The Last Month of a Great 18 Months

On June 29th we had a changing of the guard, so to speak. The Mecham's arrived around midnight and the Dowdles left that morning. Such a bittersweet time.

We were really sad to see the Dowdles leave.

But we were very excited to meet the Mecham's. The short time that we had to get to know them reaffirmed to us that the Lord is directing this work. President Mecham will do things quite different than President Dowdle but we could see that he is going to be very good.

Shortly after the Mecham's arrived, we had a Guam Zone Conference so that President Mecham could familiarize the missionaries with he and Sister Mecham. This is a picture of all the missionaries assigned to Guam at the time of our release.


For the Fourth of July, we planned a FHE for the Senior Couples. There were only five of us! We thought there were going to be fireworks in the bay so we went to a hill where we had watched the spectacle on Liberation Day last year. We took a picnic dinner and we went nice and early so we could get a prime spot. I guess we were a little too early. No one was there but us and we began to wonder if they were really going to be doing the fireworks. We were there for at least an hour before anyone started to come. Slowly more people arrived. It began to get dark and nothing was happening. We had now been there for about 2 hours and wondered if we should just leave. Just when we were about to give up the show finally started. It did not last very long and there were only a few really big bursts because there had been a fire in the warehouse and half of the fireworks had gone off already. They still had to do Liberation Day on July 21 so the fireworks were divided between the two days. Oh well, we had an enjoyable night anyway.

Wayne, Sister Miyazaki, Sister Hertzberg and Elder Hertberg.

The next big event was the Senior Missionaries Conference. All the couples from all the islands started coming in on July 16th. Well actually, one couple had to come almost one week early because of the flight schedules. There are only two flights a week from Kosrae so the Wright's got to stay with the Hertzbergs for four days before switching to the hotel when the rest of the couples came. It was great to have all of the senior missionaries at church on Sunday and then Monday morning, bright and early, we started three days of presentations. The presentations are always good but the best part is just being together.

Monday night we all got together at the Mission Home for Family Home Evening. Sister Anderson led us in a game called "Four on the Couch" (or chairs in our case). It was a great game that tested our memories - of which most of us had problems!! Fun, fun, fun.
We ended the night singing happy birthday to Sister Sheppard and having cupcakes and home made ice cream - YUM!















Of course part of the fun of the conference is having meals at different restaurants. One of our lunches was held at a Tepanyaki place that was really good. For those coming from the other islands, the meals are always a highlight because they are so limited in what is available to them on their islands.















One night we went for Italian at Capricciosa. This was one of my favorites because they serve family style and with lots of people you can order a variety and get lots of different tastes.















Just about every night the majority of us ended up at Yogurtland. Dangerous habit! This is one of those yogurt places where you serve yourself. Lots of flavors to choose from with lots of toppings to add.

On the last day of the Conference we had the whole afternoon for a group activity. This time we went to several of the tourist sights of Guam.



The first stop was at Latte Park. We had a group picture taken here. Behind the group are six latte stones which were moved from an old Chamorro Village site. You can see lattes all over the island but most are reproductions. These are authentic.




This group shot was at the top of a hill where a fort was located during the Spanish time on Guam. Beautiful view of the downtown area and bays. We are standing in front of several canons which were original to the fort. This is the area where we went to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July.



We also went to Plaza de Espana. At one time this was a beautiful area which housed the Governor - again from the Spanish era. It is an interesting area to see.

The last day of the Conference was the day before we left our mission. We spent the rest of the time saying good byes .















We are missing our friends, the Hertzbergs. They are serving a Family History mission. At least they are from Southern Calif. Hopefully we will see them again.



We attended one last District Meeting and then had a group picture taken. Elders Malit and DeOcampo in the front, Elder Barlow, Elder Clarke, Sister Clarke, Sister Smibert, Sister Vano and Elder Bano. :)















The Sisters were "blue" to see us go. Sister Vano, Sister Anderson and Sister Smibert.
We were blue to be leaving them.

This has been a wonderful experience for us. We have loved working with all the missionaries. It has been good to see the gospel growing in this area. We hope that in some small way we were able to help the work move along. At least we were there to help the missionaries move along. We look forward to serving in a new capacity as we return home.

We left Guam on July 21st. We had one last look from the plane window of those beautiful Guam clouds.

Then it was on to Cairns, Australia, to meet Jonathan and his family for a short vacation before heading home. We left Guam which was its usual 85 degrees or so and landed at mid-night in COLD Cairns. It is winter there. No coats or warm clothes. What a change.

Australia is another post and I will try to do it sooner than I did this one. Stay tuned.

Farewells

On June 25th the Barrigada Guam Stake had a farewell party for President and Sister Dowdle.


There was tons of food - that is the norm for any activity here. The missionaries are always right there when there is food.


We had entertainment. President Dowdle showed his skills learned on the islands as he played the ukelele. A member of our Ward was singing a Hawaiian song as Wanda Davis (in the background) was dancing a Cowboy hula.


President Dowdle moved from the ukelele to the singing mode as he joined Bill Davis, Elder Clarke, Dale West and Jonathan Valiente. They did a wonderful job - considering they did not get together until 10 minutes before the party started.


The Dowdles left for home on June 29th. President and Sister Mecham arrived at midnight, the two Presidents had an orientation meeting at 6am and we took the Dowdles to the airport at 9:30am. The Mecham's are getting on the job training! It is interesting with a new President and new office missionaries coming at about the same time. We are missing the Dowdles but wish them all the best as they acclimate to civilian life again.

We also said farewell to a member of our Ward. After attending the farewell for the Dowdles, Oner Mak passed away early the next morning. Our hearts go out to his family. Sister Mak is one of my favorite people here and the Mak children are in our Institute class. This is a hard time for them but Brother Mak has been released from some very bad health problems. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Dolphin Watching

A couple of weeks ago the seniors on Guam went on a little Dolphin
watching cruise. The day was beautiful and we had fun watching
a group of spinner dolphins.

Here is our little group with Captain Alex.

We had a great time watching and taking pictures.













The dolphins loved to follow us and jump through
the wake behind the boat. If you watch closely
you will notice that they spin when they jump.

Scout Camp ala Guam

Several weeks ago I volunteered to help out at Scout
Camp for a couple of days, just days, I didn't stay for
the night. This was easy to do since it is only a 15
minute drive to get to the camp. Actually camp was
held on the property of a resort along the east coast
of the island.

There are nine troops on the island and seven troops
were participating in the camp. Four of the troops
were LDS. It was fun helping out, especially at a
camp on the ocean.

We had a great location right along the coast. This
is the entrance to the resort area where camp was
held.

I checked in at the headquarters tent and then
searched for our troop.



I soon found our campsite

and was just in time to pose for a group picture.

I visited merit badge classes, this one was on
geo caching and was taught by Bill Davis.

The boys took a short hike and found two
caches in the area.

Here is a swimming class in the ocean.

I also helped record progress for a class in the pool.

This is our scoutmaster, Al Smith. He also serves
as Young Men's President and does a wonderful
job with all the young men.

Of course a day in Guam would not be complete
without a little rain. This lasted about ten
minutes then the sun came out again and the
weather was beautiful.


Just after the rain some of the boys had a beach
rugby game.

Daily activities resumed

and my two fun days at camp came to an end.

Keeping Busy

Wayne could post a few more hikes he's been on but he is getting ready to go help at Scout Camp the next two days so I will just go ahead and post some of the activities of the last few weeks.

I think the first activity that occurred since I last posted would be the Eagle Court of Honor that we attended. We have a very small troop here so I was impressed when it was announced that there would be a Court of Honor.

Trevor Moore actually did his project in Italy. His Dad is an FBI agent and though Trevor started in Cub Scouts here in Guam, his family moved to Italy when his Dad was transferred. They moved back to Guam before his Eagle Award was finalized. The Court of Honor was really nice and I enjoyed the slide presentation his mother did showing all the activities Trevor has been involved in. He was on the wrestling team, very active in Scouts, a good student and was in the ROTC. He left this week to attend the Air Force Academy. He is a wonderful young man. Congratulations Trevor on all your accomplishment.

Amidst all of the errands that we had to do, Wayne scheduled a day so that we could go to Lorwell's for lunch.


This is a bar-b-que shack that Wayne really likes to patronize. You get skewered chicken for $1.50.


I also like to get pancit which I have learned to enjoy. This is on our list to learn how to cook before we go home.


Another fun activity that I went to was a Relief Society Lei Making night. This was one of our better attended activities. We had a lot of the islanders there and it was really good to have them participating and showing the rest of us some of their skills.




I really tried to make one with a little more style but my plumerias kept ripping. I finally went with simple and just strung them together. They are quite delicate flowers and don't last more than a day but the smell goes on for days. I hung it in our apartment and just enjoyed the aroma.





Not only do they make leis but they do a lot of headbands called Mar Mar's. We have seen many versions of these using all different kinds of flowers, greenery, etc.






This is Merlin Alik. She was one of our Sister Missionaries. She was released in May. When she was called on her mission, her family was living in Pohnpei but they since have moved to Guam and so she is now in our Ward. She has three sisters who attend our Institute class. It is nice to also have her attending our class now.



Wayne loves to have Family Home Evening at the beach so that we can watch the sun set. It was our turn to host FHE last week so he told everyone to meet down in Tumon. We hit Dr. Kebab for take out and ate dinner down there.


It was a little cloudy but Wayne was able to take one really good picture before the sun went completely behind the clouds.


One of the things I will miss most when we leave is the beautiful skies. We just do not get that in smoggy ole Fresno.

I had gone prepared to play games! I covered the really dirty picnic table, set up our florescent lantern and brought out the dice.


It is great that the Anderson's love to play games too. Elder Clarke and Elder Hertzberg (neither like to play games) went for a walk along the beach while the rest of us played Zilch. We had a great time until the TERMITES started swarming. Way too buggy so we picked up and headed to Yogurtland. A perfect end to the evening.

The next Thursday was our second week of Summer Institute. We are doing Teachings of the Living Prophets and our first week was really good.

Class starts at 7:oopm. At about 7:05 I took a picture to show our wonderful attendance. Not one single person was on time! We debated as to whether we would have class but we knew that we would have at least one student. Andrew has a meeting each week, just before Institute, and is usually a little late. I had made homemade ice cream for treats and he had brought a peach blush pie that he made so we were going to at least wait for him and have pie and ice cream. Just after I took the picture, the students began to trickle in. We ended up with 10 students, had a good lesson on General Conference and then played gospel pictionary. Even with hard topics they did so good on the game and the girls won!

Sunday was the first Stake Conference for the new Barrigada Guam Stake. The Saturday night meeting was not that well attended but the program was great. I really enjoyed everyone that spoke. On Sunday, the chapel was full, the cultural hall full and there were people sitting on the stage. It was so good to see so many people attending. We also have a Ward in Saipan and so they watched through teleconferencing. One of the speakers was actually speaking from Saipan. All of the messages were so good. The Dowdles both spoke and I loved the message Sister Dowdle gave about the changes in our lives. In the late afternoon we had a senior missionaries potluck to celebrate Father's Day. Good food, good company and a good game of Mexican Train afterwards. (Can you tell I really like to play games?)

In Palau, one of the local crafts is carving. They do story boards and we have a member there who has done the Tree of Life and The Waters of Mormon (ask us to show you our story board when we get home - it is beautiful). His carvings are wonderful and all the missionaries are familiar with these skills. Last week Elder Adams came across an investigator who carves and talked him into teaching the missionaries in the North District to carve. They met with him and had him help carve a board as a going away gift to the Dowdles. Each of the missionaries carved some part of the board.
They presented the board to President Dowdle yesterday. They did an amazing job. It turned out very nice. Elder Adams, the District Leader, and Elder Agalzoff were not there when it was presented but the rest of the North District is Elders Garcia and Fisher, Sisters To'a, Vano, Tuileto'a and Jungblut. Sister Jungblut is leaving us tomorrow. She will be missed.

And that brings us to today. We attended our very last Zone Conference. This was also the Dowdles very last Zone Conference so it was a somewhat emotional day. They have done such a wonderful job of leading the Micronesia Guam Mission. The messages they gave today were so good for new missionaries, more seasoned missionaries and even for those of us ready to go home. Although they talked about the four kinds of missionaries (from disobedient to obedient and committed whole heartedly) the thoughts can apply throughout life.


This was the largest group we have had since we have been here. Saipan was invited to join us and so we had a total of 38 missionaries. 7 of those were Senior Missionaries!

I decided I did not want to be off in the kitchen getting ready for lunch and missing part of the conference so I asked the Relief Society if they could do lunch for us. Sister Knowles was given the assignment.

Marlene Alik (sister to our Sister Alik), Karen Knowles, Agnes Tosie, Lisa (I do not know her last name but she is getting baptized this Saturday) and Linda Henry. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Lunch was wonderful and it was so nice not to have to worry about it. I knew Karen would take care of everything.

We never have to worry about tables and chairs for eating. I have not quite picked up that habit. I am afraid I would not be able to get up again!

I did not get the memo but I did manage to wear the colors of the day. 99% of the sisters wore black and white. Here Sisters Tuileto'a, Jungblut and To'a model their look alike outfits.


And last but definitely not least, the wonderful Dowdles. We will miss them so much when they leave next week. I am so glad that we are leaving soon after. It will seem so strange to have another mission president.