Little Storm Coming

The rain and a little wind has arrived. We are hearing that we might have winds up to about 60 miles per hour later. Joyce brought the candy cane lights into the house. We didn't do a lot of outdoor decorating this year anyway. We won't put up the storm shutters unless we hear that the winds are going to be more severe than predicted. The picture is from out the front door in the admin office building at PIBC. The rain was coming down pretty good but let up for us to drive home. Since I like the sound of rain and wind it should be a very relaxing evening. We didn't plan to go anywhere tonight anyway. :)

Tropical Storm Headed Our Way

Our tropical depression was just upgraded to a tropical storm. We should be seeing winds around 35 miles per hour this evening. I heard about possible gusts up to 70 but we will see. Outside tarps and canopies will need to be take down, along with outdoor Christmas decorations but it doesn't look like something to be worried about. This picture of the projected storm track is from the navy's joint typhoon warning center web site. We will be praying that the storm proceeds on by us quickly and avoids hitting anybody else.

Last Day of Saipan Visit

I am getting ready to head back to Guam after an enjoyable visit to Saipan. I have been part of the TRACS team reviewing the self-study of Eucon International College as part of their application for accreditation. We have been reviewing every part of their program for the last four days. We stayed up late last night writing our report and then presented it to the Eucon administration this morning. We at PIBC will be undergoing a similar process this coming Spring as we complete the reaffirmation of our accreditation we received in 2004. I will be glad to get back to Guam this afternoon and have a couple days there before I head to Chuuk for some meetings with PIBC and church leaders there. The picture here is of me, our TRACS team, and Eucon board members with Benigno Fitial, the governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Saipan Trip Day 1

I arrived in Saipan last night for the TRACS accreditation team visit. We are evaluating Eukon International College. I was here three years ago as part of the team when we evaluated them for candidacy and now we are helping them get ready for full accreditation. I have not been back to Saipan since that visit three years ago and I am amazed at how empty the place seems now. Many businesses that were operating when I was here last time have shut down. When we were here for vacation with our kids back in 1995 we had a lot of fun in Saipan and it is sad to see so many things gone.

Today was the day to get to know the rest of the team. Tomorrow we will get down to business. But today we drove around the island and did a little sightseeing. I had an odd thing happen on the trip. We stopped at the Aqua Resort to pick up a map and I realized that the Aqua was the hotel where Joyce, Michael, Missy and I stayed in 1995 on our vacation. We took a picture there by the pool that I posted a while back on my Facebook page. I tried to stand in the same place today and have my picture taken there. It looks pretty much the same except the flower bed is gone. However, you can see from the pictures that some things have changed.

Joyce's Chauffeur License Test

Joyce took her test yesterday morning to get her license to drive the school vans. She thinks she passed the test, but we won't find out officially until December 3rd. She has been studying for the test for about a month. A couple nights ago she emailed me some examples from the study sheet that might illustrate why she had a hard time studying for the test. Joyce's comments are in red.

I am studying for my chauffeur’s license and take the written test tomorrow. It will be a miracle if I pass I think. Thought you might get a kick out of some of the study questions.

Definitely written by an ESL speaker and the spelling errors are on the study sheet.

5. No person shall drive vehicle when it so loaded or when there are in the front seat such a number of persons, in excess of three, cause obstruction the view of driverto the front side of vehicle as interfere of driver contraol. WHAT?????

13. Do not load at the rear of the truck it will cause frame bends and enough weight is taken from the front tires. O.K. I get this one

16. The tractor in direct line for the trailer with the fifth wheel opening line with trailer king pin. Come again?

20. Prevention of assuring its own stops smooth and gradual. They tell me if I just memorize these it will come in handy!

21. Stale lights means could change any time like when traffic light have been green sometimes before you reach. I’m not making this up this is really what it says. I am laughing as I write this.

22. Side mirrors must show enough to see rears 200 feet back. This is my personal favorite.

24. Danger zone of vehicle directly infront of the cehicle in which vehicle cannot stop. Spelled just like that.

25. it take thew average of ¾ of a second from the time a you see problem to the time of brakes. I’m sure hoping that when I see the test this will all make sense.

33. The combinations of a unit of truck tractor and pup trailer have different vharacteristics than the semi trailer like improvised trailer. Wish me luck and enjoy a good laugh

There are 40 questions on the test and I can miss eight.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Joyce and Dave!








We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration at PIBC today. Here are a few pictures of it...







As I read today in a cartoon... One day a year to give thanks for all God has given us is hardly adequate. Here Ned and I get ready to enjoy a little bit of it.











One of the great blessings for which I am thankful is a great missionary staff.


And some wonderful students.


Happy Thanksgiving

Fall Admin Council

My first order of business on returning to Guam was our Fall administrative council meeting. We normally have an admin council with our Guam administrators every Monday morning, but once a semester we bring up the administrators from all our sites for a meeting. So Monday-Wednesday we met. The picture here is from a committee meeting for the teaching facilities and included Yosta Lodge, Chuuk campus director, Noah Ruben, Chuuk remedial coordinator, Iotaka Choram, Chuuk TF coordinator, Jens Schulz, VP Finance and Operations and Rob Watt, Palau TF coordinator and me. And yes, we are sitting in the corner booth at King's Restaurant where we have a lot of our meetings. Also included in the meetings were Brad Boydston, Academic VP, Eric Sorenson, Seminary dean and Hollie Schaub, acting VP of human resources.

The two main issues discussed were the future use of our present Tol, Chuuk campus and the preparation for our reaffirmation of accreditation with TRACS (including the changes we need to make to add accreditation for our remedial programs, teachers education and other growth.) I will post more on these two issues later. I thought that it was a good and productive meeting even though I was struggling with jet lag. One of the greatest things about working at PIBC is that I am working with people who are focused on the kingdom of God, and who know how important it is to laugh fairly often.