Chuuk Trip

Thank you so much for praying for my trip to Chuuk. PIU Provost, Sam Mabini, and I went there last Wednesday and we were very pleased with the warm welcome we received. We could sense God working in a big way while we were there and that is a result of many people praying. Despite the tropical storm that brewed up between Chuuk and Guam while we were there, we got down there and back with no complications. Here are some of the answers to prayer we received.

I was able to meet twice with Rev. Karsom Enlet the president of the Evangelical Church of Chuuk. We had a great time of fellowship together and he emphasized several times that the relationship between the church and PIU is restored and we are in partnership again. To make it official we signed an agreement of understanding that outlined how we will work together, but, as he said, the real agreement is in our hearts bound together in the Spirit.

We continue to make progress in our efforts to bring classes back to Tol island, former campus of PIBC and currently the Faithwalk Christian College campus. FCC has also signed an agreement to work with us and we are working to figure out how to overcome some of the obstacles provided by lack of infrastructure and internet. We have overcome these before and we hope to begin classes as early as Fall 2014.

Several former PIU students have also asked us to re-start the teaching facility on the district center island of Chuuk – Weno. We are currently looking for a facility there to set up a distance education/computer center. There are a few possibilities there and we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we work on this.

Finally, we had some very good meetings with Chuuk Department of Education administrators. They have agreed to pursue sending a cohort of 25-30 public school elementary teachers to Guam this summer for a “jump start” to their AA programs to meet the US Dept. of Interior’s deadlines of gaining their degrees by 9/30/2015. There is a lot of work to be done between now and May 19^th when we plan to start this summer semester. Whether or not we are able to get this summer plan up and running we still plan to help with degree development for the teachers on Chuuk in the upcoming semesters. We are very excited about this opportunity to serve the state of Chuuk and have a hand in training such a strategic group.

Please keep PIU and our ministry in the Chuuk islands in prayer. This is a huge opportunity which may require us to enlarge our faculty and staff. God really opened many doors for us and we pray that He will continue to move us forward. We plan to be back in Chuuk in early April to offer the PIU entrance test and interview prospective students.