It Can't Be All Work and No Play

I have to admit, I was getting a bit weary. It has been a long four weeks.  I don't JUST hang out at a beach all day though I do my best to do something "touristy" every day. So it was time for a little FUN!

On Saturday evening the Cutamara kids invited me to go see Aladdin.  It was SOOOO good.  As you can see, these guys are super fun to hang out with!

Did Someone Say Chocolate!?

On Saturday, we took a Sunday School field trip to American Chocolate Factory in Guam. 

As you can see, Perry was super happy to be riding in the boy van! (And on the way back, I'm sure he was even more happy to ride in the girl van.  Apparently the girls actually care more about Perry's well-being because they informed me he wore a seat-belt in their van!)

While we were waiting for our tour, Perry enjoyed hanging with Grace. (And Grace enjoyed Perry.)

The kids learned all about the ingredients that go into the chocolate.

They were making chocolate covered macadamia nuts during our tour. Of course that's what they were making. Is there really any other chocolate on the islands?

The kids and Perry got to experiment making their own chocolate!

It was a very fun day (and Perry gained 2 pounds...which is a lot for a platypus). 

Guam's VBS Baby

Gabriel is no longer a baby, but one of the coolest kids ever! I try to bring him home with me every year, but I'm pretty sure his parents will not approve. When he was tiny, I would tell them I was taking him home as my Guam souvenir.

This is Gabriel's first VBS

I know what you're thinking...."A snake!?"  You see, Gabriel's mom and I were eating our VBS supper on that July 2010 night when we looked up and saw this snake.  We screamed.  We ran.  I took this picture.  And just hours later, Gentanin (Gabe's mom) gave birth to the cutest baby boy.  So, this VBS snake literally scared Gabriel right out of her! lol 

(I remember when I woke up the next morning Pastor Rex said, "Gentanin had her baby last night."  I argued, "I just saw her last night, there was no talk of a baby coming."  But Gabriel didn't wait around!)

I'm missing a couple of pics, which are probably on a disc at home, but here's Gabe and me at VBS over the years.  

VBS 2012

VBS 2013

VBS 2015

VBS 2016

VBS 2017

VBS 2018

VBS 2019

Make the Most of Sunrises!

85% of all flights take off before 7am.  That means, most of the airport runs are at 4-5am. UGH.  On Thursday, I had to take the Guam interim pastor to the airport at 3:45am so he could return to his teaching assignment in the Philippines.  When my friend found out, she said....want to go for an early walk and then pancakes on the beach.  Hello....she had me at pancakes.

For our sunrise walk, we went to Asan Beach Park.  For you history buffs, the Asan Invasion Beach is one of the landing sites of American forces in the WWII 1944 Battle of Guam.  (This is where the island was retaken from occupying Japanese forces.) It became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.   And for you non-history buffs, it has a great walking trail around the park. 

In the monument behind Perry and me should be a torpedo or bomb of some sort. I'm not sure what happened to it. (???)

After the walk, we did get our pancakes. I had coconut pancakes...yummy!

VBS!!!

It's VBS week in Guam.  I've been a little discouraged because there hasn't been many kids. (However, there currently isn't a pastor and several families are off island, so it was expected.)  Tonight I the "a-ha" moment that perhaps this year's VBS may not be for the kids.  It may be for the teens.

The teens haven't really had any consistent leadership for years.  It really breaks my heart.  There are so many of them, and they are awesome.  I just wish they had a youth leader!  We had 16 at the teen retreat, and I think we've had 18 or more at VBS.  They lead the games, take the kids from place to place, help set up tables, pray before their group's meals or classes, sing the songs, dance the dances.  They have always been involved, but with so many adults gone, they are super involved this year.

And unlike a lot of teens that I see back in the states, these guys aren't embarrassed to jump in, be silly, and even SING.  Because we don't have a billion kids, every session has one break period.  I walked in on these guys during their break to find them singing.  (Skip ahead to about 25 seconds, because someone walked in at the beginning of this video and distracted them.)

They also asked me to play one of the VBS songs. They've been making up dances (or taking the dances that go with the video and making them better.)  Oh to teach music with these guys!  My 4th grade boys are usually okay, but by 5th grade, they are just "too cool" to sing much less dance! Grrrr.

And I will leave you with a few pics of them singing.

Oh! In case you were wondering what Perry was doing...just hanging out on a submarine listening to the boys sing. (Our theme is Deep Sea Adventure.)

Talafofo Adventure

Perry was in desperate need of adventure, so we decided to go on a "road trip" with our friend Melanie to kidnap another friend, Gentanin to have lunch.  Gentanin's daughter recently started working at a golf course club house, so that was the perfect place for lunch because I hadn't seen Alissa yet (the daughter) since being on island.

We headed out to Onward Talafofo Golf Course.  I had a basic idea of the area it was located, but really had no clue exactly where to find out.  When we passed a golf course that was a totally different name, I decided we better go in and ask for directions.  Thankfully, we were super close and just had barely missed it.   We back tracked and turned down a road I had never been on before! It was really high in the mountains and you could even see down to the ocean!

When we got there, we had a cool path to take up to the club house.

Perry loved his view in the Club House!

We all loved our view! (There's even a "lake" in the distance.  I had no idea that even existed!)

Then Perry got upset that he wasn't in the group pictures, so we added one with him.

And since we knew our waitress (Alissa) dessert was brought to us.  

 It was a super fun adventure.  Melanie and I are planning another trip for breakfast one morning.  (Since she lived 15ish years in Oklahoma/Texas traveling "so far" when were on Guam isn't quite as big of a deal.) 

Until our next adventure...(which starts in a few hours at VBS. ha ha)

Catch the Wave, Guam

I've decided I'm too old for youth retreats.  I wonder if the senior citizen retreats need a speaker.  I AM EXHAUSTED! I think I could go to sleep right now and sleep for two days.

We had a fantastic youth retreat with the Guam teens.  We had 16 teens and 3 1/2 adults. (The 1/2 adult was just there on Friday to help transport kids, pay for the hotel, and fix supper.)  We again stayed at Ocean View Resort.  The boys had a two bedroom suite and the girls had the same. (I'm typically with the boys.) 

Here's a break down of our weekend by category.  We enjoyed the pool.  (Even Perry was caught soaking up the rays with some of his long time buddies.) 

We ate lots and lots of food....and cake...and ice cream...

I would like to say we slept...but I'm pretty sure this picture is a lie. (At least I'm not feeling the sleep.)

We enjoyed the great view!

And we even managed to squeeze in the entire reason we met for the weekend...God!

We really did have a GREAT weekend.  

(I also learned a new game...marko polo...in the hotel room...in the dark.  It was hilarious.  If you are a band person reading this, you are probably surprised that I allowed such shenanigans to go on in a hotel room...at 11pm.  We were on the 3rd floor. Floor one and two were under construction.  The rooms to one side of us were also under construction. And we had the room to the other side of us. So I was fairly sure we were safe from noise complaints!)