Our Anniversaries Trip - Day 3

9/25/13  Wednesday

After a miserable night at the Navy Lodge on Ford Island we drove a few hundred yards to the USS Missouri and began a tour of the ship.  Visiting this ship was the only thing that I really wanted to do in Hawaii. I was so excited to see it up close and then actually get to tour it made the entire trip worthwhile for me.  This ship not only made history, it is history.

USS Missouri entrance

A look along the port (left) side of the ship

Once we paid our entrance fees we boarded the ship and were met by Doc Simpson, one of the tour guides.
We boarded at just the right time so Doc became our own private tour guide.  The highlight for me was to stand at the very spot where World War II ended.

Everything else on the ship was extremely interesting and just plain awesome to actually see.  Look at the size of these guns.

Here is a 1000 pound 16" diameter projectile that is shot up to 26 miles

 Since we had our own tour guide and our group was so small Doc allowed us into

the XO quarters for a photo op.  

Photo op on the Executive Officer's bed.  

As we toured the ship I took many more pictures and we were all awed by the size.  When the ship was first commissioned it was crewed by 3000 men.  The mess decks were in operation 24 hours a day.  The men had to share berthing bunks (one at a time, of course).  Here are a few more photos of the ship.

Laying in one of the crew's racks.  I was able to stretch out.

View forward from the flying bridge

Mess Hall

Crew berthing

Doc is showing us the powder wads that are used to fire the 16" guns. Six of these were used to shoot one bullet.

 

Main deck, made of teak wood

Stan and Stephanie standing under the rear turret guns.

 
After spending four hours on the Missouri we went to downtown Waikiki for lunch and visited the Hale Koa Hotel.  A luxury hotel that is open only to military personnel.  The amazing thing about the hotel was the trees.  I don't know what kind of trees there are but they are native to Hawaii.  The trees here are huge and beautiful.

 Then after a stop at Walmart for groceries we headed to the other side of the island for the Bellows Air Force Base where we reserved a 2 bedroom bungalow right on the beach.  Ah peace and quiet for at least two days.  We still don't have any accommodations lined up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday yet.  It is going to be an adventure.  But  thank the Lord that we had not "disasters" today.  Except for my aching back.  But tomorrow is another day!

Our Anniversaries Trip - Forty-two years and finally doing something special. Days 1 and 2

Forty-two years and finally doing something special.

Monday 9/23/13
We arrived at Travis Air Force Base at 8:30 pm and checked in at the passenger terminal.  For some reason they did not have us preregistered even though we did preregister on August 1th.  But no problem, since we had our original email we got signed up with the August 1th priority.  Stan and Stephanie Broder arrived a few minutes later and they had to get registered also.  We then checked in at the Westwin Inn, which is a very fine hotel.  We got a very nice two bedroom suite.  The suite was actually a converted two bedroom apartment.  We all got to sleep around 11:00 pm.

Tuesday 9/24/13
Woke up at 5:30 am and made our way to the passenger terminal for a 6:45am check-in and roll call.

 Our names were called and we made it on the first flight...so we thought.  We got our bags checked-in and received our boarding passes and were told we will be flying on a C5 Galaxy.  A C5 is the largest American plane and it has 73 passenger seats that face backwards in the the top of the plane.  After waiting for over an hour we were advised that our flight just got cancelled.  No worries, they have two other planes they can put us on but we all had to retrieve our checked baggage and check in for the new planes.  Another two hours later we were all checked in and boarded a bus for the 10 minute ride to our new plane which was a C17.  This plane has 55 seats.  All were jump seats that are mounted to the sides and face inward.   At 10:15 we boarded on the plane and there was plenty of room.

 

This plane was so big that our entire truck and 5th wheel trailer would fit inside two times.

Our private tour guides,,,Stan and Stephanie Broder

Photo taken and center point looking forward.

 Oh were we excited.  Then we were advised of a maintenance issue and we will be delayed.  So we sat in the plane for over an hour when we were told that the bus is coming to return us to the terminal while they trouble shoot the problem.  It is sure true what they say that taking these military Space Available flights is an adventure.  After another 45 minutes they fixed the "minor" problem.  At  12:15 engines started.  12:30 taxiing out.  12:36 airborne to Hickam AFB .  12:40 getting air sick.  What was I thinking?   Did I forget that I was either air sick or sea sick for most of my 22 year coast Guard career?  No problem, I’ll just go sit by a window and then I will be fine.  Wait a minute....where are the windows?  There aren’t any windows on these cargo planes except for a small window on the doors. So, there I stood in the back of the plane looking out a small 8" diameter window in the freezing cold (The heaters didn’t heat the back end of the plane).  Well I managed to keep my composure and didn’t have to use a “sickness bag.”  We arrived safely in Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.  We can hardly believe it...We are in Hawaii1  Happy anniversaries to us!

Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii

Once off the plane we took a bus to the terminal and collected our bags, got a taxi, rented a car, drove to the Navy Lodge, got our rooms for the night, freshened up, went to the Navy Exchange food court and had dinner, drove back to the hotel to relax for the night.  Ah, peace and quiet.  "Hmmmm, I think I will get out my lap top computer and update the blog for the day," I said to myself.  “Dayle, where did you put my computer bag?”  “I haven’t touched it,” she replied.  We again looked around the room.  “Ah, it must be in Stan and Stephanie’s room.”  I called, “No, we don’t have it,” Stan said.  Now I am beginning to panic.  This is the lap top that Walt gave me when we were last in Lake Havasu. I ran down to our rental car and it wasn’t there.  I must have left it in the taxi!  I called Stan to get the phone number for the taxi cab, and Stan said that he distinctly remembers handing it to me when we got out of the cab.  So then I must have left it at Thrifty Car Rental.  I again ran down to the car to get the phone number to call Thrifty.  The only number is an 800 number for headquarters in Iowa and they weren’t any help.  They could not even connect me to the local agency.  I called Stan again and together we drove back to Thrifty praying all the way.  Once there the manager obviously noticed a panicked look on my face and asked me if I lost something.  I said, “Yes,” and he said, “A lap top computer in a black bag?”  Yay!  They had it.  Whew, “Thank you, Lord!”

Once back at the Navy Lodge tired and weary, ready for a good night’s sleep.  All showered and ready for bed, lights out.  What's that noise???....A rapid knocking coming from the kitchenette area.  Lights on to investigate.  The noise is coming from inside the refrigerator.  Opened the freezer and discovered some plastic cover was loose so I shoved a towel in it to silence the noise and it worked.  Back it bed, lights out again.  Time now is about 11:00pm Hawaii time but for us it was 2:00am.  There is a three hour time difference out here.

You know how in hotel rooms they have those in the wall mounted individual air conditioning units?  Well our room had one and it came on and it was loud.  So I shut it off and opened the window for some cool fresh air.  At 12:30am I awoke in a pool of sweat and a hot and humid room.  It had begun to sprinkle outside making things very humid.  So, closed the window, turned on the loud air conditioner unit.  I am sure that I got a little sleep.  But at 4:30am I began updating this blog.  I cant wait to see what fun we will have today in beautiful Hawaii.  It’s now 6:01am and the hotel is serving breakfast.  See ya later!  

Taking a rest with our kids in Port Angeles

On August 26th we left Fir Point Bible Camp and headed north to stay with our son and his family in Port Angeles, Washington.    We stopped in Vancouver, Washington at the home of our friends Alva and Earlene Goossen.  We met them at Bethany Bible Church in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.  Alva recently retired from the pastorate and has recently written a book titled "Who is God."  After a lovely evening we continued north and arrived at Jason and Shelli's beautiful new home in Port Angeles on the 27th.

Our time here has been wonderful and we always have such a great time.  I was able to take my fifteen year old grandson, Asher, to a Seattle Mariners baseball game.  Dayle has had much needed rest.  Although she does enjoy working around the house and yard. The weather here has been perfect for the last three weeks and we have enjoyed the beauty of God's creation.  I have been able to get in much bike riding which has been extremely therapeutic for my knee which is about 90% better and getting stronger every day.

This Wednesday we head south to Sacramento, California.  My dear sister-in-law will be flying in to spend a few days with Stephen and Neeley where she will be meeting Jack (her great nephew) for the first time and we will all be there together.

Then on September 23rd we will begin our "Anniversaries Trip to Hawaii."  This will be the first time we have done anything special in all of our 42 anniversaries.  So this is our trip for all of them. We will be going with our good friends, Stan and Stephanie Broder.  We will be taking a military flight out of Travis Air Force Base and we will be staying on the military bases in Hawaii.  Stan is also  retired military which will save us all lots of money.

We hope to return on or before October 5th.  Then on October 6th we hope to attend our IFCA regional conference in Vancouver, Washington.  We then plan to be in Lake Havasu City, Arizona by the end of October.  Once back in Lake Havasu City we will get Dayle's knee surgery scheduled to be done by the same doctor that did my knee.

When I first started this post we were still in Port Angeles, WA.  But now, four days later, we are in Sacramento at Stephen and Neeley's home.  On our trip south we stopped and spent a few hours with our friends Mike and Marilyn Cusson in Salem, Oregon.  Mike was my best Coast Guard buddy in the early 1970's.  Mike and I were stationed together at the Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles.  We had a lot of fun reminiscing.

Now

Then (1974)

In a few minutes Dayle and Neeley will go pick up Ellen (Dayle's sister) from the airport.

Upcoming ministry:

1. November 12, 2013  Only Hope Prison Ministries Chaplain's Academy in Pomona, CA.  I will be speaking on the subject of working with ccorrectional authorities.
2. May 2-4, 2014   Independent Bible Church, Port Angeles, WA.  I will be the speaker for the retreat and the theme will be "Man Up. 

Please continue to pray with us for future ministry opportunities.  We really miss serving steadily in a local church.  Also pray for safety as we travel.

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

This past month has been one of the busiest and most tiring months that we ever had.  When we were here at Fir Point last year we worked many hard and long days.  But this year was different.  This year there was a sense of urgency.  Last year we arrived at camp the first of May and had two months to get the camp ready for campers.  This year due to my knee surgery we did not get here until June and we had only two weeks to get things ready.  We put in some very long days.  We have done so many projects around the campus that we had to write them down in order to remember what we have done.

Some of the major projects were:
1. Install lighting along the path to the fireside area.  Here we had to trench 150 feet for the underground wire; dig four post holes; and install the fixtures; and tap into the main power supply for the area.

Newly installed pathway lights

2.  We also had to bring power to the newly  installed building (the one from my previous blog  post).  We trenched 30 feet to the neighboring  cabin and ran a 50 amp circuit to the new  building.

The "Hidden" Cross with back lights

3.  Repair and organize the chapel.  In the chapel  we had to replace several floor panels that were  rotted.  Dayle applied her cleaning skills to the  entire building.  The projector that was used for  Power Point presentations had died so two 51"  flat panel TV screens were purchased and  installed.  Once installed all the overhead  paraphernalia was removed.  We removed the  projector, the beam that was installed for the projector, and the  large screen.  This then exposed a large and beautiful cross that  was built into the wall with colored glass.  When the sun shines  on the cross it is absolutely beautiful...and no one knew it was  there!  I then had the idea to install back lights to light up the  cross at night.

Shelley with AJ in chapel time

4.  We have been busy raking, cleaning, and beautifying the  grounds.  We have created a burn pile approx 45' long and 6' high  of branches, leaves and other  burnable material and we are not done yet.

The highlight of our time here has been the actual Fir Point camps.  Although we didn’t have much to do with the campers for the junior and senior high camps it is such a joy to see the Lord working.  There were many professions of faith, commitments, and even some baptisms.  But the best week was the 5th and 6th grade camp because I was the “missionary speaker” and we had lots of interaction with the campers.  I spoke to the kids about being a missionary and that every Christian is a missionary for Christ.  Our grandson “AJ” was able to attend the camp for the week.

I was also asked to provide the music for Family Camp.  Family camp was quite a challenge because of the age spread.  But I did some older hymns and older contemporary songs.  The people really liked it.  But when I did “I’ll Fly Away” and “Life’s Railway to Heaven” the people applauded.  Now that has never happened to me before.  The speaker liked the railroad song so much that he wanted me to do it after his message on Saturday night.  Then he asked me to come to his church which is near Sacramento and play when I am in the area.  I told him we will be there in October.

We were looking forward to the next week of camp which was to start Monday, July 29th.  But God obviously had some other plans.  On Friday night we had a violent thunder storm with many lightning strikes in the area which started 54 fires.  The largest fire now called the Douglas Complex Fire threatened the city of Glendale.

A shot from the center of town.

So far the fire continues to head south from us and there is no danger of fire but the smoke is extremely thick especially in the mornings. The air quality is so bad that we will wear a mask when necessary which we received from the Red Cross which is set up in the elementary school. 

The Glendale High School is the actual fire base and it is literally a tent city with over 2000 firefighters scattered about.  All totaled there are 2337 firefighters here from all over the country  battling this huge fire which, as of this post, is

Tent City at the Glendale H.S.

32,535+ acres.  Needless to say it has been quite exciting around here.

Some of the many fire fighter's vehicles.  Notice the smoke.

  On Saturday afternoon the Forest Service rolled into camp and recommended that we close the camp and evacuate all non essential personnel by the end of Sunday.  The recommendation was because the fire was completely out of control and could turn in our direction.  We were only 3 ½ miles from the flames.  And even if the flames do not come our direction we will be experiencing unhealthy air due to thick smoke.  We took their advice and cancelled all camps until further notice.  This would mean a huge financial loss for the camp.  But it was something that had to be done for the safety of our campers.  Then a couple of days later the Forest Service returned and asked if they could use our camp for their firefighters to sleep and they will pay us.  Now we are housing the night crews.  Today we had 170 men and women sleeping in almost every cabin and building.  Wherever they can find a cool quiet place they were sleeping.  Of course this means that we cannot do any outside work that makes any noise.  So now as we make our way around the camp we are walking and whispering to each other so as to not disturb our fire fighting heroes.

 The music leaders for this week was two guys from nearby Medford.  Bryce was the singer/guitarist and his brother-in-law Trevor was the drummer.  These two were really good.  They have a whole band but the others could not get away for the week.  When they arrived to set up in the chapel I was in there trying out my newly acquired bass guitar and they asked me to accompany them all week.  I had a blast playing with them.

My Dayle working hard.  Look at those biceps! 

In our last post I mentioned that Dayle needed surgery for her knee.  We decided to wait to return to Lake Havasu to have it done by the same doctor that did my knee.  But her knee is not bothering her that much and she continues to work all day long, everyday. The only set back she had was when she stepped on a rake and it hit her in the face give her quite a shiner.  Yes, she stepped on a rake just like in the cartoons.  I wanted to put a picture of her black eye but she would not allow it.

We began attending the nearby Baptist church and have become friends with the pastor and his wife.  I will be preaching for him next Sunday (August 11th). 

Please continue to pray for Fir Point Bible Camp and for some upcoming decisions that they have to make.  Also please pray for our continued ministry and future ministry opportunities and for clear direction for us.  Dayle continues to feel great although here fingers hurt sometimes due to the osteoarthritis.  But that doesn’t ever slow her down.  Please pray for our house in Klamath Falls to sell before April 15th.  If our tenant doesn’t purchase it we will have to move back in and make it our primary residence once again so we can avoid capital gains taxes when it does sell.  We will still be living in our 5th wheel as we travel, but the house will be our legal residence for tax purposes.  That means no tenant and a loss of income.

God bless......Shelley and Dayle