Farnsworth Forum

Ned has been working with the PIBC students who will be participating in a mission trip to Palau during the summer for the Gospel Days Celebration, which commemorates the 79th anniversary of the arrival of the gospel to Palau. One of our fundraisers has been laboring at different staff members' houses for a donation. Last week the team went to the PIBC president's house for their first work day. Percia and Stella are painting the newly refurbished laundry room. Leeman and Mark are raising the fence's gate so it doesn't drag on the ground anymore. Jonathan and Everly are trying to get the water blaster machine started to pressure wash the roof. Once started, everyone joined in the fun up on the roof. Here is one final picture after the work was all done. Thanks to our hosts for a wonderful lunch and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Yum! If anyone would like to contribute to one of the PIBC mission trips this summer, please contact me and I will give you more ...

Last Wednesday Joel's Awana group celebrated Holy Week with some special activities. First they lined up with their palm branches. . . ...before parading inside shouting, "Hosanna." Once they got inside their "upper" room, they had their feet dried... ...and washed, not necessarily in that order. They sat at the table... ...and were served homemade matzah with grape juice (in boxes, that was probably the non-authentic part). Mrs. Kathy put grape jelly on the matzah after the children had tried it plain. I wonder if the disciples did that! It was a wonderful program that taught the Awana Cubbies "the way it was." Special thanks to Mrs. Kathy and Miss Jan and to the parents who provided food for this special Passover meal.

Guess who loves watermelon? If you guessed Joel and Amelia, you're right!!!!

On Good Friday we decided to sleep outside the house in our tent. Everyone pitched in to pitched the tent. Please pardon the pun. Joel and Amelia have their bags packed and are ready to go outside to the tent. It took all of us a while to get to sleep from all the excitement. Joel took a menagerie of his stuffed toys out to the tent with him. Amelia took only her red baby that our friend Mary Ellen gave her when she was born. She's always been just Baby! You can see from my smile how much I enjoyed being in the tent. It brought back lots of childhood memories of camping trips. Thanks, Mom and Dad! Now I'm making memories with my family!

As you can see, we are almost ready to harvest our first local bananas. Please come and help us eat them! You are always welcome to visit us!

Last weekend we celebrated PIBC Days here at Pacific Islands Bible College. For one of the evening programs our friend Stella made this lovely decoration from coconut tree leaves. This is how the churches in Yap, where Stella is from, decorate for special occasions. When Ned was in Yap in December 2006 he saw the beautiful decorations in the churches. We have it hanging on one of our trees outside. Joel has been learning many Bible verses in his Awana club. To us as parents that is the main attraction of Awana. We would like to share two of these verses as our Easter greeting to you: "Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Timothy 1:15 "He is not here; He has risen." Luke 24:6 May this be a time when you reflect on God's great love for you through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. Happy Resurrection Day! Feliz Día de Resurrección.

Hello, a few people wrote to tell me how expensive gas is in other places in the States and around the world. That certainly helps to keep things in perspective. Thanks for the gentle reminder that I should be thankful. With that in mind, I would like to report that the price has increased to $4.019.

There is no such thing as "price wars" for gas in Guam. It is the same ridiculously high price everywhere, currently $3.919 per gallon. Thankfully, we do not drive too much, and the island is small. Still, it hurts to pay almost $60 to fill up the tank of our car.

On Saturday we bid farewell to one of our friends who attended Ned's teacher training class at the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam. Elsie is off to Palau to serve as her grandmother's primary caregiver. We had a surprise party for her and enjoyed being able to visit with her one more time before she leaves this Thursday. We hope to see her this summer in Palau if Marisol's citizenship goes through by then. For you "Survivor" fans, we don't need to tell you how beautiful Palau is. We certainly don't want to miss the opportunity to visit while we are so close. PIBC is sending a missions team of students for the Gospel Days, which celebrate the 79th anniversary of the arrival of the Gospel to the island, and we want to help to lead the team. God bless you, Elsie!

Two-year-olds all over the world like to help their parents. Amelia is no exception. Here is helping Marisol put the clothes in the dryer. Most of our clothes go outside on the line, but the rainy season has begun, so that becomes more difficult. Look at our "Happy Helper." Everyone tells us how cute she is. Of course, that becomes a handicap at discipline time. She goes at it with gusto and determination. Last Friday night she ran into the corner of our computer desk, just missing her eye with a small surface wound. She cried a bit and then moved on to her next adventure. It is amazing to see how different she is from Joel.

Joel and Amelia smile for Daddy next to the Easter tree that they decorated with their mini-ornaments. I must admit that being a Daddy gives me great joy. I look forward to my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons when Marisol has her English class and library time. I stay with the children. Joel and Amelia pose in their "spaceship" that their Mamá made for them out of the box that our lawnmower came in. Marisol is a very creative Mamá.

Please pray for Marisol as she studies the questions for her U.S. citizenship interview on Wednesday, April 9, at 10:30 a.m. The time is Tuesday, April 8, at 8:30 p.m. for the folks in the Eastern Time Zone in the U.S. The test includes a short writing test in English and ten U.S. history/civics questions that the Citizenship and Immigration Services agents chooses. The applicant can answer only two questions incorrectly. Thank you for your faithful prayers. Oren por Marisol por favor en el día de su entrevista para la ciudadanía estadounidense el míercoles, 9 de abril a las 10:30 a.m. La hora ecuatoriana es martes, 8 de abril a las 7:30 p.m. Marisol tiene que hacer un examen con información sobre la historia de Estados Unidos y otro para probar que ella puede escribir en inglés. Gracias por sus fieles oraciones.

The men students and staff at PIBC participate in a basketball league on Fridays called "Friday Night Lights." We are all divided into four teams and play two games of four ten-minute quarters. This gives us all a chance to spend time together and release the pressure that tends to build up during the week. Some of us need an outlet to build up our skinny bodies. HA! I play with Team # 4, the white team. From left Keiny, Doug (wearing grey, the nonconformist of our team), Kalvin and TJay. It provides great fun for me to relive my youthful days. I am improving with each game. Last week I even made a basket, although for some reason it couldn't be counted. I am not a basketball scholar, to be sure. Even with my improvement, I don't think Allen Iverson has anything to worry about.

For the past two semester I have been teaching a new course called Ministry Introduction. The students and I spend the first four weeks in the classroom learning about ministry, but the bulk of the class is comprised of different field trips to observe different ministries. The idea is to broaden the students' concept of ministry to include activities outside of traditional church ministry. Our trips this semester will include the U.S. Naval Base to interview a Navy Chaplain and a Midweek Chapel Service at the Guam Correctional Institution. The picture below come from a trip to AWANA last Wednesday night. In this picture Joel's AWANA teacher, Miss Jan, is giving instructions to my student Gloria during the opening ceremony. This group of students is taking notes that will help them write their observation report. Each time they have a week to write their write and post it online. For those of you who know how challenged I am on the computer, I am proud to report that I a...

As you can tell from the pictures, we have a lot of water fun at our house, and Guam is the perfect place for it because of the hot weather all of the time. The PIBC students tell us when it is "officially" cold, or we see them with their heavy coats, but it never feels anything but balmy to us. In the first picture I finally found something to cover my bald head!!!

Two Saturdays ago the PIBC Student Council (STUCO) organized a Fun Night for the students and staff. It started at 6:30 pm "German time," according to the students, who thought that was hilarious. Well, the program actually began sometime after 7:00, and I'm not sure of the "German time" significance. Could have been Micronesian time or Latin time for all I know. The von Trapp Farnsworths sang a Spanish song, "Tú eres grande, Señor," or in English, "Your Ways Are Higher than Mine." My favorite part, and the part that gets the best laugh is the verse, "Tú eres fuerte, Señor ("Your ways are stronger than mine"). I wonder why they laugh. Don't people know that skinny people can be stong, too? Besides, the song is about God's strength, not mine!!!! The men students prepared two songs to share, "Om tom oh Kot," a Chuukese song about the resurrection of Jesus, and "Awesome God." Joel and I sang along the b...

For the past couple of months Joel has had a wonderful Sunday School teacher, Miss Fiona. Yesterday was her last day at our church. She is going to join her family in Singapore, where her husband works. Their daughter, Analina, went on ahead with her father, and now Fiona will leave this week to be with them. Joel will miss his teacher; she has been a great encouragement to him and the other children in the 3-5 year old class at Bayview. Thanks, Fiona, and God bless you, Casey, and Analina!