Julian Aki and Melvin Ah You, both of them missionaries, joined the Mikkelsens there in 1965, and in just a few months, these enthusiastic brothers had learned enough Marshallese to present a simple sermon and had also constructed an A-frame missionary home.

To begin the 1966 service year, Aki and Ah You decided it was time to become better acquainted with their territory, so they booked passage on an iron-hulled cargo ship that stopped at the outer atolls of the Marshall Islands.