Facing Finals

Another week has raced past! One of Tim's most recent projects was the reconfiguration of some of our office area. He converted a small apartment behind our main office into two small offices and a staff lounge. His work on the staff lounge was completed just in time for two days of year-end meetings by our academic council, some of whom traveled from Chuuk for this time.



In spite of the demands of the end of the semester for Melody and the increasing needs for Tim's skills in repairing and maintaining the campus, we have managed (with the help of many) to move into our place. Last Monday, a group of young men from the college came out to work on our house and yard. The roof, it appears, had never been power-washed (roofs here accumulate a thick layer of mold due to the humid climate). We also had quite an accumulation of empty boxes that needed to be broken down and disposed of. In addition, the grounds were quite overgrown! However, these six young men went to work with a vengeance and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. (Hey, there were machines involved! What's not to love?) At noon, they all took a break and we provided pizza, Kool-Aid, rice and fruit. We enjoyed sitting for awhile, eating and fellowshipping together, and then the guys went back to work. After 8 hours of hard work, we had a gleaming white roof and the jungle was a little farther from our house! Our PIBC basketball and ministry team is trying to raise funds for a Christmas break missions trip to the island of Yap. Although not all the guys who came out are a part of the actual team, they are helping in the fund raising endeavor. It was a blessing to hire a group of willing "volunteers," knowing that as they helped us at our house, we were helping to support them in winter ministry!

Another exciting bit of news is that Pastor Dale's crate arrived, complete with a quad-runner he had sent over to help him tote his tools and get around on campus. However, I don't think Pastor Dale was the only one excited about the quad's arrival! The students are begging to take turns riding it. I was told they could not unless they'd had special training and permission from Pastor. Imagine my shock, then, when I was driving toward campus yesterday and saw one of our students "flying" toward me on the shoulder of the back road on the quad! Then I took a closer look: it was my husband (Tim) "flying" on that quad with a grin a mile wide on his face! Who said missionaries don't have fun? Here's a shot of Tim with faculty member Eric Sorenson goofing off a bit with the quad. Seriously, it has been a great help already! Many thanks to those who made it possible to have the quad-runner over here.

The only last bit of news I have is that we have an addition to our family: a little Siamese kitten was found a few weeks ago, hiding under one of the dorms. One of our students, Merong, finally coaxed it out with some food and brought it to the office . . . and I fell in love! We have missed our cat, Sam, so much! (Thanks, Stu and Patty Macy, for giving him a good home!) Now we have a new little kitty to love. Check back next week for photos of him and of our daughter, Erin's arrival from Palau for the Christmas holiday.
Keep your eyes on Jesus this Christmas and always! Blessings! Melody and Tim
email us at: meltim3@gmail.com