Guam Wildlife

  I have seen one of these twice now, while snorkeling Gun Beach, probably about this size, too. How exciting, right? This guy is in captivity at Underwater World, but it was cool seeing them there, too. I can now add to my list of Guam animals a sea turtle, a shark, and another lion fish. Oh, and manta rays. These are exciting experiences for me. They remind me that I have an unexplored world right off the shore. Scuba certification is under $200 here, too! It's a few thousand in the states, I think. I'd be a fool not to do it, but when will I have the time? Summer break? We'll see.

Yap Day

Our community group drove down the street to Eagle's Field for Yap Day. Yap is a small island located southwest of Guam and is included in the Federated States of Micronesia and the general islands of Micronesia, along with Guam. Some of our students are Yapese, which made it cool to see  some of their cultural exhibits (minus the betel nut), dancing, and food.

A Yapese man husks or shreds coconuts for a demonstration.

My brother Everly and me with a Yapese stone money replica. Stone money is this size or larger, and has been used to barter for large items such as land or houses. His niece and my friend Ceci gave me the rundown on stone money over our retreat weekend. Apparently, they have to have men slide a bamboo post into the hole and pick it up and carry it. That's pretty cool. Apparently, they still use it sometimes, and it can also be found in the jungles.

 Some of our friends enjoyed sour pickled mango. In the states, we like our mangoes and papayas sweet, but out here they are eaten green and pickled...and it's pretty good.








Yap Day was a cool experience. Next up is mango day (mango festival weekend). And, sadly, I missed the banana festival. There's always next year.

Story #2

The University of Guam college ministry that our students help lead and belong to has been emphasizing what it means to listen and be obedient to the Holy Spirit working in your life. I want to share some of my stories about some of my experiences and the ways that being obedient beyond my apprehensions and doubts has been a huge blessing to me. 

If you felt as though God has called you to pick a certain day to have a huge fundraiser on, and then very little people came, would you have been discouraged? My friends and I held a fundraiser at our local climbing gym on memorial day weekend. In southern California, that's probably one of the biggest holidays, and people are usually going to the river, Vegas, the beach, or bbq all weekend.  We didn't know it was that day when we picked it, but we went ahead with it anyway. Some of my friends stayed up baking nights in advance for a bake sale, my friend's dad came out to bbq, and another good friend even supplied all of the food. The gym and local businesses donated things for the silent auction, and...maybe 20 people came. I'm talking 20 people for the whole gym (ok, maybe 30ish). The place was dead. However, some of my most supportive friends came out, even though many others said they would but didn't show, and these friends brought friends with them. The friends they brought ended up being just as supportive as my own friends. We had an awesome time playing around all day and enjoying the quiet time even though we wanted it to be busy. I definitely felt hurt, but I didn't know what God was doing.

At the end of the day, we raised right under $1,000 in a silent auction, bake sale, and random donations. My one way ticket to Guam? Just about that amount of money.

When I'm freaked out about how things are going to get done, God still knows, and that is so cool. I often pray for peace that surpasses understanding, and this prayer comes out of days like this where I feel so discouraged, but God know's what He is doing through that. Raising a ton of money wasn't the plan for me, instead, we raised the perfect amount, and that was more than enough. 

And....guess where I am now!

Family

 pictured left to right: Tammy, Shirley, myself, and Lizzie. This is my birthmom, her mother, and my sister whom I met when I was 19

I just got off the phone with my birthmom Tammy's mom, aka my Grandma, Shirley, from Bellevue, Wa. As I was chatting with her, I started thinking about all of my grandparents and how each one of them loves me so much and is so supportive of me. I believe that all 5 of them (2 mom's side, 2 dad's side, 1 birthfam's side) including the one who met me when I was born pray for me and are excited when we have time to chat.

I often wonder, though, why I don't call them more? Why don't I seek their advice, share stories of my life, let them see me as I grow and learn? Why does it take a heart attack, brain tumor, car accident, or other tragedy or hardship for me to call them up to converse and say I love them? I always say that if I don't talk to them in the morning or late evening, due to time zone differences, that I miss my opportunity, but the truth is that I get so lazy and careless that I miss opportunities every single day. I wonder, in what other areas of my life am I missing an opportunity to share the great things that are going on? Who am I missing out on? Am I too busy to just let God speak to me? All of the above are correct about me. I am not making a life altering promise to call someone every single day, but I am praying for time and awareness about my family. Sometimes, it can be so easy to love, witness to, and connect with strangers or acquaintances, or close friends, but we fall so short when it comes to the people who love us the most. I want God to turn my heart to the ones who have shown me unconditional love my entire life, and who care the most about me, even when in fact I pay the least attention to them.

If I can't even do that, then what am I really doing for Jesus?

Class at Denny's

Last Thursday, our Study Skills class was treated to breakfast at Denny's by our classmate Lydia. The Denny's in Micronesia has an extra menu with local foods, including a lot of meat, fish, and fried rice dishes. The left half of our table had breakfast foods, and the right half had dinner, and then we got to share and try stuff. Since our semester is dying down, it seems as though a lot of the students (and some of us staff, including me) are scrambling to make each day productive, but it's been a little difficult. In this class, we've finished almost all of our material and are looking forward to a mutually agreed upon final exam. I am just praying that our class gets to apply all of the techniques they learned to their finals. One of our students informed me that they earned a "97% on a difficult exam." Right on! Pray for us as we finish out the semester.

Who does that?

Me...why would I make a birthday wish list? I want peace, love, happiness, and all the good things God intended for us (and a good Bible) SEE I did it again. I think I'm working out ways to be looking forward to my summer months spent here. Hmmm....it will all work out, but, when it comes down to it- I've been here 2/3 of an entire YEAR already and I'm trying to process that. Wow. Pretty cool- but really, where did my Bibles go?

My Birthday

Isn't really until June, but I thought I'd get a head start on it. Usually people ask me what I want and I'm like...ummm...umm...surprise me. But not this year! I want books and I want to travel. That's what I'll tell everyone who asks.

I've actually lost about three Bibles this past year, and I would love to have another Bible....or three. Here's a little wish list. I might throw in a book link from time to time at bottom of my blog posts, just to consistently drop hints to avoid the confusing times ahead, so...we'll see what happens. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me....


ESV Personal Size Reference Bible (TruTone, Forest/Tan, Trail Design)
ESV Compact Bible (Tan/Burgundy, Vine Design)
Interrupted: An Adventure in Relearning the Essentials of Faith
Essentials of FaithESV Thinline Bible (TruTone, Brick, Crossroads Design)
Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church

ramen

My good friend (you know who you are) found this for me. Ramen. Ramen is delicious, but how about some Wahoo's, In & Out, Pick Up Stix, D'elias, Sub Station, just to mention a few.

Keep praying for my ticket back in August- there are big things at work and high hopes of good eating. I want to go back to the states to visit AND eat delicious food and....vegetables...yes...vegetables. We have them but the ones in the states are mmmm. MMMMM!!!!

story #1

I want to share some of my stories of the cool things God has done in my life, maybe as a testimony to those who are searching for what God's doing in theirs or might not believe. After the things God has done for me, there's no way I could not believe =)


October sometime, 2006, somewhere in the Australian outback (no kidding).

My friend and I were driving a car across the country to relocate this blue-ish green station wagon. We saw a sign for a park and decided to check it out. Deciding to ignore the signs that said something like "only 4x4 vehicles allowed after this point" we figured we'd keep checking it out. Lo and behold we got stuck in some wet sand. While trying to get out, we kept getting more stuck. My friend was a scout and just, smart, so he was working on ways to get us unstuck. All of the things we were doing were not working out. We were worse than before, and the sun was setting. Here we are, in the middle of the outback, in a park, and there were hardly any people on the road with us let alone off the beaten path.
While he was trying to figure out more ways to get us out of the situation of our temporary livelihood sinking into the sand, we decided that I'd be most useful just sitting and praying. I'm not even kidding when I saw that within minutes, this Jeep-looking thing with a snorkel on it pulled up to where we were. This Australian dude with his awesome Australian accent jumped out and said something like, "you need help?" Turns out that he was on his way to his mate's house and as he was driving over, he had this strong urge to take a shortcut through the area we were in. He pulled us out with a giant rope he just happened to have with him, and we were on our way.
What can we say when God sends people into our lives like this. Sometimes we don't see a door, or window, or funds, or opportunities, but He does. Sometimes it's immediate, like this, and other times it feels like it takes forever to even know what's going to happen. But, for me, I know something's gonna happen. God is going to use an opportunity, person, event, or whatever He needs to get through to us or help us. How can I not trust in that?

stumbled upon...

This new artist while listening to my Damien Rice Pandora playlist. <3


Check out David Ford...you have to clicky, but it's worth it...especially if you like Damien Rice.

Potter + Clay

"You are the potter, I am the clay. . .." Change My Heart O' God







Lindsay Quay, a close friend of some women here at PIU (namely Anne and Laura) joined us on Monday night to lead an hour long devotion in the continuation of our arts devotions. Lindsay is a potter who has been at it for more than ten years. Listening to her apply Biblical principals to her work as she effortlessly crafted a large mug (or small pot?) had all of the ladies' attention. She even sent each of us home with a handmade heart ornament to remember that God is our potter, and we are His clay. He has to work out our kinks, imperfections, mold us, shape us, cut off the rough edges, and sometimes start us all over again. He strengthens us through the fire and makes us beautiful by design.


The night amazing and we're so thankful for women like Lindsay who have a heart for the amazing gifts God has given them, and sharing that with the students so that they may see many different gifts and paths.









Left to right: Jayleen, Laura, Lindsay, Meyou




2 Corinthians 4:6-8: For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair"

Why I feel like I never get any work done . . .

There are just too many cool people here on campus! The only time I can ever get work done is between 7-9:30 a.m., or after devotions at night which is usually 10:30 on. Otherwise, everywhere I do, there's someone I want to spend time with. How many people can say that about their job? I absolutely love it.

Trans World Radio

I was able to tag along on a field trip today with Christel Wood's class to Trans World Radio, which broadcasts out of Guam to half the world's population in Asia and Indonesia, along with parts of Russia, Africa, Europe, and Australia...to name a few. TWR is a missions broadcasting service who is supported by programmers and regular people like us. I can't believe that it's stationed here on Guam! After touring the facility, standing under the antenna wire things, and seeing how everything ran...I found out that all of the technical stuff involving this has me utterly confused. That's ok, though, I got to experience something really cool and see something that completely changes lives. Click on the website for more info.

poetry

I am not writing like I used to.

Guam Missions Retreat, Easter Break

Over PIU and all of Guam's Easter break, Austin Evers of the UOG Ministry and friend, missionary, etc, along with student leaders, organized a missions retreat to work and serve in villages from the top of the island (Yigo) to the bottom of the island (Agat). We stayed at Marianas Baptist Church, assisted in community projects, enjoyed quiet time, and had three amazing days to just get away. This is the group I was in, lead by Davey Welle (red shirt). We had a pretty good time together working, relaxing, praying, and adventuring while we opened up for God to really speak to us.








We had four ministries over a two day period. One of our ministries was to cook lunch for everyone. Our group made pasta and lasagna, fruit salad, and regular salad. It was delicious and it was a blessing for us to serve our friends as they came in from projects such as grounds-work, handing out Resurrection Day books (which we got to do as our very first ministry), helping a church plant, and prayer walking. The leaders of our retreat prayerfully and thoughtfully set this up as a great ministry to the community, but especially as a ministry to the students who participated.



I think back to the block of time that we had as ministry for our own growth. We were given three hours to find a beautiful place near the beach for quiet time. Since we were staying down south, in the most beautiful part of Guam, it wasn't hard to find a nice place. I took this spot on a cement slab while I watched a local fisherman catch fish in nets for his family's dinner/bbq. The simplicity of this along with using nature's resources reminds me that God provides us with what we need. Matthew 6:26 asks "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" God definitely provides for us, yet we always seem to want so much that we don't need. Often, quiet time like this is what we need to have realizations like this. Our students never get these opportunities by being on campus all of the time, so this was a huge blessing for them, too. I wonder what God spoke to them?



Actually, I don't wonder too much. God really spoke through Austin in our evening chapel times. To make long hours short, we saw students experience God in a way that witnessed what Christ was doing in their lives over the few days we were there. We saw students repair relationships, make amends, and join each other in prayers and tears. I am so thankful that we had time for this. I know that in the things we did, God really spoke to many of our students. I think it's truly amazing how we can physically experience and see Him moving in our lives, and in the lives of people we love and commune with. I, too, have been amazed and blessed by this experience. Austin's challenges to our students lately have been right on track with what weighs on their hearts as young adults going into the world. His central theme has been "listening to God," and I think they are accepting the challenge.


God didn't stop speaking to us even though the sermons and projects stopped. However, much to our surprise, the last day's trip to Coco's island (named after the Ko' Ko' bird..one of the last birds on Guam) wasn't the highlight of our experience. I think that we were all equally stoked to be able to have a day to play together, but after PIU days and the retreat, we all seemed to just need a day to relax. If you Google Image "Guam," you'll see a beautiful island inside of the reef at the bottom of our island. That's where we went. It's now a day resort, where we got to play beach volleyball, swim in the pool/ocean, see some birds and lizards, ride bikes, and sleep in hammocks. It was an awesome way to end and recover from our missions retreat.


If you're praying for us, pray that students apply what they gained to their lives and their ministry: that the retreat vibe doesn't end because the retreat ended. Pray for us to continue to grow in fellowship and community. Pray for leaders such as Austin, Daniel, Leeman, and T'nel who worked together to organize this. Pray for me that I stay focused on God and continue to work on being a blessing and servant to our students. Pray for Daisy who shares these opportunities and callings with me, and other great ones that God has given her.

Statue of Liberty

Did France send one to Guam when it became a US Territory? Did they send Guam a small one because a big one would make the island capsize?