Thailand Team Updates

Our Thailand team and a few other students are working hard on campus so they can stay in the dorms and practice and prepare for the trip. I will be in Thailand with the team from June 8th - July 30th. We bought our tickets and have some additional money but we still need around $5000 to cover our needs (Housing, Food, and Transportation within Thailand.) Please pray for us. Pray that God would prepare us mentally, physically, and spiritually for all the plans He has for us while we are in Thailand. Pray also that God would give us the grace we need each day to love each other. Of course pray for our financial need as well. If you would like to help with the financial need ---- email me at mheck@pibc.edu. Check out more detailed updates on the Thai team by following the link on the left.

TRACCS Visit

For 4 Days, A committee from our accrediting agency came and reviewed all our documentation, interviewed staff, faculty, and students, and just generally looked around. Although not all of us got interviewed - we were all "on call". Today they finished. Here is all the staff, faculty and the committee.
This committee flew in from all different places in the country to be part of our accreditation review. After they complete reviewing every thing, the committee prepares a report with commendation, recommendations, and suggestions. The committee then reads the report to the faculty and staff. Over all things seemed to go well and many of the recommendations were minor. Now we will have to respond to the recommendations and a final decision on whether we are re-accredited will be made in November at a TRACCS meeting. From the response of the committee, it seems favorable but there is work to do before then.

A Sunday Afternoon Hike

A group of us hiked and swam on Sunday afternoon. Our librarian who works from the states was in for the accreditation visit. This time he brought his grandson with him. So we took them hiking to a cave you can swim in. Unfortunately after this picture my battery died.
Keiny and Maymay use the rope to go down the steep hill.
Jayleen and I pose. Jayleen took almost all the photos I got on this hike.
Here I am chatting with Ray as we head down the trail.
Maymay, Ceci and I take a break for a picture. I have been so busy lately I haven't had time to enjoy many of the beautiful spots on the island lately. It was fun to get out and enjoy God's creation for a change.

Wedding - Island Style

After 3 years I got invited to my first student wedding. Sonny from Yap married Elilai from Guam/Palau. Here is Sonny as he watches his bride come down the aisle. His best man is PIBC student, Joel.
Here is what Sonny is looking at....Elilai and her dad.
The happy couple. By the way is Elilai is the Palauan word for the Plummeria flower. These flowers are plentiful on the islands. They are also what her bouquet and Sonny's lei are made of.
I have to say this has to be one of my favorite wedding cakes ever. It was chocolate with a chocolate mousse inside. YUM!!!! Beautiful and Delicious.
Here I am with the couple. Sonny didn't know if his Mom and Dad were going to be able to be here for the wedding originally. I had volunteered to be him Mom for the day if she could not. Fortunately for Sonny, his REAL parents made it. Of course, Sonny is a great guy and a was a great student (our valedictorian), I would have been happy to be him Mom for the day. ;)

God Bless you Sonny and Elilai. If you have facebook I have even more pictures there.

Getting Ready for TRACCS

On Friday May 15th, Staff and Faculty and some students who were still on campus all worked hard together to get campus looking it's best before a committee from our accrediting agency showed up on Sunday night. Kalvin gets his country on while he is bush cutting.
Meluat goes for the bush cutting bandit look.
Jayleen trys to keep herself cool....
Evelyn works on weeding one of our many flower beds. Seems like weeds grow extremely fast in the tropics. She has a big job to do.
Harald and Joyce work on weeding a pile of rocks which acts as a drainage system so the campus does not flood as frequently during the rainy season.

Looks like they made it......

Graduation for Pacific Islands Bible College took place at Faith Reformed Church at 4PM on May 12th. We had 16 graduates from all our sites although only 9 participated in the ceremony. Some had finished in December and chose not to return for the event. Mesikt Oderiong from Palau poses in her cap and gown before graduation.
Joe Eram from Chuuk waits for the processional with the rest of his class mates.
Lydia and Sonny (our valedictorian) are both from the island of Yap.

One of the tradtions here is to try to smoother the graduate after the ceremony with all kinds of leis and marmars (on the head). It is really a fun thing to see. Here Percia and Lydia showed off their Leis. Unfortunately my battery died and I don't have as many fun pictures as I would like.

Graduation Preperation!

Seems like there is always a lot of work to do before graduation. However, this year we had even more to do. The caps and gowns that we ordered did NOT arrive. God Bless Joyce who called a bunch of PIBC alumni that lived on island to scrounge up enough caps and gowns for each of the 9 graduates participating in the ceremony. However it left us with no tassels. Joyce found some royal blue tassel key chains. They were much smaller than regular tassels and we also had to find a way to attach them to the hat. While some of us were doing that Joyce and Urte ironed the graduation robes that Joyce found.
Anne Stinnette found ribbon at home in her craft closet and they created fun tassels from the key chains that Joyce bought.
Needless to say everyone was scrambling and working really hard up until one hour before the ceremony to make it a success.
In the end no one knew the difference.

Seniors Celebrated!

Sunday night after the Baccalaureate service, the students and faculty and staff returned to campus to have dinner and games in which the seniors were honored and featured. Here Mohammed participates in a eating relay. Each team had to eat the same items in the quickest amount of time.
Lynette is doing her best to help her team win.
During this game blindfolded pairs had to feed each other pudding. It was quite a messy game but fun to watch. Here Ned and Joe Eram get ready to start.
Ned and his family (along with Micah) pose for a picture after the games.

Baccalaurette Speaker

On Sunday May 10th, our senior class held their Baccalaureate service.
Our praise and worship team led music during the beginning of the service.
Christel Wood, who is a "retired" missionary who still teaches for us, was our main speaker.
The seniors looking snazzy in their matching outfits shared a song and a poem for mother's day.
The rest of the body also presented a special number during the evening.

A Daisy by any other name.

No Daisy is not headed off to Jail --- she is flying back to Texas. She will be doing speaking and sharing at different churches this summer in Texas and California. Later this summer she will return via a mission trip to both Chuuk and Palau before she returns to school in the Fall. She has been gone less than a week and you can really feel her absence. What a blessing to have her among us this year.

Men's Night

At the end of the year ---- it's all about the party. On Friday night May 1st, the men had their traditional semester end party. They prepare the food and we have a great meal. The night also includes entertainment and fellowship. This semester it also included saying goodbye to the seniors --- Joel Okada, Mohammed, and Sonny and some of the faculty and staff which were also leaving.... Hiob, Leah, Micah and Jireh-Lynn and Brad and Cheryl Boydston.

Alvin, PJ, Keiny, and Marcus performed a special number
Hiob said a few words.
Everyone had a good time enjoying the entertainment.

Sad News Hits PIBC Family

As we are in the middle of finals week, we were shocked and saddened to hear of the death of one of our teachers who died suddenly this morning while she was scuba diving with some friends.

Kathy Newell was a volunteer professor who taught a number of our education classes, was here for the last two years. This picture was taken last year during our hike to Mt. Lam Lam. Kathy was scheduled to return to her home in Arizona at the end of the month.

We will certainly miss Kathy. We were all blessed to have known her.