Arrived in Saipan

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 caps with flowers and ribbons, which is what this class did also. They sang as a group several times during the evening. I found the ceremony to be rich with symbolism that was pertinent to their culture and was obviously many generations old.

It got me to thinking about the importance of symbols to our Christian faith. Jesus used symbols. Think of his use of food, eating with people, using farming or harvest language, and the rich symbolism in the Last Supper. I'm headed to bed. Hopefully, I will be more coherent next post.

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