Campmeeting Weekend

So the weekend of March 7&8 marked Island-wide Campmeeting...so Adventist Campmeetings in a nut shell are yearly regional meetings for local churches, traditionally held yes in tents, and in the States they are usually in the summer. Here we have campmeeting during March (probably due to the very pleasant weather this time of year) and this year, the tent was traded for the new gymnasium at the academy. The paint was literally still drying...but everyone was so excited to be in this new structure. As you see below, quite a crowd turned out to enjoy the weekend of meetings led by Pastor Maxson (from California). We enjoyed the meetings, and it was fun to have everyone gathered together from the 8 churches on the island.

Sabbath morning service

here is the new conference president, Pastor Torres, who also arrived in time for campmeeting.
I had not been to campmeeting for years, and it brought back some memories of the muddy fields in Freeport, ME, those army-green tents, vegefood and long meetings, ah yes. This time around, it was fun and I really enjoyed the meeting, and I was encouarged/challenged by the message (what is discipleship...).
I loved the music, the short rain storms beating on the metal roof, the mix of cultures and languages, the potluck, and the reassurance that God is in this place...
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After the afternoon meeting, we decided to avoid the direct route home and head South to check out this region for our first time (we have been trying to pace ourselves) :)

must check out every nook & cranny

the south end had a different feel to it , and as you can see....a bit more room to breathe

In our explorations, look! we think we found what became of Dad-Parker's former ski boat!

(thought you would be proud! hey, it makes a mighty handsome planter!) :)and as you know, we have to throw in a self-portrait (thanks to Scott's long arms!)
here we are with the southern "mountains" as a backdrop
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Sunday morning we went back for the last meeting, that opened with a health fair of sorts which we volunteered at. We decided to trek once more into unknown territory and turned right this time to go home, and circled up into the northern coast (big weekend for us).

so, we ended up driving out to some golf course, and had to stay for lunch once we saw this view from their dining hall (we cannot complain!) and ended up having a delicious lunch
(Dad, I know you would love this! it's a bowl of ramen and a rice ball on the side!)

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Thanks for joining us for one of our weekends here in Guam- we are growing to really like this little parcel of land in the Pacific. till next time, we miss you!