Tim and I have been a part of an "Alpha Course" along with two local churches: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guam and Faith Presbyterian Church. Our PIBC evangelism class has also been a part of this course that provides good, practical ways of sharing your faith, as well as solid apologetics information. We had our mini-retreat just weekend before last, a blessing to all in attendance.
Our students are frequently involved in ministry in the community. Here some students are boarding the van to help with an "alternative to Halloween" event called "Blessed House" at the local Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam.
The same day, Mary Lou's crates arrived on campus! Three of them - all about this size! (BIG!)
Fortunately, there were plenty of students left on campus after the van left for the Palauan Church event to help Tim disassemble the crates and unpack them. Joyce and I were the "inside crew," and we had Mary Lou's stuff uncrated and neatly organized in a storeroom and all of the wood cleaned up and stored in less than 2 hours!
The following Saturday, we gathered to celebrate the wedding of fomer faculty volunteer Cristel Churchill and fellow church member, Ben Bodecker. (Evidently the mission field is great for match-making!) They were married in October in the States, but we had a 're-run' of the wedding and a lovely potluck dinner reception for them. What a joy!
And the wedding 're-run' was well represented by PIBC faculty and staff! :-) Recognize anyone?
Another momentous occasion was the 'adoption' of PIBC's little red typhoon-surviving boonie car by Mary Lou! She was so happy to adopt it, spending a few bucks getting the air con resurrected, and saving quite a bit on the purchase price. She now has "wheels" and is in the process of getting oriented to the island.
On campus, we also stay very busy. I am really proud of my Sociolinguistics class! We just finished all of the background study/lecture in the field and also a brief look at statistics and interpretation of data. Here are some of them hard at work on a 'practice' project doing statistical analysis. This week they begin conducting their own field research and compiling data for their semester projects. They have been a great group to teach and to learn from!
Tim and his two guys, Mo and Kenny, have been working on various projects all over campus - and meanwhile, the workshop had gotten a bit "over the top" with accumulated tools and materials. Besides all that, the shop (basically two 40' shipping 'containers' connected by a roof under which they work) had gotten pretty dusty from the owner of the neighboring property ordering a clearing of the jungle next door to sell half of the parcel . . . so Tim and Mo (above) and Kenny (not pictured) cleaned up!
Yeah - here it is! See all of that clear, open space on the other side of the fence? And see the backhoe, busily piling up boulders? Well, up until a bit ago, that was all blocked from view by the jungle, and there were vines covering the fence. Now we look through all the way to the back road. Somehow we've lost a bit of our "jungle feel" here! Sad day!
Just a couple of nights ago, we had our "second annual dinner, cookie bake, and game night at our
house. We had hoped to do more of this last spring, but I (Melody) was gone a lot to Chuuk, and temporarily busier than I wanted to be! We had a GREAT time with some of the girls from our small fellowship group from here at PIBC, and thanks to some of you who have recently joined our support team, we will be able to do more of this sort of thing this year!We all had a great time relaxing,
eating some great "old dead chicken" that Tim bbq'd, and after dinner, we baked up a mess of cookies and played "Apples to Apples" for a couple hours. Mary Lou and I had a great time with the girls - we all got to laugh so much! (And Tim didn't mind us spoiling him with fresh-baked cookies either!)
Interspersed in the fun and laughter were some great opportunities to share godly principles with the girls and on the way back to the campus, we enjoyed listening to some great music. God is good to give us fun, fellowship, and family wherever we go . . . because wherever we go, not only is He there, but His people, our brothers and sisters are there. And we are family to each other!
Blessings to all of you dear ones on the "other side of the world." We are blessed to count you as family as well. We are thankful for your blog comments, emails, notes, prayers, and support; and the many pictures of you that come up on the "slide show" on our computer are a great reminder to pray for you. God keep you well and joyful in your service to Him.
Love, Melody and Tim
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