Bible Run Photos #2

Here are some photos from the last few miles of the Northern Section of Saturday’s Bible Run. I think one of the best parts of the run was getting to meet so many new people and see so many old friends from Guam’s church community. I am looking forward to continuing the partnerships. So here are the pictures from the Northern part of route 15, around the north end past the Anderson AF Base front gate on route 3 and then down Marine Drive to Tumon and Ypao Beach.

Runners gather to pray or rest up for their mile run

Faith Church was ready to run another mile with a second group

Joyce faithfully got the runners to sign their waivers and made sure they all got a certificate of completion. Sarah Brubaker covered 2 grueling miles

Groups from Oasis, Yigo Baptist Church and Guam Lutheran Church covered several of the miles on the North end of the island

Miracle Assembly of God relayed the Bible 2 miles and prayed all the way through

Abundant Life Church and Redeemed Church of Christ ran through the NCTAMS area with prayer and singing

Island Hope Church had the most runners of any church or ministry this year. After a time of prayer these 4 guys ran the Bible from Micronesia Mall down into Hotel Row.

The Island Hope and Castle Zion Churches relayed the Bible through Tumon among the tourists

The last mile was almost completed. Not all the Island Hope team ran their mile!

The Palauan Evangelical Church worship team led the group in singing.

The Atoigue family smiles for the camera as the Southern group comes into view completing the Bible Run circle. More pictures tomorrow…

2nd Annual Bible Run

Last Saturday PIU sponsored the 2nd Bible Run around the island of Guam. The run relayed two Bibles around the perimeter of the island in 74 one mile relay segments. We were joined by many of the islands’ churches, businesses and ministries on the relay to symbolically proclaim to the island of Guam that “the earth and everything in it, belongs to the LORD!” We were thankful for the cooperation of the village mayors’ offices and the police to keep our runners safe. It was a great day of fellowship as all the different groups ran and prayed their way through the route, lifting up each of the villages to the Lord as they ran through them. The day ended with a time of worship at Ypao Beach. I’ll post several pictures of the event in this post and then a few more in the next post. Joyce and I were in the follow car that did the Northern route so most of my pictures are from that section of the relay.

Greg Calvo gives instruction at the pre-run meeting on Thursday night

Both groups started in Talofofo at 5 AM.

Our faithful workers were there at 4.30 AM. Yes, even Joyce woke up in the early AM for the event

We got to see the sun come up on the Southeast side of the island

As our group made the turn on to Route 10 in Mangilao, Joyce helped the Faith Presbyterian and Reformed Church runners get ready

Celia Atoigue waves as the lead car goes by and the Isles of the Sea Bible Translation group prepares to run

The National Car Rental Group made the turn from Route 10 to Route 15. The two lane road made things a little tight on Route 15.

Daisy Murdock and I are confident as I prepare to run mile #14 in front of PIU. Mangilao mayor Nito Blas led the way.

I received the official Bible from Tyler as I begin my mile and then pray and catch my breath as I pass the Bible on to the Nazarene Church of Guam pastor Rex dela Peret for them to run the next mile.

Talofofo River Boat Cruise

  Last week Joyce and I had the opportunity to go out on the Talofofo River Boat Cruise with our friends at Faith Presbyterian and Reformed Church. We appreciate very much that they invited us to join their church family for this event. The Talofofo River is the biggest one on Guam and is near the area where Yokoi, the Japanese World War II soldier who did not surrender until 1972, stayed hidden on Guam. The tour is a real jungle cruise that includes a visit to a restored ancient Chamorro village. We had not done the cruise since 1995 and it was pretty much the same as we remembered it back then. It was very relaxing to get out on the river and we enjoyed the fellowship and afternoon very much.

The river was very smooth when we were on it, but during a storm it floods its banks and can be dangerous

There are beautiful spots all up and down the river

We ended the trip with a visit to the ancient Chamorro village. They do a demonstration of basket making and some other ancient Chamorro life

The house is a restoration but the latte stones are actually very old. The day we were there one of the cows, or carabao, that are kept there had broken one of them.

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year from Guam! Joyce and I have been enjoying the holidays. Even though we are so far from all our family, we have enjoyed having our PIU family over for game nights and fun times and going out with friends. We have also enjoyed the time to do some serious relaxation. It has been very nice to have some days to just lay around at home and read novels. I even took a whole week off from blog posts and answering e-mail. I am now back in the office and getting ready for the upcoming semester and Saturday’s Bible Run. It is not too late to sign up. I plan to keep the blog going for 2013, keeping everyone up to date on what is happening in our lives and in the ministry at PIU. I am also hoping to have time to add in some biblical and theological commentary occasionally. For now, here are a few random pictures from 2012 that somehow did not make it on to the blog yet…

We had our PIU co-workers over for Christmas dinner and game nights during vacation. Joyce, Pete, Daisy and Sarah enjoyed the Christmas dinner. The picture on the right is proof that I did not get cheated out of any of the important Christmas food groups.

We appreciate the students helping out. When the refrigerator at our house gave out (after 13 years) some of the guys came over to help Joyce install the new one. The girls helped Joyce with Christmas decorating.

Serenity and Courage got their faces painted before Christmas vacation

And then posed for some cool pictures

No, we did not get a new dog. But Joyce went with Sarah and Daisy to the animal shelter to get their new dog. Samson spent a couple days with us while he was getting used to his new situation.