Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year since I have been here we have been here at PIBC, the tradition has been to have a big Thanksgiving Dinner with staff and students. I have organized it for the last two years. Most of the staff and facilty bring food. Then I fill in the gaps with some of the regular food money. The students often help me cook. Here Percia and Myumi help with the Turkeys. We cooked and baked all Wednesday night until Thursday at noon.

Here is part of the spread before many people added their offerings.

Some of the staff with part of the decorating crew.

Leeman and Melaut help lead us in some songs.

Amelia and Marisol.

Enjoying yummy food and fellowship.

Business Lesson #1

It is important when opening a business and choosing a name that you might have others give you feedback.

High-Tech Devotions - It's a Small World After All

Last night Daisy's mom lead devotions. The one problem with that was that she is in California and we are in Guam. The other problem was an 18 hour time difference. However Daisy's mom got up at 3:30 am to share with us at 9:30PM. We used Skype video phone to connect and voila. We had a great devotion in which Patsy shared with us the importance of forgiveness in a Christian life.

The ladies also started the devotion by singing several songs for the devotion.

Spiritual Emphasis

One weekend during the Fall semester we host a "Spiritual Emphasis" Weekend. We try to get off campus and go camping for a couple days. There are not many places on island to go camping so this is a tricky thing. However this year, with Hollie and Aaron still here, we were able to go camping on Andersen Airforce Base. Each year has a theme and the theme this year was "Prayer". Sometimes we have one speaker but this year we had 3. Hedrick Kual, a graduate and a member of our master's program, spoke on why we pray and what keeps us from praying when we should. Ned Farnsworth spoke about how to pray and what to pray for. Hollie Schaub ended our teaching on the topic of spiritual warfare. Overall, except for the lack of rice (Most Micronesians don't go a single meal without rice - even breakfast), I believe everyone had a great time.

Leah and Joyce hanging out during breakfast.

The beautiful view from our campsite.

Lydia and Stella heading back from the very nice and clean restrooms. (A huge improvement over the last year.)

We also had some visitors during our weekend. These are baby wild boars. They were feeding them. Then two of our students actually caught one with their bare hands. Pretty impressive. However, they were asked to let him go since apparently hunting is only allowed on Monday thru Thursday.

Re-Joyce

The woman in the pink shirt is my friend Joyce. She is also the wife of Dave Owen, the president of PIBC. Dave has been gone for almost a month now to do work in the states. He has been visiting supporters of theirs, recruiting teachers and workers, and attending a conference of the school's accrediting agency, TRACS. Mean while Joyce is back at the ranch (figuratively) helping all of us with whatever she can. In this picture she is helping the students with their clean up day. She has hung shelves in my apartment. She has helped with transportation. She has worked in the Library. She has helped numerous students with their school work. And much, much, more. Boy if Dave were gone one more month, she might have the whole school and the island of Guam organized and more beautiful.

Even so we will be glad to have Dave back on November 21st.

Surviving Yap

Last season the television show Survivor was in Micronesia. Mostly they were on the islands of Palau but for one of the reward challenges they took a group to Yap to enjoy a cultural experience. We currently have 5 stduents from Yap. This is a clip from the episode where they went to YAP. I found it on YouTube. Enjoy.

Another Earth Moving Experience

Today we had the first Earthquake that I felt since I have been back on Guam. They are actually better than an alarm clock.

Magnitude 5.1 GUAM REGION
Sunday, November 02, 2008 at 05:33:57 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude
5.1
Date-Time
Sunday, November 02, 2008 at 05:33:57 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Sunday, November 02, 2008 at 03:33:57 PM local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
13.51N 144.99E
Depth
37.5 kilometers
Region
GUAM REGION
Distances
25 km (15 miles) E of HAGATNA, Guam75 km (45 miles) SSW of Rota, Northern Mariana Islands205 km (125 miles) SSW of SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands325 km (200 miles) SSW of Anatahan, Northern Mariana Islands
Location Uncertainty
Error estimate: horizontal +/- 7.2 km; depth +/- 9.9 km
Parameters
Nst=59, Nph=59, Dmin=15.6 km, Rmss=0.85 sec, Erho=7.2 km, Erzz=9.9 km, Gp=76.1 degrees
Source
USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Remarks
Felt (IV) at Agana, Barrigada and Santa Rita. Also felt at Yona and Mangil.
Event ID
usyxay

Congratulations Cristel and Ben!....

Cristel is a missionary who came to Guam in the beginning of Fall 2007. She taught math and church finances at PIBC for the 2007-2008 School year. While she was here, attending the Lutheran Church, she met and fell in love with Ben. They were married mid-October in the states with Cristel and Ben's friends and family members. However last night, they had a reenactment for us here on Guam.

Hollie, Evelyn and myself enjoyed our time together.

As did many from PIBC.

They had their second first dance.

They also reenacted their vows that they wrote for each other.

This pictures are out of order so I appologize.

Of course there was plenty of good food and dancing to be had by all....or at least some.

Happy 50th Birthday Bayview Baptist Church!

During a majority of the time that I have been here on Guam, I have been attending Bayview Baptist Church. Being a Presbyterian most of my life, I guess it was time for a change. From this shot you can see how my church gets it's name. This is one of the views from the church property.

Here are the Farnsworths and Joyce Owen as we wait for a special lunch on Sunday to celebrate the monumentus occasion. They are friends from church and PIBC.

Here is a view of the front of the building. This building is actually only a little over two years old. The opening was held only a couple weeks after I arrived on Guam. The project manager for the building project, sold me his wife's car, before they left island. I was also glad to see him during the celebration. The previous building was completely destroyed by a Typhoon about five years ago.

On Saturday, they held a carnival. It was a fun time. They had all kinds of activities and games, a concert, a puppet show, and food.
Ned and Marisol took a ride on the train.
The kids loved the carnival games.
Pastor Mike and Pastor Greg both took turns in the dunk tank. Unfortunately I was not a good enough throw to sink either one.
And what is a carnival without a moon bounce?