January Reflections

It's hard to believe that a month has come and gone since our last blog posting! Right after the last posting, we both became very sick with bad colds - and mine (Melody's) is still lingering. Still, we have been able to get the semester off to a good start here at PIU! Here at the left you see what we spend quite a bit of time doing: planning in meetings prior to and during the semester to make sure that PIU continues to offer the best it has for our students. (Photo at left: PIU's Administrative Council)




. . . and lest you think of us that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," one of our staff organized a ladies night for some much needed ladies' fellowship and fun. We gathered together to eat, laugh, and play some games. It was a great night! (My apologies for not being in the picture - I forgot that I could have used my timer!!) :-0









Before we knew it, we were blessed with the long awaited arrival of Sarah Cain from our home church in California. Sarah is a Liebenzell missionary in the process of raising support to come provide us with media support. She's here for about 5 weeks to take lots of photos, videos, work on our website, and work on brochures. She's also spending time getting to know the faculty, staff, and students here. Once her support is raised, she'll return to be a part of our staff! Pray for Sarah; she's faced a lot of obstacles in getting here, but we're hoping she'll be on staff by fall.



Part of the preparation for each semester involves getting the campus cleaned up and dorms ready. Everything grows so fast here on Guam with the tropical rains and heat that "yard work" is an ongoing reality at PIU. We were blessed just a couple of days before classes began by a large group of students who showed up to help do all this work! The students worked hard all day that day, only taking a good break at noon to share in a "pizza and pop" meal. Mo and Vince (at right) take a short break after working hard on weeding, pruning, and sweeping in one of the areas in front of the main classroom building.




On Tuesday, January 18 we started classes - early in the morning - and although the students don't like early morning classes, they faithfully showed up, even for the 8:00 a.m. classes! By the way, this photo was not taken on campus, but I love it so much! It's the sun shining low on the horizon behind a flame tree in Mangilao. :-)

(On a random note, flame trees are one of the loveliest trees here on Guam - their bright orange/red blossoms literally make it look like they're ablaze when in full bloom . . . hence, the name!)



Last weekend we took Sarah to lunch and then on an "island tour" of many of the notable historic and cultural sites on the island as well as to see some downright, drop-dead beautiful scenery. Sarah, being a photographer, would lean out the window shooting photos, and then would occasionally say, "Hey, can we stop right here?" So we pulled over and let her take her fill of pictures of the sights of Guam. Check out our blog in about a week for some more photos from that trip. (I promise to try and make it in less than a month this time!)

Blessings on you all,
Melody and Tim