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Episode 36: Matt Price - Marshall Islands - Guam, Majuro, Wotje, Micronesia
47 Plays4 days ago
Serving in the islands in the 90s looked different.
Matt Price talks about moving between islands, stepping into leadership in the Micronesia Guam Mission, and ending up being the first LDS missionary on Wotje Atoll.
Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
#MicronesianGuamMission #MarshallIslandsMajuroMission #MarshallIslandsKiribatiMission #MarshallIslands #Majuro #Wotje #Guam #TheIslandsPodcast #theislands #PacificIslands #PacificIslanders #Micronesia #islandculture
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:11
Darin Tingey
All right, we are on with another episode of the Islands Podcast. Today we have the father of a previous guest. We got Matt Price.
00:00:20
Matt Price
Right.
00:00:21
Darin Tingey
His son, Cade, was on a few episodes ago. so super excited. and a fellow Arizonan, which is great. i always
Growing Up in Arizona
00:00:31
Darin Tingey
love that. But Matt, give, a I guess, start from the beginning. where Where are you from? Are you originally from Arizona? Yeah.
00:00:38
Matt Price
Uh, yeah, I mean, more or less, I, I've been here for a long time. I, I, uh, grew up in Mesa, uh, went to, Mesa high, graduated back in 89.
00:00:48
Darin Tingey
Okay. Rivals. I went to Mountain View.
00:00:52
Matt Price
so my wife, uh, went to Mountain View, so she's, she's kind
Mission Call and Preparation
00:00:56
Matt Price
of on the Toro side there.
00:00:56
Darin Tingey
Okay. Great.
00:00:58
Matt Price
So, yeah, I grew up here and, uh, and left for my mission here and, and, uh, all that kind of stuff. So, yeah.
00:01:04
Darin Tingey
And then now you're in Queen Creek. Is that right?
00:01:06
Matt Price
Yeah, we live we live down in Queen Creek. so
00:01:09
Darin Tingey
Okay. So when when was it that you got your mission call? What what year was it? And did you did you do like, I guess it was probably 19 at that time. You had to go at 19 years old. So did you do any like school after graduating or just work or...
00:01:24
Matt Price
Yeah, so I graduated from Mesa High and then I went and did a year at BYU. And then that summer in sort been in 1990, I got my mission call to the Micronesia Guam mission, which is what it was at the time.
00:01:37
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:01:42
Matt Price
so
00:01:43
Darin Tingey
And had you heard anything about that mission before receiving that call?
00:01:46
Matt Price
No, absolutely not. I mean, it was, yeah, it was super foreign. i i I don't know that we even, like, i I don't know that I even could find anybody that had been to the mission.
00:01:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:01:59
Matt Price
It was, it was pretty, pretty random.
00:02:04
Darin Tingey
And did it say English speaking on it or...
00:02:06
Matt Price
Yeah, yeah. So, so it was considered an English speaking mission.
Experiences in Micronesia and Guam
00:02:12
Matt Price
And so we went to, I went to the MTC just like anybody else in Provo and, and did just a couple, you know, three week kind of stint there. We learned the discussions in English. Half my zone or more than half probably, or or our group there was going stateside.
00:02:30
Matt Price
So it wasn't, it wasn't treated like anything
00:02:31
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:02:33
Matt Price
anything different whatsoever. And so
00:02:36
Darin Tingey
And were you with, did you, did you have any other people going to the Micronesia Guam mission with you in the MTC?
00:02:41
Matt Price
I did, I want to say there was two or three more that went out at the same time with us. So One was another guy from Mesa.
00:02:52
Matt Price
His name was Lincoln Wright. I actually knew him in a ward, you know, a long, long time ago. And so anyway, it was it was it was kind of weird to reunite there with him.
00:02:59
Darin Tingey
That's cool.
00:03:02
Matt Price
But yeah, we we we did the MTC and then and then we went out there and we knew that. You know, the way that it worked back then is that once you, so so you did your MTC and then you went out to the to the mission home, which was in Guam.
00:03:21
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:03:22
Matt Price
and And then in in most cases, the missionaries would just would essentially get another mission call, right? So you would be called to whatever, Yap or Palau or Chuk or whatever.
00:03:35
Darin Tingey
here
00:03:36
Matt Price
And basically you would be sent out to that island and you would be there your entire mission, right? yeah I mean, completely different languages, completely different everything. And so...
00:03:46
Matt Price
it didn't make sense to have the missionaries kind of bounce from island to island. And so if you were going to go to Yap, you were going to be on Yap for two years and and you weren't going to see anybody and and anybody else that you'd come out with or whatever.
00:03:52
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:04:01
Matt Price
Right.
00:04:02
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:04:02
Matt Price
So anyway.
00:04:04
Darin Tingey
So when you got there, was was probably hard for you to know just given that everyone was so spread out. But do you know how how many missionaries were in that mission when you started?
00:04:15
Matt Price
I bet, and bet there was a hundred missionaries or so, something like that. I mean, we had, yeah. I mean, we were in kind of the the main islands that we were on.
00:04:26
Matt Price
We were in Palau and Yap and then Guam and Saipan and then Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosh Rai, and then, and then the Marshall Islands, both Ebay and Medro.
00:04:35
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm. Okay.
00:04:39
Darin Tingey
Was Nauru a part of the mission too or no?
00:04:42
Matt Price
No, it wasn't.
00:04:43
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:04:44
Matt Price
wasn't at that time.
00:04:45
Matt Price
Or at least we didn't we didn't have missionaries out there at all.
00:04:47
Darin Tingey
And what islands of those had the most missionaries?
00:04:51
Darin Tingey
Guam?
00:04:54
Matt Price
Guam had a fair amount of missionaries. Probably the most missionaries were probably on Chuuk, maybe.
00:05:02
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:05:02
Matt Price
two i mean, the Marshall Islands, if you combine the two zones, then Marshall Islands was was certainly one of those that had a lot of a lot of missionaries.
00:05:11
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:05:12
Matt Price
So, yeah.
00:05:13
Darin Tingey
So you got, so you've, I'm assuming you flew into Guam. Is that right?
00:05:17
Matt Price
Yeah, we flew into Guam. We flew through Hawaii and then and then flew into Guam. and And so, and then they kind of put us through a little bit of a kind of, hey, this is what the islands are going to be like. And and they tried to you know, teach us about how to, to what to, you know, how to boil the water and, and, you know, make sure you're using the right soap and, and watch out for boils and watch out for, raw fish and poison fish.
00:05:42
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:05:47
Matt Price
And i mean, they tried to kind of, kind of give us all of the stuff that they could, there in the, in the, you know, in the, in the orientation there. So, so for most missionaries, like that was just a couple days, sort of a thing.
00:06:04
Matt Price
and then they'd be shipped right out to their islands. And so that's what happened with, kind of the rest of the group that I came out with. But in my case, I don't know if they just didn't have a spot yet, or I'd kind of come in with a cold and I was, was you know, 110 pounds and and probably looked sick.
00:06:24
Matt Price
and And I think the mission president was probably like, I don't know if he's strong enough to do this.
Mission Presidents and Transfers
00:06:30
Darin Tingey
We're gonna hold off for a second.
00:06:31
Matt Price
So they kept me in Guam for for for a little bit. And so my first area was they assigned me to an area in Guam, along with a Korean elder who who was my trainer. He'd never trained before, but a Korean elder named Elder Ahn.
00:06:46
Darin Tingey
So did they say, did they tell you that hey, you're gonna be assigned to Guam or or was it like, okay, okay.
00:06:51
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:06:53
Darin Tingey
So they're like, you're at Guam.
00:06:54
Matt Price
Yes. So I'm in Guam and and I didn't know. yeah i mean, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't have any expectations of going. I mean, ultimately, I knew that I'd probably go somewhere else because they kind of Guam was was not an ultimate destination, usually for missionaries.
00:07:11
Matt Price
A lot of times Guam was kind of more of a bring missionaries back in or kind of watch missionaries a little bit or kind of.
00:07:18
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:07:19
Matt Price
and And then obviously the office missionaries were there. So APs and office elders and, you know, a mission president and all that kind of stuff.
00:07:26
Darin Tingey
Okay. And did you speak English on Guam or was there an actual, okay.
00:07:31
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah. We, we taught in English.
00:07:32
Darin Tingey
there were Yeah.
00:07:34
Matt Price
I mean, there's, there is a language in Guam, but nobody spoke Chamorro. So
00:07:40
Darin Tingey
Kind of sad, kind of sad. I've all these Micronesian languages are slowly dying some faster than others.
00:07:45
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah. That, that one was dry. That one was dying pretty fast. It was so, and it felt go ahead.
00:07:50
Darin Tingey
Who was your...
00:07:52
Matt Price
I was, I was going to say, it kind of felt a little bit like Hawaii. I mean, it was, it was modern enough, so it kind of felt Hawaii ish there Guam.
00:08:02
Darin Tingey
Yeah, probably lots of Americans. Did you run into a lot of Americans there? Yeah.
00:08:06
Matt Price
Yep. Lots of Americans, lots of military people, that kind of thing.
00:08:11
Darin Tingey
Okay. and And who was your mission president?
00:08:14
Matt Price
So my mission president was President Nord for almost the my entire mission. Right at the a the end of it, it was President Thatcher.
00:08:25
Darin Tingey
Both Americans.
00:08:27
Matt Price
Yep. President Nord was from Bountiful, Utah. President Thatcher was from Idaho, think.
00:08:34
Darin Tingey
Okay. And how often did the mission presidents travel to the different islands or did they manage to stay in Guam?
00:08:34
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:08:41
Matt Price
No, I mean, he would he would tour the mission probably every couple months. I mean, it was hard, right, to to kind of get that schedule to to land just right.
00:08:49
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:08:53
Matt Price
And he'd have to island hop to all the islands and stay for a night or two. And then he would roll to the next one. I mean, it was it was a lot of a lot of scheduling and a lot of effort to to make those those, you know, visits.
00:09:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah. I can't imagine.
00:09:10
Matt Price
So.
00:09:10
Darin Tingey
I can't imagine that's a logistical nightmare. so right, you start in Guam, you're getting trained. How long are you in Guam before you get transferred to the Marshall Islands?
00:09:23
Matt Price
Yeah, so I was in Guam for maybe I was there for probably a month, something like that. And and then they had, there was a missionary, Elder Cravens, who was who was serving, had had served in the Marshall Islands for probably not a long time, maybe four or five months, maybe six months, something like that.
00:09:45
Matt Price
And then he either had to have surgery or got sick or something. And they sent him back to Hawaii to do whatever treatment that he needed.
Life and Work in the Marshall Islands
00:09:56
Matt Price
And he spent probably a year or more in Hawaii, in the Hawaiian mission and, and, you know, getting fixed up and stuff like that.
00:10:03
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:10:06
Matt Price
And so then he came back to Guam and, and they put the two of us together and sent us out to to the Marshall Islands. So
00:10:15
Darin Tingey
Oh, wow. So he he actually got to go back to the Marshall Islands.
00:10:17
Matt Price
So yeah, he got to go back. So, so, and I think he was super, super excited about it. It's good guy. dad was the, the, uh, president of the Polynesian cultural center at some point.
00:10:28
Darin Tingey
Oh, very cool. Okay.
00:10:30
Matt Price
So anyways. Yep. good do
00:10:31
Darin Tingey
So, so you get changed to the Marshall Islands. You're probably obviously thinking like, okay, like I'm going to be in the Marshall Islands now. Like, this is my spot. Did you feel like excited and like a little more settled at that point?
00:10:39
Matt Price
yep
00:10:43
Matt Price
I was, I was, i was super excited. I was excited. i mean, Guam was, was fine, but I was, I was excited to have that outer Island or or Island experience and, and to really, really get my, get started and stuff.
00:10:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:11:00
Matt Price
so yeah.
00:11:01
Darin Tingey
What was the, what were your first impressions of the Marsh Islands?
00:11:04
Matt Price
Well, was it was, it, it was, it was cool. I mean, so we, we, we've you know, flew out there, island hopped all the way out there on at the time it was a Continental Airlines that that was managing all that. We island hopped all the way out there and and landed. and and then we got assigned to Long Island. So there was already some missionaries there in Long Island. So at the time, I think we had missionaries in we had so a set of elders in Laura. We had a set in Long Island.
00:11:37
Matt Price
We had like the zone leader and his companion were in the kind of Delup, Uluga area.
00:11:46
Matt Price
And then we had a set up in Rita.
00:11:47
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:11:50
Matt Price
And then we had sisters that were in, they lived in the Delup chapel house there. So they were kind in that area. And then a couple of, I think we had two sets of senior companions.
00:12:02
Matt Price
So anyway, we got,
00:12:03
Darin Tingey
So not that many missionaries. What is that, like to 16 missionaries in the Marsh Islands?
00:12:10
Matt Price
Yeah, maybe even less than that.
00:12:11
Darin Tingey
Maybe less than that.
00:12:11
Matt Price
Let's see, two, four, six.
00:12:13
Darin Tingey
Any on Ebi or no on not on Ebi the time?
00:12:15
Matt Price
Oh, and and so then there there was there was a whole, there was a zone on E-Buy. And I think at that time there was probably maybe four missionaries over there, maybe six missionaries at that time over on E-Buy.
00:12:19
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:12:29
Darin Tingey
Okay. So like 10-ish on Maduro and like six in E-Buy and then two senior couples.
00:12:32
Matt Price
So yeah, we...
00:12:36
Darin Tingey
Okay. Okay.
00:12:36
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was, I mean, was good. We, uh, we, we landed there. and then they put us in the, in the house.
00:12:45
Matt Price
Uh, I don't know if it's still there, but the little house that's next to the church in long Island, the little chapel house between the chapel and the, and the lagoon right there.
00:12:51
Darin Tingey
Like the chapel house?
00:12:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:12:57
Matt Price
I mean, it was a little tiny box, right?
00:13:00
Darin Tingey
i lived in that i lived I lived in that one.
00:13:03
Matt Price
Did you really?
00:13:03
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's tiny. tiny.
00:13:05
Matt Price
Did you live there with with three other missionaries?
00:13:06
Darin Tingey
o
00:13:08
Matt Price
because Because it was very crowded when we were there.
00:13:08
Darin Tingey
oh now yeah a thing is tiny
00:13:11
Matt Price
So, yeah, that little that little tiny house, I loved it, though. we We'd pull the futons out at night, and then there would be no – I mean, there would be two guys on on the bunk beds and then and then two on the floor, and that was it.
00:13:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:13:26
Matt Price
That was that was all you could fit in that house. So, anyway –
00:13:29
Darin Tingey
That's awesome. So you covered Long Island, the whole from the bridge to airport basically.
00:13:36
Matt Price
Yeah, it it basically went, I mean, it basically went all the way down to, all the way down to Laura. i mean, for for the most part, I mean, we didn't really go too much farther than the airport at that point, you know, it was, it was a long ways to get kind of way down there.
00:13:44
Darin Tingey
Oh, wow.
00:13:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:13:56
Matt Price
So,
00:13:57
Darin Tingey
and And how many, i guess, just so I can get a lay what the church looked like at the time, how many branches or groups were there on Maduro when you got there?
00:14:08
Matt Price
Gotcha. Yeah, at that at that time there was, so there was a branch in, Well, so there so so there was three chapels at the time.
00:14:17
Matt Price
There was the Dellop Chapel, which was kind of the main whatever chapel kind of.
00:14:18
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:14:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah,
00:14:25
Matt Price
i I think I saw a picture of the Long Island Chapel. I think they expanded that because I think it was just a little small chapel when I was there. So we had we had the Dellop Chapel and the Long Island Chapel.
00:14:34
Darin Tingey
yeah it's the stake center now. It's big.
00:14:38
Matt Price
And then there was there was a chapel down in... in Lauren because I chapped them
00:14:44
Darin Tingey
And Laura. Okay.
00:14:47
Matt Price
So anyway, so, and so we had, there was a, there was a Laura branch, there was a Long Island branch. There was a Delup branch and there was a Rita branch.
00:14:58
Matt Price
was just the four.
00:14:59
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:14:59
Matt Price
And then, and then, I mean, then there was the eBuy stuff. So the eBuy branch.
00:15:02
Darin Tingey
Right, right, right. And no outer islands open at this time.
00:15:06
Matt Price
No, there's no, yeah, no Outer Islands at that time. We'd had missionaries out in in the past. Missionaries had been out in Millie before and they'd been out in Arno before. but But when I got there, that had been several years since since we had missionaries on Outer Islands at that
00:15:24
Darin Tingey
Okay. Okay. And so the guy that you got sent from Guam to the Marshall Islands, did he end up being your companion i right at the beginning?
00:15:31
Matt Price
Yeah. okay Yep.
00:15:33
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:15:33
Matt Price
He was my companion and, and he was fighting like crazy to learn the language and, and trying to remember, right. I mean, if you'd only been there for a couple months and then, and then you get your way for a year and now you're kind of supposed to.
00:15:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:15:47
Matt Price
So yeah, he he he He gave it all he could, but we spent a lot of time trying to study and, and you know, talking to kids and trying to just, whatever, get our our way through it. So, which was awesome, right? to To be there. I mean, I remember kind of those first nights that I was there and and you the kids would, you know, they'd make fun of you and they would call you a rebelle and they would they would, you know,
00:16:15
Matt Price
you knew they were talking about you, but you were trying, you were, they were so sweet and you were, you were trying to communicate with them and have a good time with them and stuff like that.
00:16:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:16:22
Matt Price
was, it was, that was fun. That was really fun.
00:16:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah, the kids, that's what right you tell everybody, you know, talk to the kids. They'll teach you the language. they'll They'll tell you how it is because an adult will be like, you know, you say, yakwei and like wow, you're so good at Marshallese.
00:16:31
Matt Price
Yep.
00:16:37
Darin Tingey
You know, like I said one word and the kids are like, you're terrible.
00:16:38
Matt Price
Right. Right. Right.
00:16:41
Darin Tingey
You're so bad at Marshallese.
00:16:43
Matt Price
It's true. It's true, right?
00:16:45
Matt Price
so
00:16:46
Darin Tingey
Okay, so how long how long were you in Long Island for?
00:16:56
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's fine.
00:17:03
Matt Price
And I think from there I got... I think I got transferred from there to be the companion of the zone leader, Elder Adams, after that.
00:17:17
Matt Price
So I moved to kind of the Delup area.
00:17:20
Darin Tingey
Okay. And that, I mean, that's probably a little bit of a change for you.
00:17:21
Matt Price
So.
00:17:24
Darin Tingey
I mean, you had Long Island, which is a little more countryside, you know, a little more spaced out and then go to Dell up.
00:17:28
Matt Price
Okay.
00:17:33
Darin Tingey
And it's like, that's like the city center, you know, in quotation marks city center. But a little more change of pace.
00:17:37
Matt Price
Right, right.
00:17:41
Darin Tingey
Did you like that or, or not as much?
00:17:45
Matt Price
You know what? It was good. I mean, we, great companion, Elder Adams was the zone leader. We were busy kind of doing, you know, zone leader stuff and teaching and and the the ward there or the the branch was, you know, pretty strong there. And so we were kind of digging in there and it it was good. it was it was It was a good spot.
00:18:07
Darin Tingey
yeah i was Yeah, that's a good thought of, you know, how many people were in these branches? Was it like, were they small? Were they big? Did it was the work good? Do people want to hear the gospel?
00:18:18
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:18:18
Darin Tingey
Not really.
00:18:19
Matt Price
No, the people were super receptive. I mean, I don't know how the custom is now, but I mean, certainly it was very easy to teach people, right?
00:18:30
Matt Price
they
00:18:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:18:31
Matt Price
You know, they kind of had to invite you in if you're walking down the path or whatever, and they had to feed you. And so you always could kind of, you know, start a discussion or or whatever. And so, so yeah, they were super receptive that way.
00:18:46
Matt Price
think the, the Delap branch was the strongest. It probably had at church. It probably had, I don't know, 60 or 70 people that would come. Rita was pretty,
00:18:55
Darin Tingey
Nice. Yeah.
00:18:59
Matt Price
probably, you know, 30 or 40 in Long Island was probably, you know, I don't know, 30, 40, probably same in Laura, maybe a little less than Laura.
00:19:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:09
Matt Price
So, I mean, it was, you know, there was, there was a lot of, it it felt like, I mean, it was still supported, right, by the missionaries. I mean, they were, the missionaries had to kind of do a lot of the lifting and that kind of a thing, right.
00:19:25
Matt Price
To, to carry the wards and to carry the branch, to carry the branches, I should say. But they were getting it, you know, there was, there was, they were getting it.
00:19:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:35
Matt Price
So yeah,
00:19:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's always the hardest thing. It's like, you know, you're not only teaching them
00:19:41
Darin Tingey
uh, the gospel, which is probably, you know, just a little bit different than their Protestant roots, which most of them are Protestant, but it's just like culturally, it's a little bit different
Challenges in Marshallese Missions
00:19:50
Darin Tingey
too. And so they're so used to the Protestant culture being Marshallese culture at that point, you know, to, to change that is, is difficult, especially in the early days of the church being in the Marshall Islands.
00:19:57
Matt Price
Right.
00:20:04
Matt Price
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, when I was there, I was probably, you know, the the church had only been established there maybe, what was it, 10 years or so at that point.
00:20:15
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:20:16
Matt Price
So it was it was pretty fresh. A lot of, you know, lot of new new things they had to learn. Right.
00:20:24
Darin Tingey
did Did you have the Book of Mormon in, i mean, you guys probably didn't have the book Book of Mormon in Marshallese yet, did you? Or like pieces of it?
00:20:29
Matt Price
we We had we had this the selections of the of the Book of Mormon. and And honestly, it was a terrible translation. it was I mean, it for for the Marshallese, it literally, it was unreadable.
00:20:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:20:48
Matt Price
the The words in it were wrong or they were, you know you know how the spelling is there. It's like you could spell of a word you know a thousand different ways or whatever, right?
00:20:53
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:20:56
Matt Price
And so, the translation and the spellings and just how it was put together. It was, it was tough. It was tough.
00:21:06
Matt Price
The yeah.
00:21:06
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's so hard. Gosh.
00:21:09
Matt Price
Yeah. On the, on the other hand, the, they had, they had the testimony of Joseph Smith that was translated as well. And, and that translation for whatever reason was, was awesome.
00:21:15
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:21:20
Matt Price
Right.
00:21:20
Darin Tingey
Hmm.
00:21:20
Matt Price
And so we use that pamphlet as much as we used the, book of Mormon, the selections of the book of Mormon, that we had there.
00:21:29
Matt Price
I mean, we, we obviously, we, we would, we would give them a book of Mormon and we would try to read from the book of Mormon, but as we go through certain verses, we'd like, well, that's not really what that word is. That word is really this.
00:21:40
Matt Price
And anyway, so, it was, that was fun.
00:21:43
Matt Price
That was fun.
00:21:44
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's hard. That's a hard. I think because the Book of Mormon is like, you know, the keystone. And that's really like a huge differentiatorator differentiator of of religions. It's like, we don't have this book in your language.
00:21:54
Darin Tingey
We have selections and there terrible translations, but you just got to have faith. You know, it's like...
00:21:59
Matt Price
But it's it's, yeah, it's true. It's absolutely true. Like, so.
00:22:04
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's tough. I mean, I'm i'm thinking like the the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price came out when I was on my mission there. And that was, yeah, that was cool to have too.
00:22:14
Matt Price
Oh, really? Oh, wow.
00:22:17
Darin Tingey
But I can't imagine not even having the the full Book of Mormon. Not that a lot of people read it, but the ones that like I had a convert that did and like he loved it. He just ate it up and i was it was incredible.
00:22:28
Matt Price
Uh-huh.
00:22:29
Darin Tingey
But I feel like culturally they don't read a ton. just They also don't have a lot of literature in their own language anyway. yeah.
00:22:38
Matt Price
Right. I mean, even the the translations of the Bible, there was a good translation and an okay translation. So I just, yeah, it wasn't kind of in their nature to to have books. You know what i mean?
00:22:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:53
Matt Price
So anyway, but that was, yeah.
00:22:56
Darin Tingey
and, and again, like stop me if you have any of these, any stories that you want to throw in as I go along the way.
Developing Local Church Leadership
00:23:02
Darin Tingey
but from Dellup, are you, so after, after Dellup, where, where you go from there?
00:23:10
Matt Price
so So I was in Delac for a long time because I was the companion with the zone leader. And then ultimately I became the zone leader.
00:23:19
Matt Price
And so I spent, I don't know what it was, eight months or something like that, kind of in that area.
00:23:26
Darin Tingey
Oh, wow.
00:23:29
Matt Price
At some point we had changed to... The zone leader's house had actually moved up to Rita at some point in there, kind of towards the end of that, of when I was the zone leader. So I, I was in that kind of space for quite a, quite a while.
00:23:48
Matt Price
and yeah, it was, it was, it was fun.
00:23:49
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:23:50
Matt Price
So, i got you know, you, you get to know all of the people in that area. I mean, at the time we had, We had the district president, his name was it was lonnie lonnie or Lonnie Lane, or I don't know if if anybody's heard that name before.
00:24:08
Matt Price
i
00:24:08
Darin Tingey
It sounds really familiar. Yeah, it does.
00:24:10
Matt Price
so
00:24:10
Darin Tingey
No. Tell me about Lonnie.
00:24:12
Matt Price
He was the district president and, and, you know, i mean, that's a tough role, right. For somebody to, to take that on as an Islander there. but he was, he was this kind of round, big, he had this big, massive head and, uh, and, and really friendly, but also could kind of keep people in line and didn't mind calling people out a little bit and, and was, was, uh,
00:24:40
Matt Price
it It was amazing to to see the the Islanders kind of take on that role because that was not, you know, what they were.
00:24:48
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:24:48
Matt Price
what they were built for. Right. And and so he was the district president there. he had this he had this his first counselor. His name was Simon Milne.
00:25:00
Matt Price
And and Simon was somehow he had been i think he had been educated in Hawaii. And so but but then joined the church in the Marshall Islands. But he was super intelligent.
00:25:15
Matt Price
And so he actually had this, which was a great thing for the church. He had this, this radio show that he would do every Sunday where he had an hour on radio, Marshall Islands or whatever, whatever it was like, it was the only place you could, i mean, it's not like they had a TV or anything else, right?
00:25:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:25:34
Matt Price
you had a radio.
00:25:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:25:35
Matt Price
And, and so he would do an hour long, uh, like a Sunday sermon kind of a thing on that. And, uh, and he was awesome.
00:25:47
Matt Price
He, I mean, it really,
00:25:49
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:25:50
Matt Price
I think open the doors and help people understand, Oh, this is what they, these are some of the, you know, things that they, that they, they teach and what they do and things like that.
00:26:02
Matt Price
It was kind of, you know, gospel principles type stuff that he would just, he would just teach a lesson every, every Sunday on the radio. And it would go out to, i mean, it probably went out to all the islands, right.
00:26:12
Matt Price
you could kind hear it across the, across the Marshall Island.
00:26:13
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:15
Matt Price
So anyway, he was a, he was a big, that was a big, important thing to have somebody like that that could in their language, you know, teach them, teach them what was going on.
00:26:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:26:28
Matt Price
So.
00:26:29
Darin Tingey
And teach them correctly too. Like i there's a lot of leaders who have taught and you're like, oh, that wasn't quite right.
00:26:31
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:26:38
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:26:39
Darin Tingey
I have to correct that later.
00:26:41
Darin Tingey
But yeah, to have, I mean, I had some leaders, I mean, even, you know, Arlington Teban, like people who are educated in Hawaii and come back.
00:26:47
Matt Price
Mm hmm.
00:26:50
Darin Tingey
It's like so helpful because they, I feel like their their knowledge helps them share the gospel so much better than elders could or you know other leaders.
00:27:02
Darin Tingey
And so just like huge when you have that.
00:27:03
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:27:05
Darin Tingey
And and to have an hour every Sunday on the radio, because everyone lives listens to the radio.
00:27:09
Matt Price
Yeah. That was cool.
00:27:11
Darin Tingey
Even now, they still listen to the radio. you know Everyone knows there's a boat that's going to leave to Ebi soon. of them I'm always like, how does everyone know? Like, oh it was on the radio. You didn't hear it and I'm like, dude, no, I didn't hear it.
00:27:22
Matt Price
Right.
00:27:23
Darin Tingey
But that's just their way of of hearing everything. So very cool that he had that.
00:27:26
Matt Price
Yeah. So that was, that was awesome to have him and I think at the time, I mean, you've probably heard, i think that Ackley's were kind of there and then they'd been over to Hawaii and back.
00:27:40
Matt Price
So they were another big family that was kind of a, I mean, they were, they were an American family or or at least a white family, but were super integrated at the time.
00:27:44
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:27:49
Matt Price
There's a lot of great people, you know, Arlington was like, I can remember Arlington coming in. I mean, he got his mission call and then, Like the next day, he didn't go anywhere.
00:28:01
Matt Price
The next day he was like our companion, right?
00:28:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah. yeah
00:28:04
Matt Price
And i I remember him, maybe he did. It was like he became my companion or lived in our house. And i can remember i can remember he came in he'd been...
00:28:17
Matt Price
and and i think he'd been I want to say that he either went to school in the Kiribati or maybe even Tonga.
00:28:29
Darin Tingey
I think it was Tonga.
00:28:29
Matt Price
In Tonga.
00:28:30
Darin Tingey
He went to Liahona in Tonga, yeah.
00:28:32
Matt Price
In Tonga. Okay. And so then he came in and then got his call and then, and then you know, moved in with us. And i can remember we were like, he had this mustache. He had this kind of cool, cool guy mustache. It was this little light kind of mustache thing. and and And so I've got pictures of him and because we brought him, look, you can't have that mustache. Right.
00:28:55
Matt Price
and And so then we had to shave his mustache and he was he was sad that he lost his cool mustache.
00:29:03
Matt Price
So anyway, he was, uh, you knew, you knew he was going to be solid.
00:29:03
Darin Tingey
and That's awesome.
00:29:09
Matt Price
He was a solid, you know, young man. and, uh, and, and you knew just from the start, he was gonna, he was really make a difference there. So
00:29:18
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And I mean, stake president again Maduro. I think he was the was he the first stake president in the Marshall Islands? Or I think he I think he was.
00:29:26
Matt Price
I think, I think I heard that. Yeah.
00:29:29
Darin Tingey
And then and then he became stake president again when I was there or right after I left or something.
00:29:35
Matt Price
Okay.
00:29:36
Darin Tingey
I was like, man, yeah that guy, he he's awesome.
00:29:36
Matt Price
Is that right?
00:29:40
Darin Tingey
He's just, when I went back, I visited a year and a half ago and he helped me out a ton, get me a hotel and stuff. And he was just like, yeah, i'm I'm here to build Zion in the Marsh Islands.
00:29:50
Darin Tingey
And I was like, that's so cool, man.
00:29:50
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:29:52
Darin Tingey
Everyone's leaving the Marsh Islands and he's like, I'm staying. I'm i'm here to build Zion.
00:29:54
Matt Price
That's all right. Oh, that's great. I mean, they they need you know people like that. that' that's That's huge there.
00:30:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:30:03
Matt Price
So.
00:30:03
Darin Tingey
Yeah, they do. So, okay, so DELP was, yeah, DELP was a big part of your mission then. Yeah, you got to...
00:30:08
Matt Price
It was. I was there for a long time. And we, I mean, it was kind of an extended area, probably a lot bigger than, i mean, basically went from the bridge.
00:30:15
Darin Tingey
Sure.
00:30:16
Matt Price
Well, we had the sisters kind of there as well. So they had taken a section of it. And then i want to say that most of our time, we spent kind of in the gender area.
00:30:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:31
Matt Price
and just like gender could been an area that had kind of been lost
Community Engagement and Success Stories
00:30:37
Matt Price
there.
00:30:37
Matt Price
i mean, we had good missionaries up at Rita and then we had a lot of stuff kind of going by the church. and it felt like gender just kind of was ignored for a lot of years. And so we kind of started going in there and, um, and,
00:30:54
Matt Price
And, you know, Jendrick at the time kind of had a a bad reputation. I mean, there was, it's funny, there's a, they had this, so but they had this gang there, a gang of kids, right?
00:31:08
Matt Price
And they called themselves, they called themselves the Jendrick Kuj Rakutak, which which i think,
00:31:17
Matt Price
like Gendrick, obviously, and then Kuj, I think is cat, right? Gendrick, Kuj, Rakutak, which I think is scratch.
00:31:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:31:23
Matt Price
So they were the Gendrick cat scratch. And so anyway, there was there was there was a a guy that was kind of the leader of that group and he was kind of this big,
00:31:26
Darin Tingey
That's so good.
00:31:35
Matt Price
big guy, bigger than most of the Marshallese. Anyway, we spent a lot of time there and and befriended, you know, a lot of the kids played a lot of volleyball in that area and, and really just got in deep with the people.
00:31:45
Darin Tingey
Oh, yeah.
00:31:50
Matt Price
And so eventually we had some, just, just some really sweet families that joined the church from that area. And it really became a nice strong area that, that really,
00:32:04
Matt Price
you know, helped out stuff. So.
00:32:07
Darin Tingey
Were there any others other people that you baptized or taught and that you know in that Delap, Tarita area that eventually went on to be bishops or leaders in the church that you maybe still talk to or see?
00:32:22
Matt Price
Yeah. So, I, I don't know how long it lasted there, but we had, there's a family that, uh, uh, Pretty cool story.
00:32:32
Matt Price
The Bush talk family. i don't know if they were still kind of his name was Banner Bush doc. I mean, it's hard, you know,
00:32:39
Darin Tingey
Okay. I don't know.
00:32:42
Matt Price
age out and they also kind of go inactive as well, but, but, but banner and, and, or yeah, remove it but banner and Maria and, and then they had several of their kids, Livingston and Jack and a couple of kids.
00:32:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah, or move to the States.
00:33:00
Matt Price
They, they actually had a pretty cool kind of conversion story. They, So they have this, when I was there, they had they had a little girl and she was about, she was probably five, six years old, something like that, right?
00:33:19
Matt Price
and And when she was a toddler, so just learning to whatever, crawl around and get around and stuff like that, They had, they were boiling water in the, in, in their little kind of yard courtyard area or whatever they, they had there.
00:33:37
Matt Price
It was either water or it could have even been oil, right? They're maybe frying fish or something like that.
00:33:41
Darin Tingey
Oh
00:33:43
Matt Price
But anyway, as as a little toddler, this girl, her name was Tika, and she reached up and somehow grabbed that pot of water or pot up oil or whatever it was and pulled that down on top of her head, right?
00:33:59
Darin Tingey
gosh.
00:33:59
Matt Price
And it completely like burned her whole scalp, right? Down to... I mean, like she still had, you know, mental deficiencies and things like that as a result of that of that accident.
00:34:10
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:34:15
Matt Price
And so so they obviously they took her. This was before we met him and they'd taken her to the hospital or whatever.
00:34:37
Matt Price
But while he was in the hospital with his little girl, then he, he prayed, you know, kind of for the first time sort of a thing and, and asked that God would, you know, send somebody to him, send him somebody that can help him and help him change his life and stuff like that. And so that very next day or later that afternoon, you know, who shows up, but the, the missionary is there and they knock on his door and tell him they've got a message for him and and tell him that, you know, they're, they, they want to help him change and stuff like that. And so,
00:35:11
Matt Price
they kind of planted the seeds there. Now it didn't kind of go anywhere at that point. Right. But, it but it kind of planted the seeds there. And then, and then, so when we kind of came into that area and and started having, you know, discussions with different people and, and meeting people, we ran into them as well. And, and, and, and then started teaching them and, and he recalled those, those good experiences that, and, and that,
00:35:38
Matt Price
whatever that the result of that prayer and, and then, you know, embrace the gospel at that point. And, and then really started progressing and became just a great, strong family in that, in that area.
00:35:54
Matt Price
And so when I left, I think he had become the, he was in the branch presidency or something like that. And anyway, really a great, a great family and great, great story there.
00:36:03
Darin Tingey
That's a really cool story.
00:36:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah, no, I mean, incredible story. And like you said, like a guy that was known for being a drunk in the town and then has a come to Jesus moment and and who shows up but the missionaries.
00:36:19
Darin Tingey
It's just crazy. God's timing it and and all of that. Yeah.
00:36:22
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah. So they were fun. They, they, all these kids, I mean, the, the kids, these kids that they had, and then, and then kind of all the ones that lived around, they, they, they also embraced the gospel and, and eventually most of them got baptized, but they were, they were fun.
00:36:40
Matt Price
They, they knew how to play the guitar and they were, Handsome kids, right? And so that would bring all of the youth around and they would, we'd have these family home evenings in their house there and it would just be packed with kids and people and they would be playing the guitar and performing for everybody and singing songs.
00:36:57
Matt Price
And anyway, it was a, it was an awesome, a really great fun time there in Gendry.
00:37:03
Darin Tingey
that's a That's incredible. I feel like the kids in the Marshall Islands, you know, have really had a good experience with missionaries. They always want to be around the missionaries. And I always like hope that as I grow up,
00:37:18
Darin Tingey
It continues, and I think it does, that though they can remember, oh, I remember those missionaries. you know We went and sang songs with them and heard a message.
00:37:23
Matt Price
Right.
00:37:27
Darin Tingey
don't know. There's just so many kids in the Marsh Islands. there's just They're always outside, always running around. like That's one of the joys of the Marsh Islands is the kids.
00:37:33
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:37:36
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah. That's good times. So.
00:37:39
Darin Tingey
Okay, so from from there, is this when you go to ebiy
00:37:45
Matt Price
So ultimately, yeah, I mean, I from there, I I went to I went to E-Buy and I served there. I call this kind of a zone trainer.
00:38:00
Matt Price
i don't know what they were really.
00:38:01
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:38:01
Matt Price
I think they just didn't have a spot for me and they needed a new zone. So they just want to get rid of me.
00:38:05
Darin Tingey
Nice.
00:38:07
Matt Price
So so I went over to E-Buy and I was only an E-Buy for I was there for maybe a month or so. But what an awesome experience, right?
00:38:15
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:38:18
Matt Price
to To go there and just, I mean, what a what a wild place.
00:38:23
Darin Tingey
It is a wild place. Very different than Maduro.
00:38:26
Matt Price
Very different, right? And to go and and to be able to just get in those those little winding house to house to this house, next to that house to that house. I mean, it was it blew your mind.
00:38:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's
00:38:40
Matt Price
So...
Travel Across the Islands
00:38:41
Darin Tingey
crazy.
00:38:41
Darin Tingey
So many people.
00:38:41
Matt Price
And I think at at that time, I don't, you know, I think they they didn't, I think since I was there, I think they've kind of expanded and brought in a lot of land and kind of filled in the land between, but it was, it was,
00:38:58
Matt Price
Just kind of the the section of e-buy and not any of that.
00:39:03
Darin Tingey
hmm.
00:39:05
Matt Price
They were starting to kind of bring in, it felt like they were starting to grow the island, right? And trying to move people out a little bit, but it was it was jam-packed.
00:39:12
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:39:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah. was the dump Was the dump in the north there when you were there? Was there a dump there? do you remember?
00:39:25
Matt Price
I think that's where they were just starting to put.
00:39:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Push people.
00:39:29
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:39:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:39:30
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:39:31
Darin Tingey
Dump town. There's a lot people live right next to the dump up there.
00:39:32
Matt Price
Dunktown.
00:39:34
Darin Tingey
they Yeah.
00:39:35
Matt Price
So, so yeah, that was, uh, so I was only there a short, a short time.
00:39:37
Darin Tingey
ay
00:39:41
Matt Price
and then I got called as the, uh, the, as an AP, from there. And so, so,
00:39:47
Darin Tingey
Okay. So AP, does this mean you go back to Guam?
00:39:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:40:00
Matt Price
But in in the Micronesia-Gawant mission, there was like an extra little, I mean, when you were called as the then those were the only people that got to see the entire mission, right?
00:40:13
Matt Price
Besides the mission president, right? And so there was like a, it was, it was, there was a little added bonus there, right?
00:40:14
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:40:20
Matt Price
that That you find, oh, okay.
00:40:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:40:21
Matt Price
You'd heard all about whatever you'd heard. You know, they, they would send this newsletter around and you would read stories and things like that. But but nobody ever got to go to, and to the other islands, right.
00:40:34
Matt Price
Except for the APs. And so, so yeah, that was, that was kind of cool because from there, you know, you got to go to Kosh Rai or you got to go, I mean, I went to Palau and to all the way across the mission.
00:40:46
Darin Tingey
Incredible.
00:40:52
Matt Price
They all had their own kind of, you know, funny little things about them. And i I mean, it was, it was, it was awesome to be the, to, to, to do that, to be able to, to travel to all of those islands and spend like the mission president didn't travel.
00:41:09
Matt Price
I mean, he'd travel every month or two. And and as the assistance, we would, we would go with them and, and, and do that.
00:41:14
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:41:15
Matt Price
But then when he wasn't traveling, we were traveling and we were training and, and going to all the other islands. And, and so, I got to spend a lot of time on on some of those other islands.
00:41:27
Darin Tingey
That's incredible. which Which one was your favorite?
00:41:33
Matt Price
oh They were so different, right? Like Kosh is probably the prettiest island that I, that I went to.
00:41:43
Matt Price
I mean, it was this big, sharp mountain that come out of the ocean.
00:41:44
Darin Tingey
Thank you.
00:41:48
Matt Price
And then there was just, uh, you could just, the people just kind of lived around the perimeter and it was just gorgeous. They had great pineapple and, and, tangerines and they, i mean it was, it was a paradise.
00:42:06
Darin Tingey
And that's, and that, and I'm sure it was an extra paradise because you're coming from the Marshall Islands where it's like flat, super flat.
00:42:14
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:42:15
Darin Tingey
They don't really grow anything else besides coconut and breadfruit, you know, and papaya.
00:42:19
Matt Price
Great.
00:42:21
Darin Tingey
So like, I, I, well, I do love the marsh islands and Kitabas. Like I like, they have my heart. I also realized like to other, to most people, the other islands in Micronesia probably more beautiful because of, you know, the mountainous and all that stuff.
00:42:37
Matt Price
Yeah, they they look like islands, right? Or they look like Hawaii, right?
00:42:40
Darin Tingey
Right. Yeah, exactly. And they have the different foods and all that.
00:42:42
Matt Price
And so, yeah, they have all, yeah, it's kind of the whole thing. But the Coast Ride was still super primitive. you know, Pontepe, I probably spent more time in Pontepe than, than any of the other islands. and Pontepe was huge. I mean, it, it was, it, was and it was jungly and it was, it also had the mountains and stuff like that.
00:43:04
Matt Price
and you could get so deep in, in back in there where you just wouldn't see anybody for days, like the missionaries that were back in, Mon and Sopalop and some of these places, they they they would get lost out there and they would just go native.
00:43:19
Matt Price
they were it was so
00:43:21
Darin Tingey
No way. That's crazy.
00:43:23
Matt Price
And then you had Chuk. Chuk was cool. Chuk had all the little islands within the lagoon, so they it wasn't like one big mountain, right?
00:43:32
Matt Price
At the time, I don't know what they do now, but we had, there was missionaries that were assigned as boat elders. They were, they were in charge of the boat, the church owned a boat.
00:43:42
Matt Price
and the missionaries were in charge of that boat, right?
00:43:43
Darin Tingey
sick.
00:43:44
Matt Price
They had to take care of it. And so every week they would jump in the boat, the the two boat elders. Right. And then they would go out to all of the little islands within the lagoon.
00:43:57
Matt Price
Right. Which were, I mean, there's, you know, it there's, there's pretty far apart from each other.
00:43:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah, right.
00:44:01
Matt Price
Right. And they would go out, pick up each of the missionaries on all of those little islands within the lagoon, bring them back into the the main island there. They would have their they'd have their kind of district meeting or whatever, zone meeting, right? And they would do their shopping. They would stay the night there.
00:44:22
Matt Price
And then the next morning they'd get up and the boat elders would plop them on to each of those islands and, and, and drop them off there. And then, yeah. And then they do that all again the the next week.
00:44:32
Darin Tingey
Oh
00:44:33
Matt Price
And so, i mean you can imagine, I mean, they, they had, they had wild stories of of storms that they were trying to, you know, load the boat and the boats tipped over and guys are swimming.
00:44:36
Darin Tingey
gosh.
00:44:44
Matt Price
and, and it just, I mean, it, it, it was a wild place.
00:44:45
Darin Tingey
gosh
00:44:50
Matt Price
People from Chuk are kind of aggressive and, And and so they would have run ins with the missionaries. And anyway, it was it.
00:45:00
Darin Tingey
Fascinating. i I can't imagine telling my family back home, like, yeah, I'm a missionary out here, but like, I just, I take care of the boat and I take me right out the boat.
00:45:01
Matt Price
Shoot. Shoot. Wow.
00:45:11
Darin Tingey
That sounds amazing.
00:45:11
Matt Price
Yeah, I'm the I'm the boat guy. Right. So anyway, that that was a that's a cool place. I mean, Yap. Yap was something else.
00:45:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah, they were really...
00:45:32
Matt Price
They still, i mean,
00:45:33
Darin Tingey
Still, like, but not very much clothing, right? You know?
00:45:35
Matt Price
Yeah, they would they wouldn't wear clothes. the The men would have this little diaper wrap that they would that they would wear.
00:45:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:45:42
Matt Price
The women would just wear something on the bottom and they would chew betel nut, which was gross.
00:45:44
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah,
00:45:49
Darin Tingey
betel nuts, yeah. Yeah.
00:45:56
Matt Price
And so that was a cool place. Yeah.
00:46:00
Darin Tingey
Would you say they were the most primitive, like most stuck in their old ways?
00:46:04
Matt Price
Yeah. Most in the old traditions and things like that.
00:46:07
Darin Tingey
Traditions? Yeah.
00:46:08
Matt Price
It felt like to me when I was there.
00:46:10
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:46:20
Matt Price
and they can super pretty cause of the, whatever the, the, the rock islands and the, and the diving that you could do there, the lagoon there was beautiful.
00:46:20
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:46:30
Matt Price
So.
00:46:30
Darin Tingey
Yeah, Palau's gorgeous. So did you take planes to teach each of these or did you have to take boats?
00:46:34
Matt Price
No, we took, we we would take a plane.
00:46:37
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:46:38
Matt Price
So we would just jump on that and i racked up, you know, thousands and thousands of miles on the planes there.
00:46:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:46:45
Matt Price
So.
00:46:45
Darin Tingey
Incredible. And, you know, what which countries or guess islands had a stronger church presence? Yeah.
00:46:57
Matt Price
So i I think the church was probably of those islands church was strongest in Pohnpei. It was, it was just kind of getting started in Kosherai. Yap was kind of weak.
00:47:11
Matt Price
Palau was weak. Chuk was okay.
00:47:13
Darin Tingey
the
00:47:13
Matt Price
Chuk was all right.
00:47:15
Darin Tingey
So did you have the most missionaries in Pontepe then?
00:47:15
Matt Price
As far as the church goes.
00:47:18
Darin Tingey
Pontepe and Krushai? Okay.
00:47:20
Matt Price
Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:22
Darin Tingey
Did you ever try and learn some of the languages or yeah?
00:47:22
Matt Price
So Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. you would I mean, you're spending, you know, youd you go and you'd spend whatever, four or five days with the missionaries there.
00:47:32
Matt Price
And then you would go, you know, you'd be in Ponte Pei for four or five days. And then you go to Chute for, you know, another couple of days. And then you go to whatever, Coast Ride for a couple days or whatever. And so, yeah, on each of those islands, you would you would try to try to you know, learn it.
00:47:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:47:48
Matt Price
And so... But they were all, I mean, the languages were all so different, right? you could You could kind of pick up some of the things and because you knew Marshallese, you could kind of, okay, i bet I bet it kind of goes like this, but but they were totally different languages, right?
00:48:02
Darin Tingey
Yeah. i i remember we had an elder from, gosh i can't remember if he was from Krusha or Bonapé, and a sister from Bonapé, and they
00:48:12
Matt Price
Mm-hmm.
00:48:14
Darin Tingey
he was He was originally from one of those, but then moved to the States when he was young, and then he got called to the Marshall Islands. So he like knew some of his language, native language. And then when he was in the Marshall Islands, he was like, oh my gosh, the Marshallese and I think his pawn and band are like actually like pretty similar. like Some of the words are the same.
00:48:34
Darin Tingey
And that was interesting to hear because... Marshallese, I don't know if it's any like any other language. you know When people think of Islander languages, they think of Tongan, they think of Samoan, they think of Tuval, the prettier, sing-songy Island languages.
00:48:46
Matt Price
yeah
00:49:07
Matt Price
Yeah, I i i mean, there was there were some words that would be common, right? but they were But then they were mixed totally different, in a totally different way.
00:49:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it's not like Spanish and Portuguese where you can kind of understand.
00:49:20
Matt Price
No, it was not even close to that.
00:49:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I know.
00:49:23
Matt Price
it's it's It's quite a bit different. I mean, if you're in Chuk, you think that they're swearing the whole time because there's a lot of – There's a lot of words that sound like, you know, the F word.
00:49:37
Matt Price
so
00:49:38
Darin Tingey
That's too good. i
00:49:40
Matt Price
that's so
00:49:41
Darin Tingey
I remember, yeah, when I got transferred, because I did Marsh Islands and Kitabas, kind of like Cade, but I wasn't AP.
00:49:45
Matt Price
Okay.
00:49:47
Darin Tingey
I just got sent over there. And everyone asks me, like, oh, well, like, hopefully similar languages. im like, no. Like, they're they're not.
00:49:53
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:49:54
Darin Tingey
Like, you – as you learn both, you kind of realize similarities in maybe sentence structure or some words, but, like –
00:49:54
Matt Price
They're different.
00:50:00
Matt Price
Yeah.
00:50:01
Darin Tingey
A Marshallese person could not understand a kid this person and and vice versa. It's, you know, it doesn't work that way.
00:50:05
Matt Price
Right. For sure. For sure. Yeah.
00:50:08
Darin Tingey
which i Which I'm also thinking, and remind I remember that Cade, you know, is AP and got to travel bunch, just like you. Like, how cool is that, that you guys both were APs in missions that were so unique and you got to travel to all the different places.
00:50:20
Darin Tingey
Very cool.
00:50:20
Matt Price
Yeah, that that was, that's awesome.
00:50:21
Darin Tingey
I'm very, very jealous.
00:50:23
Matt Price
Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, the the fact that Kade got called to, like, obviously, if you're, I mean, I got called to the Micronesia Guam mission. So, I mean,
00:50:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:34
Matt Price
and But I was assigned to the Marshall Islands, right? And then for him to get a call to the Marshall Islands, right? not
00:50:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:41
Matt Price
I mean, that that was just, that was something else. That was awesome.
00:50:44
Darin Tingey
Yeah. I bet you were stoked.
00:50:47
Matt Price
That was.
00:50:47
Darin Tingey
How long were you AP for?
00:50:50
Matt Price
I was on, I was quite a while, probably six months or so. So i I, finished off President Nord. So probably his last four months or so as he was winding down his mission. And then i was the assistant when the new mission president came in, President Thatcher.
00:51:14
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:51:15
Matt Price
So,
00:51:15
Darin Tingey
And, and let's So how long were you in the Marshall Islands before you became AP?
00:51:21
Matt Price
I was probably there for, I don't know, 14 months or something like that.
00:51:25
Darin Tingey
A year. Okay.
00:51:28
Matt Price
So, yeah.
00:51:29
Darin Tingey
14 months.
00:51:30
Matt Price
So basically I did, once I was the assistant for, you know, five or six months, then i think I had, you know, maybe, maybe two months left on my mission.
00:51:42
Matt Price
And then, and so that's when, once I got to the end of my mission, then I, then i
00:51:42
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:51:48
Matt Price
Or once I was done being the assistant, then i asked President Thatcher if I could go back to the Marshall Islands and and open up with
00:51:57
Darin Tingey
And was he was he like, yeah, or just like, yeah, sure.
00:51:59
Matt Price
Jay. You know, it's it's I don't think he knew, really.
00:52:05
Darin Tingey
Nice.
00:52:06
Matt Price
oh i mean, at that point, you know, so we had When I was a zone leader back in Maduro, then we had opened up or we'd had we'd sent missionaries out to Millie, which I should tell you that kind of the story that kind of goes along with that is that so we were we were contemplating kind of sending missionaries out to to
Reopening Millie Mission
00:52:37
Matt Price
Millie. They hadn't been there for...
00:52:39
Matt Price
quite a few years. And so we, we, we felt like we needed to ask the the king to, if it was okay, if we sent missionaries out there, right.
00:52:52
Matt Price
To kind of get his blessing that it was going to be okay to have missionaries on his island. And so we, we determined that we needed to talk to at the time, the king, the
00:52:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:53:05
Matt Price
King of the Kings, the Iroh Ilaapalapa was Kabua Kabua. And
00:53:10
Darin Tingey
Which, what a baller name, you know, Kabua, Kabua.
00:53:12
Matt Price
yeah, this is the greatest name, right?
00:53:13
Darin Tingey
Yep. Yep.
00:53:16
Matt Price
His son at the time that I was there, his son Amata was the president of the Marsh Islands. And then I think another son, Imata became.
00:53:23
Darin Tingey
yep
00:53:25
Matt Price
Anyway, the Kabua group was whatever. They were the they were the big the big the big people.
00:53:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah, still are.
00:53:31
Matt Price
But but and yeah, probably. Yeah, they probably still are. Right. So this was the this was Kabua Kabua, who at the time. was, i mean, he was pretty old.
00:53:54
Darin Tingey
right.
00:53:59
Matt Price
I mean, he was still the E-Royce, right.
00:54:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:02
Matt Price
But, but his sons were kind of running the government. And so anyway, we we we just decided that we needed to talk to him.
00:54:12
Matt Price
And so at that time, I had this Marshallese companion named Jimmy Motte. I don't know if anybody ever ran into Jimmy Motte, but he was so fun. just Just a fun little fun. He was an Islander. He was a Marshallese kid that that joined the church and became a missionary. And anyway, so he was my companion at the time. and And we said, well, we' we're going go talk to the to the to Kabula Kabula. He's like, oh Elder Price, you you need to learn some things before we can talk to the to the king. Right. He's like you he's like, you don't know the customs and I need to teach you the customs. And so so anyway, for the next couple days or whatever, he he started teaching me things. Right.
00:54:58
Matt Price
OK. When you when you go to meet the king, then You can't look him in the eye and you need to kind of duck your head and you can never be higher than him. And you need to kind of bend over and and and look like this and and maybe turn your shoulders this way and keep one of your hands behind your back. And I mean, he was going through all of these things.
00:55:20
Matt Price
customs and the the way to to approach this king. And if you if you if you need to hand him something, right, he'd tell you, okay, well, you'd have to take your one hand and put it under your elbow, right?
00:55:30
Matt Price
I don't know if they i don't know if they if any of the missionaries do that, but but the the custom was that you would take, if you wanted to hand somebody with your your right hand, right, you would have to take your left hand and put it under the elbow
00:55:34
Darin Tingey
No.
00:55:45
Matt Price
and support that right under the elbow of your right hand to, to kind of support that way. And so you would kind of hold one hand and then give it, I don't know, it was kind of a weird way wait to hand handsome, but that was the, that was the proper way to give a gift or give something to the King.
00:55:55
Darin Tingey
Interesting. Yeah.
00:56:04
Matt Price
And so he made sure that I knew, okay, this is this, if you have to hand him anything, this is what you need to do. And anyway, he went through this whole thing. And so, So we got to the to the day that we that we needed to to do that with him, and and we i mean we will we just went up to his door. It was it was like a little house there in Dellop. It wasn't like – mean, it wasn't – It wasn't anything super special.
00:56:32
Matt Price
It was a, it was the nicest house in the area because, but but it wasn't nicer than your house.
00:56:33
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:56:39
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
00:56:41
Matt Price
And, and so we went up and we knocked on his door and, and I think his wife opened the door and we're like, Hey, we're missionaries and we're kind of standing in our our way and, you know, we're ducking and, I'm taller than most of the Marshallese.
00:56:58
Matt Price
So I'm ducking down really low, as low as I can.
00:56:58
Darin Tingey
Yes.
00:57:00
Matt Price
Right. And, uh, and anyway, they were, and so he comes out as well and they were so, so kind, so sweet. Right.
00:57:11
Matt Price
And they're like, Oh, come in, come in come in. And, uh, and so we came in and, they, uh, uh, we We sat down, but we couldn't sit on the chairs with them, right? Because that would put us at the same level. So they sat on chairs and then we sat on the floor and and just had a sweet kind of conversation with them. We said, to you know, we we want to go out to Millie. We want to send our missionaries there. We're teaching the gospel. We're, you know, all of this kind of stuff. And yeah.
00:57:39
Matt Price
They were super receptive, right? They were super, super gracious and kind and and and nice to us. And so we kind of got a little bit bold with our in our missionariness and we're like, well, can we tell you a story?
00:57:45
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:57:54
Matt Price
And and so we're like, you know, there there was in the Book of Mormon and we would tell him the the story of King Benjamin. We're like, there was a king that, that and and and i obviously had a lot of application.
00:58:05
Matt Price
He was an older, he'd seen a lot with his with his people, right? At that point, they'd been through the war and they'd been, you know, they'd been occupied by Japan and then and then the Americans and then.
00:58:11
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:58:31
Matt Price
And, and he was super receptive to it, right? He was, he was asked questions and he was, he was into it. And, and it was awesome. It was a, it was a sweet experience. And then in the end, we're like, okay, here's,
00:58:43
Matt Price
we're going to give you this Book of Mormon. And and so i put my hand under my arm, right? And here you go. Here's here's your Book of Mormon, right? So anyway, it was it was awesome.
00:58:52
Darin Tingey
That's awesome.
00:58:53
Matt Price
It was awesome. So...
00:58:55
Darin Tingey
Did you ever see him again or no?
00:58:57
Matt Price
No, we never, we never saw, I mean, he was, he was solidly into the Protestants, uh, there, but, but he was so so, I mean, to be that gracious to us and to, you know, spend, I bet we spend an hour with them and, and, uh, anyway, a sweet, sweet old, old guy.
00:59:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:59:03
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:59:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah. and And he gave your gave his blessing to send missionaries to Millie?
00:59:18
Matt Price
And, and so he, so he gave his blessing. And, and so we sent missionaries out to, uh, we sent missionaries out to Millie, That was probably about the same time that we were sending missionaries out to Lai.
00:59:33
Matt Price
So you served on Lai, right?
00:59:34
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:59:36
Darin Tingey
Yep. Yep.
00:59:37
Matt Price
So did you did you know the i mean do you know the legend of Elder Saunders?
00:59:44
Darin Tingey
I don't. And
Legendary Missionaries and Their Impact
00:59:45
Darin Tingey
I'm trying, i was trying to look up pictures because I had found these two guys that had served on lie way back in the day.
00:59:57
Darin Tingey
And it looked like they had opened the island, but I wasn't sure. Super blonde missionary. Maybe it was him. There was a really blonde. He's a doctor in Idaho, I think.
01:00:07
Darin Tingey
I think he was there either after you, before you. Probably maybe after because...
01:00:11
Matt Price
Okay. it but It probably would have been after because, i mean, Lai was opened up while I was there. Yeah.
01:00:19
Darin Tingey
While you were there. Okay, so maybe it was it was after then, because then i think Arlington Teben went out to lie eventually.
01:00:20
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:00:26
Matt Price
Oh, maybe so.
01:00:27
Darin Tingey
Anyway, but so I haven't heard of elder Elder Saunders. There's been so many missionaries since then, but tell me please tell me the legend of Elder Saunders.
01:00:35
Matt Price
Well, the the reason that we the reason that you got to go to lie is because of Elder Saunders. so
01:00:43
Darin Tingey
Okay, let's hear this.
01:00:44
Matt Price
So Elder Saunders, he was a legend. He started his mission a couple months or before I did. But Elder Saunders was like he was man, meaning he was... a man meaning he like he was again, you're 19, you don't know how old people are, but I i want to say he was 26, 27, something like that.
01:01:08
Darin Tingey
OK.
01:01:08
Matt Price
I mean, he'd he'd gone out on his mission kind of late, right?
01:01:13
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:01:13
Matt Price
and And had had lots of life experiences, right? And so, like, he had, it seemed like he had run his own construction company, and like, he was an established dude. He was a He was a man and we were just boys.
01:01:27
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:01:28
Matt Price
Right. And so he kind of. he he He was a solid I mean, he was he was out there for the right reason. He was out there to share the gospel. He had a testimony, all that kind of stuff. But he also could get away with doing kind of whatever he wanted, because.
01:01:45
Matt Price
the the mission president just kind of respected him because he was just on a different level. We were boys and he was a man. Right. And, and so he got to kind of do things that he wanted to do, which was great.
01:01:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:58
Matt Price
Cause he was always, he was solid. Right. And so I think he had spent a bunch of time on e-buy and, and had good success there with people from e-buy.
01:02:01
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:02:09
Matt Price
And I think that's where he'd kind of run into, a bunch of people from Lai. And so I think at that point, he'd some he had talked the mission president into letting him go out to Lai, which didn't make, frankly, a lot of sense at that time.
01:02:25
Matt Price
Because, I mean, Lai was tiny. and
01:02:27
Darin Tingey
Yeah, it still is.
01:02:28
Matt Price
And there there was not, I mean, it was like, why are why are we going to Lai? Right. There's bigger islands. You know, why aren't you going to Island Lapa Lapa? Or why aren't you going to, you know, Jalowich or Wutje or somewhere else, right?
01:02:41
Matt Price
Where there's a few more people and stuff like that.
01:02:42
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:02:43
Matt Price
But he had it. He had it set that he was going to go out to to lie. And so he pushed that through. And.
01:02:52
Matt Price
He I mean, and i remember him. And these are kind of, you know, you hear the things back and forth between because I was on Majora at that time. But he went out there and I think he just went out with a bunch of construction tools and and and construction materials, right?
01:03:08
Matt Price
And some two by fours and plywood and and went out there and built the house that the missionaries were in and and and just really got deep in that in that island there.
01:03:21
Matt Price
And so anyway, and had great success, right? But he was he was definitely the the the guy that that made that all happen there.
01:03:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:03:31
Darin Tingey
I swear I've seen pictures of this. i like i I've seen pictures of them building a little house on Lai. I'll have to find it see because i might I might have even messaged him about getting him on the podcast.
01:03:47
Darin Tingey
But anyway, Lai is an island that is blessed by God.
01:03:49
Matt Price
yeah
01:03:55
Darin Tingey
that that It's crazy how much success that tiny little island has had. and how many people have gone to the temple on the island. and i just like Even when I got there, which I got there, what, 2018? Right before Christmas 2017.
01:04:14
Darin Tingey
And like you know a third of the island was members.
01:04:14
Matt Price
Okay.
01:04:17
Darin Tingey
Most of them had been to the temple.
01:04:17
Matt Price
Uh-huh.
01:04:19
Darin Tingey
And at that point, you know everyone on the island had heard the gospel from the missionaries several times.
01:04:25
Matt Price
Right, right, right.
01:04:26
Darin Tingey
yeah I wasn't like teaching anything new per se to these people, but it was just like timing for everybody. It was just their time.
01:04:33
Matt Price
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
01:04:35
Darin Tingey
And like I baptized two adults, two youth and and a kid. So it's like I baptized a guy that was an older guy there and he'd lived one life his whole life.
01:04:45
Darin Tingey
And he had talked to missionaries his whole life. And for some reason, that was the time that it clicked for him.
01:04:50
Matt Price
The time was right.
01:04:51
Darin Tingey
Okay, I found the missionary that I was talking about. Maybe he's right after Saunders, but Carter Kimball.
Communication Challenges with Remote Islands
01:04:58
Darin Tingey
and don't know if you know Elder Kimball, but.
01:05:01
Matt Price
and I don't know that I know that.
01:05:03
Darin Tingey
he's He eventually was companions with or served at same time as Arlington Seabon.
01:05:08
Matt Price
Oh, is that right?
01:05:09
Darin Tingey
But yeah, so maybe right after you.
01:05:09
Matt Price
Okay. aling was Arlington was kind of at the end of my mission.
01:05:11
Darin Tingey
Okay.
01:05:15
Matt Price
was kind of when he came. Well, and in the latter part of my mission, the last year of my mission.
01:05:19
Darin Tingey
So did you hear that Saunders had success online like at the beginning? or Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:24
Matt Price
Yeah, no, he, he went out there and, and right away he was baptized, you know, family is coming in. And I mean, he was, he was, a he was great because he just, he just,
01:05:35
Matt Price
Got it, right? he you know the the The petty little rules that kind of applied to everybody else, he could cut through that and then just go right to the teaching and helping people grow. and Anyway, he was he was a phenomenal, he was the man.
01:05:55
Darin Tingey
did did they Did you guys have success on Millie when you reopened that island as well?
01:05:59
Matt Price
we We didn't have a lot of success on Millie when we opened it up or reopened it.
01:05:59
Darin Tingey
Or was that harder?
01:06:14
Darin Tingey
That's cool.
01:06:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
01:06:23
Matt Price
and, uh, anyway, but, but eventually we kind of brought, we had one of the missionaries get super sick out there.
01:06:31
Matt Price
He had, he he ate, uh, some sort of a poisonous fish and then, and then was just in bed, swollen, you know, big giant head swollen from eating this poisonous fish for days.
01:06:39
Darin Tingey
Oh, gosh.
01:06:44
Matt Price
And so ultimately we kind of brought the missionaries back off of, off of Millie.
01:06:50
Darin Tingey
And were they traveling by boat to Millie or plane fly as well?
01:06:54
Matt Price
They traveled to Millie. They traveled by plane.
01:06:59
Darin Tingey
OK.
01:07:00
Matt Price
I traveled to Millie by plane. I can't remember how the missionaries got. I mean, because they would have had a bunch of their stuff as well. I think they probably went by plane.
01:07:10
Darin Tingey
And would you communicate through radio with them or was there a...
01:07:14
Matt Price
We just wouldn't communicate.
01:07:16
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:07:16
Matt Price
Yeah. I mean, you got to understand that. Like, I don't, I mean, we didn't talk to the mission president that often.
01:07:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:07:25
Matt Price
I don't know. I can't remember really ever talking to the APs or the mission president, except when they came to the island.
01:07:35
Matt Price
And I don't know how they, we even knew they were coming.
01:07:36
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
01:07:37
Matt Price
But somehow we did.
01:07:38
Darin Tingey
Right.
01:07:38
Matt Price
but So, so there was some community. I just can't, I can't picture it because it it wasn't like we were, I think there was a phone in the, in the Dellup chapel. So I guess we could call from the Dellup chapel.
01:07:49
Darin Tingey
camera
01:07:51
Matt Price
And then there were, there were some, I mean, you could radio from the outer islands. So I think we did have the option of, of doing that every now and then.
01:07:59
Darin Tingey
hey
01:08:01
Matt Price
I know when I was on Wutje, we we would radio in at different times and stuff like that. So.
01:08:07
Darin Tingey
And writing letters home to your family, I'm assuming?
01:08:11
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:08:11
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:08:12
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:08:13
Darin Tingey
I did that on Lai. It's funny that even when I got out to Lai, I i'm still just writing letters home, which which is crazy.
01:08:21
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:08:23
Darin Tingey
Because I feel like that since since then, it's accelerated a lot faster where they have Starlink out there.
01:08:24
Matt Price
you know
01:08:28
Darin Tingey
So they have internet on Outer Islands and stuff, which just blows my mind.
01:08:29
Matt Price
All right.
01:08:32
Darin Tingey
It's crazy.
01:08:34
Darin Tingey
let So let's talk about Wuche. So you convinced Mission President to let you open Wuche. Why did you choose Wuche as the island that you wanted to go open?
01:08:45
Matt Price
you know what, probably the, probably the biggest reason is because of the experience with the Bush talk with banner Bush talk, their family was from what Jay.
01:08:55
Matt Price
And so he had a brother that was still there in which and the rest of his family was in what Jay and, and, uh,
01:08:55
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
01:09:03
Matt Price
We kind of felt like I kind of felt like that would be another really great place to go.
Unexpected Detours and New Discoveries
01:09:09
Matt Price
We'd actually i mean, I'd spent. Back when I was the zone leader there Madreau, we we actually tried to go out. We tried to go to Jalowit and we, so so crazy the way things kind of happened there. we We decided we wanted to see what was going on because Jalowit was the one with probably the next most population at the time between, you know, after Maduro and Ebi.
01:09:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:09:41
Matt Price
and so we're like, okay, well let's, let's go see if Jalowin could support missionaries.
01:09:47
Matt Price
And so I, uh, I went with another missionary and we jumped on on the steamer, right. The, the, the coconut boat.
01:09:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:09:58
Matt Price
Right. And, uh, I, I don't know what we were thinking. i don't think we brought, anything with us. Maybe we brought a Jackie and our backpacks, right? I mean, it was, and we jumped on this steamer and we're like, okay, we're going to Jalowit.
01:10:16
Matt Price
And we thought we were going to Jalowit and we didn't go to Jalowit. if
01:10:21
Matt Price
We took it took some other direction and, and we ended up like the, the next morning or a couple mornings later, we ended up in Ebon and we're like, where are we?
01:10:33
Matt Price
And they're like, Oh, we're in Ebon.
01:10:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:10:35
Matt Price
And we're like, Oh, okay. And so we jump off the boat at that point. And, and and remember we, we, we we start walking around ebo and it's beautiful, right? Beautiful little island. And, and then,
01:10:50
Matt Price
there was a family that came up to us and they're like, Hey, Oh, we're so glad you're here. The missionaries are here. You can stay in our house. and And, they thought we would come to open up Ebon and, and, uh, they were so excited to see us.
01:11:02
Matt Price
They'd never had missionaries whatsoever, you know, uh, even thinking about that.
01:11:05
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:11:07
Matt Price
And so we spent a day or two there while they were loading the boat and unloading the boat and doing all that kind of stuff. And then, And then we got back on the boat and and we went to... And then we thought we were going to Jallot. And then we we didn't go to Jallot. We went to Namarik.
01:11:25
Matt Price
And we landed in Namarik. Same kind of a thing. And Namarik, I remember it seemed like... They didn't have cars there. I think they just had bikes on Namarik.
01:11:36
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:11:37
Darin Tingey
Probably Ebon too. do Did they have cars on Ebon?
01:11:39
Matt Price
but Probably on Ebone too. Yeah. yeah
01:11:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:11:42
Matt Price
And it was either on... I don't know if it was on Namarik or maybe, I think it was on Namarik that we met this guy named Nephtali who,
01:11:55
Matt Price
Neftali was a was an ancient. Well, he was a super old guy at that point. Like, you know, his fingers had fallen off and toes had fallen off and stuff like that.
01:12:05
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
01:12:06
Matt Price
Right. Super old guy. But we sat down and we talked to him and he had been a sea captain. Or he'd been, you know, Marshallese, whatever, sailor. Right.
01:12:18
Matt Price
And so he knew the old ways of sailing, the old Marshallese ways of sailing. In fact, he was one of these that I don't know if you've heard this before, but he was one of these that like.
01:12:33
Matt Price
there was There was a rumor back when he was younger that that the Marshallese sailors could tell where where they were in the ocean just from the waves, right?
01:12:44
Matt Price
Not using the stars or anything else that they could lay in the in a boat and then they would know from the way that the waves were moving where they were and which island was closest and where to go and all that kind of stuff, right?
01:12:45
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:12:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah, impressive, crazy impressive.
01:12:58
Matt Price
And so he was... He was one of these guys, right, that that that had that skill. And so he told us a story about how he had gone out with the the Navy guys and they put him in a boat and or blindfolded and took him out for whatever, as far away as they could and where you couldn't see any islands or anything like that, put him in the bottom of the boat and then said, okay, where are we? How do we get, you know? And he's like, oh, well, I need
01:13:29
Matt Price
You know, okay, if we go this way, we're going to get to this island. If we go to this way, we're going to get to this island. Anyway, he he had that he had that skill. So he he was a kind of a cool one to to run into there when we were out in the islands.
01:13:43
Darin Tingey
It's so cool. it's It's kind of sad that navigation like that it has been lost because it's just incredible.
01:13:51
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:13:53
Darin Tingey
I mean, you have to think they were obviously amazing sailors because they spread throughout the marsh islands, which are far apart. you know Even going up Bikini Ato Inouedoc, those are far islands.
01:14:01
Matt Price
Right. Yeah.
01:14:07
Darin Tingey
And to be able to go there and back is really impressive. And I've i've actually been reading a book about the Micronesia and it, and it talks about how the, uh, would go from Jalowich to level up like every year, they'd just go back and forth.
01:14:24
Darin Tingey
And it's like so impressive that they didn't have any tools of navigation that we have today. And they were able to do that every year, multiple times of a year.
01:14:30
Matt Price
Right.
01:14:33
Darin Tingey
It's just crazy impressive.
01:14:35
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:14:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:14:36
Matt Price
It's a, it's amazing. Right. Cause I mean, you get out on that, that ocean and you can't see any, I mean, it's not like you can reference anything and all the islands are so flat.
01:14:41
Darin Tingey
No. and they're And they're flat islands too.
01:14:44
Matt Price
Like you, you get five or six miles away from the island.
01:14:44
Darin Tingey
yeah and
01:14:47
Matt Price
You can't see anything.
01:14:48
Darin Tingey
Yeah. I know.
01:14:50
Matt Price
Anyway, that, that he was a cool character to, to kind of run into.
01:14:54
Matt Price
So we, we saw him and, and spent some time in Namadrik where they were doing the boats and things like that. And then, and then ultimately we did make it to Jaluit. And it didn't feel right for whatever reason at the time in Jaluit to, to have the missionaries there.
01:15:10
Matt Price
It just didn't seem like there was a lot of receptiveness there. And so, so we ended up not, not having the missionaries there. so
01:15:18
Darin Tingey
They had the high school there at the time still, right? Was there a high school in Zalowicz?
01:15:22
Matt Price
They did.
01:15:23
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And on which day, I'm assuming.
01:15:23
Matt Price
Yep.
01:15:25
Matt Price
Uh, they didn't, uh, didn't have a high school on what Jay.
01:15:30
Darin Tingey
Oh, they do now.
01:15:31
Matt Price
Uh, yeah, not at least not on Yeah. don't think that I was going to say, or at least where I was, they may have had it on the other end of what Jay that we didn't go to.
01:15:37
Darin Tingey
Okay.
01:15:40
Darin Tingey
Okay.
Welcoming New Missions in Wuche
01:15:42
Darin Tingey
So when you were traveling on this Thema, like, did you, were you ever tempted like on Ebon to just be like, we should just stay here, you know?
01:15:53
Darin Tingey
like
01:15:55
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:16:02
Matt Price
But when we got back from that trip, I had put this whole plan together for for for the mission president about having missionaries.
01:16:11
Matt Price
And this is how crazy you were as a missionary, right? I put this whole plan together to present to this whole letter to to to President Nord.
01:16:20
Matt Price
And I said, okay, well, here's what we could do. We can have missionaries that live on the boat and they could go and they could travel to all of these different islands.
01:16:28
Darin Tingey
uh,
01:16:31
Matt Price
Right. And they would go and they'd spend two days in Ebon and, and, and, teach the people there. And then they would go to the next one and then teach more people. and And the people that were on the boat, you could teach all the time because they were just stuck there.
01:16:44
Matt Price
And and so I had this whole big plan about how we were going to have missionaries live on the boat and then just bounce from island to island. And anyway, that was my grand plan.
01:16:56
Darin Tingey
now That would have been the dream.
01:16:58
Matt Price
and And of course, he didn't it.
01:16:58
Darin Tingey
I mean, I wouldn' i really wouldn't want to...
01:17:00
Matt Price
of course he didn't do it So...
01:17:02
Darin Tingey
It's like, thanks for the suggestion, Elder. We're we're not going to do that.
01:17:06
Matt Price
We're not going to do anything close to that.
01:17:09
Matt Price
so
01:17:09
Darin Tingey
Hey, but he did have both Elders in the other parts of the mission, so...
01:17:14
Matt Price
But we did hit, yeah, we were what's the difference, right?
01:17:16
Darin Tingey
Exactly. I don't think it was very far-fetched at the time.
01:17:17
Matt Price
but i So, yeah.
01:17:22
Darin Tingey
So, did after Jalowicz, did the Tima go back to Maduro?
01:17:25
Matt Price
it It did. Yeah, it did eventually take us back. So I think we'd been gone for, i don't know, two weeks or something like that. And literally, I don't think we brought anything. I i don't know how we.
01:17:36
Matt Price
I don't know.
01:17:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:17:38
Matt Price
I don't know how we survived.
01:17:40
Darin Tingey
Again, crazy that you went on a tema and so did Cade to the Outer Islands.
01:17:44
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:17:46
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:17:48
Matt Price
Yeah, it's good days.
01:17:49
Darin Tingey
Okay.
01:17:49
Darin Tingey
So, so you had checked out Jalowitz. Did you ever check out Wuche before you went there though?
01:17:55
Matt Price
No, no, we just, we kind of said, Hey, this is going to be the one.
01:17:56
Darin Tingey
Okay. Yeah.
01:18:00
Matt Price
So I, I came back and there was a new missionary that had just come in, an elder Kaminaga. He was a Marshallese kid, had gone to school at in Kiribati at the high school there, had gotten his call.
01:18:24
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:18:26
Matt Price
And so I grabbed him and we went out to Wutje and yeah, freak we we we actually ended up, there was a lady in the branch, one of the branches, and she was some sort of Laelaroydge queen of Wutje.
01:18:49
Matt Price
and so when we so started talking about going to what Jay, then she's like, Oh, well I need to come with you. Right. To introduce us and all that kind of stuff.
01:18:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:18:58
Matt Price
So we traveled out to what Jay with her, we flew out, And and like when we landed on what Jay, then the whole island just went nuts.
01:19:11
Matt Price
Right. First of all, there was this white guy that came onto the island and and and then his companion that was dressed like him, but was Marshallese. And then, and then there was the queen of the island that had showed up on the island unannounced.
01:19:18
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:19:25
Matt Price
Right. And so then they just scurried and and went crazy. Like, okay, we're going to have a party and we're going to, and so everybody, the whole island got, got all of the stuff that they could, you know, as much food as they can put together and, and coconuts and breadfruit and,
01:19:45
Matt Price
you know, Jackie's, whatever they could. and they brought it all to the, to the house that the, that the lady was, was staying in and, and laid it out and they had this big party and they laid out all this food.
01:19:56
Matt Price
mean, it was covered, covered the whole house with just stuff that they just kept bringing for, for, to, to kind of do their, whatever they're offering or they're kind of giving to the, to the queen there.
01:20:05
Darin Tingey
hu
01:20:08
Matt Price
So anyway, and that was pretty fun.
01:20:09
Darin Tingey
Wow. and And did having her introduce you guys to island help with the work for you?
01:20:21
Matt Price
Uh, maybe, I don't know. I mean, we, we ended up, you know, we, we, often within a couple of days, we talked to everybody at that point.
01:20:31
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:20:33
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
01:20:34
Matt Price
and so, and, and we, we were having, you know, discussions, there was, uh,
01:20:39
Matt Price
There was this lady that this old lady that we taught underneath the lime tree. And she she would we would tell her, you know, about the gospel and her eyes would just tear over. And I mean, it was so sweet to sit with her.
01:20:52
Matt Price
And we were teaching Wichstok's brother and and their family. And they were progress I mean, ultimately, we had, you know, we had a couple of baptisms there after that first whatever it was month and half.
01:21:03
Matt Price
month and a half or, or whatever.
01:21:03
Darin Tingey
Wow.
01:21:04
Matt Price
So we, we had, you know, kind of good success there right out of the shoots. was that, you know, I mean, it, it it didn't hurt to have, have her kind of introduce us stuff like that.
01:21:14
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:21:15
Matt Price
So
01:21:16
Darin Tingey
Did you have a house that you knew you were going to stay in or did you just go and like, we're going to figure it out?
01:21:20
Matt Price
yes, so no, somehow we, we've, there was a house that And I think it was probably through through her that there was a house that was available.
01:21:30
Matt Price
was It was right there next to the the landing strip, right? The grass runway or whatever, right? And so just a little you know single room house.
01:21:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:21:42
Matt Price
We brought out with us a sacrament tray and and the and had a little podium that we'd set up there.
01:21:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:21:50
Matt Price
And, you know, we started having our our church there and stuff. It was false cool.
01:21:55
Darin Tingey
I wonder if it's the...
01:21:58
Darin Tingey
I wonder if it's the same house, but I know the Wichay elders that when I was there and now they live in this house right next to the landing strip. Like that'd be crazy if it's the same house, but
01:22:08
Matt Price
Right next to the line. It's probably the same house. I don't i don't know. it's It seemed like that house was maybe all at some point, like,
01:22:15
Darin Tingey
yeah.
01:22:20
Matt Price
like the airport terminal, right. That, I mean, it was the house for the airport or whatever, you know, whatever the landing, you can't call an airport, but anyway, it was, it was the, whatever the house closest to the, to the runway.
01:22:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Right.
01:22:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah, landing strip.
01:22:35
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
01:22:36
Matt Price
So, so yeah, we, we, we, we loved it. I mean, felt like we were, we were doing something cool there. We, One morning we got up real early and we went out onto the to the to the runway there and and we said, okay, well, we're going to dedicate this island.
01:22:55
Matt Price
And obviously I'm sure we didn't have any sort of whatever authority or approval anything, but we...
01:23:02
Darin Tingey
Sure, sure.
01:23:03
Matt Price
we're like, look, we're going to dedicate this island to the missionary work. And so elder common Naga and I, we, we, you know, sent some prayers there and, and, uh, opened up the, what chance.
01:23:16
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:23:17
Matt Price
So I,
01:23:17
Darin Tingey
So as as far as you know, you were the first missionary missionaries ever to go on Wuche. Is that right?
01:23:23
Matt Price
yeah, yeah, we were. Yeah.
01:23:25
Darin Tingey
That's so incredible. That's so cool.
01:23:26
Matt Price
Yeah. So,
01:23:28
Darin Tingey
Like... Yeah, one like not many people can say that they were the first on an area of the world as as a missionary, which is really cool.
01:23:37
Matt Price
As a missionary, yeah.
01:23:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah, so so incredible.
01:23:38
Matt Price
Yeah. So it
01:23:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:23:41
Matt Price
was fun. It was fun times at that point, right? Because it it was, you know, the mission was new enough and and and the marsh lines are big enough that there was areas that, yeah, just hadn't been touched, right?
Final Reflections and Cultural Impact
01:23:54
Matt Price
and And certainly after I left, there was still lots of areas that, you know, missionaries could go to.
01:24:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah, i I always was pushing my president to open more Outer Islands because when I first got there, i think Jalois was open and Lai was open. And then even then they closed them both down.
01:24:14
Darin Tingey
And there were so many missionaries on Maduro and Ibai, I was like, president, we got to send missionaries Outer Islands because
01:24:14
Matt Price
Right.
01:24:21
Darin Tingey
there's so many kids There's so many elders done in this tiny little area in Maduro. We need to send them out. And by the end, he had opened up, I think, seven. I think we had... gosh, I'm missing one.
01:24:36
Darin Tingey
ebo mille lie
01:24:40
Darin Tingey
ourr no and gosh i'm missing one
01:24:46
Matt Price
Did you have them on, did you say Island Lab Lab?
01:24:49
Darin Tingey
Oh, and think blah, blah, blah. That's the other one.
01:24:50
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:24:50
Darin Tingey
Yep. So those seven. And I'm like... we should be sending missionaries to Kile, to Malolap, to Ligiep, to, you know, I wanted to open all of them.
01:24:58
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:25:02
Matt Price
Yup. Let's go.
01:25:05
Darin Tingey
Namo, Namo Rik. Like, why not? You know, we have all these missionaries and, you know, and and you can't even say, well, they're too small.
01:25:08
Matt Price
why not? Yup.
01:25:15
Darin Tingey
I'm like, well, look at Lai. Lai has ward now. Like,
01:25:19
Matt Price
Yeah. Wild.
01:25:20
Darin Tingey
That's crazy.
01:25:22
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:25:23
Darin Tingey
So I, and people have heard this on the podcast, but I joke that I'm i'm putting in my work right now to make my connections, to stay relevant in the mission to, you know, one day potentially be the mission president and go open all those islands that I ever wanted to open.
01:25:24
Matt Price
That's wild. Sweet.
01:25:40
Matt Price
Yeah. Those are good days.
01:25:43
Darin Tingey
So was Wuche, did it have the Outer Island experience that you wanted? like were you I'm sure you were craving a certain Outer Island experience that...
01:25:50
Matt Price
Yes, for sure.
01:25:53
Matt Price
Yeah, it it was, i mean, it was the perfect for me, it was the perfect cap to my mission, right? That I could go back, you know, you you as an assistant, you didn't get to really teach as much as you wanted to and stuff like that. And so, so i was able to go back. I was able to teach. I was able to be with a Marshallese companion. And so we felt like we were just, you know, deep into the culture. We were teaching, um, teaching,
01:26:23
Matt Price
you know, at the, at the, the elementary school there. And we were, we were walking between the Island.
01:26:27
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:26:29
Matt Price
yeah it was just, it was, it was, it was awesome. It was awesome.
01:26:34
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Once in a lifetime experience. and so did you, do you, you finished your mission technically in which a, or I'm assuming you finished and then went to Maduro.
01:26:38
Matt Price
For sure. For sure.
01:26:44
Matt Price
me
01:26:47
Matt Price
Yeah. i finished in what Jay and then I went to Madro for, I don't know, for a week or so, maybe two weeks, something like that. They kind of did the, don't know if they still, I hope they don't do the, they do this big send off with missionaries and stuff like that.
01:27:04
Matt Price
I mean, it was like a massive party kind of a thing that, that, you know, they would bring, i mean, I've got, I've got loads of necklaces and then, and then obviously I had all the flower lays and,
01:27:18
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:27:18
Matt Price
the little headbands and you'd get a boat. And I mean, it was like, people would just be, they would just, they were just so kind and, and giving.
01:27:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:27:29
Matt Price
i was like, yeah, I don't know. It was, it's over the top, right?
01:27:32
Darin Tingey
that
01:27:33
Matt Price
If they're still doing that for missionaries, it's like, I don't know how they can keep doing that.
01:27:36
Darin Tingey
They are. They are.
01:27:39
Matt Price
Right.
01:27:39
Darin Tingey
I know. i know. It is crazy. No, they definitely still are. I mean, that's just their culture. They just... they you know they don't have much to give, but they'll give it and that they don't think twice about it.
01:27:49
Matt Price
I know.
01:27:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
Personal Growth and Mission Legacy
01:27:52
Darin Tingey
there's
01:27:53
Matt Price
It's something else. And you, you know, at the end, you're you sing the the Marshallese song or whatever the what's the jacwe lock or what a
01:28:04
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:28:04
Matt Price
is that the anthem? And then you I don't do they still do they still sing the we walk hand in hand song?
01:28:13
Darin Tingey
i don't i don't I don't know. Maybe not. I don't know. i don't know that song.
01:28:18
Matt Price
that's the that's the That's the Peace Corps song that they would that yeah everybody would hold hands and they would sing the song getnna is jetaliboy banjo ofron
01:28:19
Darin Tingey
I honestly, a lot of the Marshallese songs. Okay. Okay.
01:28:31
Matt Price
something like that. We walk hand in hand.
01:28:34
Darin Tingey
Interesting.
01:28:34
Matt Price
Everybody cried.
01:28:37
Darin Tingey
Maybe it's been so far removed from the Peace Corps, but don't know.
01:28:42
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:28:42
Darin Tingey
that's I didn't hear that song.
01:28:42
Matt Price
So anyway, those are, those are awesome. I mean, the people are so, so awesome. So terrific.
01:28:48
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:28:49
Matt Price
So terrific.
01:28:49
Darin Tingey
So the last few questions I ask everybody, you may know this, is just like, favorite area
01:28:53
Matt Price
Okay.
01:28:57
Darin Tingey
Uh, favorite food and favorite thing about the marsh islands. And for you, I'll throw in another one just cause you got to see, you know, way more of the Pacific than most people get to see, you know, what, what Island was your favorite to, to visit, to go see.
01:29:15
Matt Price
i Gotcha. Gotcha. So my, I mean, my favorite area in, in the Marshall islands was, was the, the time that we spent in Gendrick, this, the people there and, and the families, and the youth. And I mean, that was just, just the special, special times. I mean, that was good missionary work. We were finding success and all that kind of stuff. I loved what Jay so which is always got a really you know strong spot for me.
01:29:44
Darin Tingey
how Okay.
01:29:45
Matt Price
You know, if I was to besides the Marshall Islands, the island that I would go back to or want to go back to the most is probably Kosh Rai. So that's a that's a pretty, pretty place.
01:29:56
Matt Price
So I really liked Kosh Rai.
01:29:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:30:00
Darin Tingey
and and and And real quick, remind me within the Marshall Islands, what outer islands you got to see.
01:30:00
Matt Price
Let's see.
01:30:07
Matt Price
So in total, I saw, I mean, I was on E by Maduro and then I've been to Millie. I've been to Ebon, Nomadrick, Jalowitz, Wache.
01:30:17
Darin Tingey
Okay. Yeah. That's a lot. It's awesome.
01:30:20
Matt Price
Oh, yeah, that's good.
01:30:22
Darin Tingey
Very cool. Man, Cade, same thing.
01:30:23
Matt Price
So.
01:30:24
Darin Tingey
Cade got to go see all different islands and Kittabyss and all that stuff, man.
01:30:28
Matt Price
i know. Yeah, he he he did good stuff.
01:30:29
Darin Tingey
i Like father, like son.
01:30:33
Matt Price
He did good, good stuff, so. Let's see.
01:30:35
Darin Tingey
Favorite food.
01:30:35
Matt Price
what What were the questions? Favorite food?
01:30:37
Darin Tingey
Favorite food. Yeah. Yeah.
01:30:39
Matt Price
So I've got two favorite foods probably. One is from Kosh Rai. The tangerines from Kosh Rai were off the charts. I mean, i remember we did, we we were flying, we were doing our kind of island hop back to Guam and we landed in Kosh Rai and somehow somebody had a big box of tangerines and these tangerines were so great.
01:31:07
Matt Price
you'd put your thumb in and then they, the whole thing would peel off and they were so juicy and sweet. And I mean, that it was like, Oh, it was, it was so great.
01:31:16
Darin Tingey
and
01:31:17
Matt Price
But anyway, somehow we'd come up with this giant box of tangerines and we brought it onto the plane, right? And we set the box down in the middle of the aisle of the plane and we just ate tangerines from Koshri all the way, all the way back to Big Wham.
01:31:34
Matt Price
It was so great.
01:31:35
Darin Tingey
That's, oh man, I can't imagine that fresh fruit like that.
01:31:37
Matt Price
So, yeah, the fresh fruit there was was something else.
01:31:39
Darin Tingey
Okay.
01:31:42
Matt Price
So, anyway, in the Marshall Islands, though, my favorite was when they would go net fishing and they would they would catch the little fish. And I think they called it thal or thal or thal or thal.
01:31:56
Darin Tingey
okay
01:31:58
Matt Price
Anyway, i probably –
01:31:58
Darin Tingey
who
01:31:59
Matt Price
it
01:31:59
Darin Tingey
One of those.
01:32:00
Matt Price
that That's what I thought it sounded like. Right. But it was just a little, a little fish and then they would fry it in oil and then they would just put them all out and you would just, I mean, you'd eat them by the hundreds, right?
01:32:12
Matt Price
You would, you would put your thumb in right there at their head and push towards the tail and then get all that, all that good, you know, fried fish meat there. So that was, that was my, my favorite.
01:32:23
Darin Tingey
How big were they?
01:32:25
Matt Price
They were probably only four inches, five inches, something like that. The little fish.
01:32:31
Darin Tingey
Silver?
01:32:31
Matt Price
three inches, three, four silver.
01:32:31
Darin Tingey
Like little, little, so little.
01:32:32
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:32:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah. Okay. I ain't talking about. Yeah.
01:32:35
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:32:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And sometimes you just ate the whole thing felt like, like it just.
01:32:39
Matt Price
yeah yeah Yeah. You kind kind of could eat the whole thing and well, yeah, the throwing net and they didn't do that.
01:32:43
Darin Tingey
And that's when they did like the, the o cars the, the throwing, the the throwing net. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
01:32:49
Matt Price
They didn't do it a ton. Right.
01:32:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:32:52
Matt Price
that wasn't their most common way of fishing, but, or at least it didn't seem like, but when they did it, I mean, that was, that was awesome when they, they put that together.
01:33:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:33:01
Matt Price
So anyway, so, so that's,
01:33:02
Darin Tingey
Okay. I know what fish you're talking about. Yeah. Okay. And then favorite thing, favorite thing about the Marsh Islands, or you can even talk about Micronesia in general, but...
01:33:14
Matt Price
well, I mean, it it's, I clearly in the favorite is just, is just the people. I mean, it is, it, it is, it's something else to, to feel the love that they have and to, and to experience that, be with them, to be so far away from what the norm, your normal life is. And to be just, just in there. I mean, obviously, you know, it, it, it changes you. It changes your life. it, it it sets you on a course that is,
01:33:50
Matt Price
i you know i i would i always i always teach this. i always I always talk about this with like you, you know, priest, that kind of a thing.
01:34:01
Matt Price
And and i I learned this lesson out there.
01:34:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:34:05
Matt Price
or I learned this word out there. Maybe I made it up. i don't I don't know. I don't think I did. I think I learned it there. It was a kajan. It was an ancient word or whatever.
01:34:15
Matt Price
And is and it's this word called kajan.
01:34:16
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:34:19
Matt Price
It's jor-lik-a-tat-tat. don't know if you've ever heard that word. And it's really like a couple words, jor, meaning like post or stick or whatever, right?
01:34:23
Darin Tingey
No.
01:34:30
Matt Price
Lick, meaning the the ocean side versus the yard, right?
01:34:35
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
01:34:35
Matt Price
Versus the inside. And then tat, it means like secure, right? And then tat-tat means super secure. So jor-lik-a-tat-tat, right?
01:34:45
Matt Price
And and and they would talk about this as like this post in the ocean that was strong. Right. And so.
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:34:56
Matt Price
the lesson kind of becomes that, you know, that was such a great benefit for the people of the Marshall Islands to have like like the ancient people that they could have a place that they could tie their boats to when the oceans were kind of chaotic and, and, and going all over the place. Right. And so it's kind of a metaphor for how I think of my time as a missionary, that that was the time that I could really tie my boat to the savior, right?
01:35:31
Matt Price
That, that I was, I was in it, right? And I felt it and I knew it. And, and that has been something that even though the waves and all this stuff kind of happened, right?
01:35:44
Matt Price
With life and, all the things that you do, but to be able to tie my boat there and to have that security and to be anchored to Christ, then that's what I learned on my mission.
01:35:58
Matt Price
And that's what sustained me for, you know, 35 years since I was there in the Marshall Islands.
01:36:03
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:36:04
Matt Price
And so anyway, that's, that's my, that's my little there.
01:36:08
Darin Tingey
Yeah. That was incredible.
01:36:09
Matt Price
Yeah.
01:36:10
Darin Tingey
now Incredible story. it Incredible mission that you had. Again, i I've said this sometimes times about jealous of how many places you got to see, how many lives you got to impact on Wichay. There's been so many members since and people that...
01:36:26
Darin Tingey
I know we're from what Jay got baptized, went served a mission. You know, so there was so many people touched from that. Very cool that you got to experience it.
01:36:36
Darin Tingey
And so I really wanted to thank you for for coming on the podcast. it was It's been another...
01:36:40
Matt Price
Yeah. I love that you're doing this. I think it's i think It's fun. it's super fun
01:36:45
Darin Tingey
Thank you. No, I love it. But this was another great episode of the Islands Podcast.