Yap....

Our next trip is to Yap and Palau. The planes to these islands fly in the middle of the night. We left Guam at 11:00 pm and arrived in Yap at 12:30 am. We were picked up by the hotel and arrived at our room at 2:00 am.  At the airport a lady put leis around our neck, she is from the lower cast and are required to be there topless, except for flowers, to greet new arrivals. Many of the people from the outer islands and villages are the low cast and the women don’t wear tops and the men must wear distinctive skirt like wraps. It may seem strange to us but that is their custom. Most women wear leis to cover the top.

This is at 2:00 am when we arrived at the hotel and took this picture. We are getting too old to stay up this late, unfortunately all the flights to Yap are in the middle of the night.

Ritidian Beach.....

After we finished at the Air Base, we went to a beach at the north end of Guam just outside of the Air Base. It was a clean beach because it was taken care of by the National Park Service and they asked that you carry out your garbage. It is the cleanest beach we have seen. Park rangers came by on a 4-wheeler to make sure that everyone was keeping the place neat and following the rules.

The Eliason's went with us and snorkeled at this beach. 

Anderson Air Force Base....

Saturday, February 21, 2016 we went to Anderson Air Force Base for an Open House where they had planes from different military bases. There were planes Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and the United States. We went with the Elisions (Medical couple). We enjoyed watching the different planes taking off especially the ones that can go straight up into the air.

 Blackhawk Helicopter

F-16 Fighter

Some of the armaments carried by the planes.

Getting a close look at the cockpit

A B-52 Bomber. These are based on Guam

F-18 Hornet

Size Comparison of Micronesia Guam Mission

This shows the size of our mission if it were in the United States!

Records..........

We have been working with Vic Taylor (the Church’s lawyer for the Philippines and Asia North Areas) to finalize the contract and be able start digitizing the vital records for Guam. The law in Guam says that they must request bids for anything of value and that would include digitizing the records. So, they would have to go through the process to see if someone could do it for less money. Basically, they would have to see if anyone would pay them to digitize their records. Since we have been working with the University of Guam (MARC – Micronesia Area Research Center) we are amending the agreement with them, because it is a governmental agency it is a different type of agreement and we would not have to go through the process of putting it out to bid. Vic Taylor is working with them to complete this process.

Two weeks in Chuuk....

We were able to spend two weeks in Chuuk. The senior couple assigned there was in Guam as the medical couple until the new medical couple arrived. Thus, we were able to stay in their apartment allowing us to stay longer than when we stay in a hotel. We were also able to use their vehicle. We were able to do additional training with the District Family History Director Jean Ichiro. While we were there two additional family history consultants were called and Jean is going to follow up with the other branches to get additional consultants called. 

Chuuk is truly a third world country. Many people live in the brush (most know it as the jungle), most homes have no electricity or running water, they are shelters from the rain. The missionaries on Chuuk need to be in their apartments by 6:00 pm because it is not safe to be out after dark. When you go to a restaurant (local people don't have the money to go out to eat) many items will not be available because of the difficulty of getting supplies. Many items that we can purchase in Guam are not available in Chuuk. Fresh fruits and vegetables are limited or difficult to get. 

We were able to work with many of the branches and able to give them "My Family" booklets in Chuukese. We did a presentation to the youth and even though most knew English they were excited to be able to write their stories in their own language. 

  Self-Reliance Cooking Classes

 Self-Reliance & Family History Class

 

 
Missionary's Cabin

 

 Service Project

Life in Chuuk

   Roads in Chuuk (Yes, this is a road to one of the churches)!

This is a deserted island about a mile off of Romanum, we were able to go over and walk around the island and collect seashells. 

Update on Records

The records at the MARC (Micronesia Area Research Center) are almost finished. We have been digitizing the Underwood Collection but some of the pictures needed to be filmed again.
We are still working on the legal aspect of getting the vital records from Guam.
We have 100 more rolls of microfilm on Pohnpei that will be picked up the end of this week and brought back to Guam to be sent to Salt Lake to be cleaned and digitized.