Palau - Pelelui

Pelelui is one of the islands of Palau. For you history buffs, you may already know that one of the bloodiest battles was fought there. 12,000 people died when the US tried to take the island from the Japanese. This is Joel, one of our students. This break was the first time that he has been back to his island, Peleliu, in 2.5 years since he has been at PIBC. They were so happy to have him back. They had him preach about 4-5 times in the time he was home on break including the Sunday we were visiting. Laura and I were there about 2.5 days.
This is the Pelelui Evangelical Church. We went on Saturday night to hear their choir practice and on Sunday to church. We could not understand much but everyone was extremely friendly.
One of the beaches on Pelelui
Coconut Crab - a specialty of Pelelui. They clean the crab out of the shell cook it with coconut milk and put it back in. It was just one of the many types of fresh seafood that Joel's sister prepared for us when we were there. Joel's family showed us incredible hospitality. We felt like royality during our stay.
Joel showed us and his nephews how one really climbs a betelnut tree. Not only did he climb this tree he was able to swing from tree to tree before coming down so that he could gather enough betelnut to take to his mother. Betelnut is not allowed on PIBC campuses but it is a big part of Micronesian cultures, especially in Palau and Yap.

There are a number of leftover World War Relics on Pelelui. Joel and his nephews showed us some tanks, a cannon, and some monuments.
Laura is standing next to a blowhole where water from the waves sprays through the crackes in the rocks.
This is me walking on the beach directly behind the house in which we were staying.
Right behind our house.
Our House on Pelelui.

Palau - Rock Islands

One of the most famous things that Palau is known for is their Rock Islands. Besides the main islands there are about 70 islands which are mostly made of rock.... although some have places where there are beaches. They are beautiful and are known for their amazing scuba diving and snorkeling places. Unfortunately I don't scuba dive, yet. We did get to snorkel there once. However we did get to ride past them on a boat about 4 times. They are very gorgeous and the water is very blue. My pictures do not do them justice.

This ariel shot was found on another website although we did see similar views in the plane when flying into the Koror airport.
This is me with my friend Laura (also from PIBC) who traveled with me. Joel (one of our students from PIBC from Palau) toured us around the Rock Islands one day on his boat. We stopped for some shade and a drink on one of the islands.

Mac, Is this a Pandanus tree?

Last year over Christmas break I went to the island of Yap. Some of the students were on the island and one day we went for a hike. Before I left for Yap I was reading about Yap on the internet and it stated that there were many Mangrove trees in Yap. I had no idea what a Mangrove tree was. So we were hiking and in the middle of a hill, I saw a tree. I had seen many like it. So I thought to my self.... I wonder if that is one of the many mangrove trees of Yap.... It would have been ok had I left the thought in my head but I opened my mouth and asked.... Mac, is that a Mangrove tree? Well Mac and the other students laughed and laughed and laughed since Mangrove trees only grow in the Ocean. (Which coming from Pennsylvania and even Guam this is not something I have prior experience with). The tree happened to be one of the many Pandanus trees found throughout Micronesia. THIS picture however is one of the many MANGROVE trees that I saw in Palau. It is also home to one of my favorite new foods The Mangrove Crab tastes similar to Maine Lobster.

Christmas Around the World

Or at least in my little part of the world.... This is my second Christmas in Guam. I of course miss all of my friends and family back home. However the cost of flying back and forth does not making celebrating the holidays at "home" very feasable. I celebrated the holiday with several of my friends here. On Christmas Eve I had dinner with the Boydstons and the Farnsworths. Cheryl prepared their family's Christmas traditional meal.... Ham and Swedish Meat Balls.... (Brad has a Swedish background) and we ended the evening by attending the Christmas Eve service at the Lutheran Church. It was a very nice evening.
On Christmas morning, I got up and went to the Farnsworths. First we enjoyed a nice breakfast. I contributed waffles made on my new waffle iron using my Mom's yummy recipe. Ned made "egg in the eye" (Toast with a hole with an egg cooked in it) along with bacon and sausage for us. Then I got to watch Amelia and Joel open some of their presents.
Amelia got a stroller for her baby.
Joel got a scooter.
In the afternoon I joined the Owens, Cundalls, and the Plaxtons for a traditional Turkey lunch. We followed the meal with a game of "Hoopla". We had great fun and a lot of laughs.

Afterword it was an evening of packing for an early morning flight to Palau.

Happy New Year

Hope you and your family enjoyed a happy new year! My new year in Palau was very quiet but relaxing. I am now safely back in Guam and am recouperating from crazy flight schedules. Then I will have to get busy preparing for the coming semester.

Merry Christmas

I wish you and your family the very merriest of Christmases and the happiest of new years filled with God's love, peace, and joy.

I will continue blogging when I return on January 4th from the island of Palau.

Little Lambs

My friend, Joyce, who is also wife of president of PIBC, Dave Owen, teaches pre-school at a local church. Since the semester was over Thursday, I was privileged to be able to go to the Christmas program at the Little Lambs preschool on Friday. Here they sing a song about 7 little snowmen in funny hats.
Then they performed a nativity play. Joyce and her mom made all the costumes. They were adoreable. Here is one of the angels sneaking out of hiding.
Mary and Joseph are praising the Lord at the birth of Jesus. (The stable and the manger were also made by Joyce).
The Shephards are here watching their flocks by night.

BBall in Yap

This Christmas break, PIBC is sending a basketball team to the island of Yap. The team will play and share God's love with the people there over the Christmas break. Here is a portion of the team and Mac, who is from Yap. I had the privilege of taking them to the airport on Thursday afternoon. Some of the men had their own transportation and so I did not get their pictures. There were also three young ladies who will be doing internships in the local churches in Yap. Please keep these ministries in your prayers.

Good Bye Macarooni!

Mac is the student seated in the picture with our Dean of men, Hiob. Mac finished all his class work at the end of this semester and is returning to his island of Yap. Mac is very outgoing and funny. He is always laughing and teasing everyone. Last summer I got to spend quite a bit of time with Mac as he worked on campus during the summer when he was not in Thailand. I will really miss him and all his sillyness.

Saipan Ministry

This group of Chuukese students decided to go to Saipan to help the Chuukese church there over Christmas break. Saipan is another island like Guam in the Northen Mariana Islands Chain. It is also part of the US somehow.
One of the student's relatives work in the church at Saipan and requested a group of students come help. They organized their own trip, prepared their own ministries, and raised their own funds. They will be in Saipan from the 20th - 30th of December. They will be leading times of worship, visiting the sick, working with the youth and anything else that needs to be done. I am looking forward to hearing about their experiences. Please keep them in your prayers.

Students Celebrate Christmas

Every year, the student counsel throughs their own Christmas party. During this party, they have a time of fellowship, worship, food, and a gift exchange among themselves. The faculty and staff are invited as guests. Here are two of our students, Elilai and Sonny, in the Christmas spirit.
Everyone listens as Eric Sorenson, one of the faculty and student counsel advisor, gives a short talk about Christmas.
Christmas decorations with an island flare adorn the podium.
A gift exchange is a big part of the night.
Some of the first year women lead us in song. Music is a big part of whatever we do at school.

We need a home!

Sophia
and her brother Lorens are very sweet and cuddley puppies. If we don't find them a home soon, they will end up at the local animal shelter. Hopefully because they are so cute and cuddley - they will find a home anyway. I will miss them but learned my lesson that it is hard for me to have a dog and do my job since many micronesians don't like dogs and the students were often afraid to walk past the dog to my apartment even though my dog was friendly.

Christmas Traditions

Those who really know me well, know that baking Christmas cookies is a tradition with my family. Although over time the place and the methods have varied. I usually get together with family members and bake 8 - 10 types of cookies. My sisters, niece, nephew, mom and others baked cookies in the states and sent me some. However, this year I baked 4 types of our traditional cookies, and gave them to my friends at PIBC as a treat. Although Stella, our assistant librarian, helped with the cutouts (pictured here - taken by Stella) and the mixed the Sandtarts. I also baked Cherry Drop and Chocolate Chip cookies. The students often ask me to get them when I bake so they can learn but often I can't find them at the right times. Maybe next year I will have more of them involved. Any way... those who ate the cookies seemed to enjoy them.

Welcome to the Farnsworths

On Saturday afternoon the Farnsworths invited all the staff and students for an open house so we could all see their new home. Here are Marisol and Joel showing off the tasty treats they offered their guests.
Here is Ned being skinny, happy to pose for a picture.
Since it was a beautiful day, some prefered to hangout outside.
Joyce and Melody relax inside as Joyce shows off her snowman finger puppet door prize she one.
Joel and Amelia like to show me their tree. Amelia especially like the Dorothy ornament from the wizard of oz. Joel is proud to know my favorite, which is Tinkerbell.

Can U Believe it?

Here I am at Men's night posing with some of the students who will be graduating this year. Most of the them will be completely finished as of the end of the semester. I am going to miss this great group of young men, all of whom worked in the Study center for me at some point in the last 1.5 years. They are always making me laugh.

One of the hardest part of my jobs is having to continually say goodbye to many amazing people that come and go through PIBC and the island of Guam. Yet I feel blessed to have had the privilege to meet and get to know them.

Men's Night

On Friday night, the men on campus students decided to have a party. They set up a tent and decorated. They put together a program, and bar-b-qued some food. One of the purposes of the party was to honor those who are seniors, especially those who will be finishing this semester.
Although it was "Men's night", they did have some special guests who were not Men. Marisol, Amelia, Mae, Stella, Karyn Sorenson, Katie, Noelle, Leah, Olivia, baby Hannah and myself.
They did some games. This one each contestant had to tell the group a little more about themselves by singing it to the given tune. It was very funny.
They also sang some songs. These are the Chuukese men singing a Chuukese song. Mac, who is Yapese, joined them since in his 5 years here at PIBC he has learned some Chuukese including this song.
Here are some of the guesting watching the program.