Gun Beach

On Saturday, December 5 the senior missionaries went to Gun beach to get some exercise and enjoy the beauty of this island we live one. Why is it called Gun Beach?

During WWII the Japanese used this beach to fight off the invading Americans. Because of all the beautiful vegetation they could use the guns without being seen. There are also many caves along this part of the beach that they could hide in. Here are a few of the pictures we took that morning!

These are the senior couples in our mission, In the back E/S Guerico, E/S Hamilton, S Thomas, E Thomas behind her and me, of course Art took the picture so he didn't have to be in the picture! Here are some of the pictures of the beach and the creatures living in the water.

A latte stone is the term for a pillar capped by a hemispherical stone capital with the flat side facing up. Used as building supports by the ancient Chamorro people, they are found throughout most of the Mariana Islands. It's a little hard to see because of the moss that has grown over them, they are truly found all over this island.

 At the top of the picture is Two Lovers Point, we have picture of it earlier in the blog when we were there.

Thanksgiving Day....

The senior missionaries and the younger missionaries with the mission president and his wife served Thanksgiving dinner at the USO here on Guam. We were able to eat with them. We also stayed to clean up afterwards. The lady said they hoped to finish in an hour, she also said one year it took 3 hours to clean up. This is the first time that we have been involved with the USO and we cleaned it up in a half hour. They were amazed but we have great missionaries and everyone just pitched in. They are going to ask us to come back next year. It was a great way to give thanks to those that protect us so we can live in a country where we enjoy the freedoms we have.

This is everyone cleaning up after the dinner!

Elder Williams helping wrap all the material during clean up!

This is the group after we finished cleaning up!

Ride the Duck...

We have an office in the service center for the church here in Guam, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we had an activity and went on the Duck Ride.

Some of the people we work with, in the white shirts on the left are Augustine & Line Jiminez, behind Liz by the window (it's hard to see her) and next to her Kathy, behind her Dale West. We wore earphones because the loudspeaker was giving narration in Japanese and for all other languages we had to listen with phones.

Saipan Family History Fair

November 21 & 22, 2015

The Wiswell's are Family History Consultants on Saipan, we love spending time with them when we visit the island. The fair is something Val Welch has written a grant to do for teachers to have their students write about their heritage in their language and English. Val organized the Family History fair to train teachers so their students could write stories for the Man'Amko Memorial Day Memories Program.  There were three presentation on Saturday. The first was by Del Benson, he showed how we can make a photo family tree. 

Elder Williams did a presentation on DNA and what you can learn from it.

We also had entertainment between the sessions! They are singing songs in their native language. We love hearing this music!

Val Welch did the concluding session on how to use technology to record your story.

Sunday evening we had a fireside (on the beach with a fire) we learned why it is important to save and preserve the stories of these beautiful islands. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures! 

Talofofo Falls.....

 We next stopped at Talofofo Falls, it has a gondola that takes you down to see the falls...

Meeting Aunt Janice...

When we were in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) one afternoon when we were picked up from the train station coming back to the MTC there were two sisters in the van. We began talking and found out one was going to Washington D.C. where we have family and we are going Guam where she has family. So we exchanged information. After visiting the village we stop by to see her Aunt Janice and her grandmother. So here is a picture of Aunt Janice, her grandmother and Sister Williams.

Saturday Adventures, first stop....

We started our day at a Cultural Village Tour, this is a village that is a living museum of thatched huts of early 20th Century Chamorro culture. There are demonstrations and exhibits of the Chamorro people.

Here they take sea water and boil it until the water is gone and they have sea salt.

 Our tour guide, is teaching the young people so they can continue to show how the people lived in the early 1900's.

Elder Williams is learning how to get coconut out of the shell.

Elder Williams is learning how to make rope!

 Sister Williams learning to make baskets!

What can I say, it's warm so I'll use this fan to keep cool!

A typical hut from the early 1900's!