"Volunteers for Jesus!"

One of the blessings of serving here on Guam is the privilege of welcoming and hosting short-term volunteers. Mary Lou, a friend of ours from our church in California, came out to Guam for 3 weeks to offer her services on the area of "tech support."

After taking only a day to adjust to the time change, Mary Lou dove in and started working on our wireless system for the study center, the library, and our central office area. We couldn't believe how quickly she adapted here, with little to no jet lag!



Okay, this really just looks like a jumble of machines and wires to me, but evidently each of these wires comes from somewhere and goes somewhere - don't ask me!!! But Mary Lou tackled the task of tracing and labeling a LOT of black spaghetti while she was here. She even had to stick her hand in a dark hole at one point, encountering a lot of spiderwebs. "And" (as she put it) "I didn't even scream!"

Between the study center and our library, there were over 20 computers that Mary Lou worked on in various areas: making sure they were working with our Internet system, providing the much-needed routine "cleaning up" of computers that helps keep them from being sluggish, setting up a wireless router in the end of the library/men's dorm wing so one of our faculty members who lives on campus could get online, and fooling around with our wireless system throughout the campus, which goes down off and on all day - she must have helped! It seems to be running much more reliably!

All work and no play is a bad recipe! And since Mary Lou was sacrificing her "vacation" time to serve the college here, we crammed as much sight-seeing and fun into her stay as we could. We went to Chamorro Village, the local "open air" market that operates every Wednesday night; we saw local cultural dancing, had Chamorro (Guam natives) barbecue, shopped a bit, and even saw a pet coconut crab! These guys can be pretty fierce. This one was about 10" across, more or less - probably more! Keep your fingers and toes out of the way!

We also took a tour of the island one Saturday. This photo is of a local "tourist" spot with a boonie pig guarding the parking lot. "Only on Guam!" (O.O.G.)

In the middle of the week, we took a bit of a lunch break to shop at an area known as "Hafa Adai Flea Market," where Mary Lou picked up a couple of Chuukese Skirts!

The other Saturday, we visited the beach at Ritidian Point (photo below) on another.

Another highlight of our time was being treated to dinner by Pastor Dale and Marion, who left only a few days before Mary Lou, after their 4 month visit here. The week that Mary Lou had to leave, we went to Ypau Beach twice in the late afternoon to go snorkeling. I am sure she went home pretty tired, but happy. We had a great time working and relaxing together, and Mary Lou really loved it here. Pray for her as she seeks God's will concerning the possibility of her coming out here on a more permanent basis. We have been praying for a tech support person here for quite awhile, and with the continued development of our distance education program, it is a real need. (Mary Lou, if you're reading this, we miss you already! We'll keep you in our prayers!)

And to any of the rest of you who may have been praying about how God might want to use you to serve Him, there are always opportunities to serve here. Whether you are a "techie," a teacher, "a tool-man" or an office worker, cook, or just someone who loves Jesus, entrust all your talents to the Lord for His work, wherever He places you! Until next time, "Hafa Adai!"
(Last photo above is a hibiscus in front of our house that Tim gave Melody for Christmas.)