Elder and Sister Martin Micronesia and India Missions: The Storm Miracle

It was Tuesday evening and the first two couples were supposed to arrive from the outer island of Pohnpei. We were tracking their flight and noticed some strange delay notices posted by United. The first one that caught my eye was the following:

Really?...Snow and Ice Removal Difficulties in 89 degree weather?

Then another reason popped up. Traffic control conditions? There's only one plane per day at this airport.

We finally noticed that the plane arrived in Chuuk, but then another reason for the delay came on.

You never know what to expect with plane travel in Micronesia. Last week at the Chuuk airport, they ran out of gas, and the week before their gas pump broke down. Sometimes, they just fly over and bypass Chuuk for various reasons like this.

We noticed several storms brewing out in the pacific. Typhoon Chan-Hom was forecasted to hit Guam last Saturday night. But that's when many Senior Couples and most of the young missionaries were scheduled to fly in for two different events/conferences. If they arrived before the typhoon hit, everyone would have to stay in their apartments or hotels until it passed.

Many began to pray that the storm would not cancel both events.

Then the storm did a strange thing that I haven't seen before. It first picked up to typhoon strength, but then started to stall and slow down out in the ocean. The typhoon became a tropical storm and then changed directions slightly north. The storm passed by and now has gained typhoon strength on its way to Okinawa and Taiwan area.

Nothing was canceled.

We wondered what just happened.

In the Mission Leadership Council meeting on Sunday with the Zone Leaders, President Zarbock said we had just witnessed a miracle with the typhoon. He was right...and the conferences went as planned.

Senior Couples arriving from the outer islands. Enjoying dinners with them. They are all wonderful people to associate with.

Furstenaus, us, Thomases, Guercios and Hedgpeths at Papa's Restaurant

You may notice I'm wearing a baseball cap. Well, it's to hold a gauze patch on the back of my head for about a week. I fell backwards on the asphalt in the church parking lot playing a little volleyball. Getting better every day.