David Tours Guam Bethel

Aaron had the day off on Monday (Labor Day).

We invited David to tour Guam Bethel with us.

Our tour begins in the lobby. Suzie Nutter was our informative tour guide—and quite lovely with her accent (Irish, I think). The painting is a rendering of the islands of Micronesia which when traveled across is the same distance, west to east, as the continental United States. Of course, it is mostly water. Behind Suzie is a world map with pegs that light up where there are Bethel branches. It also shows the congregations of Micronesia.

This is the dining room. Aaron and I enjoyed meals here for two weeks when we first arrived in Guam (a year ago). David was excited because we were about to enjoy cookies, fresh from the oven (left). Tabitha and Ken (right) are on the kitchen staff. Ken is the youngest member of the Bethel family. Tabitha is Debbie Gump's sister (from previous posts). 

Jason is the kitchen overseer. His wife, Mickey, is one of the blonds from "All Blonds Look Alike". They are a fun couple that we really need to get to know better!

Also, joining us on our tour, were the Valcarcels—

one of the couples here that claim us as their kids.

Next stop on our tour was laundry. Every member of the Bethel family is assigned a number for laundry. The Daniels girls are commuter bethelites who work in laundry. There are two very large washers and dryers that are capable of processing all the sheets, towels, clothing and personal items of the family. Side note: The parents of the Daniels girls are currently in Kosrae pouring the roof for the new Kingdom Hall. They are Construction Servants who travel from construction site to construction site, island to island, remaining until the job is done and then moving onto the next. Their son (the girls' brother) is at one of the New York Bethel homes. 

This building is known as the Ponderosa (named by the previous owners). The second floor is guest rooms for the Bethel family and the first floor is offices and translation. 

This is Laurie Hertz. She works in composition. She takes translated text and fits it to the 32-page layout of The Watchtower magazine, around photos, illustrations and heading blocks. To accomplish this, Laurie alters the font size and spacing between letters, words and lines of text. This can be a difficult process since the copy can be very wordy in other languages. For example: the Watchtower in English says: Is the End Near? BUT in Chuukese the words are: Ewe Sopowoloon A Kkanoto. This is not even the longest title but you get the idea. All the magazines on the desk are in different languages spoken in the Micronesia. In many cases, The Watchtower is the ONLY publication in their language. For one of the islands, the quantity printed is only 50. This really makes you appreciate Jehovah God's loving care for the spiritual needs of people—on an individual basis. 

Side note: I noticed in Our Kingdom Ministry for October 2010 this announcement: "We are happy to announce that the Marshallese translation team is now operating from their new office in Woja, Marshall Islands." Previously, the team was working out of an office in Hawaii. You can imagine the benefit of being immersed in an environment where the language is actually spoken. Members of the team are also happy to be back home, I'm sure.

This is an enlarged print of an article in the Awake! about Yapese money. The stone below is a piece of money from Yap. 

An International Volunteer who has come from California to build tables and lecterns for Kingdom Halls throughout Micronesia.

This is the end of the tour and nobody wants to leave—not even David (in back) who works nights and needs to get to sleep.