DECEMBER REVIEW
This is a quick December recap since we were not able to post too much during the last month. December began with two fine youth programs that my Youth and Children class presented in two churches in Guam. I was very pleased with their work.
One group presented a program to the Chuukese youth at the Mariana's Baptist Church complete with fun icebreaker games.
At the beginning of their program my students introduced themselves to the youth at the Palauan Evangelical Church in Guam.
Joel and Amelia love to play in the mud. What kid doesn't???
Joel and I went with Hiob and Micah to see the Harlem Ambassadors, who are similar to the Harlem Globetrotters. Great fun for all!
We met Lisa at Harvest Baptist Church during their annual Christmas cantata, for which she played the piano. Lisa is the daughter of longtime missionaries in Spain. Her parents led Gustavo's parents to the Lord years ago, and Gustavo grew up and became the Liebenzell director of Ecuador and Marisol's employer; she worked in their home for 7 years before we got married. Marisol became a Christian through the witness of Gustavo and his wife Barbara and even met Lisa's parents during a furlough trip with Gustavo and Barbara and their kids in Spain. It is wonderful to see how God works in people's lives and brings them together to serve him. We were thrilled to meet Lisa and spent some time celebrating New Year's Eve with her and her roommate Julie.
Joel Okada spent some time reading children's books to our Joel as part of his Elementary Methods class. As you can see, Amelia was not as interested in the book as Joel was.
Sonny and Elilai pose in their Santa hats, worn during the Student Council Christmas Party.
Joel and even Amelia were a big help this year making Christmas cupcakes and cookies.
The men students had a Christmas cookout this year. Some of the Chuukese men performed a bamboo stick dance that is traditional to their island. I don't think they usually wear curtains, though, when they do it!!!
A group of the Chuukese men, and Mac (from Yap) sang a lovely song!
We decided to have a Christmas Open House at our new place for the students and staff. As always, Marisol did a splendid job of preparing the food. All of us got into the action with cooking and cleaning and baking and preparing door prizes. It was great fun!
The students enjoyed the couch almost as much as the food.
Some others enjoyed the fresh air and fellowship.
Some of our students graduated in December. We will really miss Jonathan, who I call a "Gentle Giant." Here he posed with his friend Charity, who will graduate in May.
At the end of each semester the students need to fill out an evaluation form for their classes. My students oblige, somewhat grudgingly, but I always use their comments to improve my teaching.
Mac is another of our exiting students. He plans to be in Yap for a few months and then return to Thailand, where he spent the summer, to work with Campus Crusade for Christ. Please pray for him. I will miss my friend and personal guitarist. He often accompanied me for special music. Perhaps Joel or Amelia can take his place!!!
On December 19, our little princess turned two-years-old. We spent a delightful day together with our friends and attended the children's Christmas program that evening at our church.
One night two special friends, Stella and Ethel, joined us for pizza and corn on the cob. Then we looked at photo albums. It appears that Amelia was more entertaining than the pictures.
Currently we are teaching the two and three year old class at our church. Amelia has now joined that class. All of the boys and girls keep us very busy, but they certainly fill our hour with joy!
Darius, whose parents are from Pohnpei, had the job to take care of the Baby Jesus during class.
On Christmas morning Joel and Amelia opened some of their presents. Joel helped Amelia tuck her baby into a new bed with mattress, blanket and pillow that Marisol made for her. I have such a talented wife. Amelia was so pleased.
Then our former neighbor Melissa joined us for breakfast and treated us to waffles made with her new waffle iron. The next day Melissa took a trip to Palau with our friend Laura.
Joel asked for a white shirt, tie and belt for Christmas and Grandma and Grandpa came to the rescue. Ties are not popular in Guam. Joel insisted on wearing his new clothes to Christmas dinner at Auntie May's house, and Daddy had to dress up, too.
Our friends Tony and May invited us for Christmas and made quite a feast. Look at this beautiful spread! We made taco salad to share along with the enchiladas, tamales, ham and other goodies.
We are enjoying our down time together as a family.
At a pool party we were invited to, both Amelia and Joel learned how to jump into the pool. We hope that soon they can learn to swim.
Joel really showed himself to be a brave jumper.
After swimming and before the food our friend Wanda told a Christmas story to the children. She is the "Story Lady" on radio station 800 AM here on Guam.
We also held our annual Christmas cookout, a few days late this year due to other invitations. Joel helped to collect and cut the wood. The wood burned very well in the firepit behind our house.
Simple hotdogs when made with love taste delicious and fill big and little stomachs.
After the cookout we went to catch the trolley to go around and see the Christmas lights. As you can see, palm trees with lights are popular in Guam.
"Somewhere over the rainbow" during break I mowed the grass for the first time. We had been paying students to do it as part of their fundraisers for missions trips. Mowing can be quite therapeutic and a good break from grading English papers. If only the mower didn't stall so much. . . .
Another one of our December graduates, Merong, prepared this coconut for me to drink. I love coconut milk. Please pray for him as he returns to Palau next week to begin his ministry as pastor on one of the outer islands of Palau.
One group presented a program to the Chuukese youth at the Mariana's Baptist Church complete with fun icebreaker games.
At the beginning of their program my students introduced themselves to the youth at the Palauan Evangelical Church in Guam.
Joel and Amelia love to play in the mud. What kid doesn't???
Joel and I went with Hiob and Micah to see the Harlem Ambassadors, who are similar to the Harlem Globetrotters. Great fun for all!
We met Lisa at Harvest Baptist Church during their annual Christmas cantata, for which she played the piano. Lisa is the daughter of longtime missionaries in Spain. Her parents led Gustavo's parents to the Lord years ago, and Gustavo grew up and became the Liebenzell director of Ecuador and Marisol's employer; she worked in their home for 7 years before we got married. Marisol became a Christian through the witness of Gustavo and his wife Barbara and even met Lisa's parents during a furlough trip with Gustavo and Barbara and their kids in Spain. It is wonderful to see how God works in people's lives and brings them together to serve him. We were thrilled to meet Lisa and spent some time celebrating New Year's Eve with her and her roommate Julie.
Joel Okada spent some time reading children's books to our Joel as part of his Elementary Methods class. As you can see, Amelia was not as interested in the book as Joel was.
Sonny and Elilai pose in their Santa hats, worn during the Student Council Christmas Party.
Joel and even Amelia were a big help this year making Christmas cupcakes and cookies.
The men students had a Christmas cookout this year. Some of the Chuukese men performed a bamboo stick dance that is traditional to their island. I don't think they usually wear curtains, though, when they do it!!!
A group of the Chuukese men, and Mac (from Yap) sang a lovely song!
We decided to have a Christmas Open House at our new place for the students and staff. As always, Marisol did a splendid job of preparing the food. All of us got into the action with cooking and cleaning and baking and preparing door prizes. It was great fun!
The students enjoyed the couch almost as much as the food.
Some others enjoyed the fresh air and fellowship. 
Some of our students graduated in December. We will really miss Jonathan, who I call a "Gentle Giant." Here he posed with his friend Charity, who will graduate in May.
At the end of each semester the students need to fill out an evaluation form for their classes. My students oblige, somewhat grudgingly, but I always use their comments to improve my teaching.
Mac is another of our exiting students. He plans to be in Yap for a few months and then return to Thailand, where he spent the summer, to work with Campus Crusade for Christ. Please pray for him. I will miss my friend and personal guitarist. He often accompanied me for special music. Perhaps Joel or Amelia can take his place!!!
On December 19, our little princess turned two-years-old. We spent a delightful day together with our friends and attended the children's Christmas program that evening at our church.
One night two special friends, Stella and Ethel, joined us for pizza and corn on the cob. Then we looked at photo albums. It appears that Amelia was more entertaining than the pictures.
Currently we are teaching the two and three year old class at our church. Amelia has now joined that class. All of the boys and girls keep us very busy, but they certainly fill our hour with joy!
Darius, whose parents are from Pohnpei, had the job to take care of the Baby Jesus during class.
On Christmas morning Joel and Amelia opened some of their presents. Joel helped Amelia tuck her baby into a new bed with mattress, blanket and pillow that Marisol made for her. I have such a talented wife. Amelia was so pleased.
Then our former neighbor Melissa joined us for breakfast and treated us to waffles made with her new waffle iron. The next day Melissa took a trip to Palau with our friend Laura.
Joel asked for a white shirt, tie and belt for Christmas and Grandma and Grandpa came to the rescue. Ties are not popular in Guam. Joel insisted on wearing his new clothes to Christmas dinner at Auntie May's house, and Daddy had to dress up, too.
Our friends Tony and May invited us for Christmas and made quite a feast. Look at this beautiful spread! We made taco salad to share along with the enchiladas, tamales, ham and other goodies.
We are enjoying our down time together as a family.
At a pool party we were invited to, both Amelia and Joel learned how to jump into the pool. We hope that soon they can learn to swim.
Joel really showed himself to be a brave jumper. 
After swimming and before the food our friend Wanda told a Christmas story to the children. She is the "Story Lady" on radio station 800 AM here on Guam.
We also held our annual Christmas cookout, a few days late this year due to other invitations. Joel helped to collect and cut the wood. The wood burned very well in the firepit behind our house.
Simple hotdogs when made with love taste delicious and fill big and little stomachs.
After the cookout we went to catch the trolley to go around and see the Christmas lights. As you can see, palm trees with lights are popular in Guam.
"Somewhere over the rainbow" during break I mowed the grass for the first time. We had been paying students to do it as part of their fundraisers for missions trips. Mowing can be quite therapeutic and a good break from grading English papers. If only the mower didn't stall so much. . . . 
Another one of our December graduates, Merong, prepared this coconut for me to drink. I love coconut milk. Please pray for him as he returns to Palau next week to begin his ministry as pastor on one of the outer islands of Palau.That's it for our December review. Thanks for being our faithful blog readers. We hope to be better posters in the new year.
Comments
How about if we trade temperatures? The weather just reported that it's 22 degrees here. Brrrr.... send one of those palm trees over.