From aka “tree hugger”, “wmd engineer”, one of the “island natives”
Let’s see if I can do this. I’m a natural babbler so it’ll be difficult to condense 19 pages worth of Guam details and reflections (is that a lot or not enough???) into a length that will not numb your mind from boredom as you read. But a friend encouraged me to tell all because I really want you to read all this as if you were there. I hope you’ll stay tuned. It’s good stuff. So press pause here, grab some strong coffee, kick back, press play, and travel back in time with me to March 24th (Guam time)- March 29th on the beautiful island of Guam. The suspense is officially over.
When I woke up the morning of the 23rd, I really wrestled with hesitancy. I wondered if it would be the wiser move to just return to Texas and pick back up with school instead of taking almost two weeks off to be in Guam. “What was I doing? I’m going to fail my classes. My teachers will not understand.” After that one week in Guam, I couldn’t have been more grateful that I made it to the airport that morning.
We landed in Guam Tuesday night. My fellow mission tripper, Brenda, and I found a shorter line through customs so I made it to the main terminal before anyone else. A sweet lady found me and asked me if I was with the Colorado group. When I said yes, about 8 others stepped up and started introducing themselves. What a great way to start a mission trip- seeing loving and supporting people right as you step off a 17 hour flight.
Stepping into the night air, I had to remind myself that I was on an island… far, far away… in the middle of the ocean… What a cool feeling. All financial worry was gone; anxiety about school was voided by God’s divine appointment for seven Coloradoans to be on His mission… for His glory.
After we arrived home (for the week), Brenda and I went on a walk with the missionaries (The Ditty’s). It was nice stretching those 17 – hour-plane-ride-stricken legs. Then fell asleep around 9 or 10 pm on a comfortable air mattress to the rhythm of Randy’s snores. Yeah. Felt like home already.
Woke up about 6:30 am (completely outside my norm) to the sound and smell of sizzling bacon. Thanks Scott, Randy, and Bill. Count on the men if you want delicious bacon. We headed out about ten to tour the island. We stopped at multiple WWII battle sites. I had no idea Guam was so connected to that event. I love history so I really enjoyed this part of the day. I could almost picture and feel the events as they were happening. I think I picked the wrong major.
Driving around the island was painful for me- driving past aqua blue bays and beaches… I wanted to walk, run, swim (Scott wouldn’t let Jim stop the car). But I did enjoy background stories about Guam that Scott and Jim were telling. It didn’t take long for Guam to take hold of my heart.
We had lunch at Jeff’s Pirates Cove (see facebook pictures) and ended the evening with a delicious dinner and shopping. It was a fun day.
Spent Thursday morning typing that short blog, and hunting with the Elmore sisters in the backyard jungle for branches suitable for spears. Our group was going to make a video to send to our church back in Colorado. Since Sarah, Becca, and I had the native look (dark hair and dark skin), we needed the appropriate… props to make the video come alive. :D NOTE: the videos are on my facebook if you’re curious and need some humor.
We also had lunch with the pastors and co-leaders for the Disciple Now weekend. It was great meeting everyone who was going to help us out with the program. Later that evening, we went to this outdoor “museum” with grass houses to film our video. The girls made awesome leafy head pieces so we had fun running around with our spears, looking like crazy natives, for the film. After, we jumped into the bed of the awesome run down truck, popped the back window open by using one the spears and drove to a bay to “swim”. It was gross. I’ll stop there.
When we returned “home”, we had dinner and met with our co-leaders to talk business; the schedule for the weekend and the lessons our groups would cover. We were divided into four groups: High school girls, high school boys, middle school girls, and middle school guys. Sarah, Daisy (from Guam) and I were going to lead the high school girls. Daisy was this cool girl originally from Texas who talked like an islander but had a heart ready to teach. It was exciting discussing how the weekend was going to play out. It was finally happening. God had answered our prayer. We were expecting around twenty students for Disciple Now (we ended up with about 43 in the end). I had goosebumps as we talked about the lessons. I couldn’t wait to meet the girls we had been praying so long and hard for. At the same time I was worried; what if they hate the lessons? Opt out on the activities? Resent coming? I hate the fact that Satan knows how to discourage me. He was not going to win.
Friday morning. The big day. We started it off by snorkeling. It was awesome. (I have more details about that in my journal but we’re moving on. Stay awake please). About noon, we packed up and headed to the church grounds where D-Now would be held. It was a nice area. A little church here, the two buildings we would be staying at right next to the church, a little house there, nice open areas for recreation… oh boy this is going to be a blast!
We set up our rooms, fixed up the registration tables and the praise team rehearsed. I was blessed again because I got to sing again! Wow! To lead youth, once more, in worship is so thrilling. It’s been awhile. I’ve missed it. We continued setting up, got caffeinated from drinking Vault and anxiously watched the students roll in. I stood in the back and the watched the chaos unfold during registration. Before we started the weekend, we each had specific individuals to pray for. I sneaked a few glances at the forms being done to see the faces of the students I was praying for. I found one… Kelly Ann. She was going to be in my group.
After dinner, we all met in the sanctuary, had worship time and Bill shared the gospel. Worship was interesting. Different culture, different attitudes, different youth groups can change the way you would think youthies usually respond during worship time. I’m used to seeing students jump up and down, dancing, and singing but this group didn’t have those kinds of youthie tendencies. But I’m grateful that we introduced a bold and fun attitude to start the weekend; being completely open to them, ready to have fun and teach them. We were all waiting for them to start being themselves- energetic or shy, saved or lost, hurting, broken, starving for God or angry at Him. We were praying for transformation. We were there for them while it happened.
We watched Facing the Giants that evening to transition into our lessons. I know how cheesy that movie can be- great message of course but the acting… I worried what the students might think about it. I wanted them to learn something. To understand the important messages. What a great surprise it was to hear laughter (at the appropriate times) and sniffles. They really liked it!
We finished the evening with a lesson. I think we only did one that night. I led the first one. We started off with an ice breaker; name and favorite ice cream and you had to repeat the all the ones before you. That was amusing :) Figured out who the shy girls were. Some took notes to remember who was who and which ice cream they liked :) They were not much a discussion oriented group- which I try to create when I teach. But Daisy and Sarah were great in helping with examples. What a great team :) Sleepy time was about midnight.
Saturday: The day started about 5:30 am because of too many students and not enough showers. A good problem to have ;) 3 showers and one of them was for the boys (an outdoor shower… they had to wear trunks). I had forgotten that leaders could shower at the Perez house. Oh well. Got to rough it with the students. Had a few more lessons after breakfast before recreation. I loved the differences in the way Sarah, Daisy and I taught; I think the students benefitted from the variation. Sarah did a great job making her points clear and understandable and Daisy used her experiences and knowledge of the culture to make the lessons relatable. Meeting them at their “well”.
Recreation time: Fun stuff! I love team building. We came up with a team name based on our color- Green Machine. It took me all day to figure out why that sounded so familiar. I realized that it was the team name from this youth camp I did at Glorieta. Too many youth events- they all melt together eventually. Not a bad thing :)
It was so great watching the students come up with cheers, a flag (which I got to keep), and body art; all for the sake of team spirit. One of the girls, Arion, was drawing art all over her arm so she got involved by drawing on the other girls. *see pictures on facebook*. Others worked on the flag, and then one stepped up a created a cheer. “Can’t stop! [Can’t stop!] Won’t stop! [Won’t stop!] Take top! [Take top!] Green Machine! [Green Machine!] YEEEAAAA!” complete with choreography. While they were working, they demonstrated their singing abilities. I was nearly in tears. They were harmonizing and hitting notes like it was their first instinct. I have to get my hands on this song. It’s still in my head. I just wish I knew all the words. “Shout aloud. Raise our voice”. Who were these girls!??!?!? Gosh, it was such a blessing just to hang out with them.
The team looked so great in all their green glory. I was unfairly outvoted and had to wear the green afro. Never leave your co-leader alone with the group… they can turn against you. I had to run an errand and when I returned and opened the door, all the girls had their hand up in the air. They looked silly but something conniving was occurring. It just so happened that they had all voted, at that precise moment as I started to open the door, that I wear the green afro. I made a deal with them. If they were loud and demonstrated great team work and team spirit, I’d wear the wig all weekend long. They complied… so did I. The wig was hot made it made them happy.
It was entertaining watching and participating in recreation. The girls did a great job working together (a huge triumph) in Big Ball Volleyball and some other genius game involving the enormous thing. Seriously, look at the pictures. I loved hearing everyone laugh! I’m so glad they were willing to participate. They got so into it! What an answered prayer!
We finished most of the lessons that afternoon. Had our “reward” ceremony for the team that got the most points for team spirit, recreation, etc. Green machine won! The girls shared their delicious reward with the other teams. I must say, all the teams were amazing. I love youth students and their energy! They made that weekend. The church ground was loud with students having fun!
Take fives: this is a time for the co-leaders to meet with individual students for a little one-on-one time; share experiences, convictions, questions, prayer requests, and any decisions. Since there were about 14 high school girls and four co-leaders (one other co-leader didn’t teach but she helped our group), we each had about 3-4 students. I had a great talk with a girl who was so up-front about wanting to get deeper in her relationship with God. She happened to love Korean drama shows like the ones I watch with my mom and sister so we had an instant connection. She asked about telling her friends about Christ so I was able to talk to her about the power of prayer and being strong and courageous- really tying in some of the topics we covered in our lessons and being able to share my personal experience. The other two girls I had, Kelly Ann being one of them, were quiet but both mentioned things about the weekend they really enjoyed.
After take fives, the Colorado group left the other co-leaders temporarily so they could re-connect with their students. When we returned, I kept hearing stories about students committing their lives to the Lord, and others who were wrestling with making the decision to follow Christ. They were really thinking about God. What more could you ask for? There was one boy who was still fighting the decision to follow Christ; he knew the Truth but refused to make that decision despite the implications. Another boy, I think his name was Andrew, came to Disciple Now with a huge chip on his shoulder- his home was burned down after he accepted Christ. A lot of mistrust there. But I heard that he opened up his bible and read on his own sometime over the weekend. God’s glory shining through a broken heart.
I think there was a lot of apathy coming from some these students at the start of the weekend with a touch of anger and resentment. I had at least two like that. At the same time, I could sense that God was weighing down on them. Some lives were saved over the weekend, some renewed. Some still broken and lost. But only God knows if His seed landed in good soil. Maybe there was something starting… something growing beneath all that dirt and darkness- a little plant? A little hope?
Sunday: We had church service and then lunch. A good lunch packed with delicious Asian specialties. Then we ended the weekend with the parents and relatives joining their kiddos during praise and worship. This was also a time for the students to share their testimony about the weekend. Nothing really happened. They were too shy. I kept staring at my team because I knew there were at least two who committed their lives to the Lord over the weekend. I should’ve told them I’d stand with them. Never the less, we all were witnesses of the great things God made happen over the weekend. In the end, we had 43 students (more than we expected) and 21 of them committed their lives to the Lord! I’m sure there was some underlying culture influences but God sees it as good. So will I. It was difficult saying goodbye to the students. I miss them.
I spent the rest of the evening with “my people”; college students :) It was awesome hanging out with Martha Puckett- she was the one that pulled all the youth groups together, and organized the weekend. Same age as me so we had a lot in common and lots to talk about. Got my first taste of a fresh, young coconut at Daisy’s campus, PIBC??? Ended the day with games and dinner with some of the co-leaders from the weekend.
It’s hard carrying God’s heart for the nations; it’s big, loving and easily acclimates to the present location and the people. I couldn’t help but fall quick and hard for the people in Guam and the culture. Absolutely impossible to resist. I felt like I was being dragged away from Guam, kicking and screaming. I woke up on the 23rd with so much hesitancy- stupid demons. I left Guam with even more hesitancy- “Oh God… you let me fall for these people too easily and quickly… but I’m glad you did”.
Going home was hard to do. Why go back to my room full of unfinished class work when there’s unfinished work in Guam? Because it’s not up to me to finish it. I left Guam. God didn’t. But I miss it. I hope to go back someday soon. Until then, I know that God will continue the great work He started in Guam. And in me. Thank you all for your support!
Check out my one and only entry I made on my home church’s BlogSpot: http://mabcworldviews.blogspot.com/
It’s entitled WMD Engineer. There are some other entries from my teammates.
