Agat Bay Adventure

Guam is in the upper left-hand corner.

In 1993, while serving in the Branch Presidency in the Talisay Branch on Guam, I worked it out so that our quorum members could go on a fishing trip on one of the dive boats that I captained. It was a most memorable outing. I had heard that the Yellow-fin Tuna run was on so we loaded up our gear and headed out for an afternoon of fishing.

We had two non-member investigators along from the Islands of Chuuk. Nousy Harry (with the multi-colored hat on) and Tri-car (second from the right). We headed out of Apra Harbor and hooked around to the left to Agat Bay.

Agat Bay is 1/3 the way up on the left side.

In the tropics you troll by bouncing your lure across the top of the water. As the sun went down, we found ourselves in the middle of a Yellow-fin boil. Within minutes we had hooked into the first Yellow-fin. I immediately cut the engines and drifted to a stop. We yanked the first one out and then made a terrible mistake. We started the engines to start trolling again.

Once we did the boil stopped and in the dark we never located it again. We should have just cast out from the boat. But not having casting poles it was impossible to cast with any distance. So. . . . one nice yellow-fin was our catch.

One interesting story. . . . . . . . after we caught the yellow-fin tuna, we put it in a cooler with ice to keep it cold and fresh. It doesn't take long in the tropical heat to spoil a catch. As I was motoring around looking for another boil, I heard the cooler open and then some fidgeting. I turned around to look and noticed the the inside of the cooler was blood red and that Nousy Harry was eating something. I asked him what we was doing and he told me that it was the custom in the Chuuk Islands to eat the heart of the first fish caught for good luck. The reason the cooler was full of blood was because he had hooked his finger down through the gills and into the internal organs and had pulled the heart out and popped it in his mouth and chewed it up and swallowed it. He said that that was a delicacy in Chuuk.

One more story . . . . . one of the first times I went out on a boat dive on Guam we were trolling and caught a fish called a Rainbow Runner on the way to the dive site. We were on the dive boat Chamorita.

A Rainbow Runner

The Chamorita was loaded with Japanese Scuba Divers. Within minutes of the Rainbow Runner being pulled on deck it was filleted and eaten raw by all on board. The funny thing is that right before it was pulled on board a shark bit the back half of the Runner off. Whoa!!!

That experience was my first taste of Wasabi and Soy Sauce as a condiment for raw fish. I have been hooked on it ever since.

The Snares of the Adversary

They could not be taken in their snares.

Alma 55:31

In October of 1993, when we were living in Guam, I took Trevor on a 10 year old adventure. We flew down to Denpasar, Bali,Indonesia where we climbed the volcano, Gunung Agung. We then flew from Denpasar to Surabaya, Java, Indonesia on our way to Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia. In Makassar, we boarded our transport that took us north on a 10 hour journey to Torajaland in central Sulawesi. After a day of preparation for our raft trip, we boarded a 1966 vintage Land Rover and headed for the Sadan River.

The road from Toraja to the Sadan River was extremely rugged. The Land Rover rattled from every part. The driver told us that when a part broke, it had to be made in a machine shop because of the remoteness. I took the next photo from the front seat of the Land Rover. We had to cross some very primitive looking bridges. They would make us get out of the vehicle in case it went over the side. Some were much wider and deeper than the photo.

We finally arrived at a spot about a mile above the river where we unloaded the raft and supplies. Our guides paid locals to carry the loads down to the river.

In this photo you can see Trevor in the center with the blue shirt and green hat. The raft carriers are at the center top. We finally arrived at the river with lots of locals kids there to see the American boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

By this time it was getting late in the day so we headed to our hut where we would be spending the night and readied for dinner. Our guides paid local women to cook our dinner. They caught a wild chicken out in the jungle and cooked it up for us.

After dinner, we settled in for the night in our jungle bungalow. Late in the night I could hear someone way out in the jungle playing a bamboo flute. It was eerie but beautiful.

In the morning we got up early and headed down the river. Over the next couple of days we had a great time and some neat experiences. In some areas the river was very rough. In others it was calm. One experience was when we decided to stop in at a local village. As we drifted up to the bank I saw a wild bird fly in to a small tree and get caught in a snare. Immediately a small girl came running down out of the jungle and took the bird out of the snare. In the next photo you can see the girl with the bird in her right hand.

It was fabulous the way that young girl caught that bird. In Boy Scouts I experimented with snares and never caught anything. I was amazed at the skill the young girl showed in catching the bird. That night, I told our guide about the girl and the snare. He wandered off into the jungle and then returned in a few minutes with the materials to build a snare. Within minutes he had constructed a working snare.

The bird and the snare remind me of Proverbs 7:23. . . . . as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knowing not that it is for his life.

In Alma 12:6, we read about what Alma said about the lying and craftiness of Zeezrom. . . . . . . . And behold, I say unto you all that this was a snare of the adversary, which he had laid to catch this people, that he might bring you into subjection unto him, that he might encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity.

Always remember that snares are constructed to be hard to see so that they will nurture a false sense of security. The snare is baited to attract animals to it. The adversary uses this same process. He uses subtle craftiness to attract us into the snare until we are caught and then lose our ability to be in control of our lives. Alcohol, tobacco, pornography, and drug addictions are a good example.

Remember the story about the African Frogs, who, when the water in the pan that they are soaking in is turned up slow enough, will never realize that they are being cooked. If the water temperature changes quick enough, they will get uncomfortable and jump out of the pan. But if turned up subtly, they will allow themselves to be COOKED ALIVE!

May we always be observant to the subtle snares of the adversary and not be easily caught like the little bird along the banks of the Sadan River by the cute little Indonesian girl is my prayer. . . . .

A rough section along the Sadan River. Notice the guides black hat blowing off of his head as we head down a rough section of the river.

A final photo with our guides and some odd guy wearing a blue hard helmet as we leave the river. Trevor is wet because he jumped into the river the final few hundred yards of our river run. The guide with the yellow shirt was Joseph, and the other was Enos. Torajaland's religion was Pagan Christian. They believe in Christ but also in their ancient pagan ways. Thanks Trevor for the raft trip of a life time and the chance to enjoy His wonders of the deep.

This is the company that we rafted with in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

This is a report of our trip by Trevor. He was 10 years old.

Right click for easier reading.

Brightly beams our Fathers mercy, from His lighthouse evermore. . . . .

This is a picture that Sierra drew for me on October 28, 2007. I love this drawing because of its simplicity. Sierra drew it for me because she knew that I liked lighthouses. This picture always reminds me of our responsibility to "let our lights shine". Sierra was born in Guam but we moved to Alaska when she was 1 year old. 

Here is a photo of Sierra playing in the sand at Sandy Beach in Sitka, Alaska when she was one or two years old.

I took a photo of each of my kids looking for whales with binoculars. Sierra was so young that she had a hard time even holding them up to her eyes.

This is a photo of my beautiful 14 year old Sierra on board the Desert Princess.

It was taken in the fall of 2008.

Sierra has always been a bright beacon to all those she is around.

A Dad could not ask for a nicer, smarter, more beautiful Daughter.

I Love You!

Typhoon Brian and Bryan

 (This story was written in October of 1996.) 

From 1989 to 1995 our family lived in Guam in the Marianna Islands. I worked in the recreational diving business as a dive guide, instructor, and dive boat captain. In October 1992 I was contracted to help deliver a 110 foot yacht from Guam to Japan. The "Sounds Of Pacific" was a state-of-the-art, water jet powered, ocean going yacht that had been used as a dinner cruise vessel in Guam. It was an exciting opportunity but had one drawback. We were in the midst of the typhoon season. Guam lies very close to an area near the equator called the tropical convergence zone, where the largest number of tropical storms on the earth are born. Also, we had also had a super-typhoon plow right over the top of Guam two months earlier that had left a trail of destruction and power outages for three weeks.

Denalee with Me before I embarked on my journey.

After embarking on our journey we spent the first night in Saipan where we waited an entire day for tropical storms to move away from our intended route to Japan. Before we left Saipan the next day, I phoned Denalee back on Guam to say goodbye realizing that it might be the last time that I would be able to contact her until we reached Japan. It was then that she told me that Typhoon Brian was heading straight for Guam! Immediately a sickening lump formed in my stomach. Thus far our family had made it through 7 typhoons. This one, my wife and son and daughter would have to brave alone. After discussing safety precautions with my wife,  we gave our final good-byes until I would contact her again from Japan. Her voice quivered as we said "I love you" to each other. Hanging up the phone was heart-achingly difficult. After hanging up I paced nervously for a few minutes as I realized I would not be there to protect them in their time of need. We checked the weather fax hourly and eventually we decided to make our move north. I knew that the quicker we departed, the quicker I would be able to contact her and find out their situation. Tropical days far out to sea and long dark starry nights  gave me plenty of time to ponder our family's predicament. 

I was constantly offering prayers in their behalf as we made our way steadily toward Japan.

Several days later we reached the Bonin Islands of Japan where we would fuel and take on supplies. This was the area where President George Bush was shot down during World War II and miraculously rescued by a submarine with only moments to spare.

The small village on Chichi-jima island in the Bonin Island chain of Japan.

It was a quaint little Japanese village on a small island half way between Tokyo and Guam. After tending to my duties, I took off in a flash to find the islands phone company. My heart sank at first when they told me they couldn't get through. Then, finally, I reached her! I was shaking with anticipation to hear about their situation. As she told me that Typhoon Brian had dissipated right as it reached Guam, I close my eyes and let out a silent prayer of relief. I knew that our Heavenly Father had protected and blessed our family.

The beautiful islands of the Bonin Island Chain.

The trip on to Japan was the roughest part of our voyage because of stormy seas, but knowing my family was safe made the passage enjoyable. Our port-of-call was inside of the Japan inland sea where I had served my mission. It was great to see my mission area again, especially from the ocean side. 

Brad at the helm of the Sounds Of Pacific somewhere between Guam and Chichi-jima.

A week or so later, I was on a jet back to Guam and to my family.

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In March of 1993, our family was enrolled as a foster home with social services on Guam. At work one day I got a call from my wife who told me that social services had called and had a five week old island boy for us who not only needed foster care but was also adoptable. Denalee had already picked him up and he was very cute.  In only a short time we realized that this little boy was precious to us and we told our social worker that we were very interested in adopting him. She told us that she would get the paper work in order, but as foster parents we should not get too attached. After 8 months we had bonded with him and loved him like our own child.  At last social services began the adoption procedure. One day while talking to our social worker, she told us that she was very sorry but that we had not been chosen as one of the possible adoption families. We were devastated! Our hearts hurt from the very deepest abyss. How could we live without this little boy who had become such an important part of our family. For a time, the darkest storms encircled us. We spent every minute of every day pleading in our hearts for divine intervention. Then, finally after a few months of nail biting anticipation, and the help of a compassionate non-member attorney, we were called into the social workers office.  As we waited in the empty office, our hearts  thumped with anticipation. The social worker walked into the room and after a few uneasy minutes of small talk she said, "the family that has been chosen to be his adopted family is. . . . . . . your family"!   My wife and I burst into tears of joy and gratitude. We knew again that Heavenly Father had heard our prayers.

Bryan was sealed to our family in the Hawaii Temple  on February 21, 1995.

Bryan, the day of his sealing at the Hawaii Temple.

After all the dark skies, storms, and then the peaceful calm, blue skies of our safe delivery from typhoons and the adoption of our sweet little boy, is it any wonder that we named him BRYAN!               I am so amazed and mystified by His wonders in the deep.

 We love you, Bryan!

Elder Cha-pu-maan outside of Kure, Japan in 1978.

This is where the two largest battleships ever built were constructed;

the YAMATO and the MUSASHI.

My mission was another source for my love of the sea.

A photo of the YAMATO during sea trials.

The last two items are from Wikipedia.