TWENTY YEARS!!!

It was a little over twenty years ago when Shirley Hagerty spoke at our monthly women's ministry meeting at Stillwater Church of the Nazarene.  Delores Smith was the head of the women's ministry, and she did an amazing job.  I was always really sad when I had to miss (always due to OSU athletics/aka the band).  Delores was also a really great teacher at VBS.  Her room always looked so great.  I'm pretty sure Delores is just great at everything she does! :)

Back to Shirley. Shirley was almost the first face I would see every Sunday. She taught the little kids Sunday School class. The classroom was right before you went in the sanctuary, and I usually had to go there before SS because of music rehearsal.  She was always so friendly and had a welcoming smile on her face as she would greet me! Her husband Don was our church treasurer.  And when there was no longer a college-age Sunday School class, I was in his class.  He was so wise.  Their adult son, daughter-in-law, and grandson(s) also went to the church.  

On this particular Saturday, Shirley was asked to speak at our gathering.  She shared how she and her husband had read the Bible through together for the last forty years.  40 YEARS!  That was forty times through the Bible.  And that day, I decided that I would try to do the same.

Today, I reached the half-way point.  Twenty years down. Twenty years to go (Lord willing). Some years, I start it on January 1 and I'm reading at 10pm on December 31 to finish.  One time I finished in 17 days.  But for quite a few years, my pattern has been to try to read it through in about six months. (And I try not to allow myself to read drivel until I have completed my Bible read.)  I have read a variety of versions: NKJV, Message, NLT, NIV, HCSB, and ESV.  Sometimes, I read cover to cover. Other times, I read it chronologically. And sometimes I do a mix of OT/NT/Psalms.  

I don't write this blog to brag.  (Which would be hilarious since only about three people actually read this anyway.  ha ha)  But if you might be the random fourth person reading this and don't spend time in His word...DO IT!  Your style might be to study a book for the entire year.  Or maybe you want to read the Bible though but need to take five years.  Maybe you don't even like God. I don't care. Just bust it out and give it a read.  It can change your life!

(Don has been gone quite a few years now.  Shirley is certainly not a spring chicken, and I believe she is in a nursing home.  But I often wonder...how many years did they read that Bible through? Did they always use the same one?  Did Shirley continue to read it after Don passed away?  I would assume she would be lost without her daily dose of Encouragement if she didn't.

 

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 aka the “Island Knights”

One of my favorite parts of island life is the chance to tour things I don't get to see back home. I have been on more subs than my cousin (who was a submariner). I have been on a variety of navy ships.  I took the youth on one of the prepositioned ships that usually remain outside the reef of Saipan (we had homemade cookies, climbed on tanks, had to jump from a dingy in rough water to the ladder to climb aboard), and I took the children and youth on a NOAA ship and learned all about their research.  (I even learned they take applications for a teacher to join them. That was tempting.) I was even on a replica of Magellan's ship and quickly realized that would not have been the life for me. Today...Perry and I got the helicopter tour.  

Today we got to take a close look at a U.S. Navy MH-60S helicopter and meet its crew. They say it is the premier search and rescue helicopter squadron serving the Marianas. (I say it is probably the only search and rescue helicopter squadron serving the Marianas).  According to the Navy's website, HSC-25 directly supports the U.S. Coast Guard and Joint Region Marianas. It has launched 2,445 missions, resulting in 762 medical evacuations, and rescuing 475 lives from waters and jungles of the island chain. The MH-60S can carry 12 passengers and four crewmembers. It has the capability of lifting over 6,000 pounds.

And for the record, I think Perry was the biggest hit at this event.  

Mr. WikiLeaks

There is always some kind of unusual happenings when I come to the islands. This year it is the story of Mr. WikiLeaks.   He has a name. It's Julian Assange.  (Short story: the guy created WikiLeaks. A lot was leaked.  People got in trouble.  He has been wanted on espionage charges for publishing all the stuff Chelsea Manning gave away back in 2010ish.  Unrelated to WikiLeaks, he was wanted for rape charges in Sweden.  Somehow, he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy while in Britian.  Eventually the pressure to turn him over to the US got to Ecuador, and Assange was pulled from the embassy by London’s Metroplitan Police on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department, and spent the next five years living mostly isolated in a tiny cell at Belmarsh prison.)

He still needed to appear before US Federal Court. He had no desire to step foot on US soil.  So, they let him come to Saipan, where we have a US Federal Courthouse (and happen to be a lot closer to his homeland of Australia). But what I don't get...why do the rich and famous needing to appear before the court get to call shot--like where and when they appear?  

Anyway...

Today, Mr. WikiLeaks plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified materials after his whistleblowing website (WikiLeaks) published nearly half a million secret military documents relating to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He got time served.

Here is the beautiful Federal Courthouse building (with one of the best views on island) after all the hustle and bustle had concluded.

Oh...and did I mention I just happened to catch his plane on the runway? Here's the media waiting to get his flight taking off.

Me?  I just walked through the gates onto the runway.  

If you look closely, the plane is on the left of my head under the jet bridge. Yes, I'm really out on the runway and that is really him on the plane. (It took off just a bit after this picture. 1:01pm, actually. VJT199 is the charter flight #. I have been stalking it since Bangkok)  

So is Saipan security really that lax? (probably)  How did I get on the runway!? Well, today the Navy had one of their rescue helicopters for the public to tour.  We had already planned to go check out the aircraft, before this happened. So, I just happened to be on the runway at the same time. Here's another picture of his $500,000 ride.

(Perry preferred the helicopter.  And that's another blog.)

Back in Saipan

On Sunday, I woke early to catch a flight (well, THE flight...the only flight) to Saipan so I could lead the church service.  I pulled in 30 minutes before church started, got the air cons fired, all things plugged in, picked some tunes, and was ready and waiting when the people came.  Not bad.  I was worried the flight would be late. I could have made it to the church with an hour to spare if the baggage carriers didn't put one suitcase on a time, let it circle, and then put another suitcase on, let it circle, then put another suitcase on....

Tuesday was our next Movie/Bible Story Day.  We watched the movie Migration. This is a super cute animated film. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out.  In the movie, the Dad Duck was super scared of anything outside his little circle.  For our Bible study, we talked about how in Christ we have nothing to fear.  We shared verses from the Bible that tell us not to be afraid, and we made a craft that says Faith on the front, and we wrote Faith over Fear on back along with references to some of the verses we learned.  We played OT Bingo.  Ashley won every single game...even black out...even when we all had two cards.

After the movie, we grabbed pizza from Costco...hence the giant bear. :)

Guam Night Out

FINALLY....after FIVE YEARS....I got to see my friend Kathy.  (She was pretty much the very first friend I made when I moved to Guam. She was my helper for VBS that first week on island that July 2016.) The last time we got to meet up was 2019. Then there was Covid.  And she also got on with United as flight attendant during this time. So, each time I have returned to Guam, she is somewhere else. 

She was also gone during these last few days in Guam.  But at 6pm the night before I headed back to Saipan, her flight was landing and we go to see each other!

We enjoyed a meal of Thai food along with Ashley and her son William.   Then we headed over for the strangest snow cone I ever had.  There were corn flakes in it.  And...it was surprisingly good

I chose a pineapple snowcone and Ashley got an Oreo cone.  Kathy....she chose cheese. She thought it was good.  The rest of us? We agree with William's face...

When Life Gives You Lemons Guam Ladies Retreat

I got off on my ladies retreats, so Guam did something totally different than Saipan.  It was a lemon theme: When Life Gives You Lemons....

What a fun turnout of some really amazing ladies on a very busy weekend for many.  The day consisted of six sessions. We sang, played games, had Bible study, shared in small groups, and ate lots of yummy food (some lemon and some not).  

We also had some lemony prayer stations...

And because God makes all things new, we took an old t-shirt and created scarves (or headbands).

It was a really great day for me.  I needed the retreat.  And the best part...I got my hair braided when it was over. :) (And discovered my new favorite gummy.)

Guam Day

Even though Perry and I will get another week and a half in Guam, my friend Ashley will not. So, we had to spend some time touring Guam.  Sadly, much of our time was running errands to get supplies for the ladies retreat the next day.

I did introduce Ashley to Don Don Donki.  (Think a grocery store so amazing it's like going to Disneyland.) Sadly, I have no pictures. However, I will make sure to get pics in a few weeks.  Don Don Donki has also moved in to my Top 5 Jingle List.  My other favorites include SM (Philippines department store/mall), Moon Baker Agency (Ada, OK), BC Clark Jeweler (OKC, OK), Bank Pacific (Guam...okay, I actually loathe this one, but it gets in my head so I might as well put it in the Top 5.. This year the commercial is name playing in Chamoru, so my new goal is to learn that). 

Since the air-craft carrier was still in port, getting around was difficult. Parking spots were taken. Traffic thick.  I eventually found a spot at an old favorite hangout, Gun Beach.  However, 10+ years ago, my secluded hang-out beach and the site of our church baptisms was bought by someone, and Beach Bar & Grill was put there. Therefore, it is no longer the quiet secluded place I once love.  But there was a spot, so we took it and went on a trip down memory lane.  

As you can see, this is no longer a peaceful little paradise. :( 

I needed to put my suit on, so I walked over to Hotel Niko next door.  I spent many hours at this resort (because when I lived there in the old days, they had a $100 yearly membership. That is long gone).  As I came out from changing, I noticed a very dark and very large cloud.  I went to get Ashley who had walked halfway to Rota in the low tide.  We quickly bolted to Niko.  We didn't get quite as far as I had hoped (which was in the hotel itself that has several stories of open-air seating in the lobby, shops, cafe, etc).  But we did take cover in the pool bar.  (Fear not, we didn't drink.  Even if we had wanted to, neither once of us had even a dollar on us.  We had planned to swim.)

But in true Laura and Perry fashion, I can't be that close to an amazing hotel pool and not sneak in. So...you guessed it.  

1) It was raining 

2) The hotel was full of military, so they weren't going to catch us. (Everywhere I had been for two days people assumed I was military.)  

It has become more difficult to sneak into hotel pools the last few years with the addition of the bracelet (even for guests) everywhere, so I was pretty excited to revert to my old ways. If you have kept up with the blog for years, you know that in about 2018ish, I conquered my goal to sneak into all the major resort pools.  It took me some years, but it's a goal that I'm not proud of/am totally proud of.

It ended up being a glorious evening.  Eventually, the sun came out and we had a spectacular sunset from the Beach Bar & Grill. 

Guam Catch the Wave: Day 2

 If you're reading this without having read Day 1, go back!  It explains everything.

So having slept a new record for a lock-in (according to my Fitbit), I was ready (well, not exactly) to cease the day!  I figured I needed to start cooking the kids breakfast.  But to my surprise and very full heart, we had kids already flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs!  (And it was good too!!!)

After breakfast, we had our final session.  (I'm glad we did three on the first day because we were SLEEPY!)

With our session wrapped up, we headed out for some fun activities to take the place our our missed stay at PIC.  We decided on Inarajan Pools and Jeff's Pirate Cove (argh!)

Inarajan is village in south Guam. They have this really amazing natural swimming pool created from lava rock, the reef, and water that flows through and over the rocks.  The kids loved it as we could swim, snorkel, and jump from the platform.  Perry loved it too! :)

At about 3pm, the pancakes and eggs wore off.  So, we decided to go to Jeff's Pirate Cove (argh!). Jeff's is really cool restaurant on the beach in south Guam. It is reportedly where pirates used to come to shore and it's where Sergeant Yokoi (Japanese Army) was found and captured in 1972 after hiding in the jungles of Guam for 28 years after the war! After the war, the US Military had used this cove as a rehab center with a beer garden, lodging, horseshoe pits, and a fried chicken shack.  (We need more fried chicken shacks.) This was all destroyed by a typhoon in 1949. 

So who is Jeff? He lived in Guam for a while as a kid.  After getting a degree in Hotel Restuarant Management, and not loving business on the mainland, he came back to Guam where he had a series of jobs until he bought the Pirate Cove. Jeff is a super generous guy.  He saw our group, and probably since it was full of Micronesians, he probably assumed many had never been there before. So he gave us all bandanas and took a picture with us!

While we were there, we toured the museum...

Visited the bunker

Played and/or cheered on some games...

And enjoyed a photoshoot

I think year 17 of Catch the Wave was pretty amazing, despite the fact it was totally made up as we went.  (Except the lessons. I did actually prepare those.  But I had to make up some games as we went. ha ha)