What's New Indeed!

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activities, teaching, Christ-centered fellowship, and the blessings of being a part of this campus where Christ is central to all we think, say, and do. Here is a photo-journal tour of what has been keeping us all busy!

Week 11 of classes! At left you see a group hard at work in our English class discussing Corrie ten Boom's biography.

That same week, Hedrick Kual (a PIBC graduate now ministering in Palau) challenged the students in chapel to keep their focus on God and what He can do with their lives.
"Be still and know that I am God."
November 17 and 18, we held our Spiritual Emphasis Retreat: two days and one night spent at Rios Beach near the south end of the island. The students spent two hours Saturday morning in solitude, seeking God's presence and listening for Him to speak to them through prayer and the Word. Many students shared at the group session time about how meaningful this time had been for them and how God spoke to and blessed them through their "listening."

The weekend included lots of time for fellowship, music, laughter, relaxation, and the sharing of island traditions. Several of us learned about how islanders use palm branches to weave mats which they use for sitting or sleeping.

Sunday morning, all of us rose early for a sunrise worship service on the beach. As the sun rose, gradually emerging from a silvery bank of clouds to the east over the ocean, we joined our voices and sang together of God's awesome power and the beauty of all He has created.
We shared breakfast together and had a time of sharing, prayer, singing and scripture study in the gazebo area. Afterward, there was time for more fellowship, taking pictures, and having fun. The youngest amongst us even found time for a little nap after her romp in the ocean! We all left Sunday afternoon feeling refreshed, having drawn closer to God and each other. Below you can see a nice "aerial" shot that our campus director, Jens Shulz, took of all of us on Sunday afternoon!
"Give thanks with a grateful heart."
The next day, we met with our realtor to go over all of the final details to close escrow on our house (below left). We celebrated Thanksgiving Eve by signing the closing papers for buying our home and also attended a Thanksgiving Eve worship service where many members of our congregation gave thanks and glory to God for all the blessing they have experienced this past year. We shared our gratitude for the many people He provided who stand behind us, supporting us in prayer and through giving, so that we could be here. The next day, we joined
students, faculty and staff for a big Thanksgiving feast! There were about 80 of us in attendance to sing, pray, feast and fellowship. The photo of the four men here includes: our Pastor from California, Dale Cundall, with Tim, Bill Wood (past president of PIBC) and Harald Gorges (missionary to Micronesia with Liebenzell, Germany).


Here you see some of our group lined up for food, and then a shot of me and Joyce with some students and faculty members' children. At the dinner, Tim and I posed to send you our Thanksgiving greeting in photo format! :-) We pray your Thanksgiving was truly a time of thanks to God for all He has done!

Home Sweet Jungle
Speaking of being thankful, we are blessed not only by those who helped us prepare to move over here and all those who helped us pack following my (Melody's) surgery, but we are thankful for those on this side of the Pacific who helped



us prepare our new home for occupancy and moved our "stuff" from the Sorenson's to our house. (Dale, Marion, and Joyce helped at BOTH ends of the journey!) We "bombed" the house for bugs Thanksgiving Day (only found a handful of cockroach, skink, frog, and gecko carcasses) and the next day, the cleanup and preparation began! Pastor Dale was our master-plaster-fixer-upper and ceiling sealer as well as general facilitator in all things! Joyce and Marion did tile cleanup while I painted; I was joined in my painting by Brad Boydston (above), Hannelore Gorges (center below), and Pastor Jeff Johnson (below right).
After a few days of deep cleaning and painting, the house was finally ready for furnishing! We had lots of willing workers who loaded, transported, and unloaded our furniture and boxes and boxes of "stuff" (where did it all come from!?) into our home. One of the most challenging moments, believe it or not, was the "unfolding" of our memory foam bed topper (thanks, Pat!). I am sure when it was boxed up in California they did an EXTRA good job of packing it in - it was so very "stuck together" that it literally took five of us (Hannelore, Dale, Me, Marion, and Joyce who snapped the picture) to pull it out so it could expand! (photo at right)
We are still in the midst of unpacking and finding essentials, but thankfully we have found our coffee pot, microwave and electric skillet, so I think we can move in. We should have our new gas stove hooked up by next week!
Hope you enjoyed catching up with why we have been so busy the past two weeks! Give thanks to God with us for all of His goodness to us, for His provision not only for our salvation and our lives, but that He puts us in spiritual families, no matter where we are in this world, and blesses us with every good thing that we need. Until next week, rest joyfully in His grace.
Melody and Tim
(for information on how you can be a part of ministering to Micronesian Islanders through the ministry of the Plaxtons at Pacific Islands Bible College, contact us at: meltim3@gmail.com