Goats Need Jesus Too

One of my jobs while in Saipan is to cover Sunday services for the pastor who is off island (in Oklahoma, actually). I looked up while setting up chairs, and the goats were heading up the road for church.  People I'm not sure we will have, but the goats are ready for the Gospel! 

Saipan!

My Guam stay was short. After a planning meeting to reschedule all that I messed up, I hopped over to Saipan--where America's Day also begins.  Nothing like landing in Saipan where this feeling of "home" sweeps over you. Saipan was my first island (way back in 2003!). Saipan gave me friends for a lifetime.

The view to Saipan was full of rainbows, as you can see. I kept singing, "God put a Rainbow in the Clouds."  (These were all different rainbows, and I probably saw another five or six.  A few years ago flying from Guam to Japan, I think I saw over 20!)

I also had great views of Guam, Rota, Aguijan, Tinian, and Saipan! 

Rota

Aguijan (Goat Island)

Tinian

Tinian

Saipan

If you are a WWII buff, I had great views of Tinian.  These are the runways the Enola Gay took off from with the atomic bombs. I have driven on these runways many times.  But we could never get our car quite fast enough to fly.  

You know you're home when you are immediately recognized at the airport and hear, "Hey Laura, welcome back!" by a friend of many years. Saipan is a little like Pontotoc County --always seeing people you know.  I'm glad she called me out because I was being picked up by strangers. Had she not said my name, I don't know if we would have connected as they were wearing masks.....and people look nothing like their pictures in a mask. 

When I arrived to the house, I had a welcome fruit "basket"!

 

Perry's New Friend

Perry has made some new friends in Guam: Shan, Huckleberry, and Tater Tot.  (I think I have everyone's names are correct.) Perry may really have one unforgettable summer! 

Two Lovers Point

I wasn't in Guam long when Perry was screaming for adventure (as was the pastor's daughter, Shan). I don't know if you have ever been on a trans-Pacific flight, but adventure is hard when you touchdown after all those hours.

However, knowing I was cheated out of two weeks of my island adventure, time was wasting. We loaded up and went to Troungs, my favorite Guam restaurant.  Oh lumpia and crispy fries noodle---how Perry and I have missed you! 

Lumpia--heaven in the mouth

Shan had ended up locking her parents out of the house, so lunch was cut short to go rescue them. (Note: if you read previous blogs, it is perfectly normal to be locked out of the parsonage when I'm on island.) After the great parsonage rescue, we went to Two Lovers Point. Shan really wanted to go there for the gift shop, and I do enjoy the view. 

The legend says these two lovers were forbidden to be together by their families. So they decided to sail away. But as they went to leave, the Spanish came. They were pursued up this cliff.  Eventually, when jumping was their only option, they tied their hair together and jumped.  Wasn't that a feel good story. :/

And as you can see....Perry enjoyed the view too! 

Have you priced flights lately?

<This a long and boring post.  Feel free to skip to the end to see Perry playing hide and seek on the aircraft.>

My original ticket to Guam was booked using Frequent Flyer Miles.  I began stalking miles tickets in January hoping to find that random day a first class ticket is appearing for way fewer miles than it should. (This has happened on a couple of occasions in the past.  I seriously check every single day from January until I actually purchase.)  On March 6 that miracle ticket appeared!  I actually had no idea whether I was going at the time because a mask mandate was still in place.  (I was not flying 26+ hours in a mask.)  But I snagged it anyway.

When I tried to change my flight online, it wouldn't let me because I had "insufficient miles."  (First class tickets were now 300K miles!)  Surely a ticketing agent could help.  I spent forever on the phone--twice.  Nada.  At that very last second--just hours before my flight--I pushed the "cancel" button.  And then I slept for two days.  

When I woke from my Covid nap a few days later, I began obsessively checking tickets.  However, an economy class ticket (those are the little seats--not the Cadillac I had reserved) were going from $3500-$5000....ONE WAY! I couldn't do that.  I probably spent 3-5 hours a day trying ticket combinations for a week (I was banned for 10 days from flying due to Covid, so I had time to play with the combinations)...miles...non-rev (that's flying on my brother's passes)...flying out of other cities outside of Oklahoma....buying a round trip ticket.  They just kept staying ridiculous prices!   

On the Friday after I was a free woman from Covid (yet not free to fly for 4 more days), I had lunch with Pastor Dave & Helen Ann--my Saipan pastor who just happened to be in my hometown that day.  He mentioned putting in all the way to Saipan.  Duh! Why didn't I think of that!?

I rush home after our lunch just knowing that was the magic combination.  Nope. Still a million dollars.  Sigh.  So basically that afternoon, I had given up.  I decided I would probably go with my back-up plan (a girl always has a back-up plan), and meet the Global NYI Team (youth leaders in the Nazarene church) in Puerto Rico for meetings.  I start looking at those tickets and hotels and even try to convince my brother to steal someone's flight and fly me to (or from) Puerto Rico.  

But on Saturday night, I had this overwhelming desire to go to Saipan. I couldn't imagine waiting another year.  Plus several of my friends/youth in Saipan are leaving island soon to the mainland.  So I prayed.  I prayed a lot. And I reminded God that he had until the end of Sunday night to open something up because I had to confirm if I was coming to Puerto Rico on Monday morning.  (Isn't it funny how we feel the need to remind God what he obviously already knows?)

On Sunday I jump out of bed and think "Multiple Cities!"  (That is an advanced search option on the United Website.)  I type in Tulsa to Guam on one day and then Guam to Saipan on another day. BAM! I found a first class ticket CHEAPER than an economy class tickets to Guam!  So, I asked God to hold it for me until after church so I could pray about it.  (It was still more than most of the round trip tickets I have ever bought to the islands.)  When I got home from church, the ticket I wanted was no longer available.  But a ticket leaving just one day different was...and it was cheaper! (And even thought it was cheaper, it was still more than most of my round trip tickets. I'm telling ya....it's expensive out there!) Ticket was purchased, and on Wednesday, June 15 (11 days late), Perry and I took off. 

I was pretty sure Perry was not going to share my seat.

Check out this hiding place. I can even see me!

And here's another hiding place!

I am very sad here because I found out AS I WAS GETTING ON THE PLANE that
they still required a mask from US to Japan.  :/  I nearly walked away. 
Then I almost got up more than once until we took off.  It was awful. I almost cried.

So I buried myself under my pillow and blanket and they didn't know my mask was off.
(If you look closely, Perry is in there too.)

Remember that trip to Puerto Rico I mentioned earlier. (Well, unless you are one that skipped down to the pictures.)  It was a such a tempting trip because my Filipina cousin--one of my best friends--would be there. She lives in Japan and would pass through the Narita airport right after me.  I hid some sticky notes with messages for her to find! :) 

For example, the note is hidden under the middle chair facing 
this store. (She had terminal info and other landmarks.)

Eventually, after 26 miserable, miserable hours, I arrived in Guahan (Guam)--where America's Day Begins.  

Catch the Wave: You Matter!

If you're new to the blog (or need a refresher since Perry and I haven't gotten out in the last three years), Catch the Wave is the name of our Micronesia Youth Retreats.  Since it would be sooooooooo expensive to fly the kids from the various islands to one central location, I take the church camp experience to them.  Catch the Wave kicked off in 2006.   

The Guam youth retreat wasn't exactly what I expected, but it still was able to go on! (Thanks Zoom!) It's just I missed all the food and fun. I'm probably most sad about the food.

Making Homemade Pizzas!

Perry watching on as they play a game

This year's three day event was Catch the Wave: You Matter! We examined the Woman at the Well passage of Scripture in our sessions followed by small groups and applied that to our current circumstances. 

Youth gathered for the sessions

There were four teaching sessions that miraculously happened since during two of the sessions, storms blew through causing those in the surrounding areas to lose power. I may have had a lot of limbs down, and the lights flickered a few times, but the power remained!!

Perry keeping an eye on all the rain. 

And in case you're wondering, meeting on Zoom was like an 11pm session here...a 4:30am session....a 6am session here....that was a little challenging.

Maybe, just maybe, I will actually get to be IN PERSON for the next retreat. 

All Packed Up, But....

I should be going to sleep in Guam about now.  Instead, I find myself waking up in Francis.  (And Perry finds himself still sitting on the suitcase ready to travel!  Perry refuses to leave his post.  It's been a while, and he's not missing it!)  

We worked hard this last week.  Packing...Writing a youth retreat...Gathering last minute VBS materials....Preparing Sermons...Raking Hay....Laundry...Mowing...Cleaning House.   

Excitement had set in--for both of us!  I hadn't really allowed myself to get excited about this summer because with all that was happening in the world...and the fact they could reinstate the mask mandate as quickly as they took it away, I just didn't want to allow disappointment down the road.  But then last Saturday night, I talked to the Buchers.  I learned PIC had new slides. I learned Taste of the Marianas was happening in June, while I was on island!  I found out Maggie and Molly missed me. (Okay, they didn't say that. I just assume the dogs missed me.)  I found out the Pacific Mini Games was happening on Saipan while I was there.  And...well, I was starting to imagine the taste SPAM Fried Rice from Shirley's, a tuna steak burger from Jeff's Pirate Cove, and some lumpia and crispy fried noodle from Troung's.  How could a girl (and a platypus) not get excited!?

I'm down to just a couple of hours before I load everything in the car to head to Tulsa.  The only problem? I'm sick.  It's a sinus infection, I assume.  My sinuses are about to pop from my head.  (Which was going to make a miserably long flight pure torture.)  I'm pretty miserable. But I have pushed through for the last several days in misery, all I had to do was make connections.  

Urgent Care tells me it's Covid-19.  WHAT!? That's impossible!  I'm immune.  A girl who has spent the last 2+ years in a room with spitting kids and hasn't had Covid yet is not getting Covid.  I refused to believe.

So, I drove to Urgent Care #2.  Yep.  I was retested.  Same results. Positive. 

I'm more sick at heart now.  

I spent two different times on the phone with United.  (Jackie from United in Houston is awesome!  Jackie tried so hard.)  There was nothing they could do.  I had a miles ticket.  Not any miles ticket. A ticket in Polaris Business Class.  The good seats.  The good food.  But there wasn't even a seat in coach left for me to use my miles on in a week (or the next month).  I tried late into the night waiting and hoping and praying for a ticket in a few days.  It was literally the last minutes before I canceled that ticket.

It's okay. I have money. I will buy a ticket.  Wow.  In one week how the tickets have increased. I could buy a car for the current price of tickets. (Well, not exactly. But close)

Current plan?  Non-rev.  If I fly to Denver, maybe just maybe I can get out in a couple of days from my brother's house.  After I get well, of course.  Or maybe a miles ticket will pop up. Or maybe tickets under a million dollars will come back.  

There's a lot a maybes.  For now, I nap.  I wallow in the depths of despair with Anne of Green Gables.  (It was time to revisit the girl who understands disappointment as well as any imaginary character.) And I prepare for a youth retreat. Because even if I'm on zoom, we have Catch the Wave: You Matter in Guam this weekend!