Missions

Senior citizen? I think not!

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I absolutely love being retired and all the wonderful opportunities it affords us and when I’m at home during the summer months, I enjoy seniors golf on Wednesday mornings but I certainly don’t consider myself a senior citizen! I’m very happy to take advantage of senior’s discounts whenever they’re available though.

I’ve carried a bright green and yellow Humpty’s card in my wallet for the past couple of years. It entitles “mature customers” of 55 years and over to 10% off all regularly priced meals. Every Tuesday, the discount doubles to 20%. Humpty’s calls its cardholders the Emerald 55 Club and that title appears discreetly on the front of the card. Not so with my brand new Joeten discount card!

Joeten is a family owned retail company which has been doing business here on the island of Saipan for over 60 years. Everywhere we go, we see Joeten… Joeten supermarkets, Joeten One Stop Shopping, Joeten Motors. J.C. Tenorio Enterprises (Joeten) even owns a Costco! The warehouse store operated as Price Costco from Dec. 1994 to Dec. 2009 when the trademark name expired and the name was changed to Joeten Superstore. Ownership and the licensing agreement stayed the same, however, and it’s still clearly a Costco carrying merchandise from the US including Costco’s Kirkland brand products. The only difference between Costco here and Costco elsewhere, other than the name, is the fact that it doesn’t require a membership.

When we exited the store on one of our first visits, we were asked if we were seniors and told how to go about getting Joeten seniors cards so that we wouldn’t have to show our ID every time we went through the till. Off we went to the office at the Joeten One Stop Shopping Center to get our Hafa Adai cards. Hafa adai (pronounced half a day) is a native Chamorro greeting which is used much the same way that aloha is used on the Hawaiian islands. Like Joeten, it’s seen everywhere including on license plates. Unlike Humpty’s Emerald 55 cards, Hafa Adai cards do not announce our senior status discreetly. Instead, SENIOR CITIZEN appears in bold red print on the front of the card!

Will that audacious pronouncement keep the card hidden in my wallet? Definitely not! It’s worth 5% off any regularly priced grocery item and 10% off other merchandise including anything we buy at any Ace Hardware, also Joeten holdings. Not only will it benefit our pocketbook but it will also assist the church that we’re here to serve as the discount applies to everything we purchase whether it be for our own use or the church’s. That definitely appeals to our frugal nature even if it does mean admitting that we’re a little long of tooth!

Mission or vacation?

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Looking at what I’ve blogged about so far and the pictures that I’ve posted on Facebook, one could easily assume that we’re here on vacation. There have certainly been many vacation like moments during our first week as we’ve been easing gradually into our real reason for being here on the island of Saipan; missions.

We’re here to fill in for Dave and Helen Ann Bucher while they return to the mainland to spend their summer vacation visiting family and friends but they aren’t actually leaving us on our own until July 4th. In addition to pastoring Living Hope Church of the Nazarene, Dave and Helen Ann are both school teachers. We haven’t actually met Dave yet as he’s been in Nebraska this past week with a school group and will be back this evening. In his absence, we’ve been hanging out with Helen Ann and learning the ropes.

So, other than sightseeing, swimming and hiking, what else have we been doing? What does summer ministry coverage actually look like?

Taking care of the house and the property…

The house, which also doubles as the church, is located on a large property in the middle of the jungle where everything grows at an amazing rate. Richard has been busy mowing and mowing and mowing some more! The grass at the bottom of the drive, which hasn’t been cut since before Dave and Helen Ann moved in in February, is taller than me! I don’t know if Richard will try to tackle that but, in addition to keeping the field in front of the house groomed, he’s been working on reclaiming areas around the edge of the property where the grass was taking over. At the moment, he’s up on the roof with a power washer cleaning off algae, something else that grows rapidly in hot, humid places. I discovered how slippery it is when I took a rather ungraceful fall on the cement the other day. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt and he has since cleaned that off too.

There isn’t much housework for me to do because the Filipino housekeeper comes once a week. What a luxury! I could easily do the work myself but that would rob her of much needed income so I won’t.

Taking care of the pets…

My day begins with a walk to the end of the driveway with Fiona, the resident dog. It’s about a quarter mile round trip down the very steep hill and back up again. I’d happily walk further with her but the jungle grows up to the edge of the road we’re on and there’s enough traffic that walking on the pavement wouldn’t be safe so we’re confined to the property. I walk her again in the evening.  In addition to making sure Fiona has food and water, I put out food for the little cat that creeps out of the undergrowth to eat. We eat most of our meals on the patio and when the cat stole Helen Ann’s omelet at breakfast one morning, we learned not to leave food unguarded! At the end of the patio there’s an aviary that houses 15 to 20 colourful parakeets. Though I feed and water them each day, I haven’t been able to get an accurate count as they’re forever flitting about or hiding in their nesting boxes.

Loving the people… 

Of course, our main purpose for being here isn’t housesitting or pet sitting. Dave and Helen Ann could easily hire locals to take care of those tasks. We’re primarily here to provide ministry coverage while they’re away. When we first read the assignment description, we were delighted to see that our #1 task would be loving the people! That we knew we could do!

When Dave and Helen Ann leave, we’ll be in charge on Sunday mornings. Richard will teach the adult Sunday School class and bring the morning message. I’ll teach the teen class and assist him with the service. There are also two children’s classes taught by locals, Amor and Malou.

Children are a very big part of the Living Hope ministry. The church has a large van that picks them up for Sunday School as well as mid-week Kids Club. Mr. Richard, as the children call him, has already learned the route and knows most of the children by name. We’ve both been busy the past couple of afternoons helping with a special pre-teen program and on Friday and Saturday, we’ll be involved in a similar program for the teens. Later in the summer, we’ll be doing a week long Vacation Bible School.

Part of all the children’s activities is providing a snack. Many of these children come from very poor homes where they may not get a lot to eat. During the school year, they’re fed breakfast and lunch at school so the Kids Club snack is just that, a snack, but during the summer we want to make sure that we feed them something more substantial. One of my tasks for the pre-teen program was preparing a meal for them. On Monday, we had tacos, rice and beans. Yesterday, we served corn dogs, macaroni and cheese, salad and then finished the day with root beer floats.

            

How could we not love them?

The last shall be first…

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“The last shall be first, and the first last.”  Matthew 20:16

That’s certainly how it was when we went through immigration and customs at the Saipan airport shortly after midnight last night.

Almost 30 hours into the very long day that took us from Edmonton to Seattle to Tokyo to Saipan, Richard and I both fell asleep on the airplane. While we were snoozing, the stewardess handed out the various forms that would be needed upon arrival. Assuming that we were American citizens, she left only one form for us to fill out when we actually needed three. We awoke as the airplane began it’s descent into Saipan and I suddenly realized that we had not done the necessary paperwork yet! Yikes! The steward on board responded to our call but he was hurried and unsure of which documents we needed. We ended up with the correct ones but they were in Japanese rather than English which wasn’t of much help to us! By this time, I was feeling a little panicked and sent a silent prayer upward asking the Lord to smooth our path. His answer was nothing short of miraculous.

As we deplaned, we exchanged the Japanese forms for English ones but that meant that we had to stop to fill them out after we entered the airport putting us at the very back of the long line of people waiting to go through immigration. In our very tired state, we were also unsure if we had filled them out correctly and were definitely feeling a bit intimidated by the whole situation. It was at that point that one of the immigration officials noticed the family with a small baby just ahead of us in line. He took them aside so that they could be processed more quickly and be on their way. As he did so, he asked where we were from and when we told him Canada, he turned the family over to another official and dealt with us himself. He was friendly and courteous and we were through in no time leaving everyone else still standing in line!

As soon as we knew that we were coming to Saipan, I began to research visa requirements. As far as I was able to determine, we would likely be issued a 30 day visa on entry and then, because we’re actually staying longer than that, we would have to have it renewed for another 30 days. We had been advised, however, that we should try asking for a 60 day visa at the airport. I thought it was worth a try. Imagine my surprise when the agent told us that, as Canadians, we are actually eligible for a 6 month visa! Though we don’t plan to do so, our passports now say that we can stay until December!

Passing through customs was just as quick and easy. Within minutes, we were out the door of the terminal where we were met by Helen Ann, her daughter and her son-in-law who welcomed us with beautiful floral leis that smell absolutely heavenly. Our Saipan adventure had begun!

Beautiful feet

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“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”   Romans 10:15

This is the verse our pastor used this morning as he commissioned us to carry the gospel to the people of Saipan. He then proceeded to tell us that we have beautiful feet and I know he wasn’t referring to the fact that I was wearing my bright red shoes!

Over the past few days, we’ve been asked many times “Are you excited?” Of course, we are! Once again we’re stepping way outside our comfort zone but we’re doing it with peace and confidence knowing that this is God’s direction for us and that we go with the prayers of many behind us. As our pastor pointed out, each one who gathered around and prayed for us this morning and many others who weren’t able to be present are part of the mission that we’re going on. Ours may be the feet that go but theirs are the hands that hold us up.

We’ll be taking these beautiful feet to bed soon. We’re tucked into our hotel room across the highway from the airport and have a wake up call scheduled for 3:40 a.m. The airport shuttle will pick us up 45 minutes later and some 28 hours after that, our feet will step onto the island of Saipan.

Amazing connections

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When Richard’s cousin learned that we were going to Saipan, she sent us a note along with an insert from her church bulletin that told of another Alberta couple who are also going to Saipan on a short term missions assignment this summer! Rod and Beth were missionaries with Far East Broadcasting on Saipan from 1995 to 2002 and are returning for the summer to help with the decommissioning of the FEBC station there. The short wave transmitters, which are no longer needed there, will be shipped to the Philippines.

I was somewhat surprised to hear that we wouldn’t be the only Albertan missionaries on Saipan this summer but didn’t give it a lot of thought until a friend from church mentioned that her husband’s second cousin and his wife were also going to Saipan as short term missionaries this summer! Could there actually be three couples from Alberta going to the same tiny island? No. As it turns out, Doris’ husband is related to Rod and Beth!

Doris gave Rod our email address. We’ve been corresponding and have discovered yet another connection. When he and Beth left the island in 2002 they sold their car to the missionary couple that we’ll be filling in for! It’s a tiny island but it has a population of over 60 000 people so what are the chances of that?

What do all these amazing connections mean? Are they simply coincidences or are they part of a bigger picture that only God can see? I don’t know. In fact, I may never know but I do know that my God can orchestrate amazing things. Pondering the possibilities is quite delightful.

Love through me

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In church on Sunday morning, Richard and I did a presentation about our upcoming missions trip to Saipan. When we were done, we invited the congregation to join us in singing two verses of an old chorus.

Love through me, love through me;
O Lord, love through me. 
Somewhere somebody needs your love today.
O Lord, love through me. 

Speak through me, speak through me;
O Lord, speak through me.
Make your Word upon my lips a flame today.
O Lord, speak through me.

There are other verses but these two could really be the theme of our mission. Ever since Sunday, they’ve been stuck in my head. I’m not much of a singer but I’ve been belting them out over and over again while I’ve been alone on the tractor! I guess I’m getting just a little bit excited about what the Lord has in store for us!

Richard just started seeding today but I’ve already put in lots of hours out at the farm. I spent two days cultivating fields that were in summer fallow last year. That was a new experience for me but an easy one as the cultivator is pulled by the same tractor that I’ve used for several springs to pull the harrow/packer. The cultivator is much easier to maneuver though as it’s only 35 feet wide instead of 50.

I don’t usually run the harrow/packer until after the seed is in the ground but because last year’s crop was so heavy, there’s a lot more straw in the fields than usual. I’ve been out with the harrow to break it up and scatter it before the seeding is done. I put in several hours today and would still be out there but we had a breakdown and some welding needs to be done before I can continue.

As much as I love being out at the farm, I’m not minding the extra time at home today as our annual ladies retreat begins tomorrow and I have a number of things to do to get ready. It’s always a wonderful weekend and this year my prayer is that God will use it to continue preparing me for his work in Saipan.

Here’s a few rustic scenes from the farm: