Saipan--a pleasant surprise

Saturday morning we flew to Saipan to meet with Liubov Wiswell, the family history consultant and members of the Saipan Ward.

A member of the Church since joining in Kiev in 1997, here is Liubov with her husband Norm.  

Here are a few of the highlights of our visit.

Saipan is a tiny island,only 47 square miles in area, but its packed with history.   

This is Banzi Cliff where hundreds of Japanese civilians jumped to their deaths as the Americans were taking the island between 15 June and 9 July of 1944.  Although US soldiers dropped leaflets and shouted through loudspeakers that those who surrendered would not be harmed, the mass suicides were deemed preferable to the shame of capture and, it was presumed, torture.  Today the area is covered with memorials to those who died here.

Nearby is the last Japanese Command Post, a bunker built into the rock cliff and cleverly concealed.  

Tanks and guns have been placed around on the lawn below and can be seen elsewhere around the island. 

Saturday evening we turned out with lots of other folks for the Taste of the Marianas where we ran into half a dozen members of the Saipan Ward. (This is not one of them.)

Sunday was Mother's Day.  We celebrated by teaching a family history lesson to the combined Young Men and Young Women, training the Ward Council on family history responsibilities and presenting a fireside that evening.  We spent some time in the afternoon with the missionaries.  This is Elder Paulis from Pohnpei.  While he was waiting to skype home, we helped him with his family history.

Monday morning we hiked to Forbidden Island with Brother Val Welch and then drove to Mt. Tagpochau from which we could see the entire island.

After lunch we gave a presentation to about 10 school teachers about  FamilySearch.

One last interesting stop was the old Japanese Jail where, according to one theory, Amelia Earhart was held and eventually executed by the Japanese after touching down on Saipan.  

The most amazing thing about Saipan was the ward.  Its small but incredibly diverse.  We met people from the Philippines, India, Cambodia, Thailand, mainland China, Ukraine, and Phonpei as well as Chamorros and Carolinians.  We hope to return again soon.