First thing this morning we talked to Larry’s mother and then to Allan and his family — thanks to Skype.
We left early for church so we could retake a couple of photos with better lighting than we had yesterday. We also read that there was a way to get to the Korean Airlines crash memorial and decided to check it out. This is when we found that the gate is locked because the memorial is on restricted federal property. We followed the road further up a ridge and discovered the view was breathtaking. We could see the oceans on both sides of the island. Later, we discovered that we had driven near the top of Mount Chachao (1,014 ft) the highest point in the north half of Guam.
The view part way up Mount Chachao of Apra Harbor. The peninsula on the left is the US Navy base and the peninsula in the center is the commercial port. We wanted to get an even better photo further up the peak, but the sword grass and small trees obstructed what would have otherwise been an amazing view. Someone told us that the next typhoon would take care of that problem!
Asan Bay from the overlook. The morning sun resulted in a clearer photo.
We attended Harvest Baptist Church again this week. Pastor Marty Herron continued his series of messages on the life of Joseph. Afterward the service, one of the church members gave us an office chair to take to the transmitter site.
This photo of Harvest Baptist Church was taken in the afternoon. In the morning the parking lot was full.
Harvest Christian Academy, the largest of several Christian school on Guam, is right next to the church.
We went from the church to K-Mart, which is nearby. There we had our lunch — part of a Little Caesar pepperoni pizza — normally $5 in Elkhart, but $10 here. We had gone to K-Mart to check out some good prices on some souvenirs and to buy a replacement brake light bulb for ‘our’ Highlander.
After K-Mart, we decided to explore a little further north on the island. We saw some extremely high poles with netting in the distance and wondered what it might be. In the process of trying locate the high poles, we ‘discovered’ Micronesia Mall and went inside to do some window shopping.
Micronesia Mall is huge inside and similar to malls on the mainland. Interspersed between shops, with which we are familiar such as Footlooker, Macy’s, etc., are shops with a more Asian ‘flavor’.
Larry doesn’t usually like window shipping, but Micronesia Mall has a mechanical contraption called MIMO that can keep an engineer entertained for hours!!
Here is more info on MIMO in Micronesia mall —
http://www.micronesiamall.com/attractions/mimo
There are also You Tube videos —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8udboKENl4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouf_XGfSJzE
Unfortunately, only about four out of seven of MIMO’s separate mechanical ‘runs’ were working, but the ones that worked were sufficient to keep Larry ‘entertained’ for a long time!
At church this morning, we were invited by Jack and Kathy to attend their watch-care group meeting for a potluck, devotional and games at 5pm. Since it was approaching that time and we were not far from the church, we stopped at the Payless Supermarket at the Micronesia Mall to pick up a couple items for the potluck.
The fellow that bagged our groceries at Payless was a ‘hoot’. The employes were having some type of celebration, which included many of them dressing up and performing dances near the checkouts.
On the way back to the church, we discovered what the tall poles and netting were — a golf driving range, with two levels for teeing off.
Two small groups met together for fellowship at the Family Life Center, which also serves as the gym for the school. We arrived right at starting time and were the first ones there. The next person there was also a visitor, the wife of a deceased Navy veteran that was revisiting Guam after many years away!
When we walked in the Life Center, we met a young lady, Hannah, who was also visiting this evening. When we told her we were with Trans World Radio, she asked us if we knew Ruth Ann Arthurs on Pohnpei, an island a little over 1,000 miles from Guam. She had just been visiting there. We were amazed, since we knew Dave and Ruth Ann when they served with TWR on Bonaire while we were there from 1967 to 1971 and have not seen Ruth Ann since then. The Arthurs started a radio station on Pohnpei over 25 years ago. Dave passed away a little less than a year ago.
After a delicious potluck, we sang some songs accompanied by a ukelele!
After some singing, the leader of one of the watch-care groups gave a testimony/devotional. During his testimony and not knowing about our talk with Hannah, he mentioned that he was led to Christ by Dave Arthurs on Pohnpei. We had a great time of fellowship with Rodal Romes and his wife, Core, after the service.
The speaker from Pohnpei, on the left, and his wife, on the right.
We left the meeting before the games to try to avoid driving in the dark. On the way home tonight, I put some gas in the Highlander and put some air in a tire (noticed that there is a screw in it, so will have to get it repaired). We got home after dark (about 7pm). The Highlander has dark tint film on all its windows (except the front) which makes it hard to drive at night, because you can not see anything in the rear view mirrors. To make some turns, I have had to ask Virginia to roll down her window! Thankfully, we do not plan to do much night driving.
Just before going to bed, I saw the first cockroach in our apartment — thankfully, before Virginia saw it! It seemed like it might have been dazed by something, probably residual pesticide(?) and was easy to dispatch. [Haven’t seen any more in the week following]