November in Guam

Its been good to be here on Guam for the last two and a half months without the interruption of travel.  I feel like we have been able to put our roots down a little deeper as we get to know and work with the people of the Barrigada Stake.

The rainy season is giving way to drier weather here on Guam, although the temperatures remain in the 80s.  Less rain means stunning sunsets.  We are treated to beautiful displays like this one nearly every evening as well leave our office.  This was the view from our parking lot at the Service Center earlier this month.

Our Family History Consultant Training for November included some exercises with the FamilySearch Sandbox.  We have a great team of adults and youth.

Early Saturday, November 15 we drove down to the little village of Umatac on the southwestern coast of Guam, the supposed landing spot of Magellan in 1521.  Here a fisherman wades back to shore with his catch.

Umatac is famous, or infamous, as the epicenter of an ALS-Parkinsonism- Dementia complex which at its height in the 1950s afflicted 420 out of every 100,000 on Guam.  Scientists have tried to determine if the disease is genetic or environmental but no definitive explanation has been found.  One positive outcome of the research is a comprehensive study of Chamorro genealogy done by a biological anthropologist which I helped process at the Micronesia Research Center at the University of Guam.   I have found it to be very useful in doing Chamorro Family History.

Grant and I hiked the coastline from Umatac south to Toguan Bay at low tide. Much of it is rugged weathered limestone (karst) interspersed with lava flows.  The tide pools were full of crabs, fish and coral.

We continue to work with  families and individuals as they prepare to go to the temple or just get started with their family history. Grant is helping William, a great YSA, put his Pingelapese (Dad's side) and Marshallese (Mom's side) family into FamilySearch.

Yesterday morning we hiked the beach at Tarague on Andersen Air Force Base at the north eastern tip of Guam.  Its always quiet and deserted up there.

 
This time we struck inland and followed a dirt road through the old Atikns-Kroll copra plantation which operated from 1914 until the beginning of WWII.

Northern Guam is all limestone, no lava.  I love the patterns in the weathered coral on the beaches.

On the way home we stopped at Tanguisson Beach to collect shells. (I am that little dot in the distance.)  It was a perfect afternoon.

Youth challenge - Reef shelf walks - Friends - Missionaries - Halloween - Day of the Dead

Dededo Ward Young Women working on the Youth Challenge - to find and take the name of at least one ancestor to the temple.

Great youth family history consultant helping the young women. 

Ubiquitous -  blue linckialaevigata - star fish.

Jeanette with friends Susan Alik (from Marshall Islands) and Rose Laanan (Guam) 

Mangolia Dun - from Burma via New Jersey, serving in U.S. Navy and on her way to Virginia. 

Tidal pool 

Sea urchins or tuitui - very sharp and barbed as Grant found out - islanders crack them open and eat raw insides. 

Gorgeous clam hiding on the reef flat. 

Grant at "Lost Pond" - a fresh water pool about 50 yards from the beach. 

Near Taguisson Beach on the west of Guam. 

Elders Murdoch and Malais in from Palau for some leadership training and family history. 

Also, in from Palau were Sisters Purcell and Talakai .

Barrigada Guam Ward Halloween Party starting with pie eating contest and musical chairs - followed by a chili cook off.  

Sunday was "Day of the Dead" a sort of Catholic event where people remember their dead.  Primarily they picnic on the graves - we have a better way!

Jurassic Park, Traditional Crafts, Tallest Mountain Peak on Earth

 With the help of a vintage Japanese tank we were able to get the recently escaped tyrannosaurus rex under control.

 . . . just as another emerged from the depths of the jungle!

Our Kosrean, Yapese and Chuukese friends showing their stuff at a Relief Society activity.

Shirely from Satawal - far out island in State of Yap making a lei.

 

Jeanette enjoyed learning how to make a mwarmwar Angie from Faraulep Atoll, State of Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia. 

 

Sister Thomas received the prize - she and Elder Thomas are the newly arrived Military Relations Couple.

 

 

Saturday Jeanette hiked to the top of the tallest mountain on earth (if you begin measuring at its base from the bottom of the Marianas Trench) - Mount Lamlam.  Grant was home in bed with a bad cold.

 

They saw one of the infamous brown snakes which are more talked about than seen on Guam these days.

 

Hiked through pandanus forests . . . 

 

And arrived at the top of the tallest mountain on Earth without oxygen, Sherpas or even winter coats . . . 

 

The conqueror.

Stations of the cross marked part of the path . . . could be a metaphor here.

And wild orchids blazed in all their glory.

And the week ended with a successful family history consultant (over half of whom are youth) training at the Barrigada FHC.

Is it Fall yet?

On Thursday night we held the first monthly family history class in the Barrigada Family History Center.  Brother Richard Fee taught us how Ancestry.com and FamilySearch can work together.  Attendance was good and the presentation was great!

Friday I split the day between MARC and the FHC.  In the afternoon Berlyn, Anges and Angie came by to pick up coconuts trimmed by the grounds keepers.  They husked (you can see the contraption behind Berlyn and Agnes) and cut open two young coconuts for Grant and I to drink.  Great ladies!

We attended a rebroadcast of General Conference on Saturday down at the Talisay Ward and afterwards drove further south to Agat and Ga'an Beach.  There we met a ranger from the War in the Pacific National Park who explained the role of Chuuk in the "island hopping" American liberation of Micronesia in WWII.  He is from Lamotrek, an outer island of Yap State, and we had a good time talking about family history with him.  This is a Japanese pillbox that once held a large gun. 

To the left of the entrance, a Japanese soldier left a message some seventy years ag

Ga'an or "Second Beach" was one of two landing spots of the invading American forces in 1944.  The other was Asan Beach, further north up the coast.  We drove up there and checked out more caves and pill boxes built into Asan Ridge.  A huge breadfruit forest covers the foot of the ridge.  Unfortunately, the fruit was too high to reach or we would have taken some home for supper.. 

We followed a steep trail up to the top of the hill and walked along the ridge with Elder and Sister Guercio, the mission nurse and his wife. That is Asan Beach, once a rice paddy, behind & below us

That evening we Senior sisters got together at our apartment to work on Family History while the men went to the rebroadcast of General Priesthood Meeting.Clockwise from the left are Sister Martin (Office), Sister Guercio (Medical), Sister Reed (Self-Reliance--from Manassa, CO) and Sister Thomas (Military Relations).  More great ladies!

Barrigada Guam Stake Family History Fair September 26 & 27, 2014

On Friday and Saturday September 26 and 27 the first ever Barragada Guma Stake Family History Fair was held.  We opened the Fair with a great Fireside presented by our Stake Patriarch, Chris Gittens, on Friday evening.  Saturday we offered a number of classes, lunch and entertainment.  Brother Fee manned the Registration table.  Here he is with Bishop Nicerio of the Dededo Ward.

We had a fantastic key-note speaker, Jillette Leon-Guerro, who screened her video, Across the Water in Time.  Here she is (on the left) next to Marjorie Driver, a founding member of the Micronesia Area Research Center.  They are sitting next Sister Rose Cruz (in  pink) and her friend.

Other presenters included Monique Storie, interim director of MARC who presented on Family History Research in Guam.

Sister Darlene Reed, on of our Self-Reliance Missionaries, gave a great presentation on RootsMagic.

Elder Hurst and Kristian Dana, one of our new youth Family History Consultants, hosted a  "drop-in" FamilySearch hands on workshop.

At lunchtime we enjoyed a cultural show with traditional costumes representing many of the islands of the Pacific.  

Here are two of our youth in traditional Chuuk outfits.

A traditional Marshallese jaki (pandanus mat).

We were treated to a traditional Filipino courting dance by the youth of the Dededo Ward  . . .

and Hula by two sisters from the Barrigada Ward.

After lunch we were treated to a series of classes including "Family History for Families "presented by Wanda Davis . . .

"Resources at MARC by Omaira Brunall-Perry," curator of the Spanish Documents/ Manuscript collection there . . . 

and "Adding Life to your Family History with Interviews" by Sister Martin, on half of the office couple.

Brother Val Welch from Saipan also presented "Traditional Technology," an island wide project he is leading to encourage youth to capture and share the stories of their elders using the latest technology.

Meanwhile, Sisters Kateila Kalima and Susana Sam conducted a popular Chuukese Family History Workshop.

            The last hour of classes included Elder Martin's "Adding Pictures to Your Family History."

Tami Burton, the Barrigada Stake Family History Center Director, taught "Writing Your Personal History."

I hosted a panel of several presenters discussing  the challenges, strategies and resources for "Doing Family History in Micronesia."

                                                       A good time was had by all!

These beautiful sisters represent the diversity of our Stake:  Chinese, Marshallese, Chamorro and Yapese.

Three Yapese beauties