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Episode 5: Matthew Thiel - Marshall Islands - Ebeye, Majuro, Mili
53 Plays15 days ago
Matthew Thiel served in the Marshall Islands Kiribati Mission from 2016-2018. Matt served on Ebeye, Majuro, and the outer island of Mili. After spending the majority of his mission in leadership and eventually AP, Matt had the once in a lifetime opportunity to reopen an outer island that hadn't had missionaries on it for years, Mili Atoll! Matt had crazy success of bringing the people of Mili unto Christ and spent most of his P-Days (preparation days) constructing a small church building for the group of saints to meet and worship every Sunday. Listen to the end to hear the amazing full circle experience of building Zion on Mili Atoll!
#MarshallIslandsKiribatiMission #MarshallIslands #Mili #Ebeye #Majuro #TheIslandsPodcast #theislands
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Transcript
Introduction and Background
00:00:01
Darin Tingey
All right, this is another episode of the islands podcast with Matthew Teal. This is episode five. And Matt, <unk> give you a give a quick intro of yourself kind of where you're from ah where you live now, all that ah that jazz.
00:00:22
Matt Thiel
Yeah, I'm Matt Dale, like you said, Darren. I grew up in Utah for most of my life. Centerville, Utah, went to Beemont High School. I actually served with another missionary who served in the Marshall Islands.
00:00:37
Matt Thiel
So that that was kind of fun there. But after high school, I got the call, served in the mission in the Marshall Islands Majuro mission ah from 2016 to 2018.
Life after Graduation in D.C.
00:00:49
Matt Thiel
Loved it, we'll dive into that. And afterwards, I started pretty quickly at BYU, graduated in 2022 in accounting, and I'm now working, living in the The D.C. Northern Virginia area, loving it. ah You and I connected a little bit in the D.C.
00:01:05
Matt Thiel
Northern Virginia area. I really enjoyed that time.
00:01:06
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:01:08
Matt Thiel
Sad to see you guys go, but um you guys starting the family in Utah, and and yeah, we're missing you. We just had cherry blossom season. it's It's been great out here. We we absolutely love it. So that's just a little bit about me.
00:01:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah, DC is so great. Yeah, moving there after school was so fun and having you guys out there. I mean, we hung out a little bit in college too, which was a lot of fun. and then But being out in DC, just being in the big friend group and getting to...
00:01:34
Darin Tingey
to like just have a solid, solid friend group and experience somewhere new together. So fun. Hopefully you guys move back here soon so we can hang out again.
00:01:44
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
Mission Call and Initial Reactions
00:01:45
Darin Tingey
Um, so you were the intake above me. Uh, so for those that listen the podcast, you and Steven Sheffield were in the same intake, but each person gets their call at different times. So walk me through the day that you got your mission call.
00:02:02
Matt Thiel
Yeah, you know, I'm trying to remember like the exact day. i don't know if I can give you an exact date, but it was during like the latter half of senior year. was actually kind of early. I think I had a good amount of time from when I received the call to when I left. I left August 3rd, I think.
00:02:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:02:18
Matt Thiel
enter the MTC August 3, but yeah, I think I got it. um I want to say probably sometime in like March or April, maybe even February.
00:02:26
Darin Tingey
Wow.
00:02:28
Matt Thiel
So I had a few months.
00:02:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah. You had a long time. that was a long time to prepare.
00:02:30
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um it It was great. But getting the call I mean, I got it, kind of had a few people over and and opened it up in front of everyone, kind of like ah a video and whatnot.
00:02:41
Matt Thiel
But it was it was kind of surreal because, mean, obviously there's like all the hype and that's where you're going spend the next two years of your life. and And that's like really the biggest part of your experience is where you go, i think, and and the people.
00:02:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:02:52
Matt Thiel
but
00:02:53
Matt Thiel
for me, I had no clue at all that this place even existed, you know, when I opened it. And I listened to some of the earlier podcasts. I also like just bopped the pronunciation of, I said Maharo.
00:03:04
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:03:05
Matt Thiel
Yeah, it was it was embarrassing.
00:03:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:03:08
Matt Thiel
Like afterwards, I'm like, oh man, like I had no idea. I had no clue was in the Pacific. I thought it was probably closer to like, I don't know, either off like coast of like Africa or maybe over by like Bahamas, something like that.
00:03:20
Matt Thiel
I had no clue, but after looking it up, it was like, wow, this is, this is crazy.
00:03:21
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:03:26
Matt Thiel
It was, it was such a cool, i mean, the whole, the whole thing was an experience, but opening the call and like diving into this whole alien world of like Micronesia and the Pacific islands, but this tiny chain, it was, it was something, something else for sure.
00:03:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah, and like, you know, you've heard of all these missions. I'm sure like a lot of your friends went to like either the stateside South America or Africa is becoming a huge one.
00:03:52
Darin Tingey
Like, And you maybe watch the other side of heaven growing up. So you've heard of like Tonga and Samoa and Fiji, but opening it and like Marshall Islands, like I have no idea where that is.
00:04:04
Darin Tingey
And I've never heard of anyone being called there.
00:04:08
Matt Thiel
yeah Yeah, never.
00:04:08
Darin Tingey
And, and you're, and you're looking at the map, you like pull up the map and you're like zooming in, like, where is it?
00:04:09
Matt Thiel
Not not one time.
00:04:14
Darin Tingey
You know, what way just like ocean.
00:04:16
Matt Thiel
Yeah. like waiting wait i'm I'm still waiting for like Google Maps to load or something like that. like There's got to be land here.
00:04:21
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:04:22
Matt Thiel
like What is this? This is just a little dot in the speck of blue. you know it'ss It's not even a place, but it is
00:04:27
Darin Tingey
and the mission And the mission map, I remember like the booklet whatever that we got, it's like it's like a huge cutout of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Like, this is your mission area. And you're like, okay. Yeah.
00:04:40
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. it's It's like one of the biggest mission areas, I think, geographically, just because like 99% of its ocean.
Insights into the Marshall Islands
00:04:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:04:47
Matt Thiel
I mean, it's crazy.
00:04:48
Matt Thiel
I remember, I remember giving ah my homecoming talk, actually, and, and referencing like the square mileage, the total square mileage of the entirety of the Marshall Islands, all the atolls. And it was something like smaller than Davis County, like which is where I like grew up, it's like smaller than the county that I grew up in in Utah.
00:05:04
Matt Thiel
It was it was just kind of crazy. But yeah, definitely a unique place.
00:05:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah, people. So amazing. And so you had some months to do some research. Did you like do any in depth research on the mission before you went? Because I didn't at all.
00:05:20
Matt Thiel
Yeah, that's a good question. I don't think that I did anything specifically like towards the mission. I maybe contacted a few people who had served there, but it was really more of what is the place? What are the people? What is the language? I think those are the three main things that I was looking at and specifically like, what do I need to know and prepare for?
00:05:38
Matt Thiel
Which I think I also butchered like going into it. Like, I don't think I was, i was pretty well prepared for for what it actually was, but i don't think anybody really is, you know?
00:05:46
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I wish I would have done like more research before the mission because like there's so much World War II history about the Marshall Islands and like, and like, you know, testing the atomic and hydrogen bombs post World War II on Bikini Atoll. And like, I honestly didn't do any research in that space.
00:06:07
Darin Tingey
And it probably would have helped me understand their culture and kind of like why there's so many martialist people in the States. Like, I feel like I learned that all while being there. And I probably would have been a little bit more prepared to understand their culture if I had like actually done some research.
00:06:24
Darin Tingey
um But I was like, don't know. i'm just going to the Marshall Islands. It's like the middle of the Pacific. Yeah, that's all I know.
00:06:30
Matt Thiel
Yeah, no, that's that's a great point. I think that that event in their history is very definitive for them, like as a people in the culture, because that's just the way it impacted the islands, the way life, the health of the people, how they lived and their relationship with the United States, I think, has really shaped, you know, how they live as a people since.
00:06:48
Matt Thiel
But I mean, that's that's a whole other topic. But yeah, interesting stuff.
00:06:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah, no, culturally, and it's like it's like the saying, right? the saying is moibba The saying is, all things are in God's hands.
00:07:03
Darin Tingey
And that's like, i feel like that's a motto for like the whole country.
00:07:09
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah, honestly, it's it's crazy what has happened in the Marshall Islands. Such a small place, but such ah a big history.
00:07:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah. So, MTC, August 3rd,
00:07:22
Darin Tingey
How was your MTC experience?
MTC Experience and Transition to Islands
00:07:25
Matt Thiel
You know, I absolutely loved my MTC experience. I think the biggest a good thing or impactful thing for me was just our group was so good. Like, i don't think anyone had any enmity or hatred towards one another. i think everyone got along super well. Obviously there was some back and forth and and a few things poking fun at some specific people. and that was pretty enjoyable, I think, a lot of the time.
00:07:50
Matt Thiel
But i I think everyone got along really well. and Like those relationships, like I still have great relationships with everyone. I don't talk to everyone as much as I should, but it was, I absolutely loved it from a perspective, like just having the 12, 13 of us there just, you know, having that group of ah missionaries. It was really nice. But MTC, I think was very spiritually uplifting for me.
00:08:16
Matt Thiel
And it was a great way for me to kind kick off getting to the mission. I did have a lot of really, i would say like definitive experiences in the MTC for like how I shaped as a missionary versus my like testimony as a whole.
00:08:31
Matt Thiel
But um yeah, I have nothing bad to say about the MTC. I think that there's definitely some things that everyone experiences that, you know, is not ideal, but MTC was great.
00:08:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah. was like, think about it like, and I've talked about this on other episodes, but like MTC wasn't amazing for me. And I almost wish like, and i love my MTC group.
00:08:53
Darin Tingey
Um, So I'm like happy that we had that time to just like build relationship with just us and stuff. But almost i almost wish had like went straight to the mission, just like send me straight out there.
00:09:02
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:09:03
Darin Tingey
Because if anyone like to the MTC and like struggles, it's like, dude, just like get out to the empty get out to the the mission field. And it's so much different, you know? And you're not on a time schedule. Like you got to go to this class and this class and this class. It's like, hey, like go out there and figure it out. And I kind of like that.
00:09:22
Darin Tingey
And so MCC is like, yeah, I think just have fun with it, you know, like have fun with the boys, ah but like, but like learn a lot as much as you can, but just know that it's like, it's not going to be anything like your mission.
00:09:38
Darin Tingey
um
00:09:39
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:09:40
Darin Tingey
And then give me, give me first impressions of, of landing in the Marshall Islands.
00:09:40
Matt Thiel
no
00:09:46
Matt Thiel
Yeah, that was an experience for sure. i mean, i think I think you talked about it with some of the other folks that you've been on the podcast with, but getting there, I mean, leaving the MTC was an interesting experience.
00:09:49
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:09:58
Matt Thiel
Obviously, you have like the layover in ho Honolulu in Hawaii, and I think that that was that was good.
00:10:01
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:10:03
Matt Thiel
I mean, getting to Honolulu from dry Utah was like, a wave of humidity and heat that I had never been used to. I'd never been in ah in a climate like that before. um And then like the transition from Hawaii the Marshall Islands was kind of the same, like the transition, you know, the difference between the climates and the humidity and the heat.
00:10:18
Darin Tingey
yeah. yeah
00:10:23
Matt Thiel
But flying to Honolulu was great. The layover was great. We had our last meal at the McDonald's. I think a lot of intakes do the same thing.
00:10:30
Darin Tingey
The last supper,
00:10:32
Matt Thiel
I remember hearing Stephen talking about like the deep fried apple pie and yeah that was definitely a thing that we all partook of. We all got one of those and it was so good.
00:10:40
Darin Tingey
the last supper right there. the last supper right there
00:10:43
Matt Thiel
i mean yeah it was kind of like those vibes like this is the last American food that we've been having for a while so that was that was good. um flying from Honolulu to Mejuro, that was interesting. was on United. mean, it was like four or five hour flight each from Utah to Honolulu and to Mejuro. And stepping off the plane was, I mean, it just hits you. It's it's like the most humid, the hottest humidity i hadd ever been in.
00:11:12
Matt Thiel
And I haven't experienced anything quite like it yet, you know, again.
Life on Ebi Island
00:11:17
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:11:17
Matt Thiel
So
00:11:18
Matt Thiel
I got off and i was just immediately like sweating so much and it was just walking from like the airport or sorry from the plane to the airport I was just drenched and absolutely covered in sweat.
00:11:29
Darin Tingey
hey
00:11:30
Matt Thiel
and I was like if this is going to be not yet.
00:11:30
Darin Tingey
You're like, oh no, two years of this.
00:11:33
Matt Thiel
I was like you're kidding me this can't be how it is every day otherwise I'm not going to make it like this is. it was I mean, I'm a sweater, I sweat a lot, but it was um unlike anything else. But I just was amazed by the the actual like structure of the island, like looking out from the plane as we were landing.
00:11:54
Darin Tingey
yeah yeah
00:11:54
Matt Thiel
Because the lagoon and atoll structure of of the islands, I think, is kind of unique. I mean, obviously, there's there's other atolls in the world. but it's just such a small amount of land compared to like the ocean and and the lagoon on the inside.
00:12:08
Matt Thiel
And the land is is so thin and like stretched out.
00:12:09
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:12:12
Matt Thiel
And it's just, you don't feel like there's really anything there. And quite frankly, there's not a lot there, but um like in terms of land, in terms of availability, but like when we were touching down on the United flight, I remember just like looking out the window, I was in the middle seat. I had,
00:12:30
Matt Thiel
Elder Scott on my left and I think someone else just on my right. But I remember looking out and I was like, where where is the island? Like I saw a minute ago, but it's gone.
00:12:37
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:12:39
Matt Thiel
I'm just seeing ocean and we're going down, down, down. like are we gonna land in the ocean? Like what what is happening here?
00:12:45
Darin Tingey
you
00:12:45
Matt Thiel
And like literally seconds before you land, that's when you start to see, you know, the land. And it was it was just kind of interesting.
00:12:52
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:12:54
Matt Thiel
I was like, oh man, like this is crazy. But the airstrip is very thin and and there's it's really just the airstrip that is there and then the ocean on both sides.
00:13:03
Darin Tingey
I love it because every single missionary has the exact same response and reaction that you just ah described.
00:13:08
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:13:10
Darin Tingey
Like you could tell somebody it's going to be super thin. The islands can be tiny, but they can't fathom it until they see it. Right. And it's like,
00:13:21
Darin Tingey
deep blue ocean and it's like little tiny strip of trees of grass. And like you blink, you're missing that thing.
00:13:27
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:13:29
Darin Tingey
And everyone has the exact same reaction, no matter how you tell them. I like, I went back in August and I told my family, I was like, it's tiny. But like when they saw it, like, Oh my gosh, it is so small.
00:13:39
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:13:41
Matt Thiel
No, it's it's insane.
00:13:42
Darin Tingey
Uh,
00:13:43
Matt Thiel
like Like people's houses are bigger than the airport. You know, like it's, it's i like in other areas of the world, people's houses are bigger than the miserable airport.
00:13:51
Darin Tingey
Right, right.
00:13:52
Matt Thiel
or I'd like to say like it's about the size of a church building. Like that's how big the airport is.
00:13:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah, has power sometimes, sometimes not.
00:13:58
Matt Thiel
But
00:14:01
Darin Tingey
you know like
00:14:02
Matt Thiel
yeah. Yeah.
00:14:03
Darin Tingey
Bathrooms work sometimes, sometimes not.
00:14:06
Darin Tingey
um And then, so you land, and then you were getting sent to as your first area, right?
00:14:06
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:14:16
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. So i I mean, we obviously didn't know that.
00:14:17
Darin Tingey
So what were those first few days? Yeah.
00:14:19
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:14:19
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:20
Matt Thiel
So getting off the plane, we got picked up by the APs. I don't think President Larkin was there. I'm trying to remember, but I think he was. so we just picked up by the APs and a couple of zone leaders. And we went to the mission home.
00:14:33
Matt Thiel
Yeah. And I remember like getting out of the the car with the AC. I got out of the car and immediately like started sweating again as i was like entering the mission home. um But President Larkin was there. Sister Larkin agreed us. And we all sat down and had this like discussion, you know, orientation, whatever. And then they assigned us our areas.
00:14:50
Matt Thiel
And I was assigned to EBA and I had no idea, you know, what that was or what to expect.
00:14:53
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:14:54
Matt Thiel
But they just said it was a different island and that I'd have to fly again and, you know, go go out there.
00:14:54
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:14:58
Matt Thiel
And there's like... six or eight missionaries out there. And I'd be living with Elder Poulsen and Elder Hartvixen in the meantime out in Arak.
00:15:09
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:15:09
Matt Thiel
So it was a little ways away, but so orientation was good. One of the funny things that I remember from the orientation, there were a couple of elders who were also coming in from an outer island that same day. and it was Elder Waneel and Elder Bird.
00:15:26
Matt Thiel
And they're coming from Ujjayi and Ujjayi was closing.
00:15:28
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:15:29
Matt Thiel
They had been on Ujjayi for a long time.
00:15:31
Darin Tingey
No way.
00:15:33
Matt Thiel
And I thought it was so funny because I just remember we're all green missionaries. We all have like our our regular shoes on still like we, you know, fresh off of the plane.
00:15:40
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:15:43
Matt Thiel
And Elder Bird comes in here with like hair past his shoulders and like facial hair.
00:15:48
Darin Tingey
no way
00:15:48
Matt Thiel
And Elder Wyniel has like a ah beard. And i was like, what? Like, what is going on here? These elders look like they've just been through the ring. and Like their shirts are all stained.
00:15:59
Matt Thiel
And like, they just look like they've been off of an episode of Survivor or something, man.
00:16:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:16:03
Matt Thiel
It was so funny. And i was like, all right, here we go. Like, we're in it.
00:16:07
Darin Tingey
Let's go.
00:16:08
Matt Thiel
This is what i'm here for. But it was that was so funny. And i remember like the look on President's face as well. Once he saw that he was like, Oh, i'm like, in front of all these like fresh missionaries. here Here we go. I'm gonna have to explain this is it was funny.
00:16:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah, elders, ah shave and get your hair cut. you know
00:16:25
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:16:25
Darin Tingey
That's funny, dude. And then, so how long how long until you actually flew to EBI? And you flew to EBI with Elder Ross and Elder Robinson, I'm assuming.
00:16:33
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. So was the three of us from the same intake. We were all being trained by other elders who had been on eBay, i think, for a transfer or two. We flew out there. We stayed on Medjuro for, I think, like three days-ish.
00:16:47
Matt Thiel
I think we like arrived on a Wednesday, and we flew out on Friday or Saturday, something like that.
00:16:47
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:16:52
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:16:52
Matt Thiel
um And so we just spent, I think we were all kind of scattered, and we were all brought back in on on the day of the flight. But just spent a few days on Medjuro, not really...
00:17:03
Matt Thiel
I mean, we were going out to work and like we did splits, but it wasn't a lot and I had no idea what was going on. I don't really remember, but flying to E-Buy and E-Buy was kind of another big like culture shock and like, whoa, this is like totally different.
00:17:10
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:17:17
Matt Thiel
And I've never seen anything like this. and it's really cool because flying to ebay you fly directly to a quadrilinean atoll military base there u.s military base um and so everything is very secure everything's locked down and you're escorted from the airport and where you get off like you're immediately taken in a vehicle from the airport to like the ferry and you you stay in the ferry hall and then you like go through security and you're you're off to ebay um So that was that was a really cool experience, but just the three of us going out. I think there's one other, i think maybe the sisters were with us for something.
00:17:53
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:17:53
Matt Thiel
Maybe they're either being whitewashed or they're going out there.
00:17:56
Matt Thiel
I can't remember exactly, but.
00:17:57
Darin Tingey
So was it weird to see like all the Americans, like so many Americans in the Marshall Islands when you land not on the base?
00:18:04
Matt Thiel
Well, I mean, it was kind of expected. I mean, it's a United States military base and you you understand that there's a lot of ah people who are stationed there.
00:18:06
Darin Tingey
Okay. Yeah.
00:18:11
Matt Thiel
um But yeah, it was a little bit shocking. But like I said, like I had, we hadn't been there for very long. And so seeing like a ton of Marshallese people and then some, some non-Marshallese people, I guess I didn't really think too much about it, but, um, going through like the ferry as you like progressed through the military base and like went into the ferry, like just got more and more Marshallese and then you were off so to E-Bite.
00:18:24
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:18:35
Matt Thiel
And so it was fun.
00:18:36
Darin Tingey
And what was, mean, Ebi is so unique, like so different than any other place in in the Pacific, honestly.
00:18:44
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:18:45
Darin Tingey
So like, how would you describe Ebi to someone who's never been there?
00:18:51
Matt Thiel
Yeah. I don't know if you've talked about EBI with anyone else previously yet, but EBI was just special, man.
00:18:53
Darin Tingey
Not really, not really.
00:18:58
Matt Thiel
Just, okay, to put it in perspective, I think you need to understand like geographically what you're looking at and like from a population standpoint and like just exactly what's what's happening there. But
00:19:09
Matt Thiel
It's like, I'd say a mile long, like the island itself is a mile long, just off of the military base. It's like two or three islands down a mile long. And then it's maybe like a quarter to a half mile wide.
00:19:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:22
Matt Thiel
at like the widest parts. This is an incredibly small island, but you feel like you're in like a city city because it's one of the most, I mean, I like this, so I can't, i can't remember the statistic, but it's one of the most densely populated islands and cities on the planet.
00:19:39
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:19:39
Matt Thiel
So there's, on this tiny island, there's like 20 to 30,000 people, think. thousand people i think um and it's everything is so congested everyone there's like 20 to 30 people living in a house together there you know people are walking through other people's homes to get to where they need to go and it's it's pretty it's pretty intense but it was it was really cool um the ferry into it you land on the dock and there's like a small grocery store and it's just buildings like there's no trees there's not really anything green it's is just buildings so
00:20:14
Matt Thiel
It was was, again, a little culture shock from like going from Mejuruhu that's kind of green in some parts and when you see it especially coming from Arak and Laura and Ajatake, which is more of the countryside.
00:20:23
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:20:25
Matt Thiel
um Going to Iba, I was like, oh, like there's no trees. I'm just going to bake in the sun underneath the tin. like Everything's tin roofs and mike ply plywood ah
00:20:36
Matt Thiel
doors and and walls and stuff like that.
00:20:38
Darin Tingey
You're like, this is not the island the island mission that I expected, right?
00:20:40
Matt Thiel
It's really cool.
00:20:44
Darin Tingey
You're like, this feels...
00:20:44
Matt Thiel
Yeah, well, everyone, when everyone was talking talking to me about it, because, like, everyone's like, oh, you're going to E-Buy, here's what you can expect, and that kind of stuff. they Everyone just bring up the people, because the people there are just, like, so awesome.
00:20:55
Matt Thiel
And, I mean, that's true, I think, across the board from the Marshall Islands, but E-Buy's you know, I think a step above that. um And so I was excited because i think that's probably what excited me the most.
00:21:02
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:21:04
Matt Thiel
But yeah, definitely super different. You buy kind of a ballpark of its own. You know, it's it's it's its own thing for sure. But a really cool area.
00:21:15
Darin Tingey
Yeah, Ibai is incredible. the you know The people, it's like they're poor, but they're not at the same time. Like... They're poor in the sense that they live in like these tiny little homes that are stacked on top of each other.
00:21:32
Darin Tingey
But sometimes you go in these homes and there's like a huge flat screen TV and an Xbox and you're like, what's going on here?
00:21:37
Matt Thiel
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny. You know, it's, it's, yeah.
00:21:42
Darin Tingey
And it's because they work on quads, right?
00:21:45
Matt Thiel
Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, a lot of them do ferry back, you know, every day. They're and back to Kwaj, and they work on the military base. And I do think that some of them, you know, have a decent amount of pay, but they just live on the island, and that's their home.
00:21:59
Matt Thiel
They could go somewhere else, but that's that's just where they call home. And the conditions themselves, like, they're used to it. It's not the best. It's certainly not the best. um But they they like it, and they're fine with it and it's a there's a big sense of community, even though there's so many people. Like, you just...
00:22:15
Matt Thiel
you're there with everyone you know, and that's your home. That's kind of how it is, I think, for anywhere, but EBI
Community Support and Challenges
00:22:21
Matt Thiel
is condensed.
00:22:23
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:22:23
Matt Thiel
It's just a condensed version of that, but it was cool.
00:22:27
Darin Tingey
I remember, do you remember what Ibai people used to make fun of themselves for?
00:22:33
Matt Thiel
a You're going have to have remind me.
00:22:35
Darin Tingey
Like, Ibai chat tudo? Like, which,
00:22:39
Matt Thiel
ah yeah. I mean, a lot of a lot of people did
00:22:42
Darin Tingey
but so
00:22:43
Matt Thiel
Did say that which is which means like unbathed or has haven't showered or you know it's yeah.
00:22:47
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I mean, because the water would go out. do you remember? So we lived at this place called Triple j which was the Filipino grocery store.
00:22:52
Matt Thiel
Yes.
00:22:59
Darin Tingey
And we lived above that. and And we lived in a pretty nice apartment.
00:23:05
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:23:05
Darin Tingey
But that water would go out, man, that nice apartment turned bad real quick.
00:23:12
Matt Thiel
Yeah, no, I mean, when there's a drought, they all they have is rainwater, right? That's the like really the only water supply that they have for so many people on the island. Actually, i have no idea how they do it because of how many people are there.
00:23:24
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:23:26
Matt Thiel
And obviously, there's no other source of water. Maybe there's like a few wells or things like that. but I mean, it's just the ocean. Like, there's no other source of water. And and just for quick context, Darren and i I, mean, you probably heard this in other podcasts, but Darren started on ebay five weeks after I did.
00:23:43
Matt Thiel
So that was his first area as well. um And so we lived together eBuy for a few months. And so we kind of both had this experience in tandem almost.
00:23:54
Matt Thiel
Not quite, but almost.
00:23:55
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Oh my gosh. So fun. I mean, you had five weeks of training and then boom, you're with someone in your own intake.
00:24:02
Darin Tingey
Talk to me about that.
00:24:02
Matt Thiel
Yeah, that was fascinating, dude.
00:24:04
Matt Thiel
that I mean, my mission was kind of weird, I think. And I think a lot of missionaries were, you know, their missions were kind of weird and in the Marshall Islands.
00:24:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:13
Matt Thiel
like It's just how it went. But for me, so our our intakes was ah scattered, staggered by five weeks because president wasn't going be here.
00:24:24
Matt Thiel
in Kittabas whatever.
00:24:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:24:25
Matt Thiel
So you guys came in a week into our, a week, We had a week left in our MTC state when you guys came in, so we overlapped just a little bit. And then you came in to the Marshall Islands about five weeks after we got there.
00:24:42
Matt Thiel
And I had been with my trainer, Elder Masur. We actually shared the same trainer, which is a funny story. um this this awesome dude from bonawatu very soft-spoken um he didn't know he knew some english but not a lot and so communicating with him was was really challenging at times and he wanted to just speak martialese so with what little i i knew i really couldn't talk to this dude like it was it was kind of i don't know it's kind of rough um
00:24:54
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:25:03
Darin Tingey
tough
00:25:14
Matt Thiel
Also, we were whitewashing this area because I think initially they only had like north and south on Ebi open. But then with this new intake, they opened up the center and then they segmented it three ways.
00:25:27
Matt Thiel
And so we didn't have anything going for us in the center because all of the investigators and families, whatever, they like kind of stayed with the missionaries who had been teaching.
00:25:27
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:25:38
Matt Thiel
There were the companionships who had been teaching. And so we went out and we're just like trying to find like three weeks which is like the majority of the transfer um but elder masur was was great he was very patient with me i think because i mean we couldn't really speak to each other and like trying to figure out what's going on and like not having any ah any clue what to do um so that that was that was funny but he was he was when he did speak and when he ah was a little bit more active he was one of the funniest people i'd ever met
00:25:56
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:26:10
Matt Thiel
he was He was very funny. He had this this really high-pitched laugh that was like contagious.
00:26:11
Darin Tingey
Oh yeah.
00:26:14
Darin Tingey
Dude,
00:26:15
Matt Thiel
it was It was really good. um and And he was kind of jacked, too. like He was he was a kind of a smaller elder, but he like, yeah.
00:26:21
Darin Tingey
this is huge.
00:26:24
Matt Thiel
he And he he'd like we go work out every morning, and it was good. It was a really...
00:26:29
Darin Tingey
He was jacked and he was a total ladies man too. I don't know if you remember, he had his ax spray and he would spray it all up and down his body and like, like directly on himself.
00:26:32
Matt Thiel
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:26:37
Matt Thiel
Dude, so much. Yeah.
00:26:40
Darin Tingey
No like spray from a couple feet away. It was directly on him. It was so funny. So funny.
00:26:46
Matt Thiel
No, yeah he totally did. And like, I felt like I was spending more money on food so we could eat. So because he was spending half of his half of his stuff on like cosmetics, like, you know, he would go through like in the bottle of Axe a week.
00:26:51
Darin Tingey
Yeah. a yeah
00:26:58
Matt Thiel
like goes It was funny.
00:26:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:27:01
Matt Thiel
um Awesome, dude. So we went out finding we if you remember David Robert, I'm sure you remember him. He's a legend.
00:27:09
Darin Tingey
Oh, yeah.
00:27:11
Matt Thiel
uh he's a member on ebi who is i think just a single dude he's probably like what in his 30s i'd say at least at the time that we were there
00:27:19
Darin Tingey
Yeah, now yeah, now maybe even mid to late dude. That's
00:27:23
Matt Thiel
yeah our yeah maybe maybe later maybe 40s i don't know but he he knew like almost everyone uh and he went out with us and like say hey you want to study with the elders like hey do you want to like have lessons and everyone would say yes and so we had like 40 people that we'd go check every day who like didn't really want to like you know study with us they just they just saw us there we're like oh yeah come on back like later and they would never show up or it was funny but he he was very much integrated into our into our lives as missionaries and and our companionship was really funny to have him there he'd like come to our house he'd eat with us he uh would really and he was he was honestly a great help because we had no one uh we didn't know anybody and and all that and trying to talk to him
00:27:45
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:28:06
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:28:10
Matt Thiel
I mean, there's there's different dialects in Marshallese and like understanding what people are saying sometimes is tough between the dialects and if they're from an outer island, they speak quicker and we're slurred or whatever, but the language itself is very slurred and very quick.
00:28:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:28:23
Matt Thiel
But David Robert, I think he speaks his own language sometimes like a lot. I mean, a lot of a lot of what he says is very difficult for me.
00:28:29
Darin Tingey
So, so true.
00:28:32
Matt Thiel
I mean, as a new missionary, of course, to understand, but even like elder Massoud, my trainer, like he, he didn't fully understand what David Robert was saying all, you know, a lot of the time, but funny stuff.
00:28:42
Darin Tingey
Yeah, dude, David Robert, total legend. And yeah in martialist culture, they just say yes to everything. So like, hey, you want to say the others? Like, yes. You know, I'm like, you're going to come to church?
00:28:52
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:28:53
Darin Tingey
Yes. Are you going to get baptized? Yes. Like, they could mean no to every single one of those, but they're just going to say yes.
00:29:01
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. I mean, one of the double-edged swords there, I mean, very inviting, very accepting, but very noncommittal. They don't show up Like, ah obviously, you said, they'll say yes if they don't want to.
00:29:15
Matt Thiel
And that's how it was for us.
00:29:15
Darin Tingey
And so you're with Masur for five weeks. I come in, I take your spot. You get transferred to the South Ward with Ross, who's in your intake.
00:29:24
Matt Thiel
Yeah, so.
00:29:24
Darin Tingey
Like, were you guys, were you like, oh my goodness, like, I love Elder Ross, but we are brand spanking new and now we're companions.
00:29:32
Matt Thiel
Well, yeah, I mean, this was a really funny moment. And like, a I was kind of like after the transfer was made, and like we heard we got the announcements, like kind of deer in the headlights look like what, like, what are we going to do?
00:29:44
Matt Thiel
You know, like, I have no idea how this is going to work. Luckily for me, Elder Ross and i at least from my perspective, we we got along really, really well, like in the MTC, we're pretty close to the MTC. And I mean, living on eBay.
00:29:58
Matt Thiel
not being able to talk to my companion all of the time i would you know talk to elder ross a lot and so we got along pretty well so i was excited for us to be a companionship i i really liked elder ross he was really funny um but like i said we're only five weeks out neither of us had completed our training and our training was you know i don't know if i'd say the best it was just like something that we'd have to go through kind of more pushing on ourselves like I'm in charge of my own learning.
00:30:28
Matt Thiel
I'm in charge of teaching myself, learning from what my companion is doing versus my companion is helping me learn and teaching me.
00:30:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:30:34
Matt Thiel
You know what I'm saying? think we both had that a little bit. So when we got together, neither of us knew the language like at all. And we we totally struggled to speak with anyone really.
00:30:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:30:47
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:30:47
Matt Thiel
And that was that was one of the biggest challenges because we'd only been five weeks out and It was really tough. So we we luckily had a lot of amazing member families in the South area who were very generous and helped us quite a bit.
00:31:03
Matt Thiel
And I think that that's really what made it bearable. You know, otherwise you're just like, having the most awkward conversations or trying to have an awkward conversation with these people and not being able to speak to them.
00:31:09
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:31:15
Matt Thiel
But I remember the Silk family, you you know the Silk family, but they they were amazing for us.
00:31:18
Darin Tingey
Oh yeah.
00:31:21
Matt Thiel
We we spent quite a bit of time at at their place because they had some people living there at the time who weren't members. And they would welcome us to to go eat to have family home evenings and in Sunday you know lessons and things like that with the family. and It was great. They really helped teach us quite a bit.
00:31:39
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I think E-Buy is so special in that way because everyone's so packed into this tiny island. The fellowshipping is so good from the members because one, they know everybody in their community and two they live close enough that they can quickly just walk around the corner and like help you meet with somebody.
00:31:58
Darin Tingey
Whereas like other areas, like in Ajitagi, Adak, and Maduro, like the houses are so spread out. Getting a member to come is a big ask. Versus E-Buy, it's like, hey, this guy lives two houses down from you.
00:32:11
Darin Tingey
You know, like come with us. And like, they're always introducing you to new people. And the members there are just like unmatched. So good. And they always want to have you over for dinner. I feel like we had a dinner every night.
00:32:25
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you had three dinners every night. It was it was kind of unbearable sometimes, dude. I gained weight on Ebi because of the amount of people who would feed us. You know, it was kind of ah lot sometimes.
00:32:39
Matt Thiel
And there's there's more I can say on that when I went up to Ebi North. But yeah, yeah it was good. there were There were a number of families who were really instrumental. I think the Loyak family, he's the Bishop. Janet Loyak was a returned missionary.
00:32:49
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:32:51
Matt Thiel
Pretty fresh, I think, at the time when we got there.
00:32:53
Darin Tingey
ye
00:32:54
Matt Thiel
um She helped teach us because she was pretty good at English and she understood ah kind of what we were going through and all of that. And so she she helped teach us a lot. And then the but Jake family.
00:33:04
Matt Thiel
The Jake family is also ah lovely family. that That home, I would say, this is kind of like to paint the picture of how life on eBay worked for these families. there Their home, I would say, was probably like one room, 12 12, maybe like 14 by 14 feet.
00:33:23
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:33:24
Matt Thiel
there's a small bathroom in the corner, I think. And then everything else was just
Missionary Work and Leadership Roles
00:33:28
Matt Thiel
open. And they had probably like at times 20 to 25 people living there and sleeping there just in this one giant room.
00:33:35
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:33:36
Matt Thiel
And everyone was on the floor. They just had mats and didn't eat blankets because it was so hot. And it was just, it was crazy. Like going in there and seeing that and, and being with them,
00:33:49
Matt Thiel
It was unfathomable how many people could live in a home and subsist off of such little resources and still be the way that they were super happy and welcoming to us.
00:33:59
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:34:01
Matt Thiel
Having us invited into their home, eating some of their food, all that stuff is just there's not a second thought. It's you're going to come you with us. We're going to give you what we have. And it's yeah I felt bad at times, but it just was.
00:34:17
Matt Thiel
such an eye opening experience of like what generosity actually is, you know, but these families are great.
00:34:20
Darin Tingey
Yeah. and what And what opening your home to other people looks like, right? Because they're from Wijiai, the Jake family specifically.
00:34:27
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:34:30
Darin Tingey
So all the kids that were going to go to high school from these outer islands that close by, they come to Ibai to go to high school. And so they need a family to stay with. Oh, the Jakes, they're family. um aunts and uncles, cousins, I'm sending my kids to go live with them.
00:34:44
Darin Tingey
So here they are hosting like a bunch of high school kids. And the Bellews did the same thing for the kids online, right? They all came over.
00:34:52
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:34:52
Darin Tingey
And so you have like this massive population of kids on eBay, not only from like people like getting pregnant and having babies, tons of little kids running around, but also tons of high school students from all the outer islands around.
00:35:06
Darin Tingey
And so it's just like, so many people all the time.
00:35:10
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:35:10
Darin Tingey
And I remember the Jake's, you remember, you mentioned their food, giving food. i remember the first time, not the first time, one of the times I ate at their house, like, oh, here's a piece of chicken, you know? And Ebi is notoriously known for like, and Marshawn's in general, like raw chicken, but this one wasn't just raw.
00:35:28
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:35:29
Darin Tingey
Like I've been into it. had just come out of the pot. And like that the first layer of the chicken was warm. I bit into it frozen on the inside.
00:35:40
Darin Tingey
This had like come straight from the freezer. And I'm like having to eat this.
00:35:40
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:35:43
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:35:44
Darin Tingey
It was crazy.
00:35:46
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, that brings back a couple of memories for sure. It's, it's tough.
00:35:51
Darin Tingey
a
00:35:53
Matt Thiel
The the the food situation sometimes is is tough just because of the chicken. Yeah, the chicken is pretty bad. But okay, a couple of things. Number one, when we got there, the EBI district was becoming a steak.
00:36:05
Matt Thiel
And they were having this celebration the week that my intake got in and the week that I got to EBI.
00:36:05
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:36:10
Matt Thiel
So we had Elder Halleck and a couple area of 70 authorities come in and make this a steak and speak in a big celebration or whatever. And I tried as part of this, they had a big feast, right? They just welcomed all these, you know, church leaders and and had this big celebration, but they had a a big meal and they were serving sashimi.
00:36:29
Matt Thiel
And they're bringing it into the church at this time. And one of the sisters like, hey, el till you know what that is? And I was like, no, I've never seen it. It just looked like um almost like white jello, like clear jello.
00:36:40
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:36:40
Matt Thiel
um I'd never seen it They're like, that sashimi, you should try it. like, okay, I'll try it. I'm not like a big fish person. At least it wasn't before this. And I bite it and it's just raw sashimi, no sauce, no nothing.
00:36:52
Matt Thiel
And the texture was like, oh, it was gross. was like jello. And I, oh, it was one of the nastiest things that ever tasted. It was, it was so bad. Sashimi otherwise is pretty good, but this was like a different kind. i don't know exactly what it was, but it was really bad. So that's the first thing.
00:37:08
Matt Thiel
Second thing, it was a Kemen, which is a first birthday celebration. really big deal Marshall Islands because this baby has made it through its first year of life. They throw a big party, they dance, they they have a lot of food. And um we received this meal and it was fried chicken. So had it was breaded a little bit. Right. And normally you're pretty safe with that.
00:37:28
Matt Thiel
And I was like really hungry at the time.
00:37:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:37:30
Matt Thiel
And I was like, oh, I'm really excited to get into this. And I wasn't used to all the other Marshallese foods. So seeing this was like a little bit of comfort. Like, oh, I know I can eat this. Like, i know it's going to be good.
00:37:38
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:37:38
Matt Thiel
And I bite into it and there is like a pool of like liquidy kind of congealed blood in the middle. And it's a little bit frozen. And this chicken, it just wasn't cooked at all.
00:37:50
Matt Thiel
And it was like one of, it was just one of the worst things.
00:37:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:37:52
Matt Thiel
I was like, oh I was like spitting it out and like trying to hide it. Cause like they didn't want people to be you know, offended, but gosh, just like biting into the chicken and having like the blood, oh it was just gross.
00:38:02
Darin Tingey
classic classic marshall islands and like i feel like even more specifically ebi so good man we could talk ebi all day especially because lived together we had so many fun nights where we'd you know fight night at some of the members you know and like like six of us living in like it was like four of us living at the triple j house man so many good memories and fun times um
00:38:12
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:38:16
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:38:27
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:38:27
Darin Tingey
But i want i want I want to keep going. So you serve in Eby, Middle, Yollup, South, and then North.
00:38:31
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:38:36
Darin Tingey
So but if I'm not mistaken, three transfers, three different areas, and then you get taken off, you go to Maduro, right?
00:38:40
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:38:43
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah, exactly. um So.
00:38:45
Darin Tingey
And you went to where?
00:38:47
Matt Thiel
Yeah, so I went to Arrak and in Laura, they were those areas were combined at the time. So I got every bit of e-buy a transfer in each. It wasn't a lot of times they really get to know people of each area.
00:38:58
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:38:58
Matt Thiel
I didn't necessarily like that, um but that's what happened. So i went to Arrak and Laura with Elder Kendrick, who's also, I think, been on the podcast, he said.
00:39:09
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:39:11
Matt Thiel
Absolutely loved Elder Kendrick. He was part of your intake. So again, I'm with a missionary who, ah you know, has been out younger than me. let let's Let's just say this.
00:39:18
Darin Tingey
Inexperienced.
00:39:20
Matt Thiel
Let's just say this. Outside of, I guess that's not necessarily true, but I was with missionaries who were younger than me most of the time how post that first transfer, first five-week transfer.
00:39:31
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:39:32
Matt Thiel
Because the third transfer in eBios was Elder Robinson, who was part of my intake as well.
00:39:36
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:39:37
Matt Thiel
And so, yeah, I was never with like a missionary who's really really older.
00:39:40
Darin Tingey
Poulsen was the only other one, I think. Yeah.
00:39:43
Matt Thiel
McFaul, McFaul was one in Ajitaki.
00:39:44
Darin Tingey
And McFaul. And McFaul. That's right.
00:39:46
Matt Thiel
So I spent two transfers in Adarok and Laura, I think. with Elder Kendrick. Super fun experience. This the most beautiful part of Mejuro, which is the main island, the capital.
00:39:57
Matt Thiel
It's the countryside. There's a lot more trees. Very different vibe than Ebi. was really refreshing to kind of go from Ebi, which, I mean, super unique experience. talked about it, but then go to the countryside where there's like trees and yeah actually some island traditional islands.
00:40:11
Darin Tingey
Yeah, feels more islandy, feels more islandy, yeah.
00:40:14
Matt Thiel
Yeah, and Laura is also the biggest part of the island space-wise. So it was also nice be in an area where you're not seeing the ocean on both sides the whole time. And you you know there's there's more people, there's more stuff there.
00:40:27
Matt Thiel
So that was cool.
00:40:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah, you feel like you're gonna get lost in the jungle a little bit in Laura, like you can feel that way, which is nice.
00:40:30
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:40:36
Matt Thiel
Daniel Truong, yeah was it was just fun elder Kendrick's a great elder absolutely loves being with him, had a lot of fun and a lot good work out there in order and Laura and then after that I went to agile talking with elder recall.
00:40:51
Darin Tingey
Okay, so that's when that's after I left Ajitaki, then you went, I went to Kiribati, then you went from Ajitaki, and you became zone leader at that time, right?
00:40:57
Matt Thiel
Right.
00:41:01
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah, i think so. you were there with Elder Hanson or something and then, right.
00:41:05
Darin Tingey
Other Hanson and Peterson and Robinson were there as well, and Peterson was his zone leader. He left with me to Kiribati and Hanson, and so you guys came over and took over that area.
00:41:13
Matt Thiel
Yeah, yeah, so yeah. And that's when I started being a zone leader with Elder McFaul, which is interesting because backtrack to eviy the seven weeks that I was with Elder Ross, a part of that was a district leader And then ah continued that through my rest of my state, EBI.
00:41:34
Matt Thiel
And then I came to Adorak and Laura. I was a district leader there and then went to Laura or sorry, Agil Take and was a zone leader there. So I only had five weeks really where I wasn't in some sort of position there.
00:41:48
Darin Tingey
Where you
00:41:52
Darin Tingey
you?
00:41:52
Matt Thiel
And so I was, I was kind of in this position as a missionary where I don't know the language.
00:41:57
Matt Thiel
I'm a very junior. I don't really know what's going on quite yet. And for whatever reason, I'm like in these positions.
00:42:01
Darin Tingey
Yep.
00:42:05
Matt Thiel
And so I was like, well, I don't want to say sour about that. I mean, i don't know if there's like a good way to describe it. This is not where I wanted to to be really, you know, I just wanted to be like out with people trying my best to be a regular missionary.
00:42:11
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:42:18
Matt Thiel
But
00:42:20
Darin Tingey
And how long as a doggy and then until you go to AP after that, right?
00:42:21
Matt Thiel
I guess...
00:42:26
Matt Thiel
Yeah. So Agile Talk was only a transfer. So I spent two transfers in, Adaraq and Laura and then one transfer in Agile Talk. So just not like a a ton of time in these areas.
00:42:35
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:42:36
Matt Thiel
And then I went to Long Island, uh, as AP with Elder Bird.
00:42:41
Darin Tingey
And how long were you AP?
00:42:42
Matt Thiel
Who was the elder who came out from Ujjay?
00:42:44
Darin Tingey
Yeah, that's actually crazy.
00:42:44
Matt Thiel
Uh, yeah.
00:42:45
Darin Tingey
That's actually a crazy full circle there.
00:42:48
Matt Thiel
No, it was super funny because it was like very different than I expected seeing him there and like just getting that first image. For AP, I think it was like three and a half transfers. So a little bit more time in the area, which is great.
00:42:59
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:43:02
Matt Thiel
And Long Island I think, one of my favorite areas. Just the people there amazing. The church members there are really, really fun.
00:43:09
Darin Tingey
Talk a little bit about what it was like to be AP.
00:43:10
Matt Thiel
and i
00:43:11
Darin Tingey
What did what did that entail?
00:43:14
Matt Thiel
Yeah, um AP was really interesting. i I wish the structure of the APs hadn't been changed just before I got in because when When, you know, before they were going between countries, helping the president in both countries, but then he decided to split it.
00:43:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:43:31
Matt Thiel
and I think this is a good decision, but he decided to split it and have a set of APs in the Marshall Islands, set of APs in Gidavis. And so I was, I think, like second or whatever of the split when that happens. But being AP...
00:43:45
Matt Thiel
was interesting. And it was a, for me, it was challenge to like balance going out and like doing regular missionary proselyting and work and being with people versus like administrative work for the mission because the president was gone so much.
00:43:57
Matt Thiel
And so I think that president was always trying to remind me like, Hey, like,
00:43:57
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:44:01
Matt Thiel
you need to do some more administrative stuff. Like just generally like this, this needs to happen. This needs happen. And he was like surprised when we had a couple of baptisms coming up. He's like, Oh, okay. You know, like that's kind of the, the vibe or interaction.
00:44:15
Matt Thiel
But AP was.
00:44:16
Darin Tingey
because our Because our mission didn't have office elders. A lot of other missions do.
00:44:19
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:44:20
Darin Tingey
We didn't have that.
00:44:21
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:44:21
Darin Tingey
You guys were the office elders.
00:44:24
Matt Thiel
Yes. Yes. So we spent a good amount of time in the office every day and it was really,
00:44:31
Matt Thiel
trying to help and meet the needs of the missionaries, I think for the most part, as well as just coordinating administrative items, which was like tracking progress of the work, the areas, collecting things, shipping things out to missionaries where they're needed, coordinating senior senior couples, a lot of that and more administrative stuff.
00:44:51
Matt Thiel
a lot of meeting with the president when he was there to give him like updates about what what happened while he's gone or to you know, suggest ideas. This is what's happening here. Here's what we think could happen, that kind of stuff.
00:45:05
Matt Thiel
But a lot of it was, you know, again, i felt like i was in a position where I'm still a young missionary at this point. I mean, this is probably like eight or nine months, I think, into the mission.
00:45:16
Darin Tingey
It's crazy.
00:45:17
Matt Thiel
And I didn't have a full grasp of like what should be done, what was happening. i first some extent I did, but you know, president was gone so much of the time and it was really like elder bird and i who had to make some decisions pretty quickly about specific things without president being there.
00:45:36
Matt Thiel
And so it was like an elder bird, um, he had been AP for a while, but our Helgenberger, and he was a little bit more of the senior missionary.
00:45:36
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:45:44
Matt Thiel
Um, but he, he totally like, bounced ideas off of me and and we kind of went at it together versus like taking lead, which was interesting in some aspects and and great in others.
00:45:57
Darin Tingey
How much power did you have with transfers? That's what I'm curious about.
00:46:01
Matt Thiel
That's the tea that you want to know.
00:46:02
Darin Tingey
Yeah, how much of it was the president like like, okay, yeah, that sounds good.
00:46:03
Matt Thiel
that's
00:46:08
Matt Thiel
Yeah, this is ah this is an interesting question. And I think for me, here's here's the approach that Elder Bird and I took. for transfers, we obviously knew ah more about what was happening with the missionaries the president did, right?
00:46:24
Matt Thiel
He was gone a lot of the time.
00:46:25
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:46:25
Matt Thiel
He just had interviews and whatever the missionaries would tell him during weekly emails if they emailed him. um So for us, it was more of understanding personalities of missionaries, understanding needs of missionaries and kind of where they were at as a missionary, like how long they'd have been out, their language skills, whatever. ah that Those kinds of details that uh are a little bit more intimate and like the president wouldn't know so we would take those we would consider what work was happening currently and how the work was going and then we'd like kind of create a draft board of what the transfer could look like and throughout this process it probably took like two two weeks maybe two and a half weeks so kind of a good part of the transfer was figuring the next transfer out um
00:47:13
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:47:15
Matt Thiel
But we'd we'd make this draft board, we'd pray about it, we'd move some things around, we'd pray about it, we'd move some more things around, and then we'd come to president and say, here's what we think and why. And then he would sit on it for a few days and he would pray about it. And then we'd meet probably two or three more times.
00:47:31
Matt Thiel
And he would say, I want to move this around. i want to move that around. Or here's what I'm thinking. What do you guys think? And we would just kind of discuss it and say, I think I feel good about that. Or I don't feel good about that for whatever reason.
00:47:42
Matt Thiel
Let's do this. We'll move this around, see how it looks. And then we'd pray about it a couple more times and and sit on it. And then maybe some last minute changes. And then that's, that's what would happen. So it was very much and like a back and forth between us and president, but we, we did have a good amount of like, here's the details and here's what we know.
00:47:53
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:48:00
Matt Thiel
Here's how we feel to president and who he, he relied on us because he wasn't there half the time.
00:48:01
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:48:05
Darin Tingey
Right.
00:48:05
Matt Thiel
And I mean, you can't, I mean, if I was in his position, it'd be hard to make those calls without any information.
00:48:07
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:48:11
Matt Thiel
You know what i mean? So we kind of served as like, here's, here's what we know and here's what's going on.
00:48:15
Darin Tingey
Yeah. And I blame you for pulling me back from Kitabas so fast.
00:48:19
Darin Tingey
yeah know You're the reason.
00:48:19
Matt Thiel
Yeah, I think, I mean, i don't think I was the reason I think everyone who got pulled back blames me, which is kind of funny.
00:48:28
Matt Thiel
um And maybe, maybe that's justified. I don't know. But um they're, they're.
00:48:32
Darin Tingey
I mean, what what were those discussions like? Because Ross and I had only been there for like four and a half months. I know there had ah been some stuff that happened in the Marsh Islands, right? And you guys were like, hey, we kind of need to bring some of these guys back.
00:48:41
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
00:48:44
Matt Thiel
Well, yeah, so Marshall Islands is always just super fluid in terms of like where missionaries were and what was happening because things were changing all the time. And the the island itself, everything, the mission itself, everything is so condensed.
00:48:57
Matt Thiel
All the missionaries are super close together. Everyone's interacting with each other all the time. And so there were just like a lot of things that would happen or a lot of changes that needed to happen and that we'd have to get really creative with the solutions.
00:49:09
Matt Thiel
And and president sending you guys to kitabus um was pretty interesting as well um and so when we were bringing you guys back the thought process i think i mean for what i remember this was a while ago but was just there were some things that happened in the mission that caused some structural change and changes within like i think i would say sort of like the wards too um that
00:49:36
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:49:38
Matt Thiel
Warranted us to bring back a couple of extra missionaries just from a pure like we need some more missionaries. Because some people have been you know like sent home or some people have just gone home like to their transfers or ended their missions whatever.
00:49:51
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:49:53
Matt Thiel
So we needed some more missionaries, but we also needed some, I think, key people in specific areas. And so looking at what we had versus what was needed and and what we should do, that's that's the option that ultimately we felt best about, we being Elder Bird,
00:50:11
Matt Thiel
myself and president and president was the one who even brought it up in the first place because for me being in the position i was in i was like i didn't even consider it really an option like they're there i'm like but let's let's keep in there they've been there for four months right but president was the one who was considering it and so he's i think he is the one who who drove that conversation in that process but i mean if it were my call
00:50:21
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:29
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:36
Matt Thiel
And from me being like in your shoes, I wouldn't want to shift around that much. I had already shifted around that much. This was something that I actually discussed with president saying,
00:50:43
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:46
Matt Thiel
listen, like there's, there's so much that so much moving, like, let's try to keep people where they're at, if they're doing well, or if there's like not a change that's absolutely needed.
00:50:54
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:50:56
Matt Thiel
So we went back and forth on that. But I know, I know everyone blames me. I know, I know everyone's like, well, what's what's Elder Thiel doing? Like, yeah, it was, it was an interesting spot to be trying to keep people happy.
00:51:08
Darin Tingey
No, I had a fun time coming coming back. cause i got i mean i love i always wanted to come back to the Marshall Islands, it was great. But it was so fun because we were in eBay together, and then we were in the countryside of Madra together.
00:51:21
Darin Tingey
And then came back, we were in Long Island together. like It was so fun.
00:51:24
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:51:24
Darin Tingey
We got to spend a lot of our missions together, which was like so fun. And then you did the unthinkable. And you got president to open a new outer island and send you to Millie.
00:51:35
Darin Tingey
So talk to me about, I want to talk to about for the last 15 minutes of this podcast.
New Mission on Millie Island
00:51:41
Darin Tingey
I want to talk about Millie because that is an incredible island. And talk to me about that whole, the whole thing.
00:51:43
Matt Thiel
yeah
00:51:45
Matt Thiel
yeah okay i'll try to go quick because there is so much to unpack here but So with President, kind of towards the end of me being an AP with him, he was talking about, number one, Outer Island specifically, and number two, where wanted to go.
00:52:02
Matt Thiel
Because he had put me in specific places throughout the beginning a mission. he's like, I want you to to feel good about where you're going next. And so he kind of gave me a little bit of leeway or freedom to suggest where I wanted to go next.
00:52:14
Matt Thiel
Not decide, but suggest.
00:52:14
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Uh,
00:52:16
Matt Thiel
And so um with that, we started looking into like outer islands again, because number one, Mejuro was getting very congested. We just had a couple of intakes that were coming in that were really big, like another 12 to 15 missionaries. And there were two like back back.
00:52:29
Matt Thiel
We didn't have space on Mejuro. So we needed to open up some outer islands. Some of them had been closed, like Lai and Ujjayi and some others. So we only had two, which was Butche and Jaluit. Oh, and I think Island Labalap had just opened as well.
00:52:42
Matt Thiel
So we were already in the motion of opening up some outer islands.
00:52:42
Darin Tingey
ah
00:52:45
Matt Thiel
As part of that, I went out to Jalowicz for a week to be with Elder Polson. earn I went out with Elder Polson to Jalowicz with Elder Byrd and Elder Miva.
00:52:58
Darin Tingey
Cool.
00:52:58
Matt Thiel
We like looked at the island and the health of it.
00:53:01
Matt Thiel
So we were already looking at that. So I was looking at which islands to go to, which islands had the most people, which islands had had missionaries on them before, had success, et cetera. Mille had not been...
00:53:13
Matt Thiel
active for like over 10 years. There hadn't been missionaries there for a long time, but it was a big island.
00:53:16
Darin Tingey
crazy.
00:53:20
Matt Thiel
It's like, I think one of the biggest atolls and like singular islands for all of these. so I think it's like second or third. And so we're looking at that and we had talked to some people about the atoll and like that the membership there, there was a few key players.
00:53:36
Matt Thiel
And so we set up a potential like residents there through the island chief. um who own owned it and we went with it.
00:53:47
Matt Thiel
That was the island that I think we so we felt best about.
00:53:50
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:53:50
Matt Thiel
And so President sent me out there with a brand new elder. Mind you, I just like hit my year mark. it might This might have been even been before my year mark. um So we opened up this brand new island and we're we hadn't seen the residents. We'd only seen like a picture of it.
00:54:06
Matt Thiel
um And so we went out there with our stuff on this plane. It was only Elder Tefteller and i ah and we went out and tried to find where this place was.
00:54:15
Darin Tingey
Let's go.
00:54:18
Matt Thiel
We went out with the chief. He he like showed us and we were just there. like We're on this island, which was like an hour and a half plane ride from Mejuro.
00:54:30
Matt Thiel
No idea about the membership that was currently there. We had a rough idea of the population, rough idea of what it looked like, but there was so much unknown.
00:54:36
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:54:38
Matt Thiel
And so I'm going out with a green elder who has no idea what's going on. who has no idea what to do with the language, like all of this stuff. And so this is, I felt all on me to make this work and to figure it all out.
00:54:52
Matt Thiel
And we get there, there's no area book, there's no previous missionary stuff, there's no nothing. So we get there and and just unload everything and just get to work.
00:54:57
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:55:02
Matt Thiel
And when we got there, after like two weeks, I knew everyone's name on the island. Like there's there's probably, would say like 200-ish people there.
00:55:11
Darin Tingey
Okay.
00:55:12
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:55:12
Matt Thiel
Uh, maybe two 50, very, very small population.
00:55:15
Matt Thiel
Of course the atoll is, I mean, there's, there's five like hubs, but the million million is the biggest.
00:55:20
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:55:21
Matt Thiel
Um, and so we get there and I'm trying to find out if there's any members. And so I'm just talking with everyone and saying like, oh, like we're the elders here before. what do you know about all this stuff? and And there were like, I'd say two families who had been members before.
00:55:38
Matt Thiel
who are currently members of either the Protestant church or the assembly of God church. So there was really nothing going on. Our house was a little stick hut that was like maybe an eight by six.
00:55:50
Matt Thiel
It was tiny.
00:55:51
Darin Tingey
you barely You barely fit.
00:55:51
Matt Thiel
And so there was, yeah, no, tough teller and i laying down to go to sleep on our Jackies was like the whole thing. There was like three or four feet in between us laying down, but our feet and our head were on the either side of the walls.
00:56:06
Matt Thiel
Like it was,
00:56:06
Darin Tingey
That's awesome.
00:56:08
Matt Thiel
very sardine packed. um And we didn't have a place to hold church. We didn't know who would even join, if anybody would come to church. So we had to figure all this out.
00:56:19
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:56:19
Matt Thiel
um
00:56:20
Matt Thiel
And so it was very tough. But over the course of six months, i was there for about six months.
00:56:25
Darin Tingey
c Incredible.
00:56:27
Matt Thiel
we We figured a lot of this stuff out and we could, I could talk about this for a long time, but I'll keep it somewhat brief and you can ask questions about what you want to, but um We ended up holding church in a like an abandoned house that leaked when it rained.
00:56:42
Matt Thiel
It was very, very old. kind of i don't know The walls seemed like they might collapse. you know like That's where we held church for a while.
00:56:48
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:56:51
Matt Thiel
out Actually starting out, we held church in ex-member's home who went to the Assembly of God church before he held church in our house, like or and in his house.
00:56:58
Darin Tingey
That's so good.
00:57:00
Matt Thiel
um So really funny. But once we started talking with some of these families, the work got moving and we had more and more people. We went from like one or two people joining us for church to like eight or nine to like 10 to 15.
00:57:18
Matt Thiel
As we got like more and more families to come who are closer to our side and and who had had experiences with the elders before. um That was really cool. There was one family that we taught who were non-members, but who were very interested. We talked to this guy, his name is Neosi.
00:57:33
Matt Thiel
His wife is Nicole. he was known as like a carpenter on the island. He was like one of the best craftsmen in building buildings. And so with him, a couple of things, one thing led to another, but he he had a ah a dream where he was walking towards a golden staircase and the golden staircase went up to the sky and he could tell that that was like heaven.
00:57:41
Darin Tingey
Wow. Mm-hmm.
00:57:56
Darin Tingey
who
00:57:56
Matt Thiel
And as he walked and got closer to the staircase, the staircase would go up and ascend. And by the time that he got to the base of it, he couldn't reach it. It was above his head. And so he just told us like, I know I need to change. I know I need to repent. It's like, I'm ready for you guys to help me do this.
00:58:12
Matt Thiel
And so over the course of the six months, we taught him and his family. His son was a member from high school on a different Island. And he was there to help facilitate it all. It was, it was an amazing process, but we ended up baptizing this man and his family and building a church with them, a church building that was a much better than the one little makeshift rack shack place that we had.
00:58:31
Darin Tingey
yeah
00:58:33
Matt Thiel
And It took a while to build it I mean, it wasn't even finished when I left after the six months, but we we helped build it. And that's how we spent most of our P days was was building this church.
00:58:44
Darin Tingey
I mean, i think i think you got like such a true island mission experience in the sense that you went to an island that hadn't had missionaries. They had missionaries previously, but hadn't had missionaries in years.
00:58:58
Darin Tingey
You're basically starting brand new. You're Re-baptizing people or bringing them back. You're building a church. Like, i didn't build a church. Like, that's incredible.
00:59:10
Darin Tingey
Like, you got to do that. That's like other side of heaven type of feel that would happen 50 years ago. But no one thinks about that building a church today.
00:59:19
Matt Thiel
Yeah, it was it was an incredible experience. Very unique, I think, to be able to come back to this island, to reopen it and to be with these people and and really like establish what the church is and really set expectations from the ground up.
00:59:33
Matt Thiel
Because no like nothing was there previous, nothing to build on.
00:59:33
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
00:59:36
Matt Thiel
So we drafted this from scratch and we got it to where it was, which was incredible, very difficult. A lot of things to like figure out, but it was such a rewarding experience and the people there amazing, but yeah, definitely had a lot of cool experiences there and the church,
00:59:55
Matt Thiel
I mean, you you saw pictures of it on Facebook. Like, it's still there. It's still functioning. Like, they the the man that we baptized and built it with is now the unit leader.
00:59:59
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:00:03
Matt Thiel
Like, it's it's so cool. And the one of the key pieces of the story, they weren't married. Him and his wife weren't married.
01:00:10
Darin Tingey
Okay.
01:00:11
Matt Thiel
And so we had Brother Winchester come out on a plane and marry them because he was a judge out on the Marshall Islands.
01:00:17
Darin Tingey
No way.
01:00:19
Matt Thiel
So he came out and married them in this little this little building that we held church in. Um, and they were civilly married and then baptized and it was amazing.
01:00:31
Darin Tingey
My favorite thing about Marshallese marriages is like one, they don't culturally really get married, right? So when you are like, you're almost like forcing them to get married kind of.
01:00:40
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
01:00:40
Darin Tingey
like And the best is like, they like tell them hold hands they just like barely hold each other's hands, like look away.
01:00:45
Matt Thiel
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:47
Darin Tingey
don't look at each other. and then like, they don't like really kiss at the end either. It's like, maybe he'll kiss her cheek or something like that because they don't show any affection, ah love and affection in public.
01:00:57
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
01:00:59
Darin Tingey
It's so funny.
01:01:01
Matt Thiel
Yeah, it's it's very true. It's so different and just cultural thing. Yeah, it's just not something that they've grown up with or or really care too much about. So
01:01:09
Darin Tingey
what what was your What was your favorite thing about Millie?
01:01:10
Matt Thiel
um
01:01:14
Matt Thiel
I mean, The cliche answers the people and that's really the true answer here. But there's there's a number of things about Millรฉ that are absolutely incredible.
01:01:18
Darin Tingey
Sure.
01:01:22
Matt Thiel
Number one, I think the island itself is known for its beauty and pristine beaches.
01:01:28
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm.
01:01:29
Matt Thiel
Millรฉ is absolutely beautiful island. I don't think I ever saw a more beautiful place out there or have seen a more beautiful place since. It's amazing. um There's a lot of World War II relics there.
01:01:41
Matt Thiel
which was really, really cool to go out and see. Like, you can see craters in the ground from where artillery has bombarded the place.
01:01:47
Darin Tingey
No way. Oh my gosh.
01:01:49
Matt Thiel
You can see guns that are, like, when I say guns, like artillery guns, anti-aircraft guns, like, on the the beaches. You can see them, like, laced throughout the the jungle there, broken down planes and things like that.
01:02:02
Matt Thiel
lot of really, really cool stuff. Um, but the island itself was just a lot of fun, a lot of really cool. You got like a little bit of everything. You got a good amount of people there. You've got a really cool, thick jungle where a lot of stuff grows. It's a really luscious island.
01:02:18
Matt Thiel
Um, so we'd go out and like get bananas or get other fruits like mangoes or oranges and things like that.
01:02:24
Darin Tingey
I remember you told me you mangoes there. That was incredible.
01:02:27
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
01:02:27
Darin Tingey
It's like one of the only islands that has mangoes. Did you say oranges too?
01:02:32
Matt Thiel
There was a couple of orange trees. um
01:02:33
Darin Tingey
No way.
01:02:34
Matt Thiel
what of There was only one of them that grew oranges that were like somewhat juicy. The rest were were pretty dry. um But we'd eat some from the juicy tree and there was like limes,
01:02:39
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:02:46
Matt Thiel
pompe and bell apples. There's like a bunch of of really cool stuff. So they they had some squash and some melons that they grew in their little garden by the elementary school. But to to kind of put like the logistics of the island in perspective, the island is like it's up is like shaped like a triangle, right?
01:03:00
Matt Thiel
And it's the airstrip cuts through the triangle, like on the widest part. And it's probably a mile, maybe a little bit less. That's how long it is. And on one side of the triangle, which is closer to the lagoon, that's where everyone lives.
01:03:15
Matt Thiel
It's probably, I'd say like two-ish miles from tip to tip.
01:03:18
Darin Tingey
ah
01:03:19
Matt Thiel
And so everyone lives along that side. There's a couple of homes that are like littered throughout the jungle in their own little spot. Nothing on the lake side, nothing on the ocean side. Ocean side a little bit more rough, but the lagoon side was very pretty. And there's always a constant breeze that's really, really heavy.
01:03:35
Matt Thiel
And so we lived right on the lagoon. And so we'd just prop open these windows with our little stick in our hut, like just little like plywood flap and get that breeze.
01:03:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah. Yeah.
01:03:45
Matt Thiel
And it was was really, really nice. But, um,
01:03:47
Darin Tingey
Did you lot of fishing?
01:03:50
Matt Thiel
Not a ton of fishing. We went a couple of times, uh, like before we started getting into the church and like building that just because that took up so much time and a lot of, lot of efforts, but we went fishing a few times. We went fishing with a couple of kids. They just had like a little butane can and they tied some fishing line to it, wrapped it around.
01:04:06
Matt Thiel
And then they would just like lasso it out there with like a rock as a weight and like throw it out on like the lake.
01:04:10
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:04:12
Matt Thiel
And we'd do that and like to roll it in. You just like roll the butane can up, you know, it was,
01:04:15
Darin Tingey
yeah
01:04:17
Matt Thiel
That was, that was super scrappy, super fun Those kids are are
Cultural Experiences and Culinary Adventures
01:04:20
Matt Thiel
geniuses for all the day. we We caught some fish doing that. And then we went out on a boat one time, to go out to another atoll or sorry, not another atoll, another island on the atoll, which is another little hub.
01:04:22
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:04:31
Matt Thiel
Um, And on the way, we you were fishing. It was really funny, though this really quick story. This dude who was captaining a little boat up there, the boat was probably like 8 to 12 feet long, couple feet wide, really small.
01:04:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:04:43
Matt Thiel
And these waves in the yacht were really, really big, probably like four feet swells. And we get to the lick side where everything's a lot more calm at this part of the day. and the engine stops. He's like, oh, he like curses. like And he's he's trying to like, he's like trying to figure this out. And this dude, he pulls out a fork, like just a fork. And he starts fiddling in the engine with it.
01:05:06
Matt Thiel
And I'm like, what is happening? What are you doing? You're just like trying to fix your engine with a fork.
01:05:11
Darin Tingey
That's most classic thing ever
01:05:12
Matt Thiel
And it starts back up and we just take off.
01:05:16
Darin Tingey
Dude, I don't know I don't know how they keep their engines running like it's crazy Yeah
01:05:16
Matt Thiel
It was, it was crazy. when When we got... Yeah, you got to be scrappy. Like they they just know how to do it. On the way back, he comes up perpendicular to the island, perpendicular to the beach.
01:05:31
Matt Thiel
And like, we're going to just like go up to shore and then we'll like drag the boat up, right? I assume he's going to slow down, but he starts going faster and faster and faster. And he guns it. And we just go spearhead into the the beach.
01:05:44
Matt Thiel
And like the boat just drives up the beach. And then it stops.
01:05:47
Darin Tingey
ah
01:05:48
Matt Thiel
It was a huge impact or whatever. And then stops. And he's like, OK, everyone out. And then like gets all these like little things and starts to roll the the boat up the sand. was crazy experience.
01:05:57
Darin Tingey
That's awesome. That's so funny.
01:05:59
Matt Thiel
Yeah.
01:06:00
Darin Tingey
Yeah, I mean, like, ah you probably ate like, all the things fish, octopus, sea turtle, shark, crab.
01:06:08
Matt Thiel
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We went shark fishing. I caught a shark with a non-member who we had been teaching for a long time. He took a shark fishing, which is crazy because he just tied the shark line to a ah tree stump and tossed the hook out there.
01:06:24
Matt Thiel
It was kind of a small, smaller sharks, probably like four or five feet long, but he initially caught an eel, cut the eel in half.
01:06:26
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:06:31
Matt Thiel
And then he like hooks the eel on the big hook for the shark and threw that out there. um and then he had me do the same so i threw it out there and then once the thing tugged i just started pulling the line like literally just started pulling the line there's nothing else to reel it in and fought the shark for a few minutes and then caught it um cooked that and and ate it and then i eventually made a ah necklace like out of its spine so i like got the spine bones out and like cleaned them all out and like poked holes in them and then uh we learned how to
01:06:53
Darin Tingey
Wow. That's cool.
01:07:01
Matt Thiel
can't remember what they call it exactly, but they make thread or rope out of like coconut husk threads, like fibers.
01:07:08
Darin Tingey
Mm-hmm. Yep. yep
01:07:09
Matt Thiel
So they twist them together. So I learned how to do this. I shaved my legs so I could do it because they wrap it, know, they twist it against the ankle. And then i um I made this little rope and made the necklace with that. So that was like a really cool thing. I still have it. It's back at home. But yeah.
01:07:25
Matt Thiel
Definitely ate a ton of ah crazy stuff. There was a time where I just remember for like two-ish months, we had no canned meat on the island and we had no flour on the island.
01:07:37
Matt Thiel
And so we were either eating fish that people had caught and we didn't go, we were working on the church at this time, we didn't go fishing a lot.
01:07:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:07:45
Matt Thiel
Or we had some peanut butter. They didn't really like the peanut butter out there. So like we just kept buying it from the store because no one else bought it.
01:07:51
Darin Tingey
That's great. That's great.
01:07:52
Matt Thiel
And we would eat, we just like get the coconut, like the white meat, and we'd cut it out and dip it in the peanut butter and eat that for like three meals a day. We'd have some bananas if there were was bananas, but that's what we lived off of because there's nothing else.
01:08:06
Darin Tingey
So good. Oh man, I could talk to you for another hour about this. and We'll have to have you back on so that, so that we can talk more about Millet and kind of the end of your mission. But last question, ah favorite Marshallese food and favorite area.
01:08:25
Matt Thiel
Favorite Marshallese food? This is probably bad. There's two things. Number one, Bub Shake. If you go to, what's what's it called? This place, ah no, it's across the street from Rigwit Gwender.
01:08:35
Darin Tingey
Rua Corner, Rua Corner, right?
01:08:40
Matt Thiel
It's that little shack.
01:08:41
Darin Tingey
Yeah, yeah.
01:08:42
Matt Thiel
Something barbecue. Something barbecue. Um, they have this buff shake. Oh man, it's so good. I can't, Bob is pandanus.
01:08:47
Darin Tingey
ha
01:08:50
Matt Thiel
It's, it's a fruit and they just put it into a shake and it's just amazing. But pandanus was like the, the boiled pandanus was really good. Boiled bub.
01:08:57
Darin Tingey
So good, so good.
01:08:58
Matt Thiel
May kale was always really good. Rice kale. absolutely loved rice kale. I still make it a lot now. Um, and sea turtle actually is really good fried sea turtle. I, I really liked that out on the outer islands. Um,
01:09:11
Darin Tingey
So good.
01:09:11
Matt Thiel
Definitely a delicacy, something they don't do very often, but it's actually very good.
01:09:15
Matt Thiel
And favorite area was Millay. Obviously so much there, so much to do and so much we did do.
Significant Mission Moments
01:09:23
Matt Thiel
And really quick to conclude my mission, this was kind of a ah really special experience in Cherry on Top. So five minute story really quick.
01:09:31
Matt Thiel
um I'm in Rita.
01:09:31
Darin Tingey
Two minutes.
01:09:32
Matt Thiel
Two minutes. Okay. all right All right. I'm in Rita and the the church had just like been finished or it was, they were laying the last concrete in the church that we had like built. So it wasn't quite ready. They'd still held meetings in it, but they're still laying the concrete waiting on it from Kwajalein.
01:09:49
Darin Tingey
Yeah.
01:09:49
Matt Thiel
And they just laid it.
01:09:51
Matt Thiel
And Elder Seeger was like, yeah, I'm going out with Brother Seeger. He's the one of the senior couple of elders. He's like, yeah, I'm going out with the state president and state presidency of EBI to go out and dedicate the building so that they can use it.
01:10:03
Matt Thiel
He's like, do you want to come? i was like, oh, I wish I could. Like, whatever. That's not like president's not going to do that. and he's like no like really i'm gonna ask president and i was like okay yeah like totally and so he he gets he gets president to agree and so i fly out with him on this plane to back to mili a week left in my mission and to go witness this this uh building being dedicated and when we get the plane of like where's the state presidency he's like oh they didn't they weren't able to make it there's one there's one dude one dude in alaban who's the pilot right
01:10:11
Darin Tingey
You're like sweet. Yeah.
01:10:32
Darin Tingey
Yes.
01:10:33
Matt Thiel
And he's like, yeah, they they weren't able to make it. And i was like, well, then what are we doing? Like, like they're the ones who were doing it. He's like, he answered his phone. And on it is a dedicatory prayer from Elder Uchtdorf for one of the temples. and he's like, you need to read this and study.
01:10:44
Matt Thiel
I was like, why? And he said, because you're going to dedicate it. There's no one else to dedicate it. And I'm like, what the heck?
01:10:49
Darin Tingey
Yes.
01:10:50
Matt Thiel
Like, there's no way.
01:10:50
Darin Tingey
yes
01:10:51
Matt Thiel
And so I read this and we go out and touch down for like two hours and we go and have this like ceremony. All the members like come in and Elder Maurer and one other elder were there and um we went to the church building and had like a little testimony meeting and then i i said a prayer and dedicated the the building um very very special full full circle moment for me and yossi was there and his family he had been baptized like it was it was amazing to like go out there and see him and kind of
01:11:12
Darin Tingey
So cool. Good.
01:11:23
Matt Thiel
get some closure, conclude there and and whatnot. So was, it was absolutely incredible. So a week left, got to dedicate to church and church
Conclusion and Reflections
01:11:30
Matt Thiel
still there. See pictures are on Facebook. It's, it's awesome.
01:11:33
Darin Tingey
I'm sure you're a Millie legend and you're going to have to go back there soon because that is an incredible story to bring the church back out there, be out there for six months and then dedicate there their church. So ah amazing having you on the pod. We're going to have to do it again because we could talk for forever and we've missed so many things that we're goingnna we can talk about again later.
01:11:56
Darin Tingey
ah But Matt, thanks for coming on the pod.
01:11:58
Matt Thiel
Yeah, thanks for having me. This great. Love it.
01:12:01
Darin Tingey
All right.
01:12:01
Matt Thiel
Appreciate it.
01:12:02
Darin Tingey
rawe
01:12:03
Matt Thiel
Yeah. Bye, Leo.