Tuesday Chapel at PIU

  Chapel is almost always a good experience at PIU, but yesterday’s chapel was especially so. We began with our traditional hymn sing led by Dr. Bill Wood. Bill always does a great job explaining the background of the hymns and drawing out application from the songs’ messages. In addition his piano playing is never traditional. We always seem to be smiling after the hymn singing experience. Our speakers were PIU faculty Ken Dixon and Peter Knapp. Ken and Peter are also missionaries with the Isles of the Sea group who are working to translate the Bible into all the languages of the Pacific islands. PIU and Isles of the Sea are now working together to train national Bible translators for the ongoing, much needed work of Bible translation. PIU, with our very diverse (and becoming more diverse every year) student population, emphasis on ESL and solid academic, graduate and undergraduate, Bible programs is an excellent venue for a center for the translation efforts in the Pacific.

  Ken (left) talked about the importance of Bible translation and the continuing need for the translation of the Bible into the more than 4000 languages that do not yet have a full translation of the whole Bible. Most of these languages are in the region of Asia and the Pacific. In fact over 400 of the needed translations would serve the people of Indonesia where PIU students and graduates have already begun preliminary work. Peter challenged students, from his own story of how God called him into Bible translation work, to enroll in the PIU Bible translation minor and join them in the work. This year some of our students who speak languages that still need Bible translation will be doing their “WEWORK” campus service working with the Bible translation projects.

  It was so encouraging to us to be able enjoy God’s word sung, with Bill, and we were inspired by Peter and Ken to play a part in Bible translation work. On the white board (left) we listed the languages spoken by PIU students,  staff and faculty. Many of these languages still need translation work and some of them are cognate to languages that need work. Please pray for the partnership between PIU, Isles of the Sea and other Wycliffe groups and that the many peoples of the world will know the joy of being able to read the Word and worship in their heart languages. It really is exciting to work in a place that is both a mission field and a training center to send out missionaries.

Youth Rally at PIU

  This past Saturday the Ranch Christian Fellowship organized and held a Youth Rally on the PIU campus. The rally included youth from all over the island and from several ministries including RCF, Touch Point, Every Home For Christ, Kingdom Seekers, Salvation Army, SALT, Safe House, Palau Evangelical Church, Lutheran Church of Guam, Bayview Baptist Church and, of course, Pacific Islands University.The afternoon was filled with athletic competition and then, after a potluck dinner, the evening featured music performances by all the above groups, dancing, personal testimonies and an evangelistic message. It was good to see so many young people on campus focused on Jesus Christ, living a positive lifestyle and serving the community.

Even though we have been deluged with rain recently, it held off for most of the day. That allowed the afternoon games to be played. The late afternoon rain made everyone thankful for the canopies on the court.

The program, which began at 6 PM, lasted a little over three hours. On the left Jesse introduces the Ranch Fellowship group.

We enjoyed a lot of different styles of island music and some hip-hop worship dancing, .

PIU student, Josh Ladd, preached from Psalm 45 about the need for full devotion to our King Jesus. That is not the Shekinah is above him on the right. It is just the court lights. :)

Happy Labor Day from Guam

We have enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day here on Guam. The weather is beautiful, not so much rain. We spent a lazy morning at the house and then headed to the beach for a little swimming and snorkeling. Yes, it is true I do occasionally go to the beach – and I even went into the water. We then headed over to Tumon for a Mexican lunch buffet at Margarita’s Restaurant, excellent. We will be doing some more relaxing this afternoon before we head to school for Jim Sawyer’s first session of church history class. Enjoy your Labor Day wherever you are.

Friday Chapel and Birthday Celebration

Friday’s chapel was the first Student Council chapel. The Student Council officers, elected last year (left), took part of the chapel time to inform the new students about what student council does and talked about the need to elect new class officers. Before the presentation by the StuCo we had a good worship time led by English teacher Joey Charles and some of the students. PIU invites anyone in the community to join us in our main classroom for chapel on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11AM to Noon.

Our song time includes many different styles and we often sing songs that were written by students, alumni or staff members

The students sang Happy Birthday to PIU Provost and faculty member Christel Wood. When asked how old she was she said, “seventeen.” So we are going with that. Ransome presents her with a birthday card drawn by the students with birthday messages from many of them.

We also had a birthday celebration in the faculty-staff lunch room. The cake was delicious.

Preaching at the Guam Chinese Christian Church

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at the Guam Chinese Christian Church. We have had a few students at PIU from the church before, but I have never been invited to preach there. It is a small church but there was a lot of enthusiasm. All of the songs were sung in Chinese but I recognized a few of them. My sermon (on Genesis 1.26-28) was translated into Chinese by a professor from the University of Guam. I enjoyed getting to meet new people and I am hoping that this will be the beginning of a good partnership that will help both if us be better able to minister to Guam’s Chinese community.

Monday Events at PIU

  I know I am posting these in the wrong order (the last post was Tuesday’s chapel) but I just downloaded these pictures from Daisy Murdock’s Facebook page and from my phone today. Monday was the orientation for all students with “team-building” events in the afternoon and a welcome barbecue and talent show in the evening. It was a fun day and the rain held off for most of the time we were outside. It was good to get to know the new students a little better and be amazed by their talent. Here are a few pictures of the day….

We started off with the presentations by the staff so the students would know PIU procedures

Stella (left) did the library orientation and Celia talked about office and financial policy

Students were thrilled to know all this information!

Then they headed out for the team-building games

This one required maximum cooperation

Fortunately, Pete, our new dean of men, was there to provide direction

It was all about having fun and getting to know one another

There was a little time to catch your breath and get a drink

The evening was about eating, fellowship and celebrating

The students were all divided into teams…

That each had to create its own culture and present it to the audience…

through creative means such as song, skit or dance

One team even cleaned the stage after they were done with their skit

Dean of Student Life, Rob Watt was the MC for the event. I got to be one of the judges along with Christel Wood and Joey Charles. I played the part of the mean, nasty, insulting judge – so different than the way I usually am. I think a good time was had by all.