like the first day, we just stayed at like this little... there's kind of like a little hotel there. It was, ah it was pretty nice. Not a hotel, but like a, like a little house that you can stay at.
00:36:20
Damon Swain
um And it had, actually had beds and things like that.
00:36:22
Darin Tingey
Okay. Wow.
00:36:24
Damon Swain
And then you could see like the yard and it was really beautiful. Like it was really beautiful island.
00:36:27
Darin Tingey
wow
00:36:28
Damon Swain
I wish I could go back and spend more time. But yeah, the next day we just hitched a ride to Ine. We found some old members and we're like, oh, nice. Like we got their names and their information.
00:36:39
Damon Swain
Just hung out. Every time we'd go to a house, like they'd be like, they'd feed us, even though like, Missionaries haven't been there for a long time. They'd feed us and give us coconuts.
00:36:45
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:36:47
Damon Swain
We'd talk to them and share a little bit. um and then And then the member, like this older lady, was there in the main part of Arno, close to where the dock was.
00:36:59
Damon Swain
um And she she had a house. We took pictures of it for the senior couples so that they could look over the logistics and things like that. um Yeah, and we just kind of set it up for them.
00:37:13
Damon Swain
Um, and everything looked really good.
00:37:14
Darin Tingey
ah
00:37:15
Damon Swain
So,
00:37:16
Darin Tingey
Good little taste of an outer island for you right there. I'm sure that really had you itching.
00:37:20
Damon Swain
yeah. And I think, and and I think like, that's what was interesting. Cause elder Valulu was with us, the AP. And I was like, man, I just really want to go to an outer Island. Like so bad. Like just like always talking about it. And I was like, this would be so awesome.
00:37:34
Damon Swain
Um, and so, yeah, when we got back, it was just like three weeks later. They're like, Hey, Swain, you're going to Island level up. And I was like, yes, my time has come.
00:37:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:37:43
Damon Swain
October 1st.
00:37:43
Darin Tingey
ah yeah
00:37:44
Damon Swain
um
00:37:45
Darin Tingey
Let's go.
00:37:46
Damon Swain
Yeah, so it was really fun. So I kind of said goodbye to a lot of people in Ulaga because I was there for a little bit. um And was kind of nice to you because it seemed like like the east side of like the elders were really struggling with obedience and they were like a lot of things.
00:37:55
Darin Tingey
And then.
00:38:04
Damon Swain
So was kind of nice to get out. was like, sorry, not my problem anymore. Because like when you're in the leadership, you always have to go and talk to them and like,
00:38:08
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
00:38:12
Damon Swain
Yeah, it's kind of funny.
00:38:13
Darin Tingey
that's always That's always the east side, the city side of Maduro. It's always like too many elders too close together and it never is a good ever is a good recipe.
00:38:20
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:38:23
Damon Swain
Yeah, it really is um But yeah, so it was awesome so yeah so i flew So Elder Wood and I, we flew to... Wood...
00:38:33
Darin Tingey
So were you reopening it then?
00:38:35
Damon Swain
Oh yeah, sorry. So it would had been closed for about eight months. So President Shaw had closed it and then President Weir wanted to reopen it.
00:38:38
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:38:42
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:38:42
Damon Swain
ah So we were going back to whitewash it. um I want to say, i wonder when the first Elders went to Eiling Lavalup. Maybe like 2010 or so. But yeah.
00:38:54
Darin Tingey
So pretty recent then from what.
00:38:56
Damon Swain
Yeah, it wasn't, yeah, it it was pretty recent. Like it it didn't have a ton of, I don't know, there's still a lot of work to do there, but.
00:39:05
Darin Tingey
Yeah. did did Did you get out on the, like the first scheduled flight? Did it, did air maybe actually fly?
00:39:12
Damon Swain
Yeah, it did. it did out there. But we'll get to the later part.
00:39:16
Darin Tingey
ah
00:39:17
Damon Swain
But yeah, so we yeah we were able to leave the first flight. um Well, it was a little bit late, I think. Because we were at the airport for a while. um There was like a senior couple that was with us, or like one of the elders, he was with us.
00:39:27
Darin Tingey
ah hanna
00:39:30
Damon Swain
And he was just kind of hanging out, which was nice. He was just like like, all right, yeah, you're you're going out there. And like I don't know. um But yeah, so we
00:39:38
Darin Tingey
They weigh all your stuff and then, and then
00:39:40
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah, that was annoying. I didn't know that we had to do that. And so i was like panicking the night before. yeah Stayed at the AP's cold house because they always have AC and it's freezing.
00:39:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah, ah your body's not used to the AC and then you're just like, it's so cold in here.
00:39:52
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah. And then.
00:39:58
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah, they would always like crank it up. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. Go out in the real life. You guys are always just stuck in the. Go out the real world and feel the heat for a while. But.
00:40:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:40:09
Damon Swain
Yeah, so yeah we so we landed in, so when you go to Island Lop Lop, there's actually three airports, um so it's split up. But the biggest area is Ayrik, where you fly into.
00:40:18
Darin Tingey
hmm.
00:40:21
Damon Swain
So that's where we flew into is Ayrik. um We met a member right off the bat. He introduced himself. i think it was Jokomich. um Really awesome guy. um And, yeah, and then he's like, so then we just took ah ah took a truck, got hopped in the back of the, or in the truck,
00:40:39
Damon Swain
loaded our stuff, and then we took a drive. You have to go through Eirik, and then there's a small little town called Jebon. um think that, yeah, if I can remember right.
00:40:49
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:40:51
Damon Swain
Yeah, Jebon. And then you get to Boj, and Boj is where, like, the elders stay, and that's kind of like, the most northern part of the island. Well, not really, but...
00:41:02
Darin Tingey
Was it, was it the most populated part of the island?
00:41:06
Damon Swain
So, between those three, so, like, that kind of land strip, that's the most populated in the Eiling Loblop. But then there's also like, so Eiling Loblop, it's huge, but there's not a lot of land.
00:41:14
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:41:18
Damon Swain
um So just it looks a lot bigger than it is
00:41:20
Darin Tingey
Like it's long. It's yeah, yeah, yeah
00:41:21
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah. very Extremely long. um But yeah, so that's on the south part. So if you're looking at a map, like you can kind of see it on the south. um
00:41:32
Darin Tingey
yeah. Yep.
00:41:33
Damon Swain
It's called like Biga, don't even know what this word is.
00:41:33
Darin Tingey
I see it
00:41:36
Damon Swain
I've never heard. I'm guessing this is what the whole island's called. Bigot Jalan or something.
00:41:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see it.
00:41:44
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah. And so we were on, if if you can kind of see, like, there's a gap on the very left part of it. we were We were in that kind of, like, it's kind of bigger area.
00:41:51
Darin Tingey
Uh-huh.
00:41:54
Damon Swain
So but that's where we were. um
00:41:57
Darin Tingey
OK. Right.
00:41:58
Damon Swain
And so that's called Boj. and we we were We lived on the the doctor. His name was Hamos. He passed away a little bit a while ago. but Him and his wife, they were members.
00:42:10
Damon Swain
um He was like the doctor on the island. I think more so like a nurse, but you know, he's he's in charge.
00:42:15
Darin Tingey
right
00:42:16
Damon Swain
um And then there were about six or seven adult members. um And then some kids that would come.
00:42:28
Damon Swain
And we would have church in like a little tent. There was like a little, not ah not really a tent, but it was like a tarp that they had built. then and then we just kind of have church underneath it.
00:42:40
Damon Swain
It was right outside our little shack house thing.
00:42:43
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:42:44
Damon Swain
I remember, yeah, one of the elders or one of the guys that you interviewed early on that talked about idling lot of love, he said, he mentioned house and I was like, that was not a house.
00:42:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:42:55
Damon Swain
That was like a shack, like gross, dirty shack, concrete, like you just sleep on like the jackie on the concrete floor like, like a really thin jackie, like not even,
00:42:57
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:43:04
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:43:08
Damon Swain
and Later on, like we were able to go to like a really big Cayman, and then we we were gifted another Jackie, and we were so excited because I'm like, yes, but this just doubled, almost tripled.
00:43:16
Darin Tingey
We're to du double up on the Jackies.
00:43:18
Damon Swain
Yeah, almost tripled our... It tripled the size of our bed.
00:43:23
Darin Tingey
ah The little leaf mats. got two pads now. That's funny.
00:43:28
Damon Swain
Yeah, yeah,
Daily Life and Adaptation
00:43:29
Damon Swain
yeah. So that's what Jackie is, is like the woven leaf mat from Coconut Fronts. Yeah, and so... And there there wasn't, there was like a solar panel, but it wasn't powerful enough to run anything.
00:43:41
Damon Swain
and It just like, we had one little light bulb that it would run. And sometimes we could charge things.
00:43:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah, could you charge your camera on it?
00:43:47
Damon Swain
um Yeah, so we could charge our camera on it. um And then we could charge like, I think we had one of those DVD players that they they like brought out with us.
00:43:58
Damon Swain
I don't know if guys had those.
00:43:58
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:44:00
Damon Swain
Yeah, so we were able to watch...
00:44:00
Darin Tingey
No, President grabbed those all when he got there. When my President got there, he took all the DVD players away because they were not being used.
00:44:07
Damon Swain
Oh, that's probably good. Yeah, that's probably good.
00:44:09
Darin Tingey
They weren't being used correctly.
00:44:11
Damon Swain
Yeah. yeah that Yeah, that's probably a good thing. um But yeah, and then we had like a little like little um propane kind of stove thing.
00:44:22
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:44:22
Damon Swain
um
00:44:23
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:44:24
Damon Swain
We had a little water pump.
00:44:24
Darin Tingey
The little by little by the little cans and put them in there.
00:44:28
Damon Swain
Yeah, yep. And then for water, we had like a little, it wasn't really like a pontoon, but it was like kind of like a stone square that we'd collect our water in. Cause we had like a little tin roof and then we'd be able to collect some water.
00:44:44
Damon Swain
and then we had a little bucket. So you just like take a bucket and that's what you'd use to shower, like a bucket and a cup. Um, and then if it hadn't rained for a long time, there was like this little outhouse thing, um, that had like a little, yeah, like this little toilet.
00:44:52
Darin Tingey
Did you shower outside where did you shower?
00:44:59
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:45:02
Damon Swain
And then, um,
00:45:05
Damon Swain
And then it had like a little toilet and like a little kind of, I guess you could call it like a shower, but like a little bit of tile that you could, and like a drain that you could.
00:45:13
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:45:14
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:45:15
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:45:16
Damon Swain
um Yeah, but only one person could be in there. So it was rough if you got tummy problems or something. yeah
00:45:24
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:45:24
Damon Swain
Yeah, you'd have to go to a lick, man.
00:45:24
Darin Tingey
it Yeah, Randal Lech, Pizek Lech.
00:45:26
Damon Swain
Yeah. yeah yeah yeah basic like Yeah, I feel like they usually,, pi yeah but like we were right by the lick. Like, we were probably about 15, 20 feet from the ocean. So we fell asleep to, like, ocean sounds every night. And it was nice.
00:45:43
Damon Swain
um Yeah, we had a little water pump. You'd get, like, a bucket, and then you'd, like, pump the water like, filter it. um
00:45:50
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:45:51
Damon Swain
It broke, like, halfway through or something.
00:45:54
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:45:54
Damon Swain
So we had to.
00:45:54
Darin Tingey
I had the same thing.
00:45:56
Damon Swain
Oh, really?
00:45:57
Darin Tingey
Broke. Yeah, I broke mine and then I had to boil water for a while until the APs could send us another one.
00:46:03
Damon Swain
Yeah, yeah, I think they sent it out with, like, the new new Elder. But, yeah, so I got there October 1st. My mission was going to end, like, the end of March. um I didn't think I would be there for the whole time.
00:46:14
Darin Tingey
Okay. Okay.
00:46:17
Damon Swain
But i ended up, I was scared because Elder Valulu, the AP, like, him and I were friends. And every time we would call in, there was, like, a little phone on the island. Like, we'd have to bicycle to. And we had bikes, which was nice.
00:46:28
Damon Swain
These really old, rusty kind of beach cruiser bikes. That would always break, but we'd be able to fix and then kind of jimmy rig until like we could get to where we were going.
00:46:33
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:46:39
Damon Swain
um
00:46:40
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:46:40
Damon Swain
But yeah, we'd have to bicycle and and there was like one little phone that would call. And if we missed the call, we'd have to like wait a week or like, yeah, they would call in because we didn't have.
00:46:48
Darin Tingey
was this phone Was this phone powered by the solar power?
00:46:52
Damon Swain
Yeah, it was. Yeah, I think so.
00:46:54
Darin Tingey
And it was like an actual like ah phone with a cord on like an old, old school phone, right?
00:47:01
Damon Swain
Yeah, it was like an old school, like, yeah, cord. Yeah, not one of those, yeah, like wireless or anything. like it was like a little old home phone that you, yeah, you'd.
00:47:09
Darin Tingey
Yeah, Lai had one of those too. it was the same thing.
00:47:11
Damon Swain
Oh, really? Oh, that's funny.
00:47:13
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And they'd call in at night. ah Like they'd call in in the evening, when at least for us. And like the power would go out like 20, yeah, once a week, 20 minutes.
00:47:18
Damon Swain
Yeah, like once a week. Yeah, they'd call.
00:47:24
Darin Tingey
And every night there'd be an operator there and she'd get calls. and And like people would call in. She'd be like, hey, can talk to Junior? She's like, yeah, call back in five minutes. And she'd send her daughter to go get Junior and then he'd come back, you know?
00:47:35
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly I think, oh man, I wonder if I could find it. I think I wrote down the phone number for Eileen Level Up and I was like, I'm going call sometime from the US. Ah, I totally forgot about that.
00:47:45
Darin Tingey
ah
00:47:46
Damon Swain
And yeah, like yeah you could talk to the operator, like whoever was like working there. um Because sometimes we'd get like a random kid and be like, hey, elders, the other elders are calling you.
00:47:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:47:57
Damon Swain
And we're like, oh, crap.
00:47:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:47:58
Damon Swain
We'd buy over there. But But yeah, because so because we were whitewashing the area, it was really tough. um There hadn't been like a baptism since the very beginning, like the first elders.
00:48:11
Damon Swain
um So like the first time they'd opened it, they did really well because they were there.
00:48:11
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:48:16
Damon Swain
I think they were there for like a long time and they like just had really good rapport with the people and boys. And then they were able to baptize those original members. And so when I got there, like the things I wanted to accomplish was to build a church.
00:48:28
Damon Swain
It didn't quite happen just because there was a lot of red tape. um and And they always kind of told me like, yeah, baptize someone first and then we'll worry about it.
00:48:39
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:48:39
Damon Swain
don't know. It's like, I was jealous of like the other elders that got to build a church. Cause I was really pushing hard for it later that there is a church now. So that's kind of cool. So maybe it was like just the mission president. Maybe later on they able to do it. and um
00:48:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:48:52
Damon Swain
But yeah, there is a church that they built there now. Cause people would make fun of us. They're like, you just, know You're not a real church. You guys just meet under a tent. Under a little tarp. and like they like they All the Protestant people make fun of us and like joke with us. but
00:49:07
Darin Tingey
Well, I think that church the church building now, I'm not sure it's much better.
00:49:07
Damon Swain
But yeah, when I...
00:49:11
Darin Tingey
I think i think it's like, ah it's about the same.
00:49:12
Damon Swain
Oh, is it not?
00:49:15
Darin Tingey
It's just like an actual roof and I don't think they have any real walls.
00:49:18
Damon Swain
Like traditional.
00:49:19
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I think it's like roof and that's it really.
00:49:20
Damon Swain
Oh, man. Shoot. Okay.
00:49:24
Darin Tingey
at least At least when I was there, that's what it was the missionaries told me.
00:49:24
Damon Swain
Well, we're getting there.
00:49:28
Damon Swain
Okay, yeah. Well, we're we're getting there. Like, yeah. I think that's probably better in the people's eyes. I don't know. Who knows? but
00:49:36
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:49:36
Damon Swain
but So we would ride our bike. um I don't know. So if when you were looking at that map, there's like that big gap. um And so when you go to the very end of Boj, like the left, I guess the west, northwest part of it, um the island across from it.
00:49:44
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:49:51
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:49:54
Damon Swain
So Eileen Lop-Lop is known for all the Iroich islands. kinddly it's it's kind of the bloodline of the Marshall Islands. I think the very first president of the Marshall Islands is from Eileen Labelop, Kabua.
00:50:03
Darin Tingey
the
00:50:09
Damon Swain
So all the Kabuas are from Eileen Labelop. um
00:50:12
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:50:14
Damon Swain
I want to say even the Loyak, but maybe not. So like there was a lot lot of houses, like just random houses that you couldn't go in. um And they belonged to, and like they had like stewards that would watch, like the Alaps.
00:50:26
Damon Swain
I would watch the house in the area and clean it. Like one time we were able to like redo a roof. And so like we did like all the, like the shingle, like the frond shingle things.
00:50:38
Damon Swain
um
00:50:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:39
Damon Swain
And like worked on those. And that was kind of a fun service project. But there was another town called Anyway across. So like you have to take, there's like a little rowboat and you'd whistle to the other side, unless it was on your side.
00:50:54
Damon Swain
But so you'd whistle to the other side And um then they would bring the rowboat over. and then once you got to the other side, that's where like the Uroich kind of side, it's called Bukasala.
00:51:06
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:51:06
Damon Swain
And that's where the Uroichs live. And the guy that lived there right now, he's like the son of Uroich. Or at least at the moment I was there. His name was Metal.
00:51:14
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:51:15
Damon Swain
And he was just this guy, like he's kind of like a bachelor. He's probably in his like mid thirties or something. He was always drunk, just like having fun with his buddies. But he was like technically like the the standing Iroich, like the chief of the islands.
00:51:28
Damon Swain
So we had to like, we always had to go over there and we had to ask permission to then go to Eniway, which was the town further on. So that was kind of interesting, like cool cultural thing.
00:51:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:51:39
Damon Swain
um So we would go to Eniway and proselyte some days or like go and and teach some people, try to teach some people. And then we'd go we'd ride our bikes to Jebon and Ayrik. Ayrik is really Protestant. It's kind of like the capital on that island.
00:51:55
Damon Swain
like Boj, there's probably like 60 to 80 people in Boj and then maybe a hundred, but in Eidreq, it's a lot more, a lot more people.
00:52:00
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:52:04
Damon Swain
And I feel like the elders didn't really teach there. So that's where I tried to spend most of my time there teaching some people. And we were able to find, was kind of cool. Like by the end, don't know, it was really interesting. Like for it being the end of my mission, there were a lot of people that I met, almost like it was meant to be like,
00:52:25
Damon Swain
I had taught like all of their kids and now their parents are there in Eirik and now I'm teaching their parents. Like it was just so weird.
00:52:31
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:52:32
Damon Swain
Yeah. Like, like there was this guy named Judah and he was, he was like a deacon in Protestant. Um, and he never, we never got, he never got baptized or anything, but like we were just able to teach him.
00:52:43
Damon Swain
And like, I think before, like maybe it helped like nudge him a little bit, like before he hated the church and the elders, um,
00:52:50
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
00:52:51
Damon Swain
But by the end, like, you know, like I gave him my shoes, my Crocs after, and like, we were just really good friends. Um, and like one time, like he asked us to bless his grandkid.
00:53:05
Damon Swain
and that happened a lot, like a lot of Protestant people, they would, even though like they didn't agree, um like we were just good friends with them. So then like we would, they would ask us to like, if they were sick or something to give them a blessing, which was, was really cool.
00:53:18
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that is really cool.
00:53:18
Damon Swain
Um, And he was like the acting mayor. So I think it was just really hard socially for him to change. Like if he was, you know, up and changed, like it was a really hard social thing.
00:53:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's a big deal.
00:53:30
Damon Swain
Yeah. So hopefully, maybe in the future, i don't know. I don't know if anyone's taught him, but later on and But we were able to find like someone that was kind of like outcasted by society. Like he had, they had like had started rumors and he was really mad about it.
00:53:46
Damon Swain
His name was Rancy and his wife. And they later, We taught them and he was kind of, he was a teacher at the school. So he was pretty smart. Um, and like, he was really sick of the Protestant church.
00:54:00
Damon Swain
And so it was like a perfect opportunity. We're like, Oh, nice. You know, we, we like helped him and like, was cool. The only problem was like trying to get him to go to church. Cause it was so far like where the airport was in Eidrich.
00:54:13
Damon Swain
It was so far to like walk.
00:54:13
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:54:15
Damon Swain
Um, And that's where, it's kind of weird. Like, that's where we got our groceries. I don't know what it is, but, like, um there was a Manwia, like, a little store in Eidrich, and that's where we had to get our groceries. And we had to, like, load up our backpack and, like, tie flour and stuff to our but our bikes.
00:54:33
Damon Swain
Like, they didn't give us money, but, like, they, like, paid, somehow they paid that store.
00:54:38
Darin Tingey
The store, yeah.
00:54:40
Damon Swain
Yeah. I don't know if that's similar with you guys.
00:54:41
Darin Tingey
You had some sort of credit with the store. Yeah. And Lya, same thing.
00:54:44
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:45
Darin Tingey
yeah You had a credit with the store and they kept track in their notebook, you know, how much you've used.
00:54:50
Damon Swain
And I ah hated that because then we had to like hide like what we got.
00:54:50
Darin Tingey
um Gosh, far.
00:54:54
Damon Swain
Because then we had to ride our bikes all the way, like two hours back home to our house. um And, you know, it's jajimane. Yeah. And it's it's on the way back. like Your bikes are heavier and like you're trying to like ride your bike through sand. I don't know if if people are thinking like sidewalks and stuff or roads, but the roads are just like sand.
00:55:16
Damon Swain
You sand like dirt roads. and
00:55:18
Darin Tingey
trails. Yeah, little trails.
00:55:19
Damon Swain
Yeah. And some... And sometime when it's high tide, like the water will come over. Like, yeah, it's funny. but
00:55:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah. So what was what was typical what was typical groceries like, like flour, sugar, baking powder?
00:55:27
Damon Swain
But eventually.
00:55:33
Damon Swain
oh yeah, we just got flour, sugar, baking powder. Yeah, we'd make pancakes in the morning, like these kind of growth pancake, bland pancakes with no eggs or anything, just like flour, baking soda.
00:55:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:55:47
Damon Swain
um i think that was basically that.
00:55:48
Darin Tingey
Rice. Yeah.
00:55:50
Damon Swain
Yeah, and then we had rice. We ate a lot of canned mackerel, which is really gross. don't know if you ever ate that.
00:55:55
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:55:57
Damon Swain
It has, like, a ton of bones in it, and then you just, like, pick the bones out.
00:55:57
Darin Tingey
Yep. Yeah, it's just ah it's just the fish. They just put a fish in a can. That's what it is.
00:56:03
Damon Swain
Yeah, they really do. It's, like, a part fish, and so it's, like, spine is still in there, and you, like, pick out the spine bones.
00:56:05
Darin Tingey
ah whole fish.
00:56:10
Damon Swain
The other bones are fine, but... um And we we had some curry that we brought with us, so that was pretty yummy. Like, we'd at least spice it up.
00:56:18
Darin Tingey
Whoa.
00:56:19
Damon Swain
Yeah, so we'd fry up some mackerel. it was like yellow curry mackerel with rice. And then we'd always make coconut rice, too, because we had a lot of coconut trees.
00:56:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:56:30
Damon Swain
um I got like really good at climbing coconut trees by the end of my mission. um That was one thing i was really proud of. But I don't know if it's...
00:56:38
Darin Tingey
ah Yeah, I love that. I did too. And I love when everyone's like, oh like, Latagian Mazzo, like, you're Marshallese boy.
00:56:41
Damon Swain
Oh, really?
00:56:44
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:56:45
Darin Tingey
And you're like, yeah, that's me.
00:56:47
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:56:47
Darin Tingey
I'm a Marshallese boy.
00:56:47
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like, yeah, it always made me feel really good just because, yeah, like,
Cultural Integration and Local Skills
00:56:53
Damon Swain
I don't know. like And then being able to get into the coconut tree and then, ah yeah, because I would always bet people, they're like, nah, you can't do it. And then, like, the marshall do it. And they're like, whoa!
00:57:02
Damon Swain
And they'd, like, go out there and twist the coconut off and they'd be super surprised. But... um
00:57:07
Darin Tingey
So did did you guys ever consider doing church in multiple villages because Island of Lopalop so big?
00:57:13
Damon Swain
We... So we did think about that in Eirik. Um... But it was just hard. Like we tried we felt like we had to get permission um and and ask the people. And so we asked like the, we asked Judah and he was like, i don't know if it's a good idea. Like I'll talk to like other people.
00:57:28
Damon Swain
And we just didn't really get a straight answer. And so we didn't want to force it. um So what we ended up doing is that that Manwia, the guy that owns it um we just said like he had a little like Japanese truck.
00:57:41
Damon Swain
And we're like, hey, how much would it cost if you just went to on Sundays, if you just, you know, take people to bush and back.
00:57:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:57:47
Damon Swain
And he's like, $20. And I was like, $20 a week? i was like, we don't really use up all of our budget, like all of our food money anyways.
00:57:53
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:57:54
Damon Swain
was like, yeah, we could do it Which I didn't really ask. And i I tried to ask like the mission and office and they're like, no, people should be faithful enough to walk. And I was like, ah.
00:58:05
Darin Tingey
You're like, you don't realize how long this island is.
00:58:05
Damon Swain
I was like, yeah.
00:58:07
Darin Tingey
Like, I promise you we're not going to do it.
00:58:09
Damon Swain
Yeah. and it's not like they eat really well. So it's not like, yeah It'd be one thing if like, you know, they could grow a lot of food and they had a lot of like abundance of food, but these people are eating rice every day and fish.
00:58:21
Damon Swain
And I don't know, like, so it's hard.
00:58:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah, not lot energy.
00:58:23
Damon Swain
So yeah, so we, yeah, so we ended up doing that.
00:58:24
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:58:27
Damon Swain
was like 20 bucks a week. um I didn't ask permission. I just kind of did it. i was like, ah, this is a good spend.
00:58:32
Darin Tingey
That's
00:58:33
Damon Swain
Like I'm going to get people to church one way or another. And so we, yeah, so we did.
00:58:36
Darin Tingey
definitely, definitely.
00:58:37
Damon Swain
And so by the time, like we kind of, by the time I left, church had doubled. um miss how was so sad.
00:58:44
Darin Tingey
That's awesome.
00:58:46
Damon Swain
There was like, so Rancy had a baptismal date and then there's a couple that had a baptismal date. I wasn't able to baptize them, but then like the elder that came after me was able to, so he was able to close the deal.
00:58:58
Damon Swain
So Stanley and Gabina, who studied with, and then Rancy and his family, Rancy. but
00:59:04
Darin Tingey
That's awesome. So decent, decent success there.
00:59:05
Damon Swain
Yeah.
00:59:07
Darin Tingey
I mean, you were out there for a long time.
00:59:09
Damon Swain
Yeah, I was there for about 152 days or so. um The last part.
00:59:15
Darin Tingey
Best hundred, 150 days of your life.
00:59:18
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah, for sure. I miss it so much. Like just reading like journal entries. And Eidling Loblop is so unique. So weird. Like, um I don't know. A few things I i did want to mention about Eidling Loblop is.
00:59:32
Damon Swain
So there's a surfing on the north side. There's a place called Barren Island. I don't know if you've heard about it.
00:59:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah, I have.
00:59:40
Damon Swain
But there's like a surfing resort there now. So Kelly Slater, he's a famous surfer. um him Yeah, the famous the surfer.
00:59:45
Darin Tingey
The most famous surfer, the most famous her in the world.
00:59:48
Damon Swain
like like That's probably what everyone everyone knows. But yeah, they set up like a ah resort up there. so you can go you can go like surf. And so sometimes we would see people, like they would come by our house, like the lick behind our house.
01:00:03
Damon Swain
um And they'd go diving because there were some, supposedly there were some like warships down there. that they would go dive and and scuba dive and see.
01:00:08
Darin Tingey
and
01:00:11
Damon Swain
um And so, yeah, so Barren Island, that's up by kind of Wucha. And you can actually, from any way, you can actually walk on low tide, and you can walk all the way up to Wucha.
01:00:22
Darin Tingey
No way. Wow.
01:00:23
Damon Swain
Yeah, and i I, I don't know, this was, I regret not doing it, but I was like, it's hard. Like, I wanted to take a few days and just go there, and then like, just because like, maybe they could send elders there, you know, eventually, but
01:00:33
Darin Tingey
Yes. Check it out. They should, they should. They should, but I love them so big.
01:00:38
Damon Swain
of
01:00:39
Darin Tingey
you could definitely do two companionships easy.
01:00:42
Damon Swain
Yeah, you could. And yeah, so hopefully, the I don't know, hopefully they do that someday, which would definitely definitely be a good one. And then another another cool thing.
Kevin Hart's Influence and Island Life Reflections
01:00:52
Damon Swain
So there was a guy, his name was Kevin Hart, which is kind of funny.
01:00:56
Damon Swain
He's this white guy. same Same spelling as the comedian. Kevin Hart, he joined the Peace Corps in 1967, one of the first ones, and he came to the Marshall Islands.
01:01:08
Damon Swain
And he stayed the whole time. Like, he just never got married.
01:01:10
Darin Tingey
No way.
01:01:11
Damon Swain
He just, like, stayed super good at Marshallese. Like, he was legend. Helped the Marshallese people a ton. um They just granted him as island his own island. So, like, the Iroiches, like, gave him his own island.
01:01:24
Damon Swain
And it was it's right by it was right by Baron Island. he's he I just realized he passed away in 2020.
01:01:29
Darin Tingey
No way.
01:01:32
Damon Swain
But, yeah, he had his own island. And this guy was, like, He wouldn't wear shoes. Super interesting guy. Just kind of like a hippie. Like he wouldn't wear shoes. Everyone would joke that like the soles of his feet, like he'd be out walking on the coral and he was just like, just this wild guy. And I ended up meeting him one time in Eirik and just talking to him about the islands and like, and he was really nice. He was like older.
01:01:55
Damon Swain
um He said his like family was friends with the Kennedys. um And so that's why he was one of the first like pe Peace Corps volunteers. ah So super cool.
01:02:04
Darin Tingey
Wow.
01:02:06
Damon Swain
He passed away. He's since passed away, but I always felt like, don't know. I told him, I was like, I'm going to come visit you. Like, I'm going to come walk over to like, which I was like, can I come visit you? And he's like, he's like, yeah, sure.
01:02:16
Damon Swain
He's kind of like a hermit. So he's like, yeah, sure.
01:02:18
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
01:02:18
Damon Swain
Like whatever. like he's been there so long. He like knows the Marshallese customs. He's like, yeah, sure.
01:02:24
Darin Tingey
yeah Sure.
01:02:24
Damon Swain
But yeah. Like, yeah. It was really funny, but he taught me a lot about like, he taught me a ton of words about like coconut trees and stuff. Cause he just, He was like better at Marshallese than the Marshallese people just because of how much he'd learned and been there for so long, like over 50, 60 years.
01:02:41
Darin Tingey
Wow.
01:02:41
Damon Swain
but
01:02:42
Darin Tingey
In another life, I would want to do that. But yeah.
01:02:44
Damon Swain
Me too. like at the sit up yeah like At some point, you're like, ah. Yeah, it's a tough one. But like it would be really cool to just live just the husk whiny all but or like husk coconuts all the time and just sell them for the cobra.
01:02:57
Damon Swain
and
01:02:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Just to live the life for like a
01:02:59
Damon Swain
But yeah.
01:03:02
Darin Tingey
You know, to just live it, not as a missionary, but just as like a true Marshallese person on an outer island. Like I would want to, in another life, if I could do it for like a year, i would love it.
01:03:11
Damon Swain
Yeah, i and that's one thing like I always kind of thought of is like, if I was stranded on this island and I didn't have any money, like how would I like save enough money? like I always thought of like scenarios like that because at the outer island, you're kind of bored a lot.
01:03:26
Damon Swain
There's a lot of downtime that you're talking to people and just hanging out.
01:03:29
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
01:03:30
Damon Swain
So I always like thought of ways of business-wise, how would i get off the Marshall Islands and how would I start a business with whiny in don't It's just like a funny thing to think about.
01:03:40
Darin Tingey
Coconuts and fishing, yeah.
01:03:42
Damon Swain
Yeah. Just try to get coconuts and fish. Yeah.
Community Activities and Celebrations
01:03:45
Damon Swain
We did go fishing one time.
01:03:46
Darin Tingey
What was a typical... Okay, do you do fishing a lot?
01:03:48
Damon Swain
oh oh yeah. Yeah. So P-Day. Yeah. We, we would go fishing a lot. We'd go shark fishing, um, with like the people and we caught a lot of sharks.
01:03:59
Damon Swain
Um, the, the elder that was with, he loved to fish. So I, I don't really mind too much, but yeah, like, so we'd go fishing a lot. We'd always have a mutual,
01:04:10
Damon Swain
like a young men and young like women's kind of, it wasn't really mutual.
01:04:13
Darin Tingey
Really?
01:04:13
Damon Swain
It just like a youth, youth activity.
01:04:14
Darin Tingey
Fun. Yeah.
01:04:15
Damon Swain
We just invited all the kids and then we do like an activity like every, every week.
01:04:16
Darin Tingey
fun
01:04:19
Damon Swain
I think it was P day, like every that night. Um, maybe it's the next night.
01:04:22
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:04:23
Damon Swain
Cause I think P I think it was Monday. It was P day. we'd add FHE, but, but yeah, so we'd always have like, and that was fun. Cause we'd play like capture the flag or like we play like these American games that they have never played.
01:04:34
Damon Swain
Um, And all the kids, like, they were, like, before the age where they go to school to Jalowich, I think. I don't know if it's, like, middle school or or high school.
01:04:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah, because there's no no high schools on that level up.
01:04:46
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah, it's high school. Yeah. Yeah, it's all, like, pre-high school kids. Really cool, though. That's one thing that's fun about Outer Islands is, like, just the kids. um Like, I – yeah, so many kids.
01:04:56
Darin Tingey
So many kids too. So many. You're like, how are there's so many kids here.
01:05:00
Damon Swain
yeah and they're awesome they like love the elders so we always like we would just plant the seed like we'd have these activities but we would also teach them about like the church and stuff like one time we had like a jeopardy game and they were like really good at like really knowledgeable about the church even though they weren't members and like yes this is this our plan we're starting the seed now starting to grow the seed but but yeah we went fishing once on a boat um like we had one of the
01:05:13
Darin Tingey
no way.
01:05:27
Damon Swain
the one elder, uh, elder wood was going home and he really wanted to go fishing, like for some big tuna. And so we're like, yeah, like, so one of the members is like, yeah, I'll take you. And so we, we just dragged like some big line.
01:05:38
Damon Swain
Um, and I'd never done that. And I was like, Oh, that's pretty cool. And we caught like these huge tuna fish. Um, but you know, again, I'm very, I get like really seasick.
01:05:50
Damon Swain
We're out there and it's fine. And then my companion has to pee. So he, he stops the boat. He, And then he has to pee. So they stopped the boat and then you just feel the waves.
01:06:02
Damon Swain
And i was like, oh no like the way you just feel the boat moving the big waves.
01:06:06
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:06:06
Damon Swain
And i was like, oh no, I'm going to throw up. And I just like, I turned over the side and just threw up. The people loved that. They thought was the funniest thing because only, only women, only women in their culture get seasick.
01:06:17
Damon Swain
And so like, they thought it was, know it was so crazy how fast that spread throughout the island on the outer island.
01:06:18
Darin Tingey
Ah, that's so funny.
01:06:24
Damon Swain
Like that was like the best, that was like, for two weeks, like, they always just made fun of me, and i was like, eh, I don't mind, like, it's like a good joke, but, yeah.
01:06:31
Darin Tingey
That's so good. the reppe al sway he He puked.
01:06:35
Damon Swain
Yeah.
01:06:35
Darin Tingey
He's a girl. That's hilarious.
01:06:37
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah. And that was, it's kind funny, that was the first year that they didn't bring back missionaries for Christmas, so we were there for Christmas, um, so we did, oh, you did?
01:06:46
Darin Tingey
Which is the best? I did i did a Christmas on Outer Island, too. It was so fun.
01:06:49
Damon Swain
Oh, cool, yeah, yeah, it was way fun.
01:06:50
Darin Tingey
On live. awesome.
01:06:52
Damon Swain
It was cool, and it was cool because they brought all the people from Eiling Lobo up to Eirik. So they came from Wodja. um I think there's another island called J. I'm probably forgetting another one. But yeah, so all the different chapters did their beat.
01:07:08
Damon Swain
And that was fun.
01:07:09
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:07:10
Damon Swain
And we participated. They thought it was really funny because we were just dancing like crazy. but and then And then New Year's. I don't know if you talked about this, but like New Year's with the... Did any kids come to your house on New Year's?
01:07:23
Darin Tingey
No, what did the the kids get your house like for candy or what?
01:07:29
Damon Swain
yeah Yeah, that's like a Marshallese tradition. So the kids will come to your house like in the middle of the night, New Year's. um So it'll be like 3 or 4 in the morning, and they'll come to your house. And they're singing a song, and then you throw candy out to them.
01:07:43
Damon Swain
And like so, yeah.
01:07:44
Darin Tingey
That's funny. I didn't experience that because when I was for New Year's, so on live i was on live for Christmas and New Year's and there was The boat was supposed to come from Ebi to Lai for Christmas to bring all the kids to go to high school um from Ebi to Lai.
01:08:01
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah.
01:08:03
Darin Tingey
But it was late. So the senator got the boat for New Year's. So they all came for New Year's, which was fun because everyone had already done their beat for Christmas. And then they did it again on New Year's.
01:08:16
Damon Swain
Oh, cool.
01:08:16
Darin Tingey
And so everyone did that.
01:08:17
Damon Swain
We're like...
01:08:19
Darin Tingey
So we did a huge like party on the airport kind of strip. And they they did beat. ah And everyone's singing and throwing candy.
01:08:31
Darin Tingey
And then they also, the senator brought fireworks. And yeah, and these people had never seen fireworks, right?
01:08:35
Damon Swain
What? What?
01:08:41
Darin Tingey
Or like sometimes, some of them seen it on eBuy, but sometimes they've never seen it. And to see their reaction when they saw fireworks was, it was awesome.
01:08:47
Damon Swain
They're losing their mind.
01:08:50
Darin Tingey
They just could not, they were just like shocked when they saw it. And ah my favorite is they call fireworks 4th July, forly for July, July.
01:08:55
Damon Swain
That's so funny.
01:08:59
Damon Swain
put Yeah. That's so funny.
01:09:02
Darin Tingey
So good.
01:09:04
Damon Swain
Yeah, that's awesome. yeah but Yeah, and that's, yeah, so that was really fun being there for Christmas, and and um I want to say Halloween, because it's kind of like Halloween, like New Year's, but yeah, and then and then my birthday was in January, so that's kind of fun. and One person came and, like, they sang to me. I feel bad. i didn't really have a lot of stuff by that time, so I gave them, like, one of my shirts, because, you know, like, I love Ranin, or I love Ranin.
01:09:29
Damon Swain
raining like I forgot what they say like in the name of today like your birthday like they take your things or whatever but yeah it's funny like when i first got to the outer island like I want to say it was the second time second day like my pocket knife got contacted I didn't have a pocket knife the whole time because like I accidentally gave it away to someone not accident but like culturally like they're like wow this is so cool and I was like oh crap they want it and i was like alright
01:09:35
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:09:50
Darin Tingey
gosh yeah
01:09:59
Damon Swain
It wasn't like the best of Apocalypse, I didn't mind, but yeah, sure.
01:09:59
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:10:02
Darin Tingey
Can I borrow this? Yeah. You mean, can you have it? Sure. Sure.
01:10:05
Damon Swain
Yeah. Yeah. um So it's very funny. but
01:10:12
Darin Tingey
so finish, you finished, you basically finished your mission on iGLABLABLAB. Is that right?
01:10:18
Damon Swain
Yep. So yeah, i finished my mission. um i was really sad. They like one day they called and like, oh, you need to go on the next plane. i was like, okay. um this was like towards the end of february um and i think i left like march i was leaving my mission march 24th or something um
01:10:37
Darin Tingey
and And your family, like, you're writing letters home, right? Trying to give them to the pilot.
01:10:42
Damon Swain
some yeah sometimes yeah i would give them to the pilot and he was like this caribus guy and i was like and i was like i was like please give these letters to the was like do you know where the mission office is or any elders and he's like yeah and i was like just give them give them to them i was like
01:10:43
Darin Tingey
and and
01:10:52
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:10:55
Damon Swain
I hope these letters, and they did get them, but yeah, like you just give them to the pilot, and you're like, please.
01:10:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Please make it home. Yeah, half the time they'd make it for me, half the time they wouldn't, so.
01:11:05
Damon Swain
Yeah, and that.
01:11:05
Darin Tingey
But so your parents are far like freaking out. Like he's supposed to come home soon. We haven't heard from him.
01:11:10
Damon Swain
Yeah, like when is this, and you know, I didn't get a call.
01:11:11
Darin Tingey
ah that was the same for me.
01:11:13
Damon Swain
You know, you usually call home. On your mission, i don't know, that's a rule change. Like you can call more often, but when I was on my mission, we could only email, and then we only called on Mother's Day and Christmas.
01:11:24
Damon Swain
It's okay.
01:11:25
Darin Tingey
Same for me.
01:11:26
Damon Swain
Yeah.
01:11:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:11:26
Damon Swain
So that, that last Christmas I didn't call home. Cause I was on the outer Island.
01:11:30
Darin Tingey
Same.
01:11:31
Damon Swain
Yeah.
01:11:31
Darin Tingey
Same.
01:11:32
Damon Swain
So my mom was so sad and I'd written her a letter. i was like, I probably won't get any packages. And I was like, and so I just picked like four elders that I was like companions with. i was like, just send packages to these guys.
01:11:43
Damon Swain
They're Islanders. They don't ever get like packages. But,
01:11:46
Darin Tingey
yeah yeah
01:11:48
Damon Swain
but it's kind of funny, but then we ended up there, like a team that came on Christmas, like ah the day before Christmas. And then it's funny. Cause then like, we found out like, Oh, we have some mail and then we had some packages and they were for, for like my companion, his parents.
01:12:03
Damon Swain
Cause I had told my family not to send me any. And I was like, Oh shoot.
01:12:07
Darin Tingey
no yeah
01:12:08
Damon Swain
I was like my one chance for like food for like candy and stuff. And I, I missed it, but that's all right. Like it wasn't too much of a big deal. Um, But yeah, that was that's kind of funny.
01:12:20
Damon Swain
And it was cool. like we were able to Did you ever go on one of those timas to pick up your stuff?
01:12:24
Darin Tingey
um Yeah, I did. i did go inside one of them, yeah.
01:12:27
Damon Swain
Yeah, like and then tour around. but Yeah, they gave us a little tour when we got on. and like Yeah, was kind of cool. They're big. big Big ships. Yeah.
01:12:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I mean, but they carry a lot of marshes, people, and a lot of people are just like sleeping on the deck, you know, because they stop at all the islands.
01:12:40
Damon Swain
Yeah. yeah
01:12:44
Darin Tingey
is They kind of go, they start at Maduro and kind of go around, and then, yeah.
01:12:46
Damon Swain
and then make their way to supply, yeah, to supply all of them. And then, then people, yeah, theywe they, or they, they hitch a ride, which I thought would be really fun. but I get really seasick, so maybe it wouldn't be, but yeah, maybe if i didn't have a family too, maybe another life, but yeah.
01:12:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:13:04
Darin Tingey
Exactly. and
01:13:05
Damon Swain
Um, but yeah, so I, so I was trying to fly out the next flight and end of February. And of course, like air, maybe be like the air, the, The flights were broken. And then the one time there was a flight, like I'd done a Yaquay Yaquay.
01:13:18
Damon Swain
It was kind of awkward. Like I'd said my goodbyes.
01:13:20
Darin Tingey
You said goodbye?
01:13:20
Damon Swain
There was going to be a, there's going to flight the next day. was like, perfect. We get to Eirik and it's raining like so hard. We see the plane up in the air. I'm like, I'm like, I don't think this thing's going to be able to land.
01:13:32
Damon Swain
Like it's raining really hard.
01:13:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:13:34
Damon Swain
And you know, like the airport is like this little field, this bumpy field that they have.
01:13:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah, just grass. Yeah.
01:13:39
Damon Swain
Yeah. Just grass. And, They're like about to land, like they're circling, and then they just fly off. And I was like, well, I guess we're not another week here.
01:13:48
Darin Tingey
No.
01:13:51
Damon Swain
was just awkward. I'd send my goodbyes and people were like, why are you gone yet? Like we already said goodbye.
01:13:54
Darin Tingey
trial
01:13:56
Damon Swain
and i was like, I know, it was awkward. And it's funny, the elder was up in the plane and it was he said it was so bad turbulence that he like threw up. but they didn't have like a bag for him, and he just like threw up on his lap.
01:14:08
Damon Swain
And then he had to ride all the way back to Meduro in the plane, in his throw-up.
01:14:11
Darin Tingey
Oh
01:14:12
Damon Swain
And so I felt really bad.
01:14:14
Darin Tingey
oh gosh. Yeah, that's
01:14:15
Damon Swain
Yeah, but i finally i finally left Eiling Loblox March 1st. And so I had like 20 days, 20 days or so in Beckon. I was in Delup, but I kind of went kind of just went rogue and was like, yeah.
01:14:27
Darin Tingey
wherever. yeah Wherever you want say goodbye.
01:14:29
Damon Swain
The one thing I didn't do, was really sad. I didn't go back to Arak and say goodbye. to all the people and that was kind of sad but I was like torn I was like should I just take like a taxi and just don't tell anyone but it was is hard because I was training like this new elder so I didn't want to be like a bad example of like I don't know it's hard to like but I feel like I should have I should have just done it and like said goodbye to the people but that's alright
01:14:48
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:14:55
Darin Tingey
Yeah, the last couple of weeks on mission, my I definitely made the rounds and said said goodbye.
01:14:59
Damon Swain
I'm just like okay so yeah
01:15:01
Darin Tingey
And it was totally, I don't regret a thing. it was so fun.
01:15:04
Damon Swain
Oh, really? Oh, yeah.
01:15:05
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:15:06
Damon Swain
I should have. I yeah i don't know why I didn't. was like, ah, yeah. Yeah, I totally should have.
01:15:12
Darin Tingey
So did did President Ware open up like all the outer Like how many outer islands were open by the time you left?
01:15:20
Damon Swain
um I think they, so they opened up Arno from when we opened it. So Arno, Jalowich, Ebon, Lai, Eilin-Lalap. um
01:15:30
Darin Tingey
What about Wutche? Did they have any on Wutche? Wujai?
01:15:33
Damon Swain
I want to say they opened they were opening up when I was got back. They'd opened up Wuche and they'd opened up another one.
01:15:39
Darin Tingey
wija
01:15:41
Damon Swain
Maybe Wujai. Yeah, because that's right by Lai, right?
01:15:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:15:46
Damon Swain
Wujai Lai.
01:15:47
Darin Tingey
Yep.
01:15:48
Damon Swain
Yeah, maybe it's just Wuche. I think just Wuche maybe. trying to think where Elderfoot went. um I can't remember. but
01:15:56
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:15:56
Damon Swain
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
01:15:59
Darin Tingey
I kind of had the similar thing where it's like no outer islands, like a few when I got first got there and then by the end, like they were all open, which was awesome.
01:15:59
Damon Swain
Oh yeah, I'm glad they did.
01:16:07
Damon Swain
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Now I just need to go back sometime and then go hang out.
01:16:14
Darin Tingey
So last, last few questions, um, favorite Marshallese food and, uh, favorite cultural thing and favorite area.
01:16:14
Damon Swain
but
01:16:26
Damon Swain
Ooh. Okay. um Favorite of food. I do want to mention. So one of the last days I was in Island Lobelop, the weirdest thing happened where a whale had like washed up and not like a huge whale.
01:16:35
Darin Tingey
No way.
01:16:37
Damon Swain
But like a whale that's like longer than me, probably like seven, eight feet. And this thing looked weird. We took a picture of it. It looked like a prehistoric whale. Like it looked so weird. and And like so the all the kids were so excited. Like they're all talking about it and boys.
01:16:52
Damon Swain
And so we went took pictures that night. And then we found out that the people then took the whale and then they created like an oven under the ground. Like they they dug an oven in the ground and then they cooked it.
01:17:05
Damon Swain
They cooked the whale. um And then they like went around and they they're like kind of like down the street, you know down the road, and they said, like hey, anyone want some?
01:17:13
Darin Tingey
Divvy it up, yeah.
01:17:13
Damon Swain
And so, of course we yeah of course, we were like, yeah. like That's the only time. not like I think that was the only thing I hadn't had at that point. like I was like, oh, I want to eat whale. Supposedly, you can also eat.
01:17:24
Damon Swain
and don't know if this is good to talk about in the public, but this is a a cultural thing, so I think it's okay. But um dolphins, like they said like sometimes dolphins get toothaches.
01:17:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:17:35
Damon Swain
And they'll come they like they don't know what to do, and they come ashore, and then they just die. It's like a really sad thing.
01:17:40
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
01:17:42
Damon Swain
And the people said it's really yummy. Like, it's really good to eat. But you have to go and ask the Iroych first, like, hey, do you want this dolphin? And if he says no, then the people can eat it.
01:17:54
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
01:17:56
Damon Swain
Yeah, because there are a lot of dolphins. We saw a lot of dolphins in Island and Loblaw. Like, there's a lot by that right behind our house and stuff.
01:18:03
Darin Tingey
That's so cool. Yeah, I i never ate
01:18:04
Damon Swain
Yeah, that's really cool.
01:18:07
Darin Tingey
dolphin or whale.
01:18:08
Damon Swain
whale or dolphin.
01:18:09
Darin Tingey
ah there was ah There was whale bones on Lai. there had they they They had talked about this whale washed up on one of the ayatolls in Lai.
01:18:14
Damon Swain
Oh, cool.
01:18:20
Darin Tingey
And they like, dude, it just reeked for like weeks. It just smelled so bad throughout the whole atoll.
01:18:25
Damon Swain
Oh.
01:18:26
Darin Tingey
And it's funny because like a whale washes up, you know, and everyone like divvies it up and eats it. In America, if something washed up, we'd be like, don't eat that. It's disgusting, you know?
01:18:36
Damon Swain
Yeah. But they're like, they're like, oh my gosh, free meat. Like, cause meat is like a big thing, especially in the outer island.
01:18:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah, food.
01:18:42
Damon Swain
Like it's not every day. Like when you kill a pig, like that's like one of the best days and it tastes so good when you like haven't had meat in a long time. All you're eating is like spam and I don't know.
01:18:53
Damon Swain
Fish, fish is really good though.
01:18:54
Darin Tingey
Fish and rice. Yeah, yeah.
01:18:55
Damon Swain
Yeah. Fish and rice. Like, yeah. When you get like some good pork, like that those are the best or a dog. don't know. We did eat what dog one time.
01:19:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah, dog. Yeah. What about, okay.
01:19:04
Damon Swain
ah But it's like, Sorry, my favorite was probably Sea Turtle. and that That's so good.
01:19:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah, so good. So good.
01:19:09
Damon Swain
kind Yeah.
01:19:09
Darin Tingey
and
01:19:11
Damon Swain
yeah I had it a few times on Ebi and then also in Island All Up. so Really good.
01:19:16
Darin Tingey
And favorite cultural thing.
01:19:18
Damon Swain
Favorite cultural thing?
Marshallese Culture and Hospitality
01:19:20
Damon Swain
um I think just the openness. like Being able to stop by someone's house and them just feeding you, telling you to sit down. like You're instantly part of their family and a part of their Like there's there's good and bad things about that, but it's just really cool. Like, you know, like like that so like when we went to Arno, like we met so many people that just welcomed, and and it didn't it didn't matter if they were Protestant, Catholic, like what their religion was, they would always just open their door and were really kind to us.
01:19:51
Damon Swain
and And sometimes that was hard because we'd ask them if they wanted to study and they'd say yes, and then they wouldn't say anything during the whole lesson.
01:19:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:20:00
Damon Swain
and then later on you'd ask them like, well, I thought you said you'd want to study. and they're like, well, like, why do you study if you don't want to learn anything? And they just say, well, you asked me if I wanted to study. So I said, yes.
01:20:12
Damon Swain
Like, they're kind of just like, was being nice.
01:20:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah, i was I was being nice.
01:20:16
Damon Swain
I'm like, well, I don't want to just talk to you, preach to you for like an hour. But yeah, but I loved that. Like, I loved that hospitality.
01:20:24
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:20:25
Damon Swain
Like when I left, when I left Island Loblaw, I just bawled. I was so sad. Like, like During the Yakue Yakue, I like broke down. like That was one of like the saddest, hardest points of my life. just like like I was trying to extend. like I wrote letters to the president, or President Weir, and I was like trying to extend. I wanted to say later.
01:20:44
Damon Swain
um but yeah, it was just time for me to go back. so
01:20:48
Darin Tingey
And then the favorite area I'm assuming is I am level up, but I could be wrong.
01:20:51
Damon Swain
Yeah, favorite area was I didn't level up. um But I loved Outerock, too. um Even though I didn't speak that much, um it was just like a good learning experience uh but yeah didn't level up for sure just because of how cool it was and and just all the experiences and i should say like it was really difficult too like reading my journal i like realized like how much doubt and how much how difficult teaching is um and and trying to start up like the church when it's so small like there is like you know doubt um creeps in and and
01:21:25
Damon Swain
And so it's just cool to like look back and just like to overcome that doubt and that fear and then just keep kind of keep going. Because, you know, like you could just go out there and just fish and, you know, and no one would know.
01:21:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:21:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:21:38
Damon Swain
ah and some missionaries do you know, some sometimes missionaries go out there and and that's all they But, you know, like being able to like build it up and to help is kind of cool.
01:21:39
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:21:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah, the the outer islands bring that experience of like, it's, it's hard physically and mentally. Because mentally, it's like, I'm here to teach people, but it's difficult.
01:22:03
Darin Tingey
And my physical life is hard. Like I'm living in a shack sleeping on the ground, like my stomach hurts all the time.
01:22:09
Damon Swain
Yeah.
01:22:12
Darin Tingey
I'm not even eating that much food. i know contact with my family, like it's all of that.
01:22:18
Damon Swain
Yeah, it's law is' lonely. Like you're separated from all the other missionaries that you're used to, like events, like zone conference and your friends.
01:22:24
Darin Tingey
Which, yeah.
01:22:27
Damon Swain
And yeah, it's it's very, that can be very lonesome.
01:22:29
Darin Tingey
Which, it's like what every missionary in the mission wants, right? Like if you want that hard like outer island, this is cool. but like it's hard while you're there.
01:22:38
Damon Swain
And then you get there, yeah, like it's like day 10 and you're like, oh, crap.
01:22:39
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:22:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:22:43
Damon Swain
Like, wait a sec.
01:22:45
Darin Tingey
Yes.
01:22:45
Damon Swain
And like, whenever you call the APs, you're just like badgering them for any information they'll give you about like any kind of like gossip or any like, like, where's, where's everyone at Like, what's happening?
01:22:52
Darin Tingey
yes
01:22:56
Damon Swain
and they're like, I got to call other people. Leave me alone.
01:22:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah.
01:22:59
Damon Swain
Like, wait, don't wake up. It's like your like only contact to the outside world.
01:23:03
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I would go crazy, honestly. I kind of would like, when the sun was setting, i would just kind of go put my feet in the lagoon and my mission companion would be like, you know, a little farther off.
01:23:14
Damon Swain
A little way, yeah.
01:23:15
Darin Tingey
Yeah, and I'm just like, I'm like talking to my family and my friends. I'm like, what's up? bro, like, how you doing? Like, I was like talking to myself, but like talking to my family out as the sun setting.
01:23:22
Damon Swain
Like role play.
01:23:26
Damon Swain
Oh, that's so funny.
01:23:27
Darin Tingey
And like, I did that on only on the outer islands, which was funny, just because you're, you kind of get a little lonely in that aspect. But you look back at the islands. And those are like the best experiences, at least for for most, I'd say for a lot of people, some people like they didn't like them.
01:23:39
Damon Swain
Oh, yeah, for sure.
01:23:42
Darin Tingey
had a companion that came on like, i hate outer islands, like, like, Oh, well, welcome, you know. So
01:23:47
Damon Swain
it like Yeah. And, you know, sometimes, I don't know, like some of my companions, like, don't know. I don't think they really liked the cultural aspect or like, like my first companion in the the Outer Island, in i he didn't really like speaking as much. And he was, he'd been out like almost a year and and he really struggled with the language. So it was mostly me just like talking to a lot of people. And so that, that was kind of hard for him. It's like, he didn't really enjoy, like, it was just really hard. He hadn't hit that turning point, I think.
01:24:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:24:17
Damon Swain
of like, OK, now I'm comfortable with the language, and now I'm having fun. But before, you're just like stressed, and you're not having fun because you you don't know the language yet. and but
01:24:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Well, um, there's been off an awesome episode of the island podcast and it's funny. So Damon and I actually met because he was teaching, he taught a Marshallese class at BYU and I took it.
01:24:38
Damon Swain
Yeah, didn't think that would happen.
01:24:40
Darin Tingey
That was awesome.
01:24:43
Damon Swain
yeah thank Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I'm so thankful I was able to be on here. Yeah, we've we've taught that the Marshallese class three times now, it's kind of fun. and They tried to do it again in this winter, so this past semester, but there there weren't enough people that signed up.
01:24:52
Darin Tingey
That's awesome.
01:24:58
Damon Swain
So hopefully in the next one. But yeah, yeah, it was way fun.
01:25:00
Darin Tingey
That's awesome. Yeah, just keep keeping it alive. It was fun to do it and And thanks for coming on the pod. it was it was awesome.
01:25:07
Damon Swain
Yeah, no problem. Thanks, Darren.
01:25:09
Darin Tingey
Thanks.