Guam storm

Wehave been on Guam since the 17th of January and knew that we had not seen much of the 100" of rain a year, until this month. This is our back yard on the evening of 20 Aug.

Also Google: " Ruins of Nan Madol" You can read about and see pictures of the place we visited in June on the island of Pohnpei

The 4th of July is a holiday but the 21st is the day Guam was won back by American soldiers and marines in 1944

Thousands of American troops died in the battle for Guam between 21 July and 10 Aug. 1944. We have heard of the celebration that will take place and are trying to figure out where we want to be and what we want to see.

Sat. 18 July we walked around The War in the Pacific Memorial, Asan Beachhead, It is now a beautiful green park along the sea, lined with coconut trees. There was a big thunderhead directly to the west and we tried to get the colors on film, but didn't.

Micronesia Guam Mission April 2009

Bird Island on Saipan is a very pretty area on the North end of the island. The over look is about 200 feet above the sea.

Pictures from the North

We found a beautiful beach on Sat. It is pure white sand and trees almost right to the water's edge It is at the very Northern tip of the island. A Chomorro at the beach said that this is the last week of high surf and now the water will be calm and we will see more small boats and snorkeling. The trees were full of beautiful black butterflies with iridescent blue spots. .
It rained quite a bit of the day but has quit

Guam Flea Market

Dear Family, We wanted to share with you this video clip that was presented in SS class today. When I returned from my mission in Nov. 1960, the church had just formed the 1,000th stake.

We are still alive and well in this tropical paradise. The weather is the same every day and is not unbearably hot as long as you move from A/C car to A/C building. We had a pretty good rain storm Sat. AM, we were on our way to the flea market to see what they had in local produce and it dumped pretty good, but didn't last long. The flea market is a huge collection of portable sales stands that the people put up during the night. Everything from clothing to plants to fruits and vegetables are on sale. We think the prices are too high, one guy wanted $2/lb for cucumbers, but we got some for $1.00. we bought egg plant and sour sop which we heard tastes better than in looks. Our grandson, Carter, had sent "Flat Stanley" for us to entertain so he and his brother went with us everywhere yesterday.
They have this "fish eye" which is a fish observatory 20 feet below the surface of the ocean that we descended via a circular staircase and looked at the fish. Quite remarkable.
We met a couple from Liberia in the district. Both served as missionaries in Nigeria. He is in the Navy and serves as the district clerk. They said they know the Lord speaks to his prophets. When Liberia was beset in a civil war, Pres. Hunter told the Liberian saints to stay away from the chapels and meet in individual homes. This they did and not one soul was lost. Other Christians flocked to their church buildings for safety and there they were shelled, burned and massacred.
We are through the Internet training now and are practicing taking emails and phone calls on the FH help line. We have been assigned to a missionary group in Australia & NZ since they are in our time zone, but some in the group are from Idaho, Georgia and Mississippi. I guess they like to work the night owl shift. We gave a presentation to the District Council this morning to get support for FH consultants to be called in each branch then receive online training with the priesthood leaders. You don't know any more about New Family Search than we did last December, so you don't know about the training effort that is going into it's roll out to the temple districts, a few at a time. Utah, Idaho, Korea and Japan temples are all that do not have it yet.
There is so much that needs to be done here and we don't know where to start. The last FH couple left in 2006 so we didn't get a very smooth handoff.
We are trying to stay in shape by jogging a few miles most mornings before we leave for the office and drinking lots of orange juice. (The milk is not so good)
We love and miss you, but have almost spent 1/9th of our mission already, Bye now, Dave & DD, Grandma and Grandpa

Anderson AFB and the South Shore

We visited Anderson Air Force Base and shopped at the Commissary. The prices are lower there than in town. Everything is so high priced here. The base is in a lovely setting.

We took a drive around the south end of the island yesterday. We saw some pretty oceanscapes, flowers and tropical foliage. We even found a mountain.
It has been very lovely, with only a few showers, and usually they come at night. But Guam gets about 55 inches of rain a year, so there is more to come.