Moving Forward

Yesterday was Wednesday in Saipan, which means Lu Min was here. She is the Buchers' housekeeper who comes once a week to help tidy things up. Lu Min doesn't like people "under her feet" so we typically take our day off on Wednesday. At least, that has been the pattern for the past three Wednesdays. Yesterday's adventure was a hike through the jungle to see The Old Man by the Sea. See him? It's the rock formation in the center of the photo. Getting here we parked on a road and then headed into the jungle on foot. A shy mile later we emerged onto this hidden beach guarded by the old man's head. (That clump of hair in the center front is a decomposed palm tree stump. Yes, I wondered about it too.) Anyhow, the jungle path was a narrow footpath with sharp descents that required holding onto ropes people had left tied to trees. Slipping, sliding, repelling, we made it through the jungle overgrowth to a mangrove forest that mediated between the jungle and sa...

I snorkeled yesterday for the first time in my life. Why oh why did I wait so long to try this??? I don't have an underwater camera so I don't have pictures to show you of the flora and fauna that call the coral reef home. I do have a picture of the sunset I witnessed the night before which sparked the first green flare I had ever seen just as the top of the sun dipped below the horizon. It was a brief green flash, bright and shimmery. Everyone on the shore clapped. I captured this picture while the sun was still on its final descent into the great blue beyond. Do you see the person walking the shoreline? It reminded me vividly of a verse in the Bible, Habakkuk 2:14, that says, "For the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." When I went snorkeling the next morning I got a glimpse into the meaning of that verse. With the snorkeling mask suctioned tightly to my face, mouth-breathing into a pipe extended upward into the air li...

Tomorrow marks the end of my first week here. Seven days. It feels much longer. I feel settled, at peace within myself, my heart beginning to bloom again, in a way it hasn't in a long time, with worship for the Creator whose love is always reaching out. Life lived outdoors is healthy. Except for my time in bed at night, I have lived mostly outdoors this week. Fresh air, continuously breathed in and out, in and out, strengthens the lungs. Sunshine on skin strengthens the body. Interaction with nature strengthens emotional ties to God. Worship is the inevitable result. An open-air, covered porch runs the length of the house. The porch is our church. It is also where we eat, visit, and live when at home during daylight hours every day. Today is Tuesday, and tonight a visiting missionary flies in to spend a week here leading our women's retreat on Saturday and the youth retreat Sunday-Tuesday. I will be helping with the cooking and wherever else is needed. Tuesday, when the y...

Today I cooked. I learned where to buy fish that had been caught today and I bought a tuna fish. The family was gone all day today, so I fired up the charcoal grill and had grilled tuna steak with a zucchini slaw I made from a zucchini someone had left as a gift on the back porch. It was yummy! Do you see the book in the background? The teens are doing a Bible study based on the book Holes which I will be observing tomorrow (Saturday) because a I will be finishing the study with them this summer. I had not read the book or seen the movie. I read all day today and only got about halfway done around the other things I needed to do. Laundry. Some writing. Cooking my fish and slaw. And I got a loaf of cheese bread baked in the bread machine for the family, which they ate as they came and went all day. Today I saw something in Luke 4:18-19 NLT, about how Jesus began his earthly ministry. When the time came for his launch into public ministry he quoted Isaiah, saying: “The Spiri...

I arrived! Here are a couple pictures of the arrival, flying over an island then over the coast of Saipan, then landing on the runway. It was 8:30am when I got into the car with the Bucher's son-in-law, to go "home". They and their daughter were at work. I hadn't slept more than 4 hours in the 25 hours of travel, but I didn't really want to sleep until night, if possible, to minimize jet lag. My first impression was of beauty, humidity, and an overwhelming sense of having come home to a familiar place. After a quick shower, we went for a drive around the island, ending up on the top of the "mountain", elevation around 1100', with a view of the entire island. If you spin 360 degrees you can see the whole island. The ocean blue is incredible. Later that evening we all went to the high school graduation, as they are all four employed by the school system. Traditionally, the kids wear leis and strings of beads and decorate their graduation c...

So the Incheon (inch on) airport is near Seoul, the capital of Korea, which is really close to the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea. I had forgotten that. For some reason I thought Seoul was in the southern part of Korea. But no. It’s way up there.  The flight from Detroit to Incheon Airport was a 12 hour flight. We went straight north to Hudson Bay, then westward up and over the very top of the globe inside the Great Circle, then down over Siberia and approached Korea from the east. I took a picture of the flight tracker screen for you. It was on the back of the seat in front of me. Everyone had their own screen. It was daylight the whole way. I am sitting here at 4:20pm waiting for my flight to Guam, which doesn’t board until 7:05 pm, and when I board it will be 7am for you—12 hours ahead of you. I learned a Korean word on the flight. Kamsamida (com som me da) which means thank you. Actually I knew this in the past but had forgotten until I heard it aga...

This is my first spring in my apartment after selling my house last fall to free me to go to Saipan. I didn’t originally plan to go until summer of 2020, after my college graduation, but the opportunity came up for this summer, so I applied and got the position. The apartment is ground floor with a patio and two small garden patches out front. I kept expecting management to plant something, but here it is well into June and nothing. I debated. Should I put in a few flowers? It doesn’t really seem reasonable seeing I will be gone most of the summer. Why put money into something I won’t be here to enjoy? I did it anyway. I put marigolds and solar fairy lights in the round bed straight out from my patio door, and three little pink Calibrachoa clumps in the side bed, with Zinnia seeds sown into the dirt right behind them. Butterflies will love them if the bunnies don't eat them. Come fall, when I return home, it will be beautiful. Anticipation of what I will see when I return is ...

It’s funny where your brain goes when your hands are busy. I’m packing...let’s see, before I explain what’s in my brain, I’d better show you what I am up against on the packing scene. The stuff on the table has to fit in that suitcase and carryon. And that doesn’t include the things in my clothes hamper that need to be washed before admittance to the table load. Or my favorite Bible and journal. Or my toothbrush. Decisions are imminent, I’m afraid. But not yet. My brain is occupied with thinking about gnat bites on my arms and legs. I have half a dozen or so from watching the kids play soccer Saturday afternoon. It’s Wednesday today and finally the hot, intensely itchy welts have shrunk to where I only look like I’ve been pummeled by golf balls  instead of baseballs.  The gnat bites remind me of our June 1st Bible reading. I put a link to our daily Bible readings right under my profile on the left sidebar (it slides out like a shade when you touch the icon) if you want t...

My Delta App says that in 5 days, 6 hours, I will be checking in for my flight to Saipan. Its's getting real! My hope is to give you a running report on what I am doing on the other side of the world this summer. I didn't get a chance to show you on Sunday what the island looks like. I have been watching  Saipan Beach on EarthCam and it looks lovely! I think the EarthCam might be located near the Hyatt Hotel. If so, that would place us looking west according to this map: The island is 12 miles long and 5 miles wide at its widest part. It will be the rainy season while I am there this summer and the temperatures should run in the 80's. I had to do a little shopping today to try to find a lightweight, 3/4 sleeve shirt to wear in case it feels too chilly some days for a sleeveless blouse yet too warm for a sweater. And it had to match my other outfits. Only taking one suitcase and one carry-on bag, I need all my clothes to be interchangeable in color. I finally found ...