MARCH 12-15 - GUAM CONVENTION

Thursday was a workday, well, work half day. About 20 of us gathered to do clean-up at the Macheche Community Center where the convention would be held. Not a spider or cobweb was safe!

Macheche Community Center

Dean S. and Ron R. fix a "dead" fan

Spit spot

Rub-a-dub-dub

Soak me!!

Little helpers

Peter B. and Larry T.

Michael H. and Dale W.

Ready for convention!

Chow time

Pizza Hut to the rescue

Ahhhhhhh

Work and lunch were finished by 1 pm, so everyone was free for the afternoon. Some went snorkeling at Ypao Beach.

Ron and Pat Rudolph

Ypao beach coral

Larry T., Kent W., Jim H.

Convention notes
Not many notes as we had to leave Friday night due to tropical storm BAVI.

Weird sea worm with strings emitting from mouth opening

• Think of the most impossible thing to accomplish in your spiritual life - don't filter it by whether you think you can accomplish it. Then read Eph 3:20
• Noah was not disappointed that he followed the instructions for building the ark. Neither was Elijah disappointed that he believed that a raven could provide sustenance. Peter was not disappointed that he let down the net on the other side of the boat. No one who has believed has been disappointed.
• We are a royal family bearing the Lord's name - our Father, the King
• The spirit of God is as uncomfortable being exalted as the flesh is uncomfortable when it's not.

As we watched tropical storm Bavi develop and watched its course and timing, we became increasingly convinced that the center would be right over Guam at about the time our flight was to take off. Maybe there was a flight out on Monday. Nope. Tuesday? Nope. The nearest flight that was not sold out was Friday, March 20! Five more nights of hotel rental; five more days of car rental; five more days of meals out. Yikes! There was one option available - 2:45 am Saturday morning. Since it was a full two days before convention was over and we were to leave the island, we didn't want to make a mistake by flying home early, missing convention and then have the flight take off as scheduled. Debbie and I discussed it and decided to ask Marilyn. She thought it a good idea to leave if possible if that was the only option until the following Friday. Another thing pushing us for early was the fact that Jodi and Justin are arriving on the 21st. If anything went wrong with the March 20 flight, we'd be in real trouble! The United agent on the phone wanted to charge us a $300 change fee because the Sunday flight had not actually been cancelled, but we figured that was small change compared to staying in a hotel for another week! Marilyn suggested going directly to the airport counter. So, we saddled up with our belongings and headed to the airport. Magic. No fee. It was a 5 hour wait for our flight, but we were back on Saipan safe and sound and in bed by 4:30 am. Oh, did I mention that all Saturday AND Sunday flights were cancelled? :-)

SEE NEXT POST FOR TROPICAL STORM BAVI PICTURES