Announcing the PIES Preaching Conference!

Seminary Christmas Shopping

    Some of you moaned when you read the phrase, "Christmas Shopping," because, truth be told, you're nowhere near being ready.  I hate to pop your bubble, but as I write, the big event is only 57 days away.  Wait!  You still have time to read this blog before you rush out the door in a state of complete panic.  In fact, this article will help you.  After you're done with it, you need only follow a few simple directions and you can click things right off your list.  You don't even have to leave the comfort of your chair, much less the comfort of your home.  So nestle down and listen to my Christmas tale.
     Our part-time theology professor, Jim Sawyer, has made some arrangements that will allow you to add Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary (PIES) to your Christmas list.  Through Jim's ministry, Sacred Saga (www.sacredsaga.com), he put on his Santa suit and created an Amazon wish list with scores of books we need to add to the library of Pacific Islands University (PIU), our home institution.  PIES was begun under PIU in 2008 with Eric as its founding dean.  It is now one of the most unique seminaries in the world, and the only one of its kind in the Western Pacific.  Our students come from all over Micronesia, the Pacific Rim, and the US.  We even have a student from Bangledesh and another from mainland China.  It is truly an amazing and diverse community of students pursuing the Master of Arts degree.  However, since we are new and small, and all of our students barely scrape by, we always face a set of challenges.  For instance, we share a library with PIU that was designed to serve undergraduates only.  We really need more master's level books.  So, when Dr. Sawyer came up with the idea, Dr. Sorenson created the wish list, and it's now posted on Amazon (www.amazon.com).  With a few simple clicks of your mouse button, you can send our seminary a gift book (or CD Rom) ranging in price from $14.95 to $500.  It will be shipped directly to our school, and we will add it to the collection with a great big spirit of Christmas joy! 
    It really is simple:  Click on www.amazon.com and find "wish list" in gold letters toward the top at the right side of your screen.  It will take you to another screen with an option called, "find someone's list."  All you need to do is type in Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary, and our list will pop up before your wondering eyes.  Then, shop till you drop . . . a gift in the mail, that is.  All that's required is your credit card and the Amazon elves happily fire it our direction.  Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated by our students, and add more joy to the season!

Lessons for Coaching in Micronesia

Pacific Islands University has a men's basketball league, but no leagues for women. Observing how much the women at PIU enjoy playing volleyball, I decided to put together and coach a PIU women's volleyball team, and I am currently organizing a league. I have coached several different volleyball teams over the years, but coaching this Micronesian college team has been quite a challenge! Here are some lessons I have learned along the way:


1) Gently substitute the players' cherished island skirts with men's basketball shorts. Be sure the shorts are long enough to cover the players knees so that you don't offend cultural sensibilities.

2) Search high and low for enough athletic shoes for each player to borrow since flip flops are worn for all occasions, including volleyball games (yes, with the skirts).

3) Convince the players to keep their athletic shoes on. Wearing athletic shoes is a requirement in most gyms and certainly in schools, so save yourself the embarrassment of looking out and finding that a quarter of the players have discreetly removed their shoes at some point during the game! Stubbornly resist the repeated request, "Can't we just go bare foot or wear our zorries (flip flops)?"

4) Be prepared for the ensuing shock, horror, and perhaps mutiny, when you announce that actual physical exercise will be required.


5) Maintain absolute control as complete hysteria breaks out amongst players at the spectacle of their fellow teammates actually doing the required conditioning exercises, such as high knee sprints, side shuffles, blocking at the net, etc. From a coach's perspective, because Micronesian women have no prior exercise experience, the execution of the conditioning requirements is rather entertaining.


Note: At all costs, do not even crack a smile when a player asks to turn off the court lights so she can run her laps in the dark without being seen! (actual incident)


6) Convince the players to really take the game seriously and be competitive.


Do not come unglued when during an intense game, an exhausted player queries, "Can't we just play for fun?" (another actual incident)


7 Don't give up just because your players are shouting encouragement to the opposing team's server during the most critical points of the game. (another actual incident). Continue to promote the concept of taking the game seriously and being competitive. (Did I already mention this?)

Despite the challenges of coaching this team, I (Karyn) am excited to use volleyball as an avenue to bring about healthy growth in PIU students. Our team is in desperate need of volleyballs, a ball cart, and some other supplies. If you are interested in helping us meet this need, please contact me. Thank you!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles--Well, Not Exactly!

The island of Kuttu in the distance




On the shores of the Mortlocks

 


 I recently stumbled upon some pictures one of our students had posted on Facebook and was immediately captivated. The pictures begin at a going-away party that friends threw for two of our students from Pacific Islands University who were leaving their home island to return to PIU for the fall semester. You need to know that these students are from a very small island of about 300 people located in the Mortlocks out on the distant fringes of Micronesia. The pictures chronicle the going-away party and then the student's departure. I went to this particular student and asked for more information, and here is what I learned:

For the going away party, a cousin gave them two dogs to serve as the main course. The dead dogs were wrapped in a banana leaf and placed in a shallow fire pit to cook. After many hours, the partially cooked dogs were removed from the fire and gutted. Apparently, it is easier to gut the dogs after they have been partially cooked. The dogs were then returned to the fire pit until they were completely cooked through.

Friends then gathered to eat the special food. Notice the house in which these women are eating. I was informed that this house is the home of at least seven family members.





Taro Field

 Taro is grown throughout the island and is one of the main food staples. The bowl shows taro served with coconut milk.





 


 Here are some of the beautiful inhabitants of the island of Kuttu in the Mortlocks.







The day after the going-away party, the two PIU students were taken by motor boat to a spot where a large boat was moored. The large boat cannot get very close to Kuttu because the water is so shallow they risk ripping a hole in the hull from the treacherous coral. It takes about ten minutes by motor boat to get from Kuttu to where the large boat is moored. The students must attempt to catch the large passenger boat which will take them to Weno, the capital of Chuuk, and the island where the air strip is located. They attempt to catch the large boat approximately one week prior to their scheduled airline departure because often the passenger boat is full. It will be several days before another passenger boat comes to their island, and there is no guarantee that it too will not be full. If there is room on the large boat, the students are charged about $15.00 per person, plus fees for each additional item they have with them. All told, they usually end up paying about $30.00. From that point, it is a two-day journey to the capital island of Weno. No food is served, so passengers must pack their own food if they want to eat. The passenger boat will be stuffed to overflowing with about 70 people, and it will make stops at multiple islands in route to Weno. There are no life boats or life vests on the boat, and the boat definitely would not pass any safety inspections or meet any safety regulations! To make matters worse, the boat is so loaded down with passengers and belongings, there is not enough space for anyone to fully lie down to sleep. Picture a craft, jammed with people attempting to sleep in a semi-sitting position.







When the students finally arrive in Weno, they will have arrived approximately one week prior to their plane's departure date. Knowing they will need housing and food for this week of waiting, the students will have radioed ahead to a relative to make these arrangements (there are no phones or electricity on Kuttu). Once they are finally aboard their flight, the students will fly 630 miles to the island of Guam arriving at awful hours in the morning (e.g. 3:00 a.m.). No problem, our vigilant Dean of Women will forfeit her sleep to pick them up and make sure they arrive safely on the campus. All told, this trip will cost them approximately $400.00 and will take approximately nine days from start to finish. They could swim here faster than that!

Students Dive In!

Chasing a wild idea that is truly outside the box, PIU has begun a recreational scuba diving program to assist students in finding employment after graduation. Although our graduates earn a highly marketable degree from PIU, some students don’t want to teach or work in the government when they get back home. Even those who are called to ministry don’t really have a “voice” until they are nearly forty, and teachers could use the extra income, anyway. As a result, there has been an unfortunate “brain drain” out of Micronesia as locals migrate to Hawaii and the states for better employment. Since it is a stated desire of PIU to send quality Christian graduates back to their islands, staff have been dreaming up ideas to enable them. Out of the dreams comes the new dive program, featuring Eric as program coordinator (yes, he’s still Seminary Dean). Theoretically, by the end of the program (6 units), a student will be certified as a dive master, which qualifies him or her to become a professional dive guide in the world-famous waters of Micronesia. In fact, by spring, we should begin offering our new 18-unit minor degree in Outdoor Ministry with an emphasis in water recreation. Although our students grow up surrounded by the ocean and from it forage their food, they have never actually tried scuba diving (it’s usually for tourists). By the pictures you can see that now they have tried it! Guided by Fred Schmidt, our professional instructor, twelve students experienced breathing air underwater for the very first time. From this fledgling group, we hope to have our first certified scuba divers by mid October. Eric is especially excited by the enthusiasm for our program that Micronesian dive resort owners have shown. Nearly to the last one, they are thrilled to have a pool of real-life Micronesian dive guides, not the variety imported from Europe for a hefty fee. Some ideas are simply outside the box; this one is so far outside, it’s in the water!



Back on Island

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, I (Karyn) have been waking between 3 and 4 a.m. for the last few days because my inner time clock is still on Pacific Standard Time. Outside of wanting to hit the hay by 5:00 p.m. Guam time, and being surprised by the dreadful heat (you'd think I'd remember after three years!), I'm thrilled to be back on Guam.

My first morning back, our family went to Pacific Islands University to join the students and staff for chapel. What a joy to see returning students and meet new ones. After chapel, we rushed back home so I could continue home schooling our girls. Saturday morning we headed for the soccer field for a tournament hosted by FIFA. The two-hour kids' tournament was free and included lunch. This is one thing we particularly like about Guam. MANY events are free or very low-cost. It's a nice reprieve from the never-ending financial demands we're accustomed to in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the soccer field, I immediately jumped in to help at the registration table. I love that we have established relationships with the community and therefore we are trusted and our help is readily accepted. It may seem trivial, but I was so happy to be able to show the love of Christ even in this small way. By the time the tournament was over, I was feeling sick from the heat. I guess I'll need to readjust not only my inner time clock, but my body's thermostat.

This morning we were back worshipping with our precious island church. I kept forgetting to greet our Chamorro friends with the proper custom of a kiss-sound on the cheek, and instead, kept giving American-style hugs; otherwise, it was great to be back.

Noelle with some teammates

It is definitely not an understatement to say that we are excited about this coming 2010/2011 school year. Eric will be teaching undergraduate Church History, as well as Church History and Theological Research Methods for the seminary, which he continues to lead as Seminary Dean. During the fall semester, I will be focusing on providing counseling, coaching the PIU women's volleyball team, and, of course, home schooling our two middle-school-age children.

9-1/2 Weeks Later

Sorry for the long delay in posting.  Following a whirlwind 9-1/2 week ministry tour, we were taken by surprise by how wiped out we were when it ended!  The last two weeks of the tour were especially harried as we spent so much time on the road having driven as far as Salado, Texas.  One day we spent 17 actual hours on the road (this included being stopped by border patrol).  After sending the students off at the LA airport on the 17th of July, Karyn and I crashed!  We spent a lot of time sleeping and have since then made a concerted effort to spend as much time as possible with our precious families who we see so seldom.  

Besides the amazing ministry we experienced in those 9-1/2 weeks, the relationships that were formed between staff and students was a highlight not only for us, but was overwhelmingly stated as a highlight by the students when they wrote their end-of-the-trip evaluations.  

Another never-to-be-forgotten highlight was the day the students spent at Disneyland.  What an amazing gift this was for our students and all because several people decided they wanted to contribute financially to make this a possibility.  The "Smilebox" below captures a smidgen of the profound joy this brought to the Voices of Micronesia.