The view just never gets old

I never get tired of the Saipan and Guam ocean views.  The colors are so amazing, and sadly I cannot fully capture it...

Search for the Coconut Crab

Last Thursday morning, my friend Ben showed up at the house.  I was starting to feel pretty terrible at this point and was contemplating if I was going to squeeze in one more adventure before I crashed. Ben answered that question because he needed a picture with a Coconut Crab.  (His girlfriend wanted a picture, so we were up to the challenge.)  He asked me where I thought we should go, and after discussing some options we thought the easiest route would be to sneak in to the cultural center before it opens and take a picture of one in a cage. But, if that failed, we would be close to the Gun Beach cliff line and surely we could follow that for a while and spot one.

Upon our arrival, it appears that the cultural center was not only closed...it had been closed for quite some time. So, Gun Beach cliff line hike it was.  Of course, that means...pics with guns! (Big gun)

There are two ways around the cliff line--in the water or across the actual cliff.  The cliff is easier because it has a "no trespassing" path that I've been taking for years.  It is suppose to be for tourists, but....

Once we are on the other side of the cliff, we are now on FiFi beach (aka...beach where I was robbed some years back...taking my camera, and towel, and Ben's car keys URGH)

As we walked along the beach we looked high and low, far and wide for a sign of a coconut crab.

We looked VERY high (like on this cliff)


And even higher (like in this cliff line cave).

Perry & Ben in a cave

But the closest we ever got was this hermit crab.


We decided that we at least had the pictures to prove we went looking for a coconut crab and that was the important part.

VBS Program

They say all good things must come to end. Well, with Guam VBS we end with a bang. I wish I would have had a picture of the congregation because we had a packed house!  Of course, we lure them in with cute kids on the stage and a potluck to follow.



Since I spent the second half of VBS most unaware of the world around me, I'm not exactly sure how many we had each night or my worker counts. I know my van drivers left 1 1/2 hours before VBS kicked off so they we could get them all picked up.  Everyone (except the three of us that were dying) seemed to have a really good time.  I love it because I get to reconnect with friends, kids, families, and island culture.

Guam Flu

I got the Guam Flu.  (According to most islanders, any sickness is the "flu".)  It's fairly potent because...
1) I haven't been swimming in TWO days
2) I never made it out of a bed/couch until VBS tonight.
3) I have found myself freezing without the air con on.  This has never happened before!

My poor VBS workers are dropping like flies as well, so I'm not alone in this.  Also, according to islanders, it was because we were caught in the rain the other night.  But myth busters said that wasn't true, so I say it is just a virus making its rounds.

You probably think, "You have Perry. He'll take care of you."  Perry's a lousy nurse. :)  Adventures is more his calling.  (And we DO have adventures to share...but they'll have to wait until I'm up for putting pics on my computer.)

There are pros to this.  The snack ladies at VBS gave me an extra homemade chocolate chip cookie tonight. Then they made sure I had all the extra watermelon.  Today's diet consisted of apple, mango, watermelon, chocolate chip cookies.  I would say that's living right!

VBS Object Lesson #2

Last night we needed high winds to go along with the Bible story. Tonight, we needed healing.  Our lesson was about Naaman and how God has the power to heal.

I figured, "might as well get hurt so I can have some healing."  We were all lined up outside ready to march in by our groups.  I go through the door first and somehow catch my leg on a chair.  While trying not to completely fall on the floor, I end up stepping on my ankle with my other foot, and then falling into another chair.  A few cuts, bruises, a twisted ankle, and a couple of carpet burns later, I guess I'll heal.

Japanese Tourist Day!

Today I decided to play tourist.  But not just any tourist--Japanese tourist.  Laura's idea of touring an island would be to drive around the entire thing, visit the historical sites, pop into a local restaurant for lunch, and hit the beach.  However, a Japanese tourist is known for one thing--shopping!  (And by me playing Japanese tourist, I mean "looking" instead of "shopping.")

After a lovely breakfast of leftover SPAM friend rice (I really love that stuff more than I should), Perry and I headed out for a tourist day.  Our first stop was the largest K-Mart in the world.  K-mart has some great souvenirs that are typically cheaper than the average tourist store (except ABC).  After a nice time at K-mart, we decided to go to Guam Premium Outlets (GPO).  My real reason for going to GPO was to get some Dole Whip in honor of my mother's birthday, but since I was playing tourist I might as well go in all the stores.  I found a pair of $4 sunglasses at Ross.  I was hesitant to even look, because usually you wait in line 30min-1hr to check out. (Last time I was there, I waited for 45 minutes).  However, today's line was record short, and I really needed sunglasses since I lost mine about two weeks ago in a lazy river (the not-so-lazy section).   Perry and I had to kill a few minutes until the ice cream store opened so we could get our Dole Whip.  It was amazing. (And I had it all for you, mom! Happy Birthday.)

Since I just happened to be traveling with my swimming suit and beach towel, Perry and I thought we'd go to a good swimming pool/beach today because that is what a Japanese Tourist would do.  Hilton it was.  BEAUTIFUL!  Here are a few pics of our swimming view.



After I declared that it was too hot, we decided to continue our shopping spree in the high-end Guam shopping, DFS.  I assume a real Japanese tourist would go to buy Prada or Tiffany or Chanel or all these brands that I really don't know.  Laura playing the role of a Japanese tourist goes for the samples! You can sample the coffee, and chocolate, and chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and all the cookies.  It was great fun. :)

The VBS Flood

Tonight's VBS Bible story was about when God speaks to Elijah during his 40-day trek to Mount Sinai.  Instead of God appearing in a mighty wind, earthquake or fire, God presented himself in a gentle whisper.  I guess God thought we needed a good demonstration of the mighty wind part of the story because he sent a STORM!

Guam and Saipan have been in a really bad drought...which is strange for a couple of islands where it rains every day.  It has hardly rained any since I have arrived and everything is so brown.  I was talking to a man tonight that said he hasn't had to mow (well..."bushcut") his yard in six weeks!  Today was mostly cloudy with a few showers here and there.  About the time we started the van run, it started showering.  Before VBS started you could hear thunder and see lightening. (This is always very exciting because it doesn't happen much...and lightening freaks everyone out.)

When we started our rotations, things went CRAZY.  Pouring rain...high winds...I was pretty sure our snack tent was going to come down.  We moved all the tables to the middle, but eventually, when the water outside starting rising under the tent, we had to give up and go inside and share the kitchen with snacks and crafts.

Here we are trying to move all the tables to the middle (before the water started rising).



I had to sneak through a classroom to avoid getting drenched.  Here's a peak at one of the groups hearing about Elijah.


I knew we needed the rain, but I really didn't want the van drivers dropping off kids in that kind of weather. Thankfully, right before VBS closed, the wind and rain stopped.  I learned from a few of the parents that were picking up their kids that several roads had flooded.  Crazy night! (It was almost like being in OK.)