Dave Owen's Guam Blog

Last Post on Our Christmas Vacation

2012-01-29T14:11:00.001+10:00

We headed back to Guam on January 7th after a very relaxing three week vacation. We got to spend a lot of time just hanging around with relatives, the last few days with Matt, Kristin and Milo. Milo taught me how to play several games on his Wii and I almost got to the point where I could beat him at it. So here is the last post of pictures from our vacation…

Milo and I read our novels together. Joyce and Milo played with the pirate ship in the backyard

Matt and Kristin’s backyard is very nice, and with the warm San Diego temperatures, a lot of time was spent there. We also enjoyed making smoothies in the blender with the fresh oranges and lemons off their trees

We took Milo to Chuck E Cheese.

Joyce had some time to help Matt and Kristin put up baseboard inside their house.

This Week at PIU

2012-01-29T09:13:00.001+10:00

This week was the 2nd week of our Spring semester at PIU. it has been a busy week as we are hosting the Kecklers and Rachelle Heverly at PIU and in our home, and are preparing for the Story Crafting Conference next week. This week we have been employing Sam, Maria and Rachelle in several tasks as they help us here at PIU. Maria has done two training sessions for our faculty. One was at our faculty meeting Monday afternoon and another Thursday night at the Wood’s home (pictured). It is always great to get dinner cooked by Christel, our Academic VP, as part of our faculty training. Sam spoke in our student devotions Wednesday night and all three of them have been getting to know the students, doing some tutoring and checking out our beautiful island. The picture on the right was taken from Two Lovers’ Point.

The music team got our Tuesday chapel off to a good start. Tuesday’s chapel was our annual safety chapel where we talked about emergency procedures and plans. We were thankful that Ambrose Constantino again brought in his expertise as our guest speaker.

Friday’s chapel was our Ministry Chapel. Pastors and leaders of several island ministries came and shared their personnel needs in their churches or other ministries and then had a chance to recruit our students to fill those needs.

We then got together in small groups and prayed for each other, especially that God would direct each student into a ministry that fit them and would be an important part of their training at PIU.

After Friday’s chapel Mary Lou took us out for lunch at Jamaican Grill and we took a small tour to Hotel Row in Tumon and to Two Lovers Point

A Day at the Park in San Diego

2012-01-28T11:50:00.001+10:00

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation taken during the first week of January. We were worried about the weather being cold in San Diego (well, compared to Guam) in January, but really we had no worries. Every day we were there was in the 70’s and even got up into the 80’s a couple days. I should have packed my shorts and swimming trunks! One of those beautiful days we spent at Balboa Park enjoying the museums and outdoor displays. Here are a few pictures from that beautiful day.

We spent the day with Matt, Milo and the neighbor girl Kylie. It is hard not to enjoy a day spent with a son and grandson.

The first place we went was the science and discovery museum – a “hands on” playing and learning place for kids. We enjoyed watching Milo enjoy himself immensely there.

Milo gravitated toward the musical instruments and loved driving the fire truck

We all enjoyed building things with the blocks.

I thought the Natural Science Museum was the most interesting. We were almost eaten by a prehistoric great white shark

Milo got to pet the skunk and sit in the mountain lion’s den.

We paused quite a while in front of the bird display. Too bad Missy wasn’t there. We all know how much she likes to have birds perch on her arm or head. :)

The Kecklers are Here

2012-01-27T08:20:00.001+10:00

We were happy to welcome Sam and Maria Keckler and Rachelle Heverly to Guam last Saturday. Maria will be one of our featured speakers for our Story-Crafting Conference and Sam is doing some counseling with our guys and other speaking engagements. For more details on our Story Crafting conference you can check Mike and Samantha’s blog here and our piu web page here. Maria and Rachelle have already been working with our students and Maria has done two very helpful training seminars with our faculty. We have also been enjoying having them staying at our house. We are looking forward to the conference next week. If you want to follow Sam and Maria’s adventures here on Guam she is blogging daily about her experiences here.

Christmas in San Diego

2012-01-26T16:29:00.001+10:00

We have been pretty busy with the start of the semester and preparing for the Story Crafting Conference at PIU. I will post on that soon but Mike and Samantha already have here. But, I did promise to post a few pictures of our vacation time in San Diego with Matt, Kristin and Milo. So here is post 1 of 3. We had our 3rd Christmas celebration on the evening of December 30th. We had an interesting trip down with our flight delayed on the tarmac in San Francisco for 2 hours because of fog and then having the wrong address on the contract for the rental car drop off in San Diego (we drove from LAX to SD) But eventually we got there and had a nice relaxed celebration at Matt’s house. Milo was very happy to see his grandma. We talk to him on Skype quite often but there is nothing like seeing him in person. He wore his finest jewelry for the evening.

We all got to open a few presents. Matt enjoyed the Milo cereal we got on Guam, and Milo helped his mom open her present

The next night we did our traditional burning of the Christmas tree ritual. I suppose, for us, it signals the end of the Christmas season. Actually I fell asleep before midnight and missed this.

Happy Birthday to Joyce

2012-01-23T19:38:00.001+10:00

This last weekend we celebrated Joyce’s birthday – 3 times. I can’t say how old she is, but I will say that she cannot yet get the senior’s discount at the theater as I can. First we celebrated Saturday afternoon with Mike, Sam and the kids. Samantha made a cake and the kids helped her ice it. Then Joyce and I headed out to Lone Star for some Texas ribs and loaded sweet potato – her birthday choice. Lone Star was “out of ribs,” go figure, but her spicy chicken was pretty good and she did get her sweet potato. Then she headed over to Ross to spend some of her birthday money on some things she needed for the house. She said she had a fun birthday.

She insisted on mowing the lawn. This is how she relaxes! At least it was a cool cloudy day.

The kids helped her blow out her candles

They helped her open presents and eat birthday cake too.

This is what Serenity does now when we tell her to smile

First Friday of the Semester at PIU

2012-01-21T10:28:00.001+10:00

I am going to finish my posts about our Christmas vacation, but first a little about what is going on right now at PIU. We have just completed our first week of the new semester. As of this morning all the new classes have at least competed their first class meeting. We picked up Theology teacher Jim Sawyer at the airport on Thursday night and he began his seminary theology course this morning. Yesterday we enjoyed our normal Friday chapel. VP of Student Life Rob Watt reintroduced our theme for the 2011-12 school year, “feasting at Christ’s banquet table.” Tuesday I preached on “The Best Kind of Food – Free Food” from Isaiah 55. The student worship team did a great job leading us into worship. After chapel we held our monthly theological discussion in the PIU library. Several pastors from the community joined us for the discussion along with many of our PIU students and staff. The subject was the relationship of the believer to the law. It was a lively discussion and we decided to continue the discussion at our next meeting on February 17th. It was a great day and our semester is off to a fast start.

Spring Semester Begins at PIU

2012-01-19T15:51:00.001+10:00

Registration is almost completed. The new students and staff have been welcomed. We have had the first chapel service. We have completed the first three days of classes. The new semester at PIU is underway and going well. Registration actually began last week and is pretty much completed except for the usual shuffle of dropping and adding classes. At this point we have 73 students with a few others still pending as they work out registration issues. We have several new students in our teaching facilities and five new students from Papua, Indonesia who are joining our student body as distance education students.

The pictures above are from the Welcome BBQ. The food was good and the games were crazy.

There were also some skits about how life should (or sometimes should not) work in the dorms

Classes began on Tuesday. On the left new teacher Ken Dixon (on loan to us this semester from TITIP school in Papua, Indonesia) teaches on Spiritual Warfare and (right) Joey Charles gets his English class started. I am teaching Exegesis in Wisdom Literature on Tuesday nights.

Cel has received the tuition down payments from the students and we are all settling right back in to campus life.

And I will throw in one picture of Serenity posing for the camera during the opening assembly

Sacramento Kings Game

2012-01-17T09:02:00.001+10:00

One of the most fun things I did on our California trip was attend a Sacramento Kings game with my dad, brother-in-law Nate and my nephews Luke, Jesse and Jonah. It was a Christmas present from Nate – thanks! It was a great guys night out, eating chili dogs, joking around and watching a good basketball game. We didn’t make too much of a spectacle of ourselves but we did occasionally have others in our section turn around and look at us.

Our seats were pretty high above the court, but we could see the action pretty well

The starting lineups were announced with appropriate fanfare

There was a lot more going on than just basketball – light shows dancing mascots etc

A couple shots of the game in action. Even from up high above the court you get a new appreciation of how big and fast these guys are, that you don’t get on TV

The gang (Jesse took this picture) – one of the few times in Nor-Cal that I needed my jacket while we were there.

Owen Family Christmas

2012-01-16T17:28:00.001+10:00

Well, this was Christmas family celebration number 3! We are blessed. Early Christmas morning we headed from Redding to Sacramento and then on to El Dorado to see my parents and family there and celebrate Christmas with them. On the way we stopped off and fellowshipped with our friends at Gold Country Baptist. It was great to be able to see so many of our mission partners and friends and the eggnog was pretty good too. We got to spend 6 days there and see my brother Doug and his family (left – PIU students I promised a picture of Doug and Diane)) and my sister Jayne and her family (Nate and Jayne right in front of their house). Again we had a great time. I never could have imagined I would spend part of a Christmas vacation playing video games (wii) with my mom and dad.

We left Redding at 6 AM and had the road to ourselves all the way to Sacramento airport. We passed only 9 trucks on I-5 on the way down. We were sad to say goodbye to Missy but she had to get back to Texas. Joyce will be heading there when the baby is due in March.

Ben says “hi” to all the PIU family.

Since Taylor is the only one in the grandchildren generation still growing, we had to do the measuring ritual before she and the family left, Now it is the great-grandchildren growing up too fast.

There were enough turkeys in the yard for several Christmas dinners

Cundall Family Christmas

2012-01-15T19:24:00.001+10:00

After being up in Redding a couple days most of the rest of the Cundall family joined us there. Besides Joyce’s parents and her sister Judy and husband Wayne who live in Redding, Joyce’s sister Janet and her husband Paul flew in from Texas and several nieces and nephews came in as well from various directions. There were only a few that couldn’t make it. Most of the group that were there are pictured on the left here except for a few nieces and nephews who had left already. It was a very enjoyable few days to relax, watch football and do a lot of talking together. We don’t all get to gather in one place very often with family members spread all over the world.

On the left are 4 generations of Cundall girls (including baby Leila). On the right Joyce with her mom and dad, and two sisters. (and the two Yorkies – Jasmine and Zoey)

We had a rousing white elephant gift exchange. It was almost too perfect when my Pittsburgh Steelers fan daughter picked my present – a 49ers Western Division Championship shirt. I did get it back in the subsequent exchanges.

There was plenty of good food. It was worth getting in line.

Sister Janet and brother in law Paul with their daughter in law Michaela. I am next to Wayne and Judy. Wayne and I enjoyed watching a 49er victory over the Seahawks together.

The cooks pose with the food and, on the right, “the kids’ table.”

After dinner Joyce’s dad, Paul and nephews AJ and Kevin relax.

It really is a blessing to have a family gathering where everyone gets along so well. I had a great time and I know it was a really great time for Joyce. She really loves hanging out and talking all night with her sisters.

California Vacation

2012-01-13T19:48:00.001+10:00

Early on Sunday morning, December 18th we headed for California. Joyce took this picture through the airplane window as we took off from Guam. About 8 hours later we landed in Hawaii on the evening of the 17th where we had a 3 hour layover. We then flew to LA where we landed about an hour before we left Guam. The only eventful part of the flight was the last leg from LA to Sacramento. We weren’t able to land in Sacramento because it was fogged in. After three loops around Sacramento we had to head to Reno to re-fuel the plane. We finally got to Sacramento about 11 AM. We rented a car in Sacramento and made the 2 hour drive to Redding to see Joyce’s family. We first stopped off at Joyce’s parents house and watched a little NFL football and then headed to where we were staying with Wayne and Judy Miller (Joyce’s sister)

After going to bed early (I had not slept for 24 hours) we still slept in Monday morning. I needed to be rested up to watch the Monday night game between the 49ers and Steelers. I enjoyed watching the game with another 49er faithful, my father-in-law. The 20-3 victory was sweet. It is funny, but while I was on the mainland this year the 49ers were 7-0.

A couple days later we drove back to Sacramento and picked up Missy. She drove up with my mom and dad and cousin Shelley. After eating lunch together we headed back to Redding for a Cundall family Christmas.

Owen Family Christmas on Guam

2012-01-13T08:46:00.001+10:00

Since we were leaving for California the next day we had our Owen family Christmas celebration on Saturday December 17th. Titus, Courage and Serenity stayed overnight on Friday night and Mike, Samantha and Samantha’s mom joined us the next morning. Daisy also joined us for the opening of presents and an early Christmas dinner. We did take a few pictures…

We enjoyed opening and trying on, or trying out, the presents

It was fun to play with Titus’ and Courage’s presents, another benefit of being a grandparent – playing with kids’ toys.

New dresses were modeled and new “babies” were cared for

Grandma enjoyed the day too

Mike and Samantha had a few presents to open

Cookies and smiles!

Celebrating Christmas on Guam

2012-01-12T08:44:00.001+10:00

Even though we were on the mainland for much of the Christmas season this year, we did have time to celebrate Christmas, just a little, on Guam before we left. No, we didn’t do a real tree this year (especially after my nasty allergic reaction to last year’s tree) but we decorated a little plastic one with the grandkids and took them out to experience a tropical Christmas. Serenity’s favorite word throughout the season was “preeeeeettttyyyyyy” Here are a few pictures…

Titus, Serenity, Courage and I got into the Christmas spirit as we “decorated” the tree. Joyce did all the work, We just played.

Joyce and Samantha’s mom, Martha, took the kids to the Micronesia Mall to ride the Christmas train and see the Christmas Tree show.

The kids were captivated by the Christmas tree show

I am not sure that all of them enjoyed riding the Christmas train

Joyce also took a “grandkids Christmas picture”

The kids diligently prepared some decorations. Even our neighborhood monitor lizard joined in the festivities.

We also took the kids down to Skinner Plaza in Agana to enjoy the annual Christmas display. Because of all the rain this year, it was a muddy mess.

But we all still had a great time.

It can be difficult to pose the kids when there is so much visual stimulation

But we managed to do it by bribing them with a trip to Yogurtland for dessert

PIU Staff-Faculty Christmas Party

2012-01-11T07:39:00.001+10:00

We have a great and dedicated group of people we work with here at PIU. We all worked hard all semester so it was nice to have a time to celebrate Christmas and the end of another good semester together. This year our Christmas celebration was held in the back yard of our house. Most of the food was provided by local Guam businesses for which we are very grateful. It was just a fun, relaxing time where we celebrate what God has done in the past semester. It is also the time we take our annual faculty and staff picture.I think we got almost all the staff, faculty and volunteers in the picture (left). Here are a few more pictures of the event… (Thank you to Hartmut for taking most of these pictures – the few bad ones in here I took.)

The “Set-up Team”

We set up the tables under a canopy in our backyard. Joyce and Christel Wood enjoyed a quiet moment as the party began

Samantha, Lisa and Nino planned the program

The food and fellowship were excellent

These “great minds” had to really put their heads together to win the very competitive party games.

We also gave out service awards (handmade by Mary Lou Carruthers) Celia (right) was recognized as employee of the year. It is hard to believe that Joyce and I have been at PIU for almost 19 years now.

The Scherers (left) and the Chorams (right) began their PIU service back in the 90’s in Chuuk and have since moved to the Guam campus.

The Woods also began their service at PIU in Chuuk and moved up to Guam in 1995 when Bill became the 2nd president of the school and Christel served as Academic Dean. Though they are “retired” they both continue to serve as faculty and in key administrative roles. May Vigil (right) is our longest serving PIU staffer. She became our office manager/librarian assistant before we moved into our present campus.

Children’s Day at PIU – December 2011

2012-01-10T08:31:00.001+10:00

One of the longstanding traditions at PIU is a kids’ ministry day which, as long as I can remember, takes place at the end of the Fall semester. The day is sponsored by the Teaching Youth and Children class in the undergrad biblical studies program taught by our Academic VP Christel Wood. Children from the neighborhood around PIU and from several local churches are invited up to the campus for a day of games, snacks, teaching and ministry. The class functions as kind of a “final exam” for the class as the students plan and execute every aspect of the ministry. It is always a lot of fun to get out there with the students and kids, and great to get our neighbors on to our campus. Here are a few pictures from Children’s Day 2011.

The games are enjoyed by all, including the kids, PIU students and staff

On Guam drink breaks are especially important

And then, back to the games…

Then inside the classroom for a story time and songs. Even though the classroom air conditioner was down that day, everyone seemed to enjoy the session

Everyone listens intently to Delight Suda

3 Seminary Classes Offered at PIU this semester

2012-01-09T20:27:00.001+10:00

Joyce and I arrived back on Guam Saturday night and I got back into the office this morning. As promised, over the next few days I will be posting pictures and stories and about our Christmas celebrations here on Guam and in California over the past 4 weeks. But first, just a word about our PIU seminary Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary. This year I got to add seminary dean to my responsibilities here at PIU. Our seminary is still very small with only about 12 students, of which only three are full time. There are several other Micronesian students who would like to enroll in our seminary but, even though costs are low, they cannot afford the tuition. There is no federal grant money for seminary education. Thus, one of the main tasks before me is to find some scholarship money for these students. My other, and more enjoyable, task is to teach biblical studies courses. Last semester I taught New Testament Survey. Because of the small size the class was very interactive. We did 6 sessions on New Testament biblical theology which were held in various public places like coffee shops (class pictured in Java Junction in Agana) and restaurants as we tried to engage people around us in theological discussion. It was a lot of fun.

This semester we are offering three courses in the seminary. They are ….

1. THEO 602 – Theology 2: Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, Salvation, and Eschatology taught by Dr. M. James Sawyer. The course is a study of the person of Christ and the doctrine of salvation; the study of salvation; the baptism, indwelling and ministries of the Holy Spirit; a study of ecclesiology; and the study of eschatology. It will be a hybrid course, mostly Online with 6 classroom sessions taught on Guam between Jan 20 and Feb 1, 2012.

2. THEO 798 Seminar in Roman Catholic Theology taught by Dr. Robert Bonifacio on Friday nights 6:30-9:00pm on the Guam campus. This course discusses the development of Roman Catholic Theology as the Catholic Church progressed from the period of the Counter Reformation to Post Vatican Council II.

3. BNEW 603 Prison Letters taught by Dr. William Wood on Monday nights from 6:30 to 9:00pm. It will be an analysis of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon emphasizing the doctrinal and practical truths in each book.

Happy New Year

2012-01-05T04:05:00.001+10:00

Yes, Joyce and I are still here. I have been taking a break from the computer for a while as we enjoy our Christmas vacation. We will be returning to Guam on Saturday evening, leaving from Los Angeles on Friday morning, going through Honolulu. We have had a great time with our families, have had some good rest and some fun and interesting experiences. After I get back into my routine on Guam, I will post some pictures and stories from our Christmas vacation, some PIU events that happened while we were gone and from the new semester which will be starting soon. I pray that your 2012 will be a blessed year!!

Merry Christmas from Dave and Joyce

2011-12-24T09:45:00.001+10:00

Merry Christmas!! We are enjoying being with family in Northern California this Christmas. We are thankful that God has ultimately revealed Himself in the incarnation of Jesus Christ and we celebrate that significant event and we re-commit ourselves, with God’s enablement, to continue that event by being part of Jesus’ body in service to God’s world and God’s people. We pray that you have a wonderful holiday season wherever you are in the world.

PIU End of 2011 Newsletter

2011-12-23T04:40:00.002+10:00

Dear Friend,
Pacific Islands University is honored to announce our December 2011 graduates:

(From Left, Top Row) Hadson Ngirikasau, Meluat Meluat, Gary Linny (Middle Row) Xyanne Sonis, Shelby Salvador, Lucy Aunu, Teisy Tatashy, (Bottom Row) Jayleen Nakamura (Not Pictured) Karl Flores, Soram Manual, Paylinn Sias, Justin Marar, MD Hossaion, Orichy Orichiro, Michael Vigil
These men and women are equipped and ready to move into the next stage of their lives, which looks different for each one. Shelby, Hadson, and Paylinn are returning to their home islands of Palau and Chuuk in order to begin teaching in the elementary and high schools thus fulfilling the great need for qualified educators. Meluat is ready to work in the Palauan church and enter the mission field. Teisy is considering applying to our Master of Arts in Religion program through our seminary, PIES. Others, still weighing their options, are well prepared to enter various marketplace positions made available through their education and degree from PIU.
They will be joining the ranks of alumni who already serve as teachers in public and private schools, church workers, hospital administrators, and business and government leaders. Your donations make it possible for PIU to offer these students, most of whom would otherwise not be able to attend an institution of higher education, the opportunity and support to complete an accredited university degree. Most of our students are only able to come here through our low tuition cost which we lower for qualified students to such a degree that we need the support of donors like you to provide the balance of finances for this ministry.
We rely on the generosity of our supporters to fulfill our operating costs. As this year draws to a close, we are facing a $20,000 deficit in our Rising Tide Annual Fund. Please prayerfully consider adding PIU to your Christmas list and help us give the gift of higher education for those who consider it out of reach.
A Blessed Christmas to you and yours from all of us here at PIU!

Advent Chapel at PIU

2011-12-17T12:10:00.001+10:00

Last Friday we held our traditional advent chapel for the last chapel of the semester. It is always a very special chapel that everyone looks forward to. Since we do it a couple weeks before Christmas it always serves to get me into the Christmas spirit. Mike and the chapel team did a great job on it again this year. It was great to see so many of the staff, faculty and students participating. I took several pictures of it. So enjoy….

After some Christmas carols Josh began the reading of the Christmas story with the prophecy of Isaiah

After Scott lit the first candle, Samantha continued the story

Esme burned her finger trying to light the peace candle (she was Ok and was not the only injured candle lighter that day) Leeman then led in prayer and Kita continued the reading

Leeman successfully lit the joy candle and Jonie read about the angelic announcement to the shepherds

The band played a rockin’ rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” before Charity lit the Love Candle

Meluat followed up with the story of the Magi

Kita lit the final candle before Mike came and finished the story and talked about the significance of the incarnation

The chapel had a surprise ending as Josh Ladd serenaded Jesse Hartt with a birthday rap. The chapel closed with a final carol featuring the birthday boy playing a banjo solo.

Final Day of the TITIP Visit

2011-12-17T07:02:00.001+10:00

Most of the last day of the visit from our TITIP friends was spent in meetings. They met with the administrative council in the morning to iron out details of getting their students started in our distance education program and in the afternoon met with our faculty. PIU faculty got to see a presentation about what TITIP is doing in Indonesia and we got to know each other a little better. We now have four students from Papua, Indonesia accepted and ready to register for the next semester with a potential for several others for the future and we have a teacher from TITIP coming for the January semester to work with us and build the relationship further.

On Monday night, we went to the home of Siska and Edward Hutapea for dinner. The Hutapea’s are from Indonesia, and Siska is a member of the PIU advisory board. Edward and Siska attend the Lutheran Church of Guam and the TITIP team were introduced to them when they attended there on Sunday (left). We had a great time on Monday evening eating Thai food, talking about Indonesia and our schools, and being entertained by the Hutapea children. The Hutapea’s also have an amazing Christmas tree!

Guam Island Tour with the Papua Team

2011-12-14T19:29:00.001+10:00

Saturday morning Joyce and I took the three members of the Papua team for a sightseeing and hiking tour around the island. Samantha’s mother had not had an opportunity to see the island so she joined us for the day. It was a mostly sunny day but we ran into light showers at most of our stops. Nevertheless, the island, as always was gorgeous. Any excuse I can get to show some island scenery, I am going to take. So here are a few pictures of our December 3rd tour.

We took our customary shot of the Ceti Bay overlook. This is one of my favorite spots on Guam. If you come visit us we will take your picture here.

We made a stop at Fort Soledad overlooking Umatac Bay and village where Magellan landed in 1521. Pak Oyang does his duty in the old Spanish guard tower

We ended the day at the home of Bill and Christel Wood where we had a great dinner and good conversation.

Welcoming our Partners from Indonesia

2011-12-13T20:01:00.001+10:00

Last week we were privileged to host a team from the TITIP school in Papua, Indonesia. The team consisted of Larry and Willa Yost (left) and pastor Oyang Sesaray. TITIP stands for “Training Indonesians for Transition to Institutional Programs” but it also is an Indonesian word that refers to something that is left for safekeeping until the owner returns for it. This, in a way, is what TITIP does for the parents of the young people that it trains. TITIP is one of the educational arms of the “Yayasan Pelayanan Antarbudaya” a non-profit organization that assists with community development in West Papua. Pak Oyang and the Yosts were visiting PIU to explore sending some of their TITIP graduates to PIU to become students in our accredited degree programs.

For most of the first day our visitors sat with our PIU leadership team to discuss what a partnership would look like. Pictured are Christel Wood our academic VP, Hartmut Scherer, PIU distance education coordinator, Urte Scherer, our registrar, the Yosts, Pak Oyang and me. After much discussion we determined that we would start with four students enrolled in our distance education program for the upcoming spring semester. The Yosts will mentor the new Indonesian PIU students at the TITIP site there. In the future we plan to have TITIP students studying in residence on the Guam campus. Pastor Oyang was also our chapel speaker on Tuesday the 6th.

The Indonesian group also had the opportunity to meet with the Guam Minister’s Association at its monthly meeting. It was a good opportunity for them to meet several of the pastors of the Guam churches, military chaplains, and leaders of other para-church organizations. GMA members seem to be very excited about the connections PIU is making locally and overseas. We had a great time of fellowship there.

PIU Open Mic Night

2011-12-12T20:47:00.001+10:00

On November 26th the PIU Student Council sponsored an “open-mic” night at the Guam Lutheran Church. Everyone was invited to come and share their talents in song, spoken verse, story telling or any other manifestation of vocal art. Several PIU students and many of our friends from the Guam church community took advantage of the opportunity. The result was a fun night of hearing many different styles of music from a lot of different people. It was also a good way to get people from the community acquainted with the PIU students. I think it is possible that some future artistic collaborations will result from it. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend an evening and some money was raised by the Student Council for future projects and activities. Here are a few pictures of the performers.

Faculty members Mike and Sam Owen, and Joey Charles contributed some tunes

We had men’s and women’s trios perform

Asia rapped the now famous “PIU parody” rap. The snacks were also good (as mentioned several times by MC Josh Ladd) and the ladies provided cookies, cupcakes and coffee with a smile.

Some More Pictures of the PIU Thanksgiving Feast

2011-12-12T20:45:00.001+10:00

I found some more pictures of the PIU Thanksgiving Feast taken by Joyce (they are much better than the ones I took) so I thought I should post these too. Enjoy.

Courage and Serenity enjoyed the Thanksgiving celebration

As did students and staff

Baby Gwen is held by her mama Glenda, while Josh “holds” Titus, or is it the other way around?

Meanwhile the bird and ham are enjoyed by everyone

The Thanksgiving feast was enjoyed by people of all genders.

Some Pictures from the PIU Thanksgiving Feast

2011-12-10T09:21:00.001+10:00

It has been a busy last couple of weeks here at PIU with many visitors, getting caught up after four weeks away from Guam, and our normal end of the semester activities. This is why I am just now getting to posting my Thanksgiving pictures. It was nice to return to Guam and have a four-day weekend to get rested up before we hit the home stretch for the end of the semester. We were very thankful this semester to get so much of the dinner donated by local businesses and, of course, the faculty and staff chipped in with their favorite dishes and tastiest desserts.

Students and campus kids prepare decorations while Joyce, Vivian and Rob get the food ready.

Everybody had a chance to eat all they wanted with a lot left over. We are blessed people

Every year it seems there is a new baby at the Thanksgiving celebration. Serenity was the baby last year. Baby Gwen (daughter of PIU administrator Nino Pate and Glenda) is this year’s new baby, held here by Lisa Collins, PIU librarian.

Joyful Noise Music Festival

2011-12-03T10:21:00.001+10:00

Another event that I missed while I was away (by only one day – ouch!) was the Joyful Noise Music Festival benefit for PIU. Pastor Jeff Johnson (pictured with his wife, PIU Board member Mary Johnson, and Greg Atkinson pastor of Bayview Baptist Church) of the Lutheran Church of Guam organized several of the Guam churches to come together at Bayview Baptist Church for a music event to raise a little money for our school. I heard that it was a real blessing to a lot of people and, of course, the music was excellent. Joyce says that the last combined choir number (above left) was the highlight of the event.

The Voices of Micronesia were one of the groups that performed. Here is a video of one of their songs.

K2 Student Retreat at PIU

2011-11-30T17:28:00.001+10:00

I have been posting about things I did on my trip to the US Mainland, but there were many things happening at PIU on Guam while I was gone. One of the events, that I was very sorry I missed was the K² student retreat November 3-6. K² is annual event that happens every Fall semester. We cancel classes and other activities and the students, staff and faculty take some concentrated time to focus on their relationship to God through prayer, meditation, fellowship and service activities. This year our speaker was Philip Bradley from Agana Heights Baptist Church and the Bayview Baptist Church worship band led the music. The event was held on our campus this year. The feedback I received from students and staff was “this year’s K² was great.”

The “Shema Café” on one evening provided an open microphone for students to share in word and/or song. Michael, Samantha and the other staff appear to be enjoying it here.

On Saturday the scuba diving class hosted a “family day at the beach” with a free introductory scuba lesson.

K² included a 50 cent car wash in which the students offered to pay the car owners 50 cents for the privilege of washing their cars.

Meetings in North Carolina

2011-11-28T19:59:00.001+10:00

Sandwiched around my trip to South Carolina were several meetings in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After arriving in NC from Nashville, I spent the weekend with my friends Ernie and Annette Ladd (parents of PIU student Josh Ladd). We got in some good football watching, eating and conversation. It was a nice break from meetings. After spending Monday through Wednesday in South Carolina, I drove back to Winston-Salem to the house of PIU Board member David Mayer where several meetings had been set up. The first was with the PIU Director of Foundation Relations, Katherine Currie. Katherine lives in NC but she has been part of the PIU family for the past two years. She helps us develop relationships with American foundations and churches, has written several grant applications for us and last year coordinated the scheduling for the Voices of Micronesia.

The next day PIU board members Bill Schuit, David Mayer (pictured) and Howard Merrell met to discuss revision of the school’s long range plan. It was good to see them and I felt like I got some good direction as I prepared to head back to Guam and get ready for the PIU annual board meeting in February. That evening the Mayers hosted a party at their home. One purpose of the party was to help send long-time colleagues Steve and Anne Stinnette on their way back to Guam after a several month stay in the US for medical treatment. (The picture is of Steve and Anne’s presentation of their ministry to the group.) The second purpose was a reunion of the short-term mission team from Calvary Baptist Church that came out to PIU (then PIBC) in 2000 to build our outdoor basketball court. What a great mission team that was! That court is still a focal point of the social life and ministry of PIU. It was a great way to end the trip before I headed back to Guam on Sunday morning the 20th.

Visit to Columbia International University

2011-11-27T18:46:00.001+10:00

One of my regular stops on my Fall US tour is Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. PIU and CIU have a long history together. In many ways, and on a smaller scale, PIU has been patterned after CIU. This is my 7th visit there after I was invited there by CIU seminary professor Don Howell to recruit seminary and English teachers back in 2005. Don and his wife Melissa have hosted me for all 7 visits. We now have two CIU alumni, Sarah Brubaker and Joey Charles, teaching for us at PIU as well as Steve Bradley, longtime LMUSA missionary and retired CIU teacher, who has been teaching as a volunteer for PIU for several years. I always enjoy going there because PIU has so many friends at CIU. This year my main objective was to work out an articulation agreement for transfer of credit (successful!) and, as always, to recruit teachers. Our three main needs right now for faculty are education, music and a seminary dean. I am also looking for couples to direct our teaching facilities in the surrounding islands. I also was able to talk with CIU administrators about some student and staff mission trips, faculty exchange and other partnership ventures. I felt like I spent a productive 3 days there and the warm weather with the beautiful fall colors (picture taken in front of the CIU student center) was just a bonus.

TRACS Conference

2011-11-26T11:58:00.001+10:00

This years TRACS annual conference was held at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. TRACS is the body that accredits PIU and is recognized by both the United States Department of Education, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, as a national accrediting body for Christian institutions, colleges, universities, and seminaries. PIU was granted candidate status with TRACS in 1999 and we became a fully accredited category II institution (undergraduate) institution in 2004. In 2009 our accreditation was affirmed and we were upgraded to a category III institution with the addition of our seminary. While I was at the conference I realized that this was the tenth TRACS conference that I have attended. TRACS has been an important factor in the forward steps PIU has made in the last ten years.

Probably the most productive aspect of the conference is the opportunity to interact with other schools and hear how they are working through the similar issues that we face. This year I thought the seminars were also particularly helpful. The TRACS administration has also been quite responsive and helpful to us recently. In addition, the food and desserts (pictured) are always good. Accreditation is a lot of work but the effort has been well worth it.

More on My US Mainland Trip

2011-11-24T08:01:00.001+10:00

I am back on Guam after 4 weeks on the US Mainland. The main purpose of the trip was to recruit students, staff and faculty, develop more transfer agreements with US universities and seminaries, and raise funds for the school. We are about $20,000 short of ($100,000) the minimum we need to raise in donations for 2011 and, though I raised some money on the trip, we are still well short of our goal. I met many interested potential students and staff members on the trip and we are praying that many of them will join us in the near future.

I am always humbled by the generosity of God’s people as I travel. In my 28 days of travel I only had to pay for a hotel room for three nights. Third John type hospitality is still alive and well in the American church. The other fringe benefit I get from this trip is the opportunity to stay with family. Missy and Cliff’s (pictured) house became my Dallas Texas area base and I had an enjoyable time there. Their baby is growing and we can hardly wait for March when she, our grandchild #5, is scheduled to be born. I still plan to make a couple more posts about my trip adventures plus will post a few things about what was going on at PIU while I was gone. It is nice to be back where it is warm all the time.

Ministry in Susanville California

2011-11-15T06:58:00.001+10:00

I am still a week behind on my posts, but here are a few pictures from last weekend in Susanville California where I had the opportunity to participate in the Micronesian conference there. There were Palauans and Chuukese there from Portland, Reno, Sacramento, Texas and, of course Susanville. I had the opportunity to lead an all day Saturday seminar for the men on biblical exegesis and then spoke to the whole group on Saturday night. As you can see, it was a cold weekend (about 20 degrees for a low) and somehow, whenever I go to Susanville – even in the summer - it snows. I am thankful again to Jacob Ngiraiblosch for inviting me to be one of the speakers for the conference. It is encouraging to me to see how well so many of my former students are doing and to see them in leadership in their churches.

Most of the meetings were held at a camp about 15 miles from Susanville. The food and fellowship were excellent.

There was a lot of singing. The Susanville group led worship before lunch (left) and the youth group performed a skit and worship dance (right) in the evening.

Ministry in Texas

2011-11-10T01:26:00.001+10:00

After spending a day in Dallas with Missy and Cliff, I headed down to Salado, Texas to meet with the people at Grace Baptist Church. I met pastor Steve Waechter in the afternoon and after a nice dinner (including key lime pie) spoke at the church’s Wednesday evening service. The small, but very interested group already knew a lot about the school and were excited to hear the new things that are happening at PIU. The next evening I met with the Palauan fellowship group in Killeen. I was happy to see some old friends there and meet some high school students who are interested to come to PIU in the future. Ali and Zenida led some music and I had a chance to share with the group about the new opportunities provided for them at PIU through the liberal studies, diving and seminary programs. I am very thankful for both the Grace Baptist and Palauan groups who have been so supportive of our school for the last couple years. Thanks also to the Puckett’s who opened up their home to me while I was in Central Texas. Posted from the Love Field waiting area!

Ministry at Shingle Springs and Redding California

2011-11-09T08:14:00.001+10:00

My annual Fall recruiting and fund raising trip began this year in Northern California. On Monday the 24th I flew from Guam into San Francisco and then drove up to El Dorado to my parents’ place. After a day of rest I drove up to Redding. In Redding I got to meet with administrators at Simpson University and Tozer Seminary. We are working on an agreement with Simpson that would allow students to transfer credits between PIU and Simpson. I also had the opportunity to talk with some teachers at Tozer about teaching some PIU classes. The next day I drove over to Shasta Bible College and met with some old friends there. I drove back to El Dorado on Friday and got to have some good family time on Saturday. I also had morning coffee at Starbucks with Tim and Melody Plaxton. They looked great. Sunday I spoke at Gold Country Baptist Church with a report about PIU in the morning service and preached in the evening service (pictured above). With three GCBC families on staff and a couple students at PIU, there is a lot of interest in PIU there. I gave out several Fact Books and brochures. In between services I had lunch with the Cain family. Sarah Cain took most of the pictures for our publications while she was on Guam last spring. We are very thankful for the support GCBC brings in to PIU. Monday was the last day in the area. I met with Steve Leuice, the pastor of another supporting church, Camino Community Church, and we had a great time talking over old times in Palau and Guam and comparing ministry notes. The first week of my trip was busy, but fun. Monday evening I headed to the airport to fly to Dallas.

JR Vigil Update

2011-11-09T07:53:00.001+10:00

The night before I left on my current trip to the US Mainland (more on what is happening on the trip coming soon) Joyce and I went over to the Vigil’s house to see JR and the family. The PIU students, with Mike and Samantha were also hanging out over there. It was good to see that JR had regained much of his weight and to see him up and around. He talked with us about how much better he was feeling and how he was thankful that God was giving him a second chance at life. He felt like, with all the miracles of timing that happened to save his life, that God must have something special planned for his life. He also said that he is humbled and thankful that so many people gave toward his medical expenses. He said that he knows his rehab will not be easy but he is feeling confident that he can do it. We were all very encouraged by his attitude and we had a good evening of eating and singing together. Please keep JR in your prayers as he works on his rehab and the family prepares to go to the US mainland early next year to get JR the prosthetics he needs.

Dress Up Day in Joyce’s Class

2011-11-04T05:32:00.001+10:00

Last week was Dress-up day in Joyce’s class at the Japanese School of Guam. She must be a fun teacher. She even had her co-teachers involved. The kids look cute so I had to post a couple pictures.

Voices of Micronesia 2012 – First Performance

2011-11-04T03:07:00.001+10:00

This year’s VOM team made their first presentation of the new school year at the Preaching Conference. The team performed a couple traditional Micronesian Christian songs and some cultural dances. This year’s team is focusing on learning traditional artistic dance forms from the islands and redeeming them to the service of Christ. Our plan is to have the team tour the US next Fall from mid-September to mid-December. They are already scheduled at some Guam churches for this school year and have several other dates open in which they could make a presentation at Guam churches. We also hope to do other performances in the Asian and island regions. The group will have 16 members and is directed by Julia Muya. (bottom left in the picture on the right)

Here are a few pictures of the performance…

Final Day of the Preaching Conference

2011-11-01T11:17:00.001+10:00

The preaching conference concluded on Saturday October 22nd. The day began with breakfast at 8 AM and we immediately got down to business. The subject of the days’ three sessions was “Deep Preaching.” That is, how do we preach sermons that deeply impact the preacher himself and then the people in his audience? Kent emphasized the “preacher’s closet” where he invites the Holy Spirit to work the message of the Word into his life and into the sermon itself. Preaching is not just an academic exercise. It needs to be empowered and directed by the Spirit.

The Saturday session moved from the “Top of the Reef” to the ballroom. We went from 8 AM to 3 PM and the day’s events included an excellent lunch and breakfast. During the conference we were also able to give away several valuable door prizes that were donated by the Reef Hotel, National Car Rental and Faith Book Store. Of course, we also gave away PIU T-shirts and other merchandise.

The last session of the day was a question and answer time. Even though we had already had a long day the session actually went beyond the scheduled time because there was so much audience participation.

I am so thankful for the hard work of our office and advancement staff to make this conference happen. Our operations director, Celia Atoigue, did a great job taking care of the hotel and food arrangements and contacting the donors of the door prizes. Samantha Owen did a great job on the brochures and publicity materials. All of our staff did a great job to make the conference happen. We also appreciate Kent and Nola coming all the way from California to be our speakers. As we cleaned up and assessed the 2011 conference we are already planning for the 2012 PIU Preaching Conference.

Friday Night at the PIU Preaching Conference

2011-11-01T10:49:00.001+10:00

The Conference continued on Friday night as Dr. Edwards spoke on the theme of “How to Preach the Bible. Several of the pastors that were unable to attend on Thursday were able to be there on Friday night. Even though Kent had a full day of ministry, he spoke with enthusiasm and many of the pastors told me that it was an even better session than the previous night.

Joey Charles began the session with some music during the meal. We also had PIU professors make short presentations throughout the conference about the courses they would be teaching during the Spring semester. If you are interested in taking PIU courses next semester on-line or on the campus give us a call at 671-734-1812 or check our web site at http://piu.edu

VP of Student Life Rob Watt and his team did a great job handling the sound and other program logistics of the conference.

Friday Events

2011-10-30T15:07:00.001+10:00

The 2nd day of the preaching conference was full of events before the actual evening conference events. In the morning PIU hosted a breakfast for pastors and wives to meet and talk with Kent and Nola Edwards. The monsoon rains in the morning held down attendance (we were plowing through “deep” water on our way there) but we had a lively discussion about how pastors and wives should complement each other’s ministries. I forgot to take pictures of this event because I was working hard on my Chamorro Scramble.

After breakfast we hustled Kent and Nola up to the campus for the chapel service so that Kent could be our chapel speaker.

The lunch event was our monthly theological discussion group meeting in the PIU library. This time we had lunch provided by several gracious donors and a good group turned out to discuss with Dr. Edwards, the theology of preaching, the place of preaching in the modern church, church polity and several other theological issues relating to how the church should accomplish its mission. The discussion was lively with local pastors, PIU staff and faculty and several students contributing questions and opinions. Next month (November 18th) we will follow up with further discussion of ecclesiology.

PIU’s 2011 Preaching Conference

2011-10-29T15:11:00.001+10:00

Last weekend (October 20-22) Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary presented its 2nd annual Preaching Conference at the Guam Reef Hotel. The theme of the conference was “Preaching for a Change in Micronesia.” Our featured speaker was Dr. Kent Edwards, Professor of Preaching & Leadership and the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Talbot School of Theology / BIOLA University and past president of the Evangelical Homiletics Society.

The theme of the first night of the conference was “Why Preach?” With the beautiful view of the Guam coastline all around us as we sat at the “Top of the Reef,” Kent encouraged and motivated the attendees, representing most of the ethnic groups that live on Guam, to be diligent in preaching the Word. I think everyone was “fired up” for the rest of the conference when they went home that evening. Several of our PIU faculty, staff and students also attended the conference. More in the next post!

Curriculum Changes

2011-10-27T04:12:00.001+10:00

Our curriculum at PIU is in a constant state of assessment and revision. Every course is evaluated by students and the administration, along with the programs they are part of. We also are getting continual input from our island communities about what they would like to see us offer. Sometimes this results in major changes to the curriculum like last year’s addition of a BA and AA degree in Liberal Studies. Usually the revisions come in much smaller increments. This year we are looking at some of the “emphases” in the BA programs. Each BA degree student takes an 18 unit “emphasis” within their biblical or liberal studies major. These emphases include General Ministry, Missions, Education, Teaching ESL, Pastoral Ministries among others. This month our curriculum committee has been meeting to evaluate these emphases to see which ones should be added or subtracted.

One emphasis that we are working on to add for next school year is Bible Translation. Last year we were approached by missionaries from Wycliffe who asked us if we would be willing to add a Bible translation training program to our curriculum. After several meetings we decided to pursue it and we are now in the process of setting up the classes and requirements of the emphasis within the biblical studies program. We are working out an agreement with Wycliffe to supply the teachers for the Bible translation classes and we are hoping that we will be able to train national translators within our BA in Bible program. This would open up the possibility of students coming from many other Pacific Island nations. Please pray for us that we would follow God’s direction and timing on this.

Mike Preaches at Faith Church

2011-10-27T03:43:00.001+10:00

This summer and Fall I, and other PIU faculty, have been helping out Faith Presbyterian and Reformed Church by doing some preaching in their Sunday morning service until they can find a new pastor. On October 16th the elders there asked Michael to preach so, of course, the whole family went there to support him, including several PIU students. We also took a couple pictures. He preached from the story of the Gibeonite deception from Joshua 9. I have heard him preach before in chapel and in Palau and I always enjoy it. I think the people at Faith enjoyed it too since they asked him to come back this coming Sunday.

Mike is the first preacher I have seen who preaches from an I-pad.

Staff and Faculty Prayer Meeting at PIU

2011-10-27T03:32:00.001+10:00

We believe that prayer should be a very important part of the daily lives of everyone at PIU. So, we have a habit of regular prayer together. Besides the Days of Prayer and the informal times of prayer, the PIU staff and faculty meet twice a month for corporate prayer. On the first Sunday of the month we meet just for prayer and on the 3rd Sunday of the month we enjoy a fellowship meal along with the prayer time. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember at PIU and I believe it is an important part of what we do here. Staff, faculty and guests join together to pray for each other, the students and for the school’s ministries. We also pray for each others families, supporting churches, island churches and other issues in the islands. We pray at 6 PM on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. If you are on Guam we would invite you to join us or, if you are in another part of the world, just join us from where you are.

A Trip to Underwater World

2011-10-26T06:24:00.001+10:00

Guam has a very nice indoor walk-through aquarium called Underwater World. We have been there several times but we always enjoy taking visitors there. A couple Saturdays ago Joyce and I took the Benson’s there. As usual, this was one one of the most, if not the most, popular of our outings. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon looking at the great collection of fish there. We even got to see the sharks feeding. Visitors walk through tubes that allow you to be under the fish which provides a really different perspective.

The grouper is humongous.

There are some pretty strange and exotic fish to see.

And some colorful ones

They even have a “petting zoo.”

At the Inarajan Pools

2011-10-26T05:39:00.001+10:00

Another nice spot to go for a swim on Guam is the Inarajan Pools. These natural pools provide a great place to swim, dive and, on the shallow side, do some snorkeling. It is amazing how many different kinds of ocean life you can see in that shallow tidal pool. Joyce and Daisy took the Benson’s there on a beautiful day. I took the Edwards there a week later, but it was raining and we weren’t able to get out and enjoy the place. So all the pictures are from Joyce and Daisy’s cameras.

The diving platform is one of the most popular features of the pools. The picture on the left provides proof that missionaries can walk on water.

Taking guests on these tours and hikes is hard and grueling work, but someone has to do it!

Guam has a lot of cool stuff for a kid to do. We even have our own monitor lizard in our driveway.

At the Beach

2011-10-26T05:23:00.001+10:00

Life on Guam is not all work for our guest teachers. This time Matt Benson brought the rest of his family with him to Guam, and they were able to go on several fun excursions. Here are a few pictures from a day at one of Guam’s popular swimming, hiking and snorkeling areas, Shark’s Hole. Joyce and Daisy were tour guides and the group also included Samantha’s mom and one of Joyce’s coworkers from the Japanese School of Guam.

Ransome and Davey volunteered to stay behind at the parking area and watch the car. They were able to get some studying done under the shade of a coconut tree while they waited.

Joyce, Jonathan and Joshua enjoyed the warm, clear water

It is a great place to enjoy the scenery, collect shells or play with the small creatures.

Tuesday Chapel

2011-10-26T05:06:00.001+10:00

At PIU we have chapel every Tuesday and Friday at 11 AM. (You are welcome to join us if you are able) We always enjoy a guest speaker and so we get our guest teachers into chapel whenever one is visiting. Matt Benson spoke to us last Tuesday on making our lives a message for the Kingdom of God. We often think of the Gospel just in terms of what we say, but we also communicate the message through what we do and how we live. The message was a real challenge and encouragement to all of us.

Some Family Pictures

2011-10-24T15:15:00.001+10:00

Late last month we had two big family events – Titus’ 5th birthday and Samantha’s parents moved to Guam. That was an occasion for some family pictures a few of which I include here. The one on the left we had taken after church at Bayview Baptist early in October. On the right is a picture I sneaked in while Mike and Sam were having a studio family picture taken. We had pictures taken including all the grandparents too. We will have to wait until Christmas for the professional portraits.

We took a couple other pictures out at Bayview. The kids were having a great time on the new playground equipment. The grandparents enjoyed watching them having a good time.

Airport Pickups and Dropoffs

2011-10-23T18:45:00.001+10:00

Wow we have had a lot of activity around PIU lately. Maybe you have been wondering where I have been, but I promise to get my blog caught up on the last couple weeks of activity here. I have plenty of pictures and to post and I will try to get them up here as I travel the next few days. One of the things Joyce and I really enjoy about living here on Guam is the opportunity to have so many visitors. We do a lot of airport runs (as many as 50-75 in a year) and have had people from all over the world staying at our house. So many interesting people and so many good discussions! In October we have been privileged to host the Bensons from Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee and Kent and Nola Edwards from Talbot Seminary in La Mirada California. The students also like to come out and provide a melodic welcome to our visitors.

The Benson’s arrived soon after the beginning of October and stayed at our house for a little over two weeks as Matt taught the Introduction to Missions course for our Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary. We enjoyed getting to know Matt, his wife Melody and their three children Jonathan, Joshua and Emi. Matt not only taught his class but helped us quite a bit as an administrative consultant. We hope we will be able to get the whole family back out here again soon.

This week we enjoyed having the Edwards with us for the preaching conference. I will be posting several times about the conference soon. On Guam many of the flights come in at odd times, especially the ones from the Micronesian islands and sometimes the ones from Japan. The flight that the Benson’s and Edwards flew in on landed at 11.45 PM. Nevertheless the students really enjoy coming out to properly welcome our guests. See below…

Joyce, finds a good way to relax while waiting for the late-night flight!

PIU Students of the Week: The “A” Team

2011-10-13T18:46:00.002+10:00

This week’s featured students are part of the “Liebenzell Scholarship” program which provides a substantial tuition discount to students who do not have sufficient resources (income, scholarships and grants) to afford to come to PIU. Even though the costs for PIU are among the lowest of all accredited private Christian colleges in the world, most of our students need to take advantage of the discount. In return for the discount each student works up to 5 hours per week for the school in various jobs. While one of the big reasons for this is to help the school meet needed expenses and keep tuition low, the main reason for the program is for students to get some work experience that will help them later in life. Many of our faculty and staff members have volunteered to supervise and mentor these students as they work. It has been exciting to see most of our students fit into their jobs and excel.
One of the biggest groups of student workers is in the Advancement department headed up by Lisa Collins, Lisa is our librarian too,but has graciously agreed to coordinate the school’s advancement efforts until a qualified full-time person can be found. The advancement team went to work, visiting high schools, contacting alumni, prospective students and donors, creating and editing school publications and social networking, with such fervor that Lisa dubbed them “The A Team.” The team consists of (left to right) 1) Mathew Fanoway- helping with creation and editing of publications 2) Johnny Esa - Coordinates communication with the FSM association of Churches on Guam and the Chuukese Alumni Association, and assists in Alumni Relations 3) Lisa Collins – The Big Boss 4) Camry Ann Fichan who handles filing of information 5) Josh Ladd - coordinates communication with high schools and helps with promotion. 6) Asia Oshiro – coordinates email, social networking and team communication and prospective students. She also helps with alumni relations. 7) Billy Edwin is the staff member who is in charge of alumni relations and works with Lisa to supervise and mentor the “A” team. Not pictured are staff/faculty members Joey Charles (Video Production Coordinator) and Samantha Owen (Publications Coordinator). It really is a pleasure to walk by the Advancement office and see the A Team happily hard at work!

Joyce Battles the Guam Brown Tree Snake

2011-10-08T18:08:00.001+10:00

Also, earlier this week Joyce and Daisy made a video of Joyce’s battle with a Guam brown tree snake. One of our PIU students, Meluat, had caught the snake a couple days before in the campus garbage dumpster and had given it to Joyce. All the students are aware that Joyce likes to take the snakes and sell them to a guy at Chamorro village who makes jewelry out of their vertebrae. Usually she freezes the snakes and then takes them down there in a bag, but this one she was keeping in a jar. For some reason she decided to take the snake out of the jar and then the battle began. Daisy Murdock provides the theological commentary with additional commentary from Joyce, Titus, and Courage.

Joyce’s Snorkeling Video

2011-10-08T16:49:00.001+10:00

Earlier this week Joyce and, our Dean of Women, Daisy Murdock went down to Ypao Beach to do some snorkeling. They came home all excited about “how many” and “how big” the fish were, and they had this video to prove it. Since it had been raining all week I expected the visibility to be pretty bad but it looks pretty clear in the video. Snorkeling is an all year round sport on Guam in our 80 degree water! Enjoy!

JR Vigil is Back on Guam

2011-10-03T12:01:00.001+10:00

This is an update I am very happy to write. Saturday Joyce and I were able to drive up to the Guam airport to welcome back JR Vigil, along with May and Tony, to Guam. JR was discharged from the hospital in the Philippines last week and cleared to return. He looked great and seemed very happy to be back. His mother, May, wrote the following in an email to us this morning….

“Today is the 75th day since the accident happened. When it happened JR’s chance to survive was 50/50, and even the doctors were very concerned that he wouldn't make it. But God is a God of miracles and he answers the fervent prayers of the righteous. When we left for St. Luke’s hospital a month ago we thought we would be there for months (as JR had many injuries). When we got there, JR was seen by twelve specialists (neurosurgeon, pulmonary, etc) I can't even keep tabs on who was who because there were so many of them. He was given an additional three units of blood when we arrived because his platelets were so low. MRI, CAT Scan and x-rays were all taken (I was afraid he would start glowing in the dark ) and other tests.

As you all know we returned back to Guam yesterday afternoon. JR is doing well considering what he has been through. He accepted that he lost his legs a week ago and he is okay with that. What is so wonderful about it is that he is not angry or bitter about it and that he is ready to face the future. Please pray that his Medicaid will be approved this month so that we can apply for Medicaid in the mainland. There is a place in Denver, Colorado that does prosthesis work and there is a hotel that is just walking distance from it. It seems that this will be a good place to go. If everything will be approved, we pray that we will be leaving by next month. Please continue to pray for strength for JR as he is still recovering and needs to gain a few more pounds. If you know someone who does physical therapy on Guam please let us know as he needs to continue his physical therapy. Pray that God will protect him from any illness and that he will continue to have a positive attitude.

We again thank all of you for continued prayers. All glory belongs to God our Father, our Creator.

Blessings,

Tony, May, JR, Michael

P.S. Thank you for all of those who came to greet us at the airport yesterday.”

PIU Day of Prayer

2011-10-02T18:41:00.001+10:00

The PIU annual day of prayer last Friday began early in the morning as a small group of students, faculty and staff braved the wind, cold (for Guam – note the sweatshirts everyone is wearing) rain and nasty vermin (trying to get away from the high waters) to meet for prayer in the pavilion in the center of campus. We got to spend an hour praying for each other, the school, the islands, the community, missions and for the supporters of PIU. After the hour of prayer students and faculty headed to class and I headed to the office.

The next event was the Prayer and Worship Chapel. Michael Owen organized the chapel (one of his responsibilities is mentoring the worship team and I appreciate the fact that it really is a worship team – not just a music group) The theme for prayer chapel was based on the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5-7 so the worship, music, prayers and speakers were all organized around that theme. The chapel began with music interspersed through scripture readings from the Gospel of Matthew.

Mike asked a few members to share some thoughts during the chapel. My job was to summarize the Sermon on the Mount in 3-5 minutes. Jesus summarized it much better than I could when He said that He had fulfilled the law and that we fulfill the Law when we follow His command to “Follow Me!” Sarah Brubaker spoke on prayer and shared powerfully about how God had worked in her life in direct response to prayer.

Joyce shared from scripture and from her experience how, when you understand how big God is and how much He loves you, that there is just no reason to worry. As you can see she had a little help from Serenity who, as Joyce finished her talk, tripped over Charles’ guitar cord.

We then divided up into groups and prayed through several prayer requests

And sang a few more songs

In the evening we had one more prayer gathering led by Samantha. All week she had been collecting prayer requests on cards from the PIU family so we could pray for them for two hours on Friday night. We shuffled and re-shuffled into small groups and worked our way through all the prayer cards. In addition Sam organized some creative activities that helped us pray for all the leadership of the school, unreached peoples of the world, and for each other.

One of my favorite activities was the “prayer circle” in which we rotated to pray for the board, administration, faculty and staff of PIU

My favorite part of the evening was was when everyone gathered together to pray for me. That was so encouraging! It is nice to be reminded that so many people pray for me. This has been a difficult year for us in many ways but we serve a good and Almighty God!

More on the PFG Prayer Jubilee

2011-10-02T17:45:00.001+10:00

I took a few other pictures of the Prayer Jubilee that I thought I should post. I always enjoy getting together with other church groups on Guam. It is always a blessing to see and hear what God is doing all around Guam. PIU students are involved in many of these ministries and churches and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Guam community.

As we waited to go on (left) we enjoyed the Andersen Air Force Base Gospel Choir (Right)

We had a good group out from several different churches and ministries

It is always fun to get out of the office and hang around with the students.

PIU Students Attend Guam Prison Fellowship Prayer Jubilee

2011-09-29T16:23:00.000+10:00

From the PIU web site ....

Sunday, September 25, 2011, a group of 17 students attended Prison Fellowship Guam’s Week of Prayer Jubilee. They ministered to those in attendance through song and dance. Check out PIU’s Facebook page to see pics from the event.

Check our PIU Facebook page.

Some Pictures From Titus’ 5th Birthday Party

2011-09-26T18:53:00.001+10:00

Saturday we celebrated Titus’ 5th birthday at the Play Port at the Agana Mall. Titus birthday is actually on Thursday, but he didn’t mind us celebrating a little early. Titus invited several of his friends from church and from PIU and they had a great time expending huge amounts of energy on the play equipment, eating pizza and carrot cake, and discussing wii games. The Play Port was a great place for a kids’ party! Here are a few of the pictures we took of the celebration.

Yes, Titus is turning 5 and he had some friends there to help him celebrate!

Grandma spent a lot of time playing on the toys with Serenity

Courage “prepared” and then ate the food.

The slide was probably the most popular piece of play equipment

Serenity preferred crawling through the tunnels

There were a lot of things to do there.

It was hard to get them to the table for the traditional carrot-birthday cake and the opening of the presents,

But we did get them to the table eventually

And Titus made his wish and blew out his candles…

And opened his presents

And posed for some cute pictures

A good time was had by all

Friday Night Seminar – Conclusion to Muslims and the Church Week

2011-09-26T18:14:00.001+10:00

We concluded our Muslims and the Church week with a community seminar on Friday night. The purpose of the seminar was to bring together church leaders, the PIU community and other interested individuals to discuss possible ministry to Muslims in our region, inform about the opportunities that are available and begin to formulate a strategy for the churches in Guam and Micronesia to cooperate in the effort. Panelists included Paul from North Africa, Andrew Immanuel, pastor of the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam who made an informational trip to Papua, Indonesia last summer and Billy Edwin, PIU alumni director, who has lived and done ministry in Muslim communities in Africa. In addition, PIU students and staff who participated in the Indonesia trip this summer shared from their experience there. We were encouraged to see so many people from the many different ethnic communities of Guam participate in the event. Pastor Andy shared a moving testimony about the needs he saw in Indonesia and the call he felt for Micronesians to be trained and to go minister there. Several of the team shared about the desire that many of the Indonesians had to come to PIU to get trained to minister to their own people. They encouraged the churches to each sponsor a student to come to PIU. finance their education and send them back to Indonesia as a missionary to their own communities in cooperation with the churches here. It was an exciting time and we ask for prayer for the Spirit’s direction as we see where God would have us go from here.

Friday Chapel – Muslims and the Church Continued

2011-09-26T17:22:00.001+10:00

Friday chapel continued our emphasis for the week – the church’s responsibility and relationship with the Muslim world. The singing was led by English faculty Joey Charles and first-year student Asia Oshiro and concluded with a rousing rendition of “He Reigns.” Paul from North Africa shared about his family’s life ministering to his Muslim neighbors in North Africa through a slide show and stories. He presented a holistic ministry that develops real relationships with the people around him and blesses them, not only spiritually by bringing Christ to them, but economically, socially and in many other ways. He sees this as the best strategy for reaching the Muslim world for Christ. It was exciting to hear about what God is doing in the lives of real people in the Muslim world through regular people who are willing to go. He ended with a challenge to the PIU students that if he could do it – they could do too. He reminded them that in the 20th century Micronesia was “the ends of the earth” and people brought the Gospel to them. In return they should consider going to the Muslim world, “the ends of the earth” for the 21st century.

“Muslims and the Church Week” Begins at PIU

2011-09-24T21:46:00.001+10:00

Last Tuesday’s chapel was the beginning event for our “Muslims and the Church Week” at PIU. The purpose of the week was to raise awareness in the PIU family and in the Guam church community about the needs and opportunities in the Muslim world, especially in Indonesia. Our keynote speakers for the week were “Paul and Hadassah from North Africa.” They made a very powerful presentation that humanized our Muslim neighbors and reminded us of Jesus’ call to reach out to them with love as He reached out to us.

After a good time of singing which focused on our mission to reach out to the world, Paul and Hadassah performed a drama of the The Woman at the Well story from John chapter 4. PIU student Josh Ladd began by reading the text of the chapter in English and then Paul and Hadassah acted it out in Arabic. It was especially moving to see so graphically how Jesus overcame cultural discomfort, distance and hostility to meet the woman’s spiritual needs and those of her whole village. After the drama Hadassah reminded us of how Jesus calls to us to move out of our comfort zones and go and serve in “the fields that are white for harvest.”

The theme that emerged from the many speakers and contributors to the weeklong event was that “Muslims are not our enemy. They are confused and don’t know about who Jesus really is and what God has for them.” Our job as a church is to get that message out by our actions and words.

Indonesia/Papua Chapel

2011-09-24T19:55:00.001+10:00

Last Friday’s chapel focused on the PIU mission team that went to Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) Indonesia. This details about this trip and the team members were featured in a post I made on June 24th. 4th year student Meluat Meluat and PIU assistant dean of men, Daniel Assito, our speakers shared about their experiences in Indonesia and urged the rest of the students to get involved in the ministry there by praying, supporting the ministry and to even consider going there. They also asked us to pray for Indonesian students who want to come to PIU but cannot afford to come.

Josh Ladd enjoyed playing with the kids before chapel

Update on JR Vigil

2011-09-20T08:27:00.001+10:00

Here is the latest (this past weekend) update from May on JR Vigil’s condition. I saw Tony Friday afternoon. He was very encouraged and optimistic about JR’s progress, but said that they need a lot of prayer that they will maintain strength with the fast pace of activity they are maintaining. It is very difficult to get sleep as they have to watch JR 24-7. He hopes that they will all be back on Guam by the end of October.

Dear All,
Today is the 60th day of the accident. We been here at St. Luke’s for 19 days now and all of the tubes are out of his body except the IV line. JR still getting the medication to help his brain heal. Tomorrow will be the end of the medication so hopefully they will remove the IV line. When that happens the Physical therapy department can focus on getting his strength and muscles stronger. They are just waiting for the go signal from the main doctor. The doctor from the prosthesis department came by earlier. By the way he is talking that the prosthesis here are not as advanced as in the mainland US. I guess that will do for now, as our plan is to take JR back to Colorado to get fitted for better prosthesis.
Please continue to pray for healing on his brain. With the brain damaged, he is experiencing double vision and that his vision will return to normal (he gets really frustrated as he is seeing double). Also pray for his health to continue to get better and that no more infection will occur. Pray that he will be able to cope with the loss of his legs as he has started to realize what happened. Sometimes he gets depressed and starts crying and asks why did we let him live. Pray that God will grant him peace and sleep as he still does not sleep through the night and gets agitated. Pray that God's grace will continue to be upon him and that he will find God's will in his life.
Please also pray for our family as we are separated right now (Tony is back in Guam) I am here with Michael and JR. I am dealing mostly with the doctors and nurses here and sometimes I get overwhelmed. We know through all of this God has a plan, but just have to wait and see. We have seen a lot of miracles happen (as all the organs started working back to normal). We praise God and thank Him for all the prayers that are going up for us. We know that God is our strength and provider, without Him we will be not be here. We praise God for his faithfulness that are new every morning.
Again from the Vigil family we thank you for all your prayers and support.
In Christ,
Tony, May, JR, Michael

Guam Theological Discussion Group

2011-09-19T17:48:00.001+10:00

Last Thursday afternoon the first meeting of the Guam Theological discussion group was held at the PIU library. (We are still working on a more catchy name for the group) This purpose of the group is to provide a forum for ministers, church leaders, Bible students and anyone interested in current theological issues in the Pacific Islands to discuss and work through these issues, especially as they apply to ministry work here in Micronesia. It is a service that we at PIU have wanted to supply to the islands for many years. So we were very excited to see about 30 people gather for the first organizational meeting. The meetings will take place on the 3rd Friday of every month at noon in the PIU library. In addition we will use my other blog site, http://dowenclass.blogspot.com/ as on line supplement to the regular meeting.

Our first discussion was led by Dr. Jim Sawyer and dealt with the subject of the Trinity. The main issue discussed was how and why a good understanding of this doctrine is critical to practical ministry. We focused on the relational aspects within the Trinity and how that points to the importance of relational ministry. Jim used the book The Shack as an example of how the relational features of the Trinity can make an impact on ministry. The discussion that ensued was lively and continued quite a while after the hour and a half we had allotted for the meeting. Our next meeting will be October 21 and the subject will be biblical preaching.

Tuesday Chapel at PIU with Jim and Kay Sawyer

2011-09-17T11:10:00.001+10:00

This past Tuesday our chapel speakers were Jim and Kay Sawyer. Jim has been coming out to teach Systematic Theology at PIU’s Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary for the past three years as one of our part-time faculty members. Each semester Jim comes to Guam and does an intensive 2 week face to face session with the students and then the course is completed on line over the remaining weeks of the semester. Jim and Kay spoke on the subject of our identity in Christ. It was encouraging to hear from them, not only their theology in an academic sense, but to also hear the story of their lives and how what they believe has impacted them and their ministry. You don’t always get to hear that from a visiting scholar.

A little about Jim and Kay from his Sacred Saga Ministries website: Jim and Kay went to Biola College where he majored in Biblical Studies, planning to be a missionary. As a Senior he met Kay Fuqua, a missionary kid. Her parents were with Wycliffe Bible Translators and she had herself been born in the Amazon Jungle. They were married in December of 1973 and six months later moved to Dallas, TX where Jim pursued a ThM degree in New Testament. Over the course of his studies, his emphasis shifted to the areas of theology and church history. He finished his Ph.D. in Historical Theology at Dallas Seminary in 1984. Jim taught for five years in San Francisco at Simpson College and then for the next eighteen at Western Seminary’s Northern California campus near San Jose. But the desire for missions was always present under the surface. In 2005, he was invited to teach a two week intensive class at the Theological College in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. That experience brought the possibility of missions to the forefront of his consciousness again, and he was ready for a new challenge. Stepping out in faith, he left Western Seminary after 18 years and founded Sacred Saga ministries as a vehicle for bringing highly skilled and experienced biblical and theological scholars to areas of the world, such as Bulgaria and Guam, where the church is growing rapidly but has not been able to build an adequate support structure to train the new leadership.

Joyce and I have enjoyed having Jim and Kay stay with us during the two weeks he has been here. I have enjoyed the theological discussions and I know Jim likes having the opportunity to do some diving on Guam. He went 7 times on this trip! It is a real blessing to PIU to be able to bring out scholars like Jim to serve education needs of the islands.

Meet the PIU Students – Jenalin Smail and Sophina Fred

2011-09-15T22:30:00.001+10:00

This week I would like to introduce you to two more new PIU students Jenalin Smail and Sophina Fred. Jenalin and Sophina are both from the island of Nema, Chuuk of the Federated States of Micronesia. Both grew up in Christian families, in the same church, and became Christians as young people. Jenalin’s father was a pastor who led her to Christ. Jenalin has 5 brothers and 4 sisters while Sophina has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Jenalin graduated from Chuuk High School in 2006 and Sophina graduated from Berea Christian High School in 2007. Both are transfer students from College of Micronesia’s Chuuk campus.

Neither Sophina nor Jenalin came up to Guam this past summer planning to attend PIU. Both had other schools in mind. Sophina decided to attend PIU because PIU had a dormitory. Jenalin heard about PIU from alumnus Mondale Tim, who is now a seminary student, and he persuaded her to enroll in PIU. Jenalin remarked, “Maybe God had a plan for us to attend PIU.” Both young ladies are majoring in liberal studies and, though they are “not sure,” are hoping for careers in teaching or nursing. So far Jenalin says that her favorite things about PIU are “the computer lab and chapel,” while Sophina has most enjoyed “making new friends in the dorm.” Sophina was surprised that “girls are allowed to wear pants at PIU” and Jenalin was pleasantly surprised to find out how “nice the staff and faculty are” and how they spend time with the students.

Jenalin asks everyone to pray for growth in her spiritual life and academic abilities this semester. She also asks for prayer for her family because she misses them so much. Sophina asks that people pray that “God will change my life” and “help me to become a better person.” Thank you for your prayers for our students and for Pacific Islands University!

PIU Goes to the Guam Education Fairs

2011-09-11T20:32:00.001+10:00

In our ongoing effort to make PIU more well-known on Guam and recruit some more local students, PIU representatives attended several college-career fairs on Guam this past week. Thursday several PIU staff, faculty and students went down to Southern High school and talked with over 100 high school students there. On Friday another PIU group went (including me) to meet with students at Guam High School. We had over 50 students fill out our info cards there. Saturday our PIU team met with interested students from the Army reserve and Guard. The pictures I have here are from my trip over to Guam High School with Meluat, Josh and Nino. I really enjoyed getting to meet with high school students and I also got to talk with several of the teachers at Guam High. We are hoping to see a few of these students on our campus in the coming years.

Renovations #7 – It is Finished!

2011-09-11T20:19:00.001+10:00

We were over at Mike and Sam’s this evening and Joyce took some pictures of their finished kitchen. The total cost of the project was about double what we expected but we are glad to have it done and I think Mike, Sam and the kids are even happier. Here are the pictures Joyce took tonight. The first two pictures are taken from the living room into the dining area.

The cabinets came out well although we ran out of money before we could put the upper cabinets on the wall. We will do that sometime down the road.

The pass-through and breakfast bar will really come in handy.

Yap Ministry Team Chapel

2011-09-10T08:46:00.001+10:00

Yesterday our Friday chapel was led by the students and staff who went to Yap last summer to do 6 weeks of ministry with the Yap Evangelical Church. Staff member Billy Edwin coordinated the chapel and was one of the leaders of the Yap team. In addition to the PIU team members, Drew Phillips and Nathan Cobb joined the team from Beeson Divinity School for a couple weeks. Even though they weren’t there for the chapel it was good to see pictures of them ministering with our students. It was obvious from the testimonies that God did some great things in the lives of our students and in the lives of the people they ministered to in Yap. One of the ways PIU is privileged to serve our partner churches in Micronesia is to be able to send students to the islands to assist the church in the ministries they are involved in. This is also prepares our graduates to be effective in their communities and churches when they return as PIU graduates.

Jesse Hartt (left) reported about the youth and children’s ministries the team led while they were in Yap. The team was involved in Vacation Bible Schools, youth retreats and many other ministries to young people. Josh Ladd talked about being able to come alongside PIU alum Asael Ruda who pastors 5 churches in the villages of Yap and being able to help him during the summer and give him a break. Josh thought it was “amazing” how he got to preach in the churches through an interpreter. He was thrilled that the interpreter was Gideon Moofal who had been his father’s student (and mine) in Palau back in the 1980’s. Both Jesse and Josh said that the best thing about the trip was the relationships built with the Yapese youth and Josh plans to go back to Yap at Christmas to continue them.

The women who were part of the team also shared about their experiences in Yap and sang some of the songs they taught there.

One of the youth the team met in Yap was Philip Ranganbay. Philip shared his story of how the Yap team inspired him to be more committed to his faith and to come to PIU. He also reported about how God met his need for airfare so that he could get to Guam and study here.

The Owen’s Are Ready for Some Football

2011-09-09T07:50:00.001+10:00

Today marks that great annual American cultural event – the start of the NFL football season. And the Owen’s are ready. I am very happy that we have live football here (with the recent- within the last couple years- switch to digital internet based TV we have several channels of live sports now) instead of having to wait 2-3 weeks to “have the tapes shipped out” to watch the games as we did in the 1980’s when we first came out to Micronesia. We will have a couple people over tonight to watch the game (I record it while we are at school – with the time difference we get it at 10.30 AM) and have some food and fellowship around the football action.

As you can see from the pictures I am still a 49er fan. As Titus says, “The 49ers are the good guys!” I am hoping for 10-6 or 9-7 with a trip to the playoffs but we will see. My Super Bowl prediction for this year is Saints vs. Chargers. I think I can make my guess just as well as those guys on NFL Network! :)

We had a little football action of our own in the backyard after we took the pictures in our 49er jerseys. Titus says, “if you wear the shirt you have to play the game!” In the picture on the left you can see Courage avoid Titus’ tackle on the way to another touchdown. I liked the football shoes she chose. We had a great time until Titus and Courage cracked heads together trying to make a tackle. Nevertheless the consensus was that we need to play tackle football in the backyard again some time. Go 49ers! Yea football!

And finally, Grandpa is sacked under a furious rush from the 49er defensive line.

Meet the PIU Students – Philip Ranganbay

2011-09-08T17:31:00.001+10:00

Today begins what I plan to be a weekly feature – the Pacific Islands University student of the week. The post will contain an interview and a short bio of one of our PIU students. Our first student of the week is one of our brand new freshmen Philip Ranganbay (facing the camera in the picture), from Rull, Yap. Philip is 20 years old and is the 2nd oldest in a family of 7 brothers and 4 sisters. He graduated from Yap High School in 2010. He grew up in a family with “Christian values” but did not attend church as a child. One of his best memories, and a turning point in his life, was attending the Yap Evangelical Church 3 Day Youth Retreat with “all his cousins.” They “had a blast” and, though Philip had become a Christian as a child, this is where he began to be committed.

Philip enjoys music, especially guitar and likes to spend time reading or writing. His favorite subject in high school was mechanics, but now he is enrolled in the biblical studies major at PIU. He is not sure yet what he wants to do as a career, but his goal is to find out and become what God calls him to be. Many of his family members are PIU alumni, but the greatest influence on his decision to come to PIU was the Yap Mission Team that came to Yap this past summer. “I saw what it was like to live a Christian life and have a heart set for God.” He says the most surprising, and his favorite thing, about PIU is its small size. “It is not as big as the brochures made it seem,” but “it reminds me of home. I feel at home here.” Philip says, “I would not be here at all if it wasn’t for Jesus”

Philip mentioned three prayer requests. 1) Finances: His family cannot provide all the money he needs for his school bill. 2) His family: That they will be more active in church and 3) for faithfulness in his own daily walk with God. He also wants everyone to know that Yap is one of the most beautiful places in the world. “There are remote places in Yap with a natural beauty completely untouched by civilization.” Thank you for praying for Philip and for all the PIU students, especially the new students who are getting used to college life and being away from home for the first time in their lives.

1st Chapel of the Fall Semester

2011-09-02T10:28:00.001+10:00

Tuesday was the first chapel of the new Fall semester. After Mike and the music team led us in several songs, we did the traditional introduction of the teachers. This year we have only one new teacher, Joey Charles, sitting right in the foreground right of the picture above. Joey will be part of our English faculty. Another first chapel tradition is for the president to preach from the PIU mission statement. Usually I talk about the biblical basis for our core values of accessibility, excellence and transformation. I did talk a little about those this time, but instead focused on the goal of producing “men and women with a biblical worldview for life, work and ministry.” My three points were 1) A biblical worldview must be Christ-centered, 2) A biblical worldview drives us to deeper, loving relationships with God and the people around us and 3) a biblical worldview provides the foundation and framework that the Holy Spirit “fills in” within each person’s life as he transforms us into a unique image of Christ, which then fits into the “neighborhood” to form the image of God in the body of Christ. I think the chapel provided a good start to the semester and I am ready to get it going!

Updates on JR Vigil from the PI

2011-09-02T08:36:00.001+10:00

I received a couple emails from May Vigil updating the progress of JR as he recovers from the injuries in his car accident…

August 30
Yesterday we left Guam for St. Luke’s Hospital. It was a very long trip for JR, he was agitated the whole flight. The nurse gave him two doses of sedative but did not help much. When we got to the airport the ambulance was already waiting for us. We cleared customs and immigration fast, I rode with JR in the ambulance. It took twenty minutes to get to St. Luke’s.
Last night three doctors saw him right away (Internist, Neurologist, and Orthopedic). Today about a dozen specialist doctors came to assess his situation. They took another CT scan of his brain and the doctor said that the hematoma is still there, but not nothing new and no swelling of the brain. At seven tonight they will do an MRI on his liver and gallbladder. The gastroenterologist mentioned that maybe the reason that JR developed jaundice was due to the trauma (not infection of the liver) and if so then he does not need surgery to remove the gallbladder if the duct is not damaged. This is our prayer for today that the liver and the gallbladder are okay, and there is no damage to the small duct intestines, he does not need another surgery.
Please keep praying that the LORD will continue to heal JR's body and mind and the doctors will continue to do what is best for JR. The nurse just came in and giving JR a citicoline, a brain vitamin. There is so much going on its overwhelming. Please continue to pray for strength for me and Anthony. We appreciate all your prayers.

August 31
Today was another exhausting day especially for JR. He panicked last night when they did the MRI, so they had to repeat the MRI this morning. They had to sedate him for the MRI this morning and were able to do it. An answer to prayer, the MRI showed the gall bladder and the duct is not damaged and the liver is doing well. They put a clamp in the drainage and will monitor it for 48 hours, if he does not turn yellow they will remove the tube. Another praise is that they did the endoscopy and he is able to swallow but they did not remove the traec as his lungs are not clear yet. He is getting a nebulizer treatment four times a day to clear his lungs. When his lungs clear they will remove it. They also did a memory assessment on his brain today, he was really agitated after the test. He did pretty well. As for the legs they are healing well and the orthopedic doctor said that the limbs look very good and will set him up for physical therapy.
Please continue to pray. Anthony and I are getting pretty exhausted as we have to stay with him twenty four hours a day. We cannot leave him alone even for a moment as he gets frustrated and starts pulling the tubes. Also he does not sleep very well and keeps us up most of the time. The hospital here is very different than the navy. They don't provide nurses to keep an eye on him all the time. If we want to get a nurse to keep an eye on him on the evening it will cost us an extra $50.00 a day. My brothers are here but JR does not know them well so he does not fell comfortable with them to keep an eye on him. Pray also that he won't turn yellow and that his lungs will clear. Again thank you for all your prayers and support.

September 1

Thank you for all your prayers. Today is our third day here in St. Lukes and more testing was done today. They took another x-ray on his stomach since he has been having severe stomach pain for the last three days. They also took a hearing test since he was complaining about his left ear. Right now they are giving another unit of blood as his platelets are low. Last night he was running a fever of 104 and today his back to normal temp. Praying that in three days they will removed his gallbladder tube and the traech.
As I am writing this email JR is sitting up holding on to the bed rails. He is doing very well, even the doctors here are amazed how well he is doing considering what happened. He ate Jell-O today and been drinking from a cup.
As I read my devotional today I am reminded that God knows what is good for us. We just have to completely rely on his grace and trust completely on Him.

Love, May, Tony and JR

Student Orientation and Welcome at PIU

2011-08-29T22:14:00.001+10:00

Today we held our new student orientation activities and tonight was a welcome dinner for all the students at PIU. Here are a few pictures of the days’ events.

The events included some large group meetings and some small group “get to know each other” sessions.

There were several volleyball and basketball games played in the afternoon and under the lights.

There was also plenty of time for the students to sit together and talk

And, of course, there was plenty of ribs, chicken, potato salad and rice. It is great to have the students back on campus. I am looking forward to a great semester.

JR Update: JR is on His Way to the Philippines

2011-08-29T21:56:00.001+10:00

As I write JR, May and Tony Vigil are in the air, flying to the PI for transfer to Saint Luke’s Hospital. This hospital has the facilities and resources to give him the advanced care he needs. We anticipate that he will be there for several months. This is a tremendous answer to prayer, but JR and his family have a lot of work ahead of him as he works toward recovery. Thank you to everyone for praying and donating for his expenses but there is still a need for more prayer and financial help. The picture was taken right before JR was taken to the airport.

Serenity’s 2nd 1st Birthday Party

2011-08-28T17:27:00.002+10:00

I know I posted a couple weeks ago about Serenity’s birthday party at the ICU in the Naval Hospital. Last week we had another family party at our house. Joyce still needed to give Serenity her birthday present. Besides, as a proud grandpa it is hard for me to resist posting pictures of her. I think she had a very good time at her party.

Daisy, PIU Dean of Women, has been staying with us the last few weeks, so she joined the party too along with Mike, Samantha, Courage and Titus.

We all enjoyed another Texas sheet cake

I think Serenity enjoyed her present from grandma very much

Fall Registration at PIU

2011-08-28T08:48:00.001+10:00

We just finished what is usually one of our busiest weeks of the year – Fall registration at PIU. Most of the students went through the registration lines last Wednesday through Friday, student orientation begins tonight and classes begin Monday night. There are still a few students who are not here yet and we always have a few who apply and register late. We are encouraged to see so many new students and to see others who will be interested to come in January. It was also great to see faculty and staff step up to handle all the chaos and, demonstrating the image of God, bring order, beauty and development of relationships out of it. I think we are ready to get the semester started.

Wednesday was registration for new students, Thursday for commuter students and then Friday took care of the returning students living on campus. On the left, our registrar and PIU catalog expert, Urte Scherer, makes sure that Ceci has the right classes on her schedule for her program while Kita greets the camera in the background. On the right, English teacher Sarah Brubaker handles academic advising for 2nd year student Jesse Hartt.

In the meantime our maintenance crew, Mo and Tyler with help from student and staff volunteers, made sure that our facilities are ready for the students. They added a couple new rooms in the women’s dorm and fixed what was broken last semester. Mo is in his last semester in our seminary and Tyler is a 3rd year student in the biblical studies program. Here Tyler is replacing ceiling tiles in classroom 1B.

JR Update: Headed to the PI on Monday

2011-08-27T21:30:00.001+10:00

Good news! It looks like JR’s stay in the 2nd floor unit at the Naval Hospital will not be very long. Arrangements have been completed and JR will be going to the Philippines at 4 PM on Monday with his mom and dad. He will be heading to St. Luke’s Hospital where he can get the treatment he needs for his head trauma and therapy for his legs. Thank you for praying for that. Joyce and I went up to visit him this afternoon at the hospital and when we got there he was out for his walk (in his wheelchair) on the cliff line, where we got this picture. It has been enjoyable to watch the JR we know start to come back. Sometimes he seems to be all there, cracking jokes and making comments and other times we have no idea what he is talking about. This, we have heard, is pretty common with head injuries. Right now, he is not able to drink or eat through the mouth because of the tracheotomy. This has been really difficult for him and for all of us. He really needs to eat to gain weight and strength. Please pray that they will be able to take care of this when he gets to the PI as soon as possible. We are all amazed at how far he has come in the last 40 days, but we also know he has a long road of rehab, healing, adjustment and therapy to go. Thank you for your prayers and please keep praying.

Faculty In-Service at PIU

2011-08-27T10:18:00.001+10:00

This past week began with two days of faculty training sessions. New acting VP of Academics Christel Wood (Christel is now “retired” since 2005 but has been teaching two classes per semester since then as a volunteer, and has agreed to be our acting VP until we can find a new one) oversaw the training session. Both of the main sessions this year featured a speaker from California coming to us via Skype. We were a little afraid of technical difficulties (the router died two days after the sessions finished) but the technology worked, the snacks were excellent and the conference went off as planned.

Our speaker the first day was Maria Keckler from San Diego. She is Director of Instructional Technology for a consortium of K-20 Christian schools and ministries, which include San Diego Christian College, Southern California Seminary, Christian Unified Schools of San Diego, and Shadow Mountain Community Church and Ministries. Her sessions were designed to help our faculty construct our traditional and on-line classes effectively to help our students become lifelong intentional learners. Basically, she taught us how to teach using new technologies in a way that would maximize student learning. Many faculty members mentioned to me that they thought the training was valuable and they planned on implementing several of Maria’s suggestions into their classes.

Our 2nd day speaker was Jo Romaniello, a family therapist from Santa Cruz. Jo has already been out to our campus twice to teach counseling courses for us and to help us set up our PIU counseling center. Jo led the faculty and staff through several lessons on effective communication and conflict resolution. We had several opportunities to practice our listening skills on each other. Joyce and I even got in some meaningful communication during the workshops! Again I think it was very helpful.

We also had short sessions on organization from Nino Pate, using on-line library resources from our librarian Lisa Collins and an short session on using our Moodle site from Hartmut Scherer. I thought the time was well-spent and the training was effective. It was great to see all the faculty and staff together after the summer break and I am looking forward to another great year working with them.

Update on JR Vigil

2011-08-25T09:50:00.001+10:00

Over a month after his July 20th car accident, JR was moved Tuesday from ICU to the second floor regular ward, Room 209, of the Naval Hospital. He is getting disconnected from more and more of the tubes and machines. Things seem to be coming together for flying him off Guam to the hospital in the Philippines. It is possible that he will leave for the PI as soon as Monday. Please pray for less agitation for him and that he will be able to relax and trust the doctors and nurses. Please also pray for May and Tony (his mom and dad) for strength and wisdom as they work so hard to meet JR’s needs and make the arrangements for his care.

If you would like to contribute to the costs of JR’s treatment here is the address to send checks.

JR Vigil Medical Fund
Calvary Baptist Church
1196 N. Marine Dr.
Tamuning, Guam 96913

Renovations #6 – Cabinets and Kitchen Sink

2011-08-24T07:22:00.001+10:00

I have had a few people ask me, “Whatever happened with the renovations over at Mike and Sam’s house?” I thought I should post on that before I get fully into the posts reporting on the start of the semester. At some point in late July or early August we ran out of money to complete the project, but Joyce is very resourceful and managed to come up with most of what we needed. They finished the tiling in the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms so they could move back in early August. She and Mike were able to do most of the cabinet work, with a little help from cousin Jesse and some of the other students. She needed to hire Rene again to do the kitchen sink and plumbing. Their house is pretty much done now. I will post some pictures of the completed house soon.

They assembled the cabinets from a kit

Mike and Sam are happy to have a completed kitchen before the start of the new semester

Serenity is also happy to have a spot from which she can see the whole kitchen

RA Training

2011-08-21T08:26:00.001+10:00

This past week has been the real beginning of the new semester (which officially doesn’t begin for another week). The campus has been quiet all summer with only a few students living on campus and only a few small classes being taught. This past weekend several students arrived, with most of them coming for the RA training sessions conducted by our PIU Student Life team led by Rob Watt. Our Resident Assistants are students who work with our Deans to take care of our students, disciple and lead them. This year one focus of the team is to have the students take more responsibility for their own lives and for serving and discipling one another. This week the RA’s discussed school rules and procedures, leadership principles, counseling and biblical principles of discipline and responsibility so that they can take leadership in the dormitories this year. We have a good group of student leaders this year and I am excited about the potential for what God will accomplish in our students this semester.

One aspect of the training is to have the student leadership team meet each evening for dinner at the house of one the faculty members. Thursday night the team met at our house for barbecued chicken and ribs (Yea!). We shared with them a little bit about the history of the school so that they would understand how much has been invested in their lives and education. I think they were motivated to make the same investment in the students who will be coming later this week and into the future of the school. I really enjoy having the students back and am looking forward to seeing the whole group come in this coming weekend!

Work Day at PIU

2011-08-20T18:46:00.001+10:00

The Fall semester is almost upon us! This week we began student leadership training (see next post) and next week we will meet for faculty in-service on Monday and Tuesday before the students begin coming in later in the week. Actually a few have already begun to arrive. As is our tradition, the last Saturday before we begin orientation is a work day to put the finishing touches on getting the campus ready for the new semester. With the renovations of the women’s dorm we needed a little more than finishing touches, but, as you can see, the ladies were more than ready to do their part. We had a good turnout of faculty, staff, students and volunteers despite the dark rainy weather. And as usual, we had a lot of fun together.

Librarian, Stella Fatag, beautified the flower garden in front of the library

The craftsmen repaired benches and hung bulletin boards

Sharon Bock got the front office ready for registration while our new acting Academic VP Christel Wood coordinated the re-arrangement of our faculty offices.

First-year PIU English teacher Joey Charles seems to have a profound idea here, though he may have a screw loose too. ;)

Bible teacher Iotaka Choram cleans joyfully (Right) as the guys work on the living room and kitchen of the guys’ dorm

Serenity helps her mom with classroom cleaning and then the rest of us take a lunch break

And the job is done! At least for the moment. Joey enjoys the more “spacious” faculty office area while classroom #1 (right) is ready for excellent, accessible and transformational learning to take place.

Budget Meeting

2011-08-19T17:09:00.001+10:00

This morning I was sitting with our PIU leadership team (Celia, Nino and Bill pictured) as we hammered out a budget for the 2010-11 school year. Normally this budget is done and approved before the fiscal year starts in July and we just make some minor adjustments when we see at the end of August how many students have enrolled. But this year has not been a normal summer. Besides the personal tragedies we have been through, we have gone through a financial shortage that caused us to furlough some of our people and we even had to lay off some of our co-workers. We had hoped that God would supply through grants or that “big donation” that would take care of our budget shortfall. So far that has not happened.

So today we sat and tried to finalize a budget based on the minimum in donations and student tuition and fees. Of course we are hoping for higher income, but as our librarian Lisa Collins said, “better to be pleasantly surprised than bitterly disappointed.” We will still be able to provide the quality classroom education and student mentoring we have provided in the past, but everyone will also be pitching in to help cover the needs in the office, maintenance and other necessary tasks. I have been very encouraged by the positive spirit exhibited by our faculty and staff as we move forward. We came out of the meeting with enough cut out of the budget to get it close to being balanced, but we are praying for more students and/or an increase in donations and grants so we can hire the people and provide all the services and training we believe God wants us to provide. As we begin the school year I am excited about what God is about to do at PIU. We remain committed to providing affordable Christian higher education to the people of the Pacific, who otherwise could not access it. I know God does not “take us through the desert” unless he has something good planned on the other side. We appreciate your prayers for us as we head into another semester.

PIU Students Bless the Vigil Family – JR Update

2011-08-16T19:24:00.001+10:00

This week is student leadership team training at PIU. The student dormitory leaders (RA’s) are here for training and discipleship. They will be training all week. This morning I had a chance to talk with them about where we are as a school and their responsibilities as student leaders. After the morning session they headed up to the hospital to minister to JR and the Vigil family. They brought up some pizza and drinks for lunch and visited with May and Tony. Some of the students went in to the ICU to pray with JR and then they all joined together for a time of prayer in the waiting room.

Here is the latest update on JR’s condition. The good news is that JR spoke his first word (through the tracheotomy) since the accident, "mom." He is still struggling with pneumonia in one of his lungs. The next step is to get him an MRI of his spine and head, and then to get him to the PI before the end of August so he can get the care he needs. He needs to be stable with clear lungs before he goes.

Tony and May were blessed by the students’ visit and they are very thankful for everyone who is praying. Keep those prayers going up! Thanks! Nice self-portrait Daisy!

Summer Classes at PIU Guam Campus

2011-08-15T20:01:00.001+10:00

Even though we did not have many students on the Guam campus this summer, quite a lot was happening there. In the first summer session Sarah Brubaker taught an English class and Mike Owen taught public speaking. In the second session, which just finished up, Urte Scherer taught Prophetic Literature and Hartmut taught Missions. Nino Pate taught Math 102 (College Algebra) – the first time that course had ever been offered at PIU. Mike has also finished up the Study Skills course on line for the Yap Students. I will be finished with my New Testament Survey class for the seminary on Saturday.

In addition Mike, Sarah and Joey Charles have offered the PIU version of our English admissions and placement test several times on the campus. The higher turnout for these tests than expected gives me some hope that we could have more new students than we thought. Nino has also offered the new PIU math placement test several times. I have enjoyed getting to meet some of the potential new PIU students.

We are praying for an increase in our student body from the 100 students we had last year. Please join us in that prayer. The picture is of Samantha giving a demonstration to Mike’s public speaking students of how NOT to give a speech.

ICU Update and Birthday Party

2011-08-09T18:10:00.001+10:00

Today we heard the good news that JR’s kidneys are starting to function again. That is a tremendous answer to prayer. This morning he was taken to surgery for a trach tube and a feeding tube. The surgery went well and JR is slowly coming out of the coma and is more aware each day as the anesthetics leave his system. He is in much pain...please continue praying.

Yesterday, Serenity had her first birthday so we all decided to take her birthday party up to the ICU waiting room. When she was born Joyce and I were still on the US Mainland, so May and Tony Vigil did grandma and grandpa duties, helping with Titus and Courage and making sure that Serenity had the proper car seat for leaving the hospital. May was one of the first people to hold Serenity after she was born.

Samantha made a carrot cake with apple sauce, raisins and pineapple.

Serenity had four pieces, I think

Everyone eventually got a piece of cake.

Serenity had a happy birthday. She really enjoyed putting her feet in the painted feet on the floor at the entrance to the ICU

Renovations #5 Tiling Etc.

2011-08-06T18:30:00.000+10:00

I have not posted in a while to update Mike and Sam’s house renovation. The house is not quite done yet (in fact Joyce is over there working on it as I write) but Mike and Sam have moved back in. The kitchen sink is not in yet, so they are washing their dishes in the bathroom sink. JR Vigil was working on the house with us before the car accident, coordinating the project along with Joyce so not a lot has been done since then until today. Pictured here is the contractor with Joyce. We have been really pleased with the quality of his work. He was very generous to even lend us his tools for the do-it-yourself parts. He even showed Joyce how to cut tile.

Joyce and Ertin tile the kids’ bedroom. Just wait until you see the finished bedrooms. They are colorful!

(left) Jesse and Mike take a quick break before they begin the cabinet work. (Right) The kitchen is ready for the cabinets to be installed.

The cabinets are stored in the living room waiting.

The bathroom sink and cabinet is installed as are the toilet and bathub/shower. The washer and dryer are back in and ready to go.

Here are some pictures of the back (left) and side (right) of the house.

Here is the dessert waiting for the workers.

Samantha and Jesse working hard.