Arrival

I’m in Kosrae! And one of my first thoughts was “This must be a taste of what Eden looked like.”

We got to Kosrae around 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and left Honolulu around 7:30 a.m. Friday morning. Sounds strenuous, but with the International Date line it actually amounted to about nine or so hours of travel. After being photobombed by Santa Clause in Honolulu, we stopped for an hour in each Majuro and Kwajalein. When we neared the island the girls and I ignored the seat belt sign for a few seconds and scrambled around the plane, straining for the first glimpse of our island home.

Kosrae is gorgeous. From the plane’s window I watched the deep blue and white freckled surface of the ocean turn to a bright aqua green, and then transform once again as rock and coral dotted the water near the tideline that sent on the waves to continuously hit the thin beach. Houses were scattered by the sand and then were swallowed by the quickly thickening jungle.
There was a jolting, a quick break, and we were there. We piled out and after a quick mess of passports, Nalgenes, luggage, and customs we headed out. We were met with the Alamo family (our principal) and the Pastor and his wife. Then, Mr. A’s son put two fragrant flower garlands on my head, and I quickly learned that the young girl with the dark, quick eyes was one of my students: the Pastor’s daughter Jessa.
They drove us to the compound, but instead of a break we were ushered in as the VIP guests to the church’s potluck. I told the airplane food I had just ate on the flight to squish into a corner of my stomach and filled my plate with rice, two different types of curry, a tomato-bean-noodle dish, salad, two preparations of taro, breadfruit, papaya, and bananas. Then the Pastor cut open the top of a fresh coconut and handed it to me. Now, I’m not a huge fan of coconut – it’s just not my thing. But this was like drinking the tropics with all its sunshine and beauty.

I can live with that.
After that we went and checked out the apartment; and the pastor’s wife kept bringing in package after package, until the welcome sign on the table was covered in food. We are blessed with such a nice apartment! The place was just recently remodeled and looks amazing. There are two bedrooms, an office, a bathroom, and when you first come in you’ll walk into an open living/dining room and our kitchen. There’s plenty of storage and a full kitchen – minus the dishwasher, but that is what our hands are for. I can’t wait to put up some decorations and make it feel like home! I can see the mountain by the compound out of the corner of my window, and then viewing ends in a tangle of jungle. As a girl who is used to the wide spaces of the Tri-Cities, it’s going to take a while to not feel closed in.

It still feels kinda surreal that I’m here. Ever since I knew what a Student Missionary was I knew I wanted to be one. And though I never heard myself being audibly called to service or had some life-altering encounter that convinced me to put my education on hold for ten months, I’ve had a hunger for going someplace new and seeing how God can work through me first-hand. I’m realizing that this is going to be one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done, and through all the excitement I felt a first jab of homesickness. As I pulled out a small pile of pictures of my friends and family and flipped through them it fully dawned on me how long it will be until I can see all of you face-to-face again.

I’m going to miss so many people so much! But for now, I just want to embrace the culture and these people, and truly experience Kosrae.

Since I didn’t actually fall off the face of the earth, feel free to send me letters and packages! I would really appreciate teaching supplies (for first and second graders) or any bits of love that you could send my way.

Carissa Clendenon

Kosrae Adventist School

PO Box 94

Tofol, Kosrae 96944

FSM

And you can write “For Student Missionary” on the package if you would like.

God bless you all, and pictures will be coming soon*!

*decent internet access allowing

the first look