02/01/2011
Taiwan Times
submitted by Byron & Melissa Manners
Dear Friends,
I am going to send out this letter on our trip to Guam so I don’t have to deal with it in a regular newsletter. Missy wrote a lot of this, and you might actually like to have a letter from her instead of me. She had a bad asthma attack there, and caught a bad cold. I caught a bad cold on coming back to Taiwan. It was warm in Guam, in the eighties, and Taipei was very cold. I had a miserable weekend and needed a week to get my strength back. I guess it was one of those times we had to vacation from the vacation.
Here is Missy’s description. I will add a little in italics so you will understand who some of the people are. We left here on Monday morning a little after 10:00. We took the longer way north by traveling on the western coastal highway. We met Sharon around 4:00 and went to eat supper with her. Sharon is our close friend that found the deal for Guam on the internet and arranged for us to go. Jeffery is her husband, not yet a Christian. Jeffrey was golfing on Monday and then he had an errand to do. He was going to meet us for supper later, but changed and only met us as we were parking our car and allowing them to take us to the airport.
We had a good talk with Sharon. She recently was introduced to speaking in a heavenly language in a Bible study. I sent her some of my sermons on this subject borrowed from a Bible study Joe Smith did at Hobe Sound several years ago. She wanted to go over some things with me, so we had supper together. She has decided that she should not even discuss the tongues issue with anyone else in her church. I think this is a wise idea; she will not change their minds and this way there is little chance of her being confused. She doesn't understand it enough to defend her position yet. She firmly believes the things that Byron tells her about the issue.
She also told us some good news about Jeffrey. At Christmastime, he went with her to church to hear her sing in the choir. His friend, George, also went--we met George once. George was touched and was crying. Jeffrey was untouched--or so Sharon thought. He did tell Sharon sometime after that, that he really likes her, Byron and me and Missy's parents, and would like to be a Christian, but he cannot. Someone in the service had mentioned something about God creating the world, and Jeffrey just cannot accept that. He cannot accept creation as the Bible states it; Sharon doesn't have the ability to answer his questions. I feel that at least Jeffrey is thinking. We might have the opportunity to get with Jeffrey and Sharon in March; I think Byron could answer some of his questions if he had the opportunity. Sharon also told us that Jeffrey was touched in the service the last time they attended our church. Byron had felt that there was a sense of conviction in the service that morning, but Jeffrey said nothing about it at first; he told Sharon later that he was touched. I think he didn't realize it was the Lord.
That was not so much about Guam, but it was part of our trip!
We got to the airport and Jeffrey and Sharon went inside with us and helped us get checked in, then stayed with us until we went through immigration to leave. The airport was about dead except for the couple planes flying out overnight. Our flight was a charter flight and was full. After we boarded, we waited at the gate for maybe a half hour. They said there was unexpected paperwork. I thought that sounded like an excuse and maybe there (were) maintenance issues, but Byron did see an official on the plane, so perhaps because it was a charter flight, there was something more to do.
Byron and I couldn't sleep on the plane. We finally got going, then they wanted to feed us, then they finally turned off the lights, but it was only for a short time and we were getting ready to land. The airport in Guam is small, and we got out quickly. Our tour agency met us and we waited for the others with our tour to leave the airport. We were taken to our hotel to dump our luggage, then to breakfast at a restaurant down the road. From there, we were taken on a half day tour. I wasn't sure a tour when we were so tired was a good idea, but it was probably the best time since we couldn't check into our hotel so early.
On that tour, we stopped at a park where they have a small Statue of Liberty. I loved it there because I could see the waves, and they were large. Then we went to the capital city of Guam--also small. We walked around the plaza there, which used to be the city center, styled around the Spanish idea of a church and the government all on the square. The last place we visited on the tour was Two Lovers Point. Legend says that a girl was to be married to a soldier chosen by her father, but she loved a native guy. She ran away and met the native man on this high point. They were pursued by soldiers, but they jumped into the ocean from the high point and of course drown. Wonderful, stupid story!! Anyway, it was a beautiful place to see the main tourist area of Guam and to see the ocean--beautiful.
We then checked into our hotel and tried to sleep. I felt like I was still moving and didn't sleep long. At 5:00, the tour company took us to a mall several minutes away from our hotel where we ate our supper at Denny's. We also got ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery--that was delicious. We were back in our hotel room early and crashed.
Wednesday morning I stayed in the hotel room while Byron went searching for a car to rent. He had seen a good deal at the airport, so he walked there--it really wasn't that far, but probably too far on his bad knee. He finally found a good deal, and we had a car for the rest of the trip. That was so nice. We didn't have to depend on buses and could go wherever we wanted. With my asthma attack and then getting whatever else I got, it was nice to have the car.
Wednesday afternoon we went touring around the island. We ran into a Navy Base to the south, then Anderson Air Force Base to the north. We also saw a Marine base; seems like it is beside the air force base. There really isn't a lot to see on the island. There were a couple places where the military had landed to take the island back from the Japanese during World War II, but there were only marked by parks. I did see a Pacific War Museum, but it didn't look like much, and we didn't enter. There were a few waterfalls marked on the map, but it looked like hikes to get to them. After we ran into the air force base, we turned around and found a road that took us high enough to overlook the base. We could see the landing strip and a plane; that was nice. Later that day we saw a plane from the base flying.
We ate supper that night at a place called King's. I don't think it was the same chain as in PA, but they did have some similar food. I was sick with more than just an asthma attack by then; I was achy. I didn't finish my meal, so you know there was something wrong! Byron took me to Kmart that evening for medicine--the first of three trips to Kmart in two days!! This is the world’s largest K-mart according to the internet, but it did not seem that large. We were in our hotel room early that night too.
Thursday we did a little more sightseeing and shopped. I didn't buy much except when we went to Kmart. In the pictures, you will see most of the things we bought at Kmart. I was especially happy to find a crock pot. I could have gotten one here, but I am pleased with the one I was able to bring back from Guam. Thursday evening we had supper at Wendy's, and I had my second Frosty. Byron tried one of their new Frosty Twists or whatever they call them. He liked that.
After we got back to the hotel on Thursday, Byron went for a walk on the beach across the road from our hotel. I never did go to the beach. It rained off and on while we were there, and really the beach wasn't much to speak of. Guam, like many of the islands across the Pacific, is mostly surrounded by a lagoon. The waves break on the rocks, but there is not a lot of beach. My main love of the ocean is seeing the waves, and I did see them. They were quite large sometimes. There was a warning out to surfers because of the waves while we were in Guam.
Also, on Wednesday, we heard a construction crew had unearthed a bomb from World War II. They shut down an area around the site and brought in a Navy crew to diffuse the bomb. We have a picture of the police blocking a street and later we took a picture of the construction site.
Guam was very warm--especially after we have been living in the refrigerator! It was also very humid. It almost seemed breathless when we first arrived. They kept the air conditioning going in buildings and cars, so we were in and out of cold and hot. I don't know if that contributed to my asthma attack or not. One of the men at church seemed to think that I was allergic to something on Guam. The attack started before we left or while on the airplane, so I think it might have been a combination of things.
Guam was very nice; Sharon found a nice trip for us. The hotel was a little older, but it was among the nicest that we have stayed in. The breakfast there each morning was great--including donuts two mornings, which Byron loved! It was good to see American restaurants and stores and to shop at Kmart! (Byron wanted to make sure that I told my sister I had shopped there three times in two days!) The flight back home was turbulent sometimes, especially as we neared landing. I hate turbulence! I told Byron that this was one time that I would be glad to kiss the ground in Taiwan!!
Jeffrey and Sharon met us at the airport, took us back to their school where we showed them our pictures and then got our car. We met Erica for supper, then came part of the way home. Erica is another former student I taught nine years ago before becoming a pastor. She is not a Christian, but we are trying. She gave me good news that a classmate of hers that I also taught is seriously thinking of becoming a Christian. Saturday we traveled the rest of the way home. Now the trip is a memory--a good memory. We have to get busy with life now!
Missy put our pictures onto Picasa. You can look at them here.
From Taiwan,
Byron and Melissa Manners
