Farnsworth Forum

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Kathy's family and friends and for the whole PIBC community during this time. The memorial service was lovely. Pastor Jeff and the entire Lutheran Church of Guam congregation presented a beautiful service to remember a grand lady. One of Kathy's Sunday School students told Pastor Jeff, "I'm so jealous. She's already there (speaking of heaven)." Out of the mouths of babes. This morning I finished rereading Through Gates of Splendor , Elisabeth Elliot's book about the martyrdom of her husband Jim and the four other men in the jungle of Ecuador. It amazes and inspires me to note the widows' resolve to accept their husbands' deaths as God's will and not to seek revenge or ill will towards the natives who speared them. Through their forgiveness and the return Elisabeth and Nate Saint's sister Rachel to work with the Haorani people, that tribe was reached with the gospel message. Of course, this event from over...

Yesterday we received an unexpected, sudden shock when our friend and colleague Kathy Newell died while she was scuba diving. She was a kind and caring friend to all of her students and coworkers. The picture above (at right) show her creativity as a teacher. She took her students on various field trips. This one was a class project to make and launch rockets. We feel privileged to have known her for a brief time, and we look forward to seeing her in eternity. Today at lunch Amelia asked, "Is Mrs. Kathy in heaven?" What a blessed hope we have as Christians.

Last Saturday I ran a 5K with Marcus and Alvin, two of our PIBC students. This was my first 5K here in Guam and my first since 2005. I placed 62nd out of over 600 runners and my time was approximately 24 minutes. I forgot to look at the clock when I crossed the finish line. I wonder if my former cross country and track coaches would be proud of me. It was a great day, other than getting a flat tire on the way to the race at 5:00 am.

Joel and Amelia are modelling some clothes that they received from our friends Mr. John, Mrs. Keen and their son Dasson. Thanks to them for this BIG blessing.

Amelia earned her Bridal Barbie after going potty (#2) 50 times. We wanted to make sure that she was completely potty trained. This is the prize she asked for. We're well aware of some of the negative implications of Barbie for women's self-image.

Tomorrow is the final day of finals week. I took some of the guys out to eat at Wendy's on Saturday to thank them for their help during the weekly Work Day. Some of them didn't join us because they were still sleeping at 12 noon. Dave and Benny even insisted on working for their Personality Development paper during lunch. I'm sure their teacher will be impressed!

We celebrated a day late with an enchilada casserole. Contrary to popular opinion, el cinco de mayo is not Mexican Independance Day. That is September 16. Cinco de mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla against French occupation. There's an old Hollywood movie about it called "Juarez" starring Paul Muni and Bette Davis if you're an aficionado of old movies. Celebrating Mexican holidays is a way for me to remember my life there from 1989-91 when I was working with Latin America Mission's Spearhead program. ¡Viva México! NOTE: the first letter of months are not capitalized in Spanish unless they're the first word of the sentence; hence, cinco de mayo! .