Christmas Cheer

On the Sunday before Christmas, Agana Heights Baptist Church hosted a Christmas Cantata. Choir music is not my favorite but with six of my friends from PIBC in the choir, I decided to join in the celebration. Here Laura, her friend Hessie, Jayleen, and Meyou pose after enjoying the concert.

Myumi went with me to the concert where we met Noelle Sorenson and her friend. Noelle's Dad preachs as an interim pastor at the church and he also teaches and runs the seminary classes at PIBC.

The choir sang about the Christmas story for about one hour. One of the numbers also included the children of the church.

Karyn Sorenson even had a solo part during one of the numbers. You can see Cheryl Boydston and Marylou Curruthers in the background.

Don't you just love a man in a bow tie????

Semester's over - Time to Hang Out

Although most of the students either go home over break or stay with relatives on island, occassionally there are some which need a place to stay. This year Joyce and Dave and Laura Peters both decided to house two girls each. After all the students left we all gathered at the Owens house for food and games. Erin Plaxton who is here on break from teaching in Palau also joined us.

Laura and Myu are happy to be done.

Meeyou, Daisy and Jayleen just chillin.

She's Not A Baby Anymore - She's a Princess.

Here is Miss Amelia sporting her new jewelry that she got for her birthday. Since she was a baby I often called Amelia "Babycakes". Well she now informs me that she is no longer a baby.

Here she waits patiently for the photographers as she anticipates blowing out her candles.

Abby Caddaby is the new character on Sesame Street.

Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy and Ned and Marisol's friend from Panama were happy to help her celebrate.

Just hanging Out with the Ladies

The other night I was in the Women's dorm hanging out with a group of the ladies most of which will not be back next semester. Since they are some of the first students that I had when I got here it is hard to imagine life without them at PIBC. Here I am with Sharon who was an RA for me this semester.

Myumi was worried about having 5 classes but it seems as if she had passed all of them. Daisy will miss her.

Verlyn is sad about leaving. She will stay on the island of Guam for now. Alicia will remain for at least one more semester. Maybe two.

Johanna, Joe Eram, and Mohammed will have completed their requirements for our BA program at the end of this semester. Please pray for wisdom for all these students as they make their future plans. I believe Mohammed will continue in the Master's program.

Who cares about Finals..... Here at PIBC it is all about the party.... Or so it sometimes seems

On Sunday night December 14th, the student council hosted their annual Christmas party with the Angel/Mortal gift exchange. Elilai and Stella were in the Christmas spirit.

The Woods and Aaron Schaub were some of the staff who came to enjoy the festivities.

Meyou was so excited to receive her gift from her angel, she really celebrated.

Joe not only gave his mortal a gift. He helped her put it on. This was especially funny since this student is usually very quiet.

Some of the students performed a skit. It was supposed to represent those seniors who were finishing this semester but unfortunately for the most part we could not tell who was whom. Even though that is true - it was very funny.

Jeremiah bought his mortal a cute teddy bear.

Doug and Sonny led us in some music.

Here are some ladies just waiting to find out who their angels are.

Men's Night

Men's night was another lesson in "Nothing ever goes as planned." Unfortunately there were a lot of different scheduling conflicts with community groups and individual plans. This meant at least half of the male students did not attend and all the remaining women on campus were also invited. At least it was planned by all Men so hence the name is still valid I guess. Anyway - that said.... It was a nice night with good bar-b-que, singing, and games. Here Meluat and Leman lead us in some singing before our meal.

Jireh-Lyn, who loves to clap and dance along to music, is pictured here with her Mommy and Stella.

Jessy, Kalvin and Judson entertain us after our meal.

Ned and Urte sing a song of scripture. This is a popular game. Certain scriptures are picked from the bible. Contestants are called upon to make the scripture into a song. This is usually very funny but sometimes the songs are actually quite good.

And what party is complete without a game of musical hats. In the end, it was a fun night for those who attended even though it did not go quite as planned.

Christmas at the University of Guam

This year for Christmas, our team of students who do outreach at the University of Guam (AKA UOG) is giving out Christmas cookies. Kalvin volunteered that our students would make so many of those cookies so Daisy and Ginny made them last night at my apartment.

Ginny also helped by taking pictures for us.

Over two hundred cookies were made to pass out.

While Daisy and Ginny were baking cookies I continued my fly hunt.

A Real Fly Girl

This is where my window used to be. This week all of a sudden I had hundreds of flys in my apartment. When I found a bunch behind my curtain where they could not see me as well, I started smacking them. I didn't think I was hitting the window too hard but the next thing I knew I stuck my hand through the window. Now I have a typhoon shutter.

I got a bunch of fly traps and spent a couple hours last night smacking the flies down with the help of Daisy. Now there are a lot less flies, but I still need to work on thinning the population. I didn't have enough to do.

Advent Celebration

Although we don't necessarily always recognize Advent here at PIBC, this year it seems to be the thing to do. I have been celebrating Advent in Devotion, Bill Wood taught about Advent in devotion last week by teaching us how to sing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" like a choir, and this week Brad also focused on Advent in his Chapel time. He also decided to join the praise team with his Tenor Ukelele.

He shared with us along with his friends and his wife a song Cheryl (far right -Brad's wife) wrote for Advent called Come Messiah Come. Cheryl writes a lot of praise and worship music. Check her out at http://caminomercedmusic.blogspot.com/

Visitors from Pennsylvania

My co-worker and friend Ned's parents arrived safely on Tuesday night for a month long visit to Guam. The ladies and I went over to greet them after they arrived at Ned's house.

We serenaded them with "There's a Welcome Here." and "We are one big happy family." I really enjoy Ned's parents and am looking forward to getting to visit with them again soon.

P.S. Thanks for taking pictures Marisol. I forgot my camera.

A Devotion Guest

On Monday night during our devotions we had a special guest. On Sunday at church, we had a special guest. A woman from San Diego flew in to Guam to be Baptised at our church. About 10 years ago she lived on Guam. Her husband left her and she and her daughter became homeless. She shared the story about how God really helped her through that difficult time and now she lives in San Diego and is an Inspirational speaker. She felt the need to return to Guam where her spiritual journey began to be baptized. While she was staying here, she came to share her story with our girls.

Here are two pictures of Tracy posing with the ladies. They really enjoyed meeting her.

Chuukese Fellowship

On Sunday the Chuukese Fellowship Organization hosted their year end Christmas party. They invited me as their special guest along with a few others. Early in the day they had a worship service then they hosted a meal, singing and games.

Here the men patiently wait for the meal to start.

Here Jayleen and I played pass the soda can tab on the coconut palm frond sticks. I had a difficult time but eventually got the hang of it.

In this relay, the teams were passing a ball of paper in their necks. I was honored to be included in their fun celebration.

Community Group Fun Day

Before the semester ended we decided to plan a fun outing for our community group. Due to a special connection to someone who works at a local water park, we were able to get a reasonable rate. Most of the group had never been to a water park and really enjoyed the experience. I really enjoyed hanging out with the students and going down and up the water slides and swirling around the lazy river.

Here is the gang posing with the Tarza mascots.

The 3 main water slides exit here. The one of the far left is called the "Black Hole". It is an enclosed water slide which is pitch dark inside. It is a bit freaky but very fun.

Alicia and Keiny take a turn on the double tube.

Here Shelby and Hadson hang out in the lazy river.

Gabby and her cousin pose with Marcus by the lazy river.

Teneryn, Myu, and Alicia pose with one of the intertubes used on the slides.

Hiob and his family enjoyed most of the day on the lazy river. I could not convince Micah to go down the water slide with me. :(