Alpha Team Arrives!

Well, the long-awaited transition has happened for two of us, so "Haffa Adai," as the locals say! Christian and I arrived on the island of Guam August 2, after a long, grueling trip via Honolulu and Osaka, Japan. Contrary to the way it sounds, it was not a paradisial trip. Japan Airlines rejected our transfer in Hawaii and sent us back to United Airlines. After 4 hours in the airport (not the beach), we got on a Northwest flight to Japan. After finally locating our gate, we were told Christian had no ticket to Guam and that we'd have to buy one. It appears that someone back in paradise accidentally ripped out his ticket from Japan to Guam. Through broken English, I was told he couldn't go on. I thought Christian would do quite well in Japan, so I was about to leave when he talked me into trying to change things (not really). Finally, when I had just handed All Nippon Airways my credit card, they told me that Northwest confirmed his ticket via the phone! Close call.

We arrived here at 2am to humidity, clouds, and rain. I guess that makes sense because the Western Pacific just moved into its rainy season. Christian has been rather surprised by a few things: the island seems bigger than it is, there are acres of jungle, a large percentage of people living way below any of our standards (living in virtual shacks), there are loose "boonie" dogs roaming the streets everywhere, and people just dump their old rusted cars along the road. He's also been surprised by the scores of Japanese tourists on the west side of the island and the incredible water that "feels and looks like swimming in a tropical aquarium." We've spent about an hour each day snorkeling around different spots in between all the banking, shopping, and dissertation writing I have to finish. The picture above is of him at one of the many WW2 memorials - this one overlooking the navy base and the beach the Americans stormed in 1944.

Tomorrow we transition to looking for housing, which is my first prayer request. Because of the expenses of living here, good rentals are very expensive. We really need four bedrooms because my office will need to be at home, and there will be five of us. Secondly, tomorrow I try to secure a car. Fortunately, we've been able to borrow one from PIBC president Dave Owen, but they'll be back soon and needing their car. Of course, Karyn and the girls are still in California; please pray that all the business back home will get wrapped-up soon so that they will be able to join us. Alpha Team has arrived, but we are eagerly awaiting Beta Team! Finally, Christian settles into school on Wednesday morning - you know how to pray from there.

Thanks for all of your support. If you've made a pledge to support us, now would be a great time to start sending it in if you haven't already. God bless you all. The Alpha Team (Christian and Eric).