Catching up again!

Greetings! Well, it has been quite a spring! Our apologies if you have checked our blog lately only to find our last entry from March 19th! There has not been enough time in our days of late! So here is a snapshot tour through the last 6 weeks of the semester since Easter -



But first, a few shots of our annual PIBC Days, held just before Easter break. PIBC days are a celebration of the founding of PIBC, and we form teams, play games, take turns leading worship and devotions, and fellowshipping for 3 days.

The theme this year was "Stand Your Ground," and that theme was the central controlling idea behind all of our songs of worship, Bible lessons, testimonies, and games.


Here are a few photos of some of the activities from that time of celebration and worship.














One of the first things we did right after Easter was celebrate Tim's 60th birthday with friends from here on Guam. Joyce, Karin (back to camera), Cheryl and Brad came over for dinner and dessert. What a great way to go "over another hill."


I (Melody) also had an opportunity to show my gratitude to two of our young women who faithfully cleaned our main office area all semester long. Ceci and Mayu and I went to Wendy's and had lunch and got to spend a little time relaxing and getting to know each other better. Here the girls show you just how yummy the "Baconater" can be!



We have also been blessed to make the acquaintance of Roland Rauchholz who is here on Guam preparing to sell his home. Roland is a significant person in PIBC's history. He was behind the acquisition of the land and the construction of our Guam campus; in addition, he started our Teaching Facilities in Chuuk and Palau.



Some of you may recognize this handsome young fellow at the left: Kevin Macy. Kevin was on island between assignments with the Navy and we were blessed to spend time with him and then see him off at the airport. What a fine young man he has grown into. We've known Kevin since he was in junior high and now he is a husband and father of . . . well, several! It was great to see him!



This summer we hope to send out two missions teams: one to Palau and the other to Thailand. In April, the college held a benefit concert to help support our young men and women as they go out this summer. Pray for them as they are still in need of funds to pay for their trips.




One of my semester-long duties this spring has been to fly to the islands of Chuuk four times this past semester. Arriving late on a Friday morning, once a month, I was driven from the airport to PIBC's Teaching Facility (TF) in Weno, Chuuk to prepare for giving a TOEFL exam (English placement exam) for local students and future PIBC students, have lunch, and then give the exam from 1:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon. (Below, in yellow, you will see school children from Berea Christian School, which is right next door to PIBC, Weno.)

Just before sundown, I would ride from the island of Weno to the island of Tol (about a 35-45 minute boat ride) where I would spend the weekend teaching a concentrated unit of freshman composition, leaving work for them to do in my absence and collecting it on my next trip. What a wonderful, hard-working group of young men and women. In spite of the hardship of not having an English teacher on campus, they faithfully completed their work, greeted me with joy, music, and maramar (flowered headpiece) each time, and gave up one weekend each month to have 10 1/2 hours of English writing instruction. God has provided an English teacher for the 08-09 school year for this campus, so I will not be teaching there this next year. While I am very thankful for a full-time instructor for the Tol campus (a huge blessing for the students), I will certainly miss my students there. However, many of them may eventually wind up transferring to our Guam campus as juniors and seniors. Pray for our students on the Tol campus as they will be facing many changes this coming school year as the campus changes from a 3 year to a 2 year program.

No matter how long the month, week, or day, it is always a blessing to pull onto our street, drive back into the "jungle," and round the corner to our little home "in the country!" We thank God for His provision to us and for the many who faithfully pray for us, drop us notes of encouragement via email and "snail-mail," and those who support us financially. This entry catches us up through the end of April. Look back in a day or two for the end of the year festivities, including a couple of videos: one from Tol, Chuuk and one from our Guam campus.