One More Day

It is time for bed here as everyone on the east coast is starting their day. Tomorrow is my last day on island as I will fly out first thing on Thursday morning.

Today I went to Biblestudy, had lunch with my friend Terry, and then ran errands most of the afternoon getting last minute things needed to take home with me. Tonight I have been packing and cleaning and will do more of the same most of the day tomorrow.

I hope to spend time tomorrow evening with friends here hanging out.

Then in the middle of the night Harold Gorges, director of Liebenzell Micronesia, Professor extraorinaire, neighbor, and friend will take Stephen Bradley (another Liebenzell friend) and myself to the airport where I will spend over 24 making my way back to good old Pennsylvania.

I am looking forward to seeing and spending time with as many of you as I can.

Adventures with Tanja

Pic 1 - Sireana the Mermaid

Pic 2 - Talifak Bridge - part of a waterway system set up during the Spanish occupation of the Island. Only a couple remain.

Pic 3 - Tanja with her mango ice cream which we got when we went to the 1st Annual Mango Festival in the village of Agat.

Pic 4 & 5 Scenes from the Mango Festival.

Tanja is the daughter of Liebenzell Missionaries, Hanalore and Harold Gorges. They are from Germany. She is 16 years old and she is a lot of fun. Yesterday afternoon I talked her into joining me to see some sites pictured above and going to the 1st Annual (Listen I didn't name it so don't argue with me about how it can not be the 1st Annual) Mango Festival. It wasn't very exciting but we did get free Mango ice cream which was very tasty.

Counting Down

As I finish up the last couple weeks before I go home I am trying to make the most of every opportunity..... Although I still have been working in helping clean up the dorms - I have also been trying to spend time with people and do some fun things that I haven't had time to do during the semester.

I have been to the beach several times. Once with the Farnsworths and another time with Peter, Tanja, Mac and Tobias. I have been to the Dededo Flea Market ( A big thing around here on a Saturday Morning.) Tonight we had a nice dinner with the faculty and staff who are still here. And we have had several game nights - the last 2 of which were playing Mexican Train (Dominos).

Strange Silence

Now that the semester is over. Graduation is finished. Most of the students are gone, except for a few working on the maintenance crew this summer. Some of the faculty and staff have left for state side travel and deputation work. All Liebenzell USA missionaries are required to be in Schooley's Mountain this June for a mission's conference which is held every four years. The campus has turned basically quiet.

There are a few of us staffer's here that live on campus. The office is open. Brad and Joshua are working on configuring the new computers for our distant education grant. I have been trying to clean and dig myself out of mountains of clutter which have accumulated mostly from class.

This week maintenance should resume a more regular schedule. I will also be helping cleaning up some of the remaining dorm work and repaint the logo on the middle of the court. Also I try to enjoy some fun times with the remaining people.

This last two weeks is completely flying. I wish it would slow down a bit although I am also looking forward to getting home and seeing all my friends and family. I am not looking forward to the longest day in my life - LITERALLY. I will be May 31st for over 24hrs since I will be travelling backward in time on this flight.

Pomp and Circumstance - Micronesian Style

Today was graduation. It really was a nice occasion. If you are wondering about the angle of some of these photos - I actually processed with the faculty and we sat behind the podium. (Not what I thought he meant when he said we would sit up front). The ceremony itself is somewhat typical. We had a speaker. There was music. The graduates were awarded their diplomas. The Valedictorian, Peter, spoke. Then apparently the Micronesian tradition is the bury the graduates in leis. Some were more creative than others as you can see some brought an inter tube as a lei. It was a very nice but exhausting day.

Assistant Dean of Mean????

This is Ned Farnsworth with his daughter Amelia. Ned finally entered the world of blog over spring break. He seems to be enjoying himself. Please be warned that blogging can be contagious.

Anyway the other day he added some entries and suggested that I check them out. I went into hysterics when I read a typo on his page in which he called himself the assistant "Dean of Mean" instead of the "Dean of Men". I think it is more likely that I would be the "Dean of Mean" than Ned who works diligently to make sure the Men have the best of care while balancing his family and teaching responsibilities.

Baccalaureate

It turned out to be a nice evening for Baccalaureate. Everybody was in their dress island or at least many of the people. However like a lot of things in the Islands, we got a late start.

There was some "special" music by the faculty/staff and students. As far as the faculty and staff go - most of us were surprised that we were going to sing but we pulled a Hymn together at the last minute. Dr. William Wood, one of our faculty, spoke and gave the message. The Saluatorian, May Vigil (another staff member), gave her address to the students. There was communion and prayers for the graduates. Overall it was a nice night except it was pretty dark at the end due to the late start. A reception of finger foods followed the service.

Joel and Amelia

My neighbors Joel and Amelia are growing every day. They bring joy to my life. I enjoy being silly with them and playing with them when ever I can sneak through the "secret door" for a few minutes.

PIBC or Narnia?

One of the English classes studied the Narnia book series in their class this semester. At the end of the semester they were broken into small groups to present different books to the class. These two were on their way to practice a skit for their group to illustrate the point of one of the books.

PeeVee

This is an updated picture of PeeVee. He is growing very fast. Not sure who will watch him this summer but that is something I am going to have to figure out soon. As my Dad pointed out when I talked to him - Only 18 days until I am back in PA.

PeeVee is going to be very sad when I am gone. He cries even when I am gone for only a few minutes. When I come back he does his best Kangaroo imitation.

Tobias or Not Tobias

Tobias is our German volunteer. He got here a couple of weeks ago and will be here until July 4th when he will receive his independence. :o)

He is 19 and he lives in the dorm with the students. He will be helping Peter, Scooter, and Mac with the summer maintenance projects.

Liebenzell Germany seems to be good at recruiting and sending short term volunteers. Tobias is about our 5th volunteer this school year. Any of you reading this are welcome to join us short term we can usually find something that needs to be done that we can use help with. You don't even have to be German. :o)

Farewell Dinner Pictures

From one Island to Another

This is my friend Joyce and two of our graduates. My days off this semester were often filled with work and/or sickness. So quite frequently - it wasn't really a day off. A couple of weeks ago, Joyce, Angelika, Jayleen, and I decided to go out to eat at Jamacian Grill on my day off . It is one of the popular eating spots on the Island. In fact, it is so popular there are two locations. Afterwards we went to a local hotel and caught glimpses of their fire dancing show from the pool. It was a nice break with some "Serious Food". I am going to miss Angelika and Jayleen - they are great women.

Happy Mother's Day

This is my Mom.

Here are some things that I love about her.

She is an excellent back scratcher.

She can get any stain out.

She can really organize a good party.

She made me snickerdoodles soaked in milk when I got my tonsels out.

For that matter, she always made me feel better when I was sick. My roommates and I used to refer to her as "Nurse Betty" because she always new what was best for what ailed you.

She is very generous and giving.

She married well. :o)

She loves me even when I am grumpy.

She supports me in whatever I do.

She likes to make my birthday special.

Look how cute she is. who wouldn't love her?

Unfortunately I won't get to see her ON Mother's Day but I am sure she is glad that is less than a month until I come "home".

Happy Mother's Day to all of you that are celebrating the day, I hope you feel appreciated and special.

Farewell Party

Last night the student council hosted a dinner to say goodbye to all the graduating seniors. It was a night of good food, skits, and singing. It was a beautiful night to be together.

Tonight will be our Baccalaurette service. It is basically a church service thanking God for the seniors and honoring them. It will happen at 5pm on our basketball court. A lot of people are now outside preparing and soon I will have to get ready myself.

Fortunately Sunday will be more low key and will be more of a day of rest.

Monday we will have our farewell luncheon as a staff and faculty where we will celebrate the graduation of two among us - May and Peter. And recognize and thank Peter as he will be leaving PIBC after 5 years. Peter works hard, selflessly, and generously with all that he is. The campus runs smoothly for the most part because of his tireless effort. Of course he also does all this with a good sense of humor. He will be missed by many.

The Fat Lady has Sung!!

Or at least almost for this semester. This past Thursday night was the final and I graded it before bed. Over all not as good as I had hoped since I thought they might have a better idea how I test and would have prepared differently.... yet some did extremely well including one student who blew me away by her vast improvement over her last performance.

One student needed my to pass my class to graduate - not a pressure that I enjoyed. After some high drama and last minute snafus, he was able to pull out a passing grade in my class. I was very thankful that I did not have to be the bearer of bad news and that he will graduate as planned.

Now that is over I am really glad and thankful that I had this opportunity to teach. Although at this point I will not be teaching in the Fall, I learned a lot from the students and the other faculty about teaching this semester. I have even begun to work on re-designing the class in my mind in little ways even though at this point I may not teach it again.

Bonus Questions

As I am making up the test this week, I have decided to put one of my bonus questions on my blog.

This question was on the midterm and many of you did not get it correct. So here it is again....

1. According to Freud, what are the three parts of personality? (4pt)
A. _______________ B. _______________ C. ___________________
Describe each part in your own words.

Don't fret though - nothing on the main part of the test will come from the old material.

Finals!

Can you believe it??? Starting tomorrow is finals week. My final exam (that is the one I am giving) is on Thursday night. This week I have a group of papers to grade and then my final exam to make up and grade. Next Tuesday (5/15) is graduation. We have 10 - 12 people graduating. Some with an AA in Biblical Studies and some with a BA in Biblical Studies. Two of those who are graduating are Staff - Peter, our mainentance supervisor, and May, our librarian assistant. Two of the students finished in Fall and are just waiting to walk in the ceremony.

Please pray for the students this week that they may remain focused and dedicated to their studies.

Summer Mission's Teams

This summer we will be having 3 seperate mission's team going out from PIBC.

The group pictured here is going to Thailand to Teach English As a Second Language.

There is another group which will also to Thailand and will be at a University and work with the Campus Crusade Staff there building relationships with the students and sharing their faith stories.

Finally but really the first group to go will be a group which will be going to the Marshall Islands (also in Micronesia). They will be performing and serving at a youth conference of about 5000 youth from the Marshall Islands who will be celebrating 150 of the church in the Marshalls.

"Mr Hottie" serving our Country in Kuwait

Aaron was shipped to Kuwait with his unit in the beginning of April. Since there he has shaved his head and grown a weird fuzzy thing on his lip. I informed him that his "Mr. Hottie" nickname was in dire jeopardy. Hollie, his wife, left at the beginning of this week for the states. She will visit her family and then begin graduate school classes this summer. Both Hollie and Aaron should be back by the end of the summer if all goes as planned.

There are more pictures of his experience in Kuwait if you check out Hollie and Aaron's blog.

As you read this maybe you want to take a moment and stop and pray for Aaron and all the men and women around the world who put their lives on the line in service for our country. Pray also for their families back home who miss them.

Distance Education

Last semester Brad worked very hard in editing and submitting a grant which would allow us to get the equiptment we need to enhance our distance learning capabilities at PIBC. It seemingly took forever to get it approved. But finally in the beginning of April, the first portion of money for the grant was received and in almost lightning fast speed, especially for Guam, the 88 computers were ordered and they arrived yesterday. Brad will be working with our part time IT guy this summer configuring these machines correctly for our use. This is great blessing for our school.

Where's Melissa?

The other week the prayer meeting was at the Boydstons. Brad's favorite color is "Shrek" green. Not thinking, I wore my "Shrek" green pants (A bargin from Ross that are very comfortable) that day and I blended into to the walls in their apartment.

You Never Know

Living at work is a different experience. The students really have access to you 24 hours a day. Seven days a week. You never know who is going to be at your door and what they will want or need. Even though the students have learned for the most part I am not an early morning person - Especially on Saturdays - This last Saturday morning, there was a loud knock on my door. One of the students was "bushcutting" the lawn (They don't mow on Guam.... not sure why.) and he found a kitten. He wanted me to take care of it. Since I adopted the stray puppy, maybe he thought I was interested in starting my own animal house???? Anyway the kitten was adorable so I took it to meet my neighbors kids. (Ned took the picture.) Since I just didn't think I could handle another animal - especially one with fleas..... I drove it to the animal shelter - GAIN (Guam Aninmals in Need) where hopefully they will get rid of the fleas and find it a nice loving family. Stray animals are a HUGE problem on Guam, especially Dogs. Stray Dogs are referred to as "Boonie Dogs" and they roam the island looking very nasty and some of them being quite mean. Several of our staff members were bitten by Boonie dogs this year.