On our way home.....

We have been traveling since noon on July 28th.... We left ChiangMai by bus.. (10 hrs). We rented a van to take us to the airport. We stayed up most of the night and checked into our flight at 2:30AM.... (If you are ever traveling with Micronesians - it seems that people in many countries do not know that Micronesians do not need US Visas..... it slowed us down but they eventually figured it out.) We flew from Bangkok to Tokyo. I was actually able to sleep most of the trip.... This is VERY unusual for me. We will board our flight in Tokyo around 5:30pm local time and arrive in Guam at 2AM on July 3oth.

Looking forward to getting home and getting ready for the next semester but I will really miss all my new friends in Thailand. Waiiiooooo!!!!

Meeting "James Bond"

Ok ... So I didn't meet the real James Bond movie star. However I have enjoyed meeting a Thai student whose name is "Bond"...He is to my right in the picture. He and his friends (to my left, "B" and Pump, white shirt) are English majors at Maejo. We have met so many fun people, we will miss them when we return to Guam.

A Dream Come True

For many years I collected all kinds of giraffes. Figurines, shirts, stuffed animals, etc. Although I stopped probably close to 10 years ago because I got tired of dusting them - it was still a cool experience to feed and pet a real one at the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand.

Something Light!

I can't read it but I still love to drink it. Coke Zero and Diet Coke don't really taste all that different from each other here. I can get about a 590ml bottle for about 50 cents.

Prayer Requests for Thailand Team

Pray for PIBC students to continue to meet new students and build relationships with other students.

Pray for us on Friday night as we will be having a chapel service for students from all Campuses.

Pray for our relationship with the Campus Crusade staff, that we will be able to be a blessing to each other.

Pray that each member of the team that they would grow closer to God during this time. Pray that they would not get discouraged. Pray that God would give us a spirit of Boldness to share with our new friends.

Pray for the health of the team. Right now a few people have cold sores. (from CC Staff) Erten will get his cast off next week.

Pray that we would stay focused on our purpose here.

Pray that we would be patient and loving towards all we work with here.

Pray that God would help us go out of our comfort zone more.

In two weeks we are having "Eternal Friends Camp". Pray we would have the courage to invite our friends and that many would say yes.


See Thailand Blog for some pictures and updates..... (link)

Sending from the Land of Smiles....

Thailand is known as the land of smiles. We certainly have seen and shown our share of smiles since we have been here. We have completed our second week of ministry by walking around and talking to students at one of the universities here. Next week we will set up a booth to show and sample all things Guam/Micronesia. We hope this will be another way to meet more students.

We have pictures and we are making different foods popular in our cultures. Some of us will also be wearing Micronesian dress.

Pray for the Thai staff of CCC, whom we work. We have today off to rest and recover but they are working this weekend training their student leaders. They work really hard to serve us and make sure we have what we need.

Tomorrow they are going to take us on a drive around Chiang Mai to see sights and go to the famous "Walking Street", which is a market of Thai crafts and stuff.

Erten seems to be healing well and for that we are thankful.

Thai Team Prayer Requests

Pray for….

Health and safety of the team.

Pray for Erten as he recovers from his surgery. Wisdom for his best care. Praise God for that the cost was less than $1000 for his hospital stay and surgery.

Pray that God will meet the financial needs of the team after paying the medical expenses. (Although we feel ok so far… when we are on campus lunch costs us less than 1.00 each for a hot meal…. Which helps.)

Pray that many students will come and be blessed by our “Micronesia Booth” which will be set up on both Tuesday (6/16) and Wednesday (6/17) afternoons on Maejo University campus.

Pray that we would have wisdom in the preparations for our booth.

Pray that many students would consider coming to our “Eternal Friends” overnight camp in a couple of weeks. Pray that the details would be worked out and that it would be blessing for all who attend the weekend.

Pray for the Thai staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. We have really been blessed by their ministry to us so far. Some need to raise more support so that they can continue in the ministry. Pray that God would pour out His blessings on them. Pray especially for those working directly with the team…. Pai, Ngon, Lar, and K.

Pray that we would continue to develop relationships with the friends we met during the first week and that we would continue to meet others.

Pray that we would allow God to direct and lead us as we minister to the people of Thailand.

Arrived Safely in Thailand

For this summer many of my updates will be found on the Thailand Mission Team Blog. So please check our first two updates from our travels.

Pavilion Project

Over the summer another campus project is adding a pavilion next to the court. Shade is really important here for the students, especially since we are only 13 degrees above the equator.

Campus Projects with New Mexico Mission Team

As part of the allowing the Thai team to stay on campus until we leave for Thailand until June 8th is that they must work on campus for part of the time. This week we are working with a Methodist mission team which came from New Mexico. We are spending the week painting the women's dorm and replacing the front fencing. Here Meyou and Jayleen work on peeling paint off the door so we can repaint it.
Jaylyn is a member of the New Mexico team. During the year she is a full time language arts teacher. She is also the youth leader in her church.
Ceci has been a painting machine. She is painting the trim on the doors green.
Jackie and Emily are two members who are part of the NM mission team. They are also part of the youth group which will be traveling to do another mission project in New Orleans later this summer.
Here they are Erin, Pastor Tim and Kalvin putting up the new fencing along the front of the property.

Here are the team tries to put the poles together at the end of the fence. We are getting a lot of work done.... however, there is still a lot left to do. Please consider playing for Mohammed as he will be doing most of the maintenance this summer himself after the Thai team leaves.

Thailand Fundraiser

One of the local car dealers allows charities to wash their cars on the lot for a certain amount of money. The one catch is that you must wash them starting at 6AM and be finished at 10AM before they open for business. Stella was good enough to help us on her day off.
Mesikt gets ready bringing over the buckets to fill.
Ned Farnsworth our assistant dean of men, and Mesikt's twin sister were also willing to help us. We split into two teams and worked from both sides of the lot.
Erten is hosing down the cars.
Keiny is taking a picture break.

Everyone was excited to help was excited to help wash this fancy yellow car.
There were even more cars on the roof.
Although the view from the roof was good.
Here are just some of the cars we washed before going to the roof.
This picture of Jayleen reflects all of us as we washed about 100 cars..... by the time I got home my legs are so tired I could not even stand up.

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.