Beyond That Horizon

We were notified that a new mission president had arrived to take over for President Losee. The new guy, we were told, was from Canada. That is about all we knew about him. It wasn’t long before he announced, via written notice, that he would be visiting our island. He gave the precise dates so we knew when he would arrive. Since we almost never had visits from outsiders, we were anxious to receive his visit.

The day before our new President Keeler was slated to arrive we went next door and asked our outer island neighbor ladies if they wouldn't mind making some gifts. We said, “Our new chief and his wife will be coming and we think it would be fitting if they were able to receive some nice leis as a gift to welcome them to our island.” Those ladies were overjoyed to help us out and said they would start working on them very soon. The neighbors were not Yapese but were from the island of Wolei. They made beautifully woven leis that, in my opinion, could not be matched by any others I’d ever seen. They artfully folded and wove the flower petals into a fiber braid and the finished product looked heavenly.

The president arrived and we picked him up at the airport. He and his wife were prim and proper Canadians who looked as if they had never been on anything more than a Sunday picnic. President Keeler had a large iron hook for one hand due to a farm accident – he lost a battle with a hay baler at some point in his life.

We took them to our little pad above the lagoon and said that our neighbors had a small gift to offer for our chief and his wife. We really weren’t trying to be sarcastic. We all went to the neighbor’s house and out came those ladies with some beautiful leis. It is customary in Yap for the givers of leis to place them on the necks of the recipients.

As I stood with my camera ready, I suddenly had an ill feeling that we were headed for a train wreck. Keeler was a tall man and our neighbor lady was short with very large, bare breasts. As he bent over to receive his lei, his face was nearly lost between her huge breasts. Things did not go much better for his wife. Whatever humor one might have seen with the whole event was completely lost and our new mission president and his wife were livid. They remained composed until we got settled in the living room of our pad, then president unleashed hell on us for what he perceived was a set-up by a bunch of deviant boys.

In spite of our honest and sincere apologies, I don't think he ever forgave us. We had a good chuckle after the visit, however, and figured if he was going to come to our beautiful island home, he better be prepared for some culture shock.