Spanish Steps

This is one of the best hikes, aside from Shark's Hole, that I've been able to take on Guam. Ropes and rocks consisted of most of the hike, and then easy walks through the jungle littered with fallen coconuts and mosquitos brought us to one of the places on Guam that I've dreampt of going to since I moved here. Since this is on the Navy base, I had slim hopes of being able to do this hike until I met some awesome military friends who arranged everything. Friends Lynn and Joyce came along with us and also had an amazing time. I can't wait to do it again.

Blessings of all kinds

This Thanksgiving, my friend Delight brought me a package that he forgot he had in his car from the last post office run. I received many c.d.s from my friend Angie and her family who are currently in Texas. A while ago, I put out a call for some good Christian c.d.s and she was the only one who responded. Of these, I received the new Mat Kearney c.d. and the Kutless c.d. and other awesome ones, like Matthew West, Group One Crew, Switchfoot, Toby Mac, and I think one more? My friends were excited about these, too. Now, I have some positive music to listen to when I'm driving. The radio stations here are kinda....eh, and there's no Air 1. Now, I can choose between mainstream and Christian. Sweet!

Thanks Angie!!

STUCO carwash

Our Student Body had a fundraising carwash at the Lutheran Church of Guam (LCG) this past Saturday. I'd have to say that not only was it a blast, but a pretty big success. They had a professional looking operation of people directing cars in, a team washing them, then a tent set up to dry and vacuum.

I got the Jeep washed and vacuumed as it needed it badly. We had spilled peanuts and other snacks on the inside, plus lots of sand and grass, and then the outside was a filthy dusty mess from all of our recent adventures. It looked great after and still does!








It was a lot bigger than I imagined it to be- almost every student from campus, even some commuters, came down to help out. Jayleen and some of the girls cooked us delicious chicken and rice (local favorite), and we got to take some small breaks on the beach out back.

The only thing I did to help was to hang out on the side of the road trying to cheer people into the parking lot. We had signs held up, dancing, jumping, and all kinds of crazy things. Rob wasn't sure whether that was attracting customers or scaring them away. Whatever it did, we had a great time doing it.














After we all cleaned up, some of our friends headed down to one of my favorite beaches to swim while the sun was setting. It was a great way to end a long day of hard work. I'm really proud of our students, and blessed to have some amazing friends here. I can't wait to see what we do next as a community.

Ritidian Point

This past Monday, my friends Alepo, Leeman, and I went to explore a nature preserve on the northernmost part of the island. We wanted to get off campus to hang out, and none of us had been there before, so it was a pretty cool experience for all of us. The drive was a lot longer than we expected, but the views were awesome. I'm pretty excited that we saw a pig cross the road, but that's just 'cuz I'm new out here.

After a hike to the ocean, we finally got to just relax.

Leeman brought his guitar, but it was too windy to play, so we just sat on a slab of cement that probably had to do with the military at some point. They told me the story of how they met, which is always interesting to hear both great sides at the same time. Alepo has an awesome sense of humor and she's pretty animated. She also has a lot of great insight and generally good vibes. Leeman can be wise, silly, and sarcastic all at the same time. Something that's cool about them, and I hope it's not offensive to them that I'm writing this, is that they come from two different islands. Leeman's from Palau, and Alepo is from Chuuk. The different cultures, expectations, and languages don't seem to matter to them nor get in the way of the relationship. I think that's awesome, seeing as half the time I'm worried about whether or not something's appropriate for someone else's culture, or whether or not I'm offending anyone. I think they might have worked out a lot of these kinks, and that's going to be a blessing for me. When I'm with Leeman and Alepo, I get a good Christian perspective without a lot of cultural hangups- or, I get a few ways to look at things. It's hard to explain, but these two are like family to me out here, and it's really cool to be able to have time away with them. I'm totally looking forward to whatever we get to do next :)

Community Groups

Community Group #2, as in the group I'm in with Melissa, Iotaka, Daisy, and other awesome people, had a pool party at my place this past Sunday night. Thanks, Mels, for feeding us our main course!

We had a great time with students and faculty at PIU- mostly due to us having free reign in pushing anyone and everyone into the pool. Some lessons we learned included: how to make an "H" in sign language, that all one needs to do for a successful backflip is to throw their feet over their head, and that if you're standing near the pool, you're going in.

Why I need support on Guam

One of the reasons is this: (look at the price
And, look what the Post Office and customs did to my box when my friends tried to send me goodies from back home:

Thankfully, some staff and students helped me clean up the mess that the rice milk made while the tea bags were steeping in it in various post offices between CA and Hawaii.

So, my lesson is this: unless it is a certain item that I absolutely, positively, cannot get out here (like from Trader Joe's) I won't be asking for it- I'll learn to live without it, and learn to pay 3x the price for rice milk. Olek.

3 Prayers Answered

I want to give you a little list of some of the many prayers God has answered for me- here ya go:

- Guam itself is an answer to a prayer. When I knew I wasn't moving to Thailand, I prayed to God for a sign for where overseas I should be going. Within a week, as I was looking up the brown tree snake on wikipedia, I saw a link for PIU (which was then PIBC) which happened to be on the same island as the brown tree snake. I emailed PIBC, they emailed me back, and the rest is history.

-When I started to communicate with Steve about what I'd need to raise funds for, I tried really hard to convince him that I didn't need a car. Then, when I lost that fight (and thank goodness I did...it would be very difficult here...) I prayed for a Jeep. Now, I am driving a Jeep.

- The support issues, well, they're all in good places right now. I'm making my ends meet with the support I have, which is a huge blessing, and my church is finally on board with us here at PIU. I've been praying about this for such a long time, and it's so cool that it all happened- in God's timing. This too was a huge answered prayer. Amen :)