Music Chapel

Last Tuesday was a music chapel at PIU, in which different combinations of students get together and lead the PIU family in singing. This time they also shared what music, worship etc. means to them. I recorded a few of them on my phone from the 2nd row. They sounded great and I was blessed by their efforts.  In the one above Scott Refilong shares his thoughts about worship (a bit Platonic Scott!) and the group sings.

In this video Kita Mokut leads us in singing a song she wrote a couple years ago.

Then the Ranch Fellowship group sang enthusiastically. I made another video of the guys’ trio but cannot figure out how to rotate the video. When I figure that out I will post that one too.

Granddaughters

Joyce and I are very blessed to have five grandchildren – 3 granddaughters and 2 grandsons – with another granddaughter on the way who should arrive in March. Of course, we are very excited about that and Joyce will be using my frequent flyer miles again to be with Kristin when she has the baby. Grandsons are great. Titus will always be my first grandchild and there is something about that which is very special and creates a unique relationship. I enjoy my time with Milo. He is so much like Matt it feels like déjà vu. I wish I could spend more time with him. The relationship with granddaughters is not better than with grandsons. It is just different and I don’t know how to explain it. I just enjoy it. I get to spend a lot of time with Courage and Serenity here on Guam and we are looking forward to spending time with Leila when I am in Dallas in a couple months to do some recruiting. I did get some pictures during Valentine week which I needed an excuse to share. So here they are. The picture on the upper left was taken yesterday in the PIU office with Gwen, the daughter of our Executive Administrator Nino Pate. On the right, is the Valentine’s Day card, from Leila, that our daughter Missy sent us from Texas. The picture of Serenity on the tricycle was taken in chapel on Tuesday. My devotional reading this morning said this, “Grandchildren are the crown of old men”  AMEN!!

Welcome to Guam Rob and Leyla Watt

  Well, it is actually “welcome back” to Rob and a first time welcome for Leyla. Rob has worked with PIU for many years, first in Palau and then the last three years on Guam. Leyla is from Turkey where  she and Rob were married almost two years ago. We have been praying for her to get her visa to the US since then and our prayers were finally answered when she and Rob walked out of the airport door at about 1 o’clock this morning. The students waited excitedly for about an hour to welcome Leyla to Guam properly with leis, hugs and lots of singing. We are glad to have Rob back on campus at PIU and thankful to see Leyla for the first time. Yes, Rob, now we know for sure that she is a real person!

Leyla and Rob were welcomed with hugs and kisses

Joyce and Leyla (left). The ladies (Samantha, Daisy, Joyce and Leyla) in the airport parking lot before everyone headed home.

There is no doubt that Leyla and Rob had, by far, the largest and loudest welcoming committee in the airport last night.

Ladies’ Beach Day

The PIU ladies headed to the beach last Saturday to celebrate Daisy’s (right) birthday and to have a relaxing day away from campus. (I invited both men and women to my birthday party last week. Something is not fair here! <just kidding>) They had a good day at Gun Beach in the February sunshine. Here are a few pictures. Hopefully they will warm up you mainlanders a little bit. <smile>

I think Daisy must have been the photographer. It looks like it was a good day for staff and students

Last Week’s Chapels at PIU

It seems like there is always a lot to do at PIU. I spent a lot of time this week getting ready for the PIU Annual Board Meeting coming up on February 20. More on that in a later post. I am also teaching two classes this semester, including one (Government) that I have not taught since the 1980’s. With all that going on it is nice to have the chapel hour on Tuesdays and Fridays where the whole PIU family can take some time for worship, fellowship and some good teaching or preaching. This week was no exception as we heard from PIU faculty Ken Dixon (left) and Howard Stone (right). Ken, who teaches in our Bible department worked us through Romans 5 while Howard, (Ken’s father-in-law) who is a volunteer teacher this semester in our remedial department challenged us to take our responsibility to be “the body of Christ” reaching out to the world seriously. Howard is also doing seminars on leadership in the Guam community and at PIU, that come with stories from his time working on the space shuttle at NASA.

Tuesday’s music was island style with action songs and dancing

Friday’s music rocked the chapel. It really was not this empty. I took the picture of the group practicing while the students began coming (late) in for the service.

The guys came through this week to win the “Golden Plunger.” Dean of Women, Daisy Murdock awards the prestigious trophy to dorm RA Josh Ladd.

Last Friday’s PIU Chapel

I have been a little busy the last few days and need to get caught up with what has been going on here at PIU during the last week (other than my Super Birthday Party). Our speaker for Friday’s chapel was Dr. Jim Sawyer. (See here for a bio). Jim took some very deep theology about the Trinity and the Fatherhood of God and made it very personal and real to the PIU family as he shared how that doctrine had impacted his own life and relationships. I know everyone was quite moved by it.

Mike led worship on his guitar before Jim spoke

Hartmut and the rest of the audience (left) listens to the sermon. At the end of chapel Janny Palsis receives the “golden plunger” cleanliness award on behalf of the women’s dorm. Come on guys, you need to do better next week.

My Super Bowl Birthday Party

Our annual tradition is to combine my birthday party with the Super Bowl party since the two events are usually within a day or two of each other. This year was extra special since my favorite team was in the Super Bowl. Even though the 49ers did not win their 6th all-time Super Bowl we still had a good time. It was also special since this year I shared my birthday with several other February birthdays – Josh Ladd, Daisy Murdock, Samantha Owen, and Michael Atoigue. We had plenty of triple-chocolate cake which was still amazingly good, even though we got the recipe from a Raven fan (thanks Carol Ann). Super Sunday is always the best Monday morning of the year on Guam.

Here we tried to pose with the kids and I doing some Kaepernicking

My birthday card made by one of the PIU students and the amazing cake made by Joyce

Daisy and Josh enjoy their piece of cake

We also enjoyed chili, wings, donuts, chips and salsa, and many other healthy snacks

We also watched a good game – my 49ers  came up just 4 yards short!

Joyce got me a 49er bag for my birthday. Josh matched my jersey number