Festival of the Pacific 2016

The Festival of the Pacific Arts has been held every four years since 1972 and brings together artists and cultural practitioners from around the Pacific region for two weeks of festivity. It is recognized as a major regional cultural event and is the largest gathering in which Pacific peoples unite to enhance their respect and appreciation of one another. The 27 Pacific Island Countries and Territories that participate in the festival are: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam (2016 Host), Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.

 The village before the festival!

 

This is the place where all the performances from the different islands performed!

  The next pictures are from the festival, each of the islands presented traditional dances from their island.

National Day of Prayer

National Day of Prayer: The Guam Interfaith Committee held its annual National Day of Prayer from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 19 at the Guam Hotel Nikko’s. The theme of the National Day of Prayer is for all of us to pray for our country, our island and our elected leaders.  We went to the luncheon they had on Guam, all the churches had an opportunity to offer a prayer or discuss their views religion. 

This is the Stake President (he is over the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  for Guam and Saipan) as  he offered a prayer.

We listened to the National Anthem!

Visiting Talofofo.......

We went with the Stevens (new military relations senior couple) to Talofofo Falls. It is also where a Japanese man spent 28 years hiding in a cave so he wouldn't be captured as a prisoner in World War II. He would come out at night to gather food and water. 

 This is a replica of the cave that he lived in for 28 years!

 Picture of what it would look like inside.

 This is the hole with the ladder he would climb up and down , he would cover it so he wouldn't be discovered.

This is a picture of him.

Youth Indexing....

We went to Dededo to help the youth do indexing. Indexing is the process of entering information from the world’s digitally scanned historical documents into a database, making it easily searchable online. People around the world can then search these indexed records to find their ancestors. Anyone with a computer and Internet connection can index records to perform meaningful service related to family history.

Family History in Chuuk

We spent two weeks in Chuuk in January to help the people on the islands with their Family History. We believe that we belong to eternal families and it’s important that we get to know who our relatives are. People go to the Temple in Manila in the Philippines to solidify their links with their ancestors.

This is a picture of Jean Ichin and her family as they stopped off on Guam on their trip back to Chuuk from Manila. She is the Family History Director for the Chuuk District. On her island, to get from her home to the church to do the family history work for the people of the islands, she walks 5 miles each way along a terrible road that passes through one of the islands many garbage dumps. The road is always covered with running sewage from the refuse dumped there. Most of the people on the islands of Chuuk do not have computers, or the internet, or electricity or even running water.

This is the group of members on their way back to Chuuk, they had a 24-hour layover so the church members from the wards on Guam provided housing and meals for the Chuukese and brought clothes for the families to take back to the islands. Chuuk is a poor country, by our standards, but they have a wonderful and loving people living there. Life there is comparable to  camping out most of our lives.