Farnsworth Forum

The Jewish community is celebrating an important milestone this week. Friday, August 22, 2008 is the 354th anniversary of the arrival of the first known Jew who settled in North America (New Amsterdam), Jacob Barsimson. Our family supports the ministries of Jews for Jesus ( www.jewsforjesus.org ) and Chosen People Ministries ( www.chosenpeople.com ), who reach out with the life-changing message of Jesus as Messiah to Jewish people around the world. We can not recommend these valuable organizations highly enough. They offer presentations in churches regarding the link between Jewish customs and the gospel and also labor diligently in many other ways, handing out fliers in cities and leading Bible studies with interested people. Please check them out.

It is troubling to me to see all the beer commercials during the Olympic Games. Everyone is always fit and trim and glamourous in those ads, and consequences are nowhere to be seen. Of course, the statement "Please drink responsibly" is printed at the end for all to see. The only problem is that most people need a magnifying glass to read it. Do we really need alcohol sponsorship of athletic events? To me the two contradict each other. Most serious athletes avoid alcohol consumption or highly curtail it. There have been so many of these commercials running all day long. Because of our time zone, the prime time coverage is in the morning when many children are watching. Often the beer ads run back to back. PIBC is collaborating with Pacific Abundant Living Ministries, a faith-based anti-tobacco and alcohol social service agency in Guam, and I serve as the PIBC staff facillitator. Our statistics show that 36% of Guam's youth are drinkers and 19% are binge drinker...

Well, Michael Phelps did it. He passed the previous Mark Spitz record from 1972 by obtaining 8 gold medals in one Olympics to Spitz's 7, setting 7 world records in the process. I must admit that I felt disappointed in NBC's coverage of the medal ceremony for Phelps' 8th gold. Since it was a relay event (4X100m), couldn't the camera pan over to Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, and Jason Lezak during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" instead of staying on Phelps the entire time? Phelps knew that he wouldn't have been there if it had not been for the incredible performances of his three teammates. Didn't someone tell NBC about that? Phelps mentioned during one interview that he received 10,000 messages on Facebook! Talk about being popular. Phelps seems like a well-balance person. I liked his quote after his final medal: "If you dream as big as you can dream, anything is possible." Dara Torres showed herself to be a class act whe...

Here are some more Farnsworth "kid" pictures. Enjoy! On Sunday morning Joel posed with Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber in his Veggie Tale outfit. Amelia posed with her Toto doll outside in the flower bed. There's no place like home!

Even during the summer we manage to keep our musically talented students busy. Here's a recap: Two weeks ago a group of 17 students participated in the final program of Blessing Guam, an event designed to draw the churches together and encourage each other in their goal of reaching a diverse population (Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Chuukese, Yapese, Palauan, American, etc.) for the Lord. It was an encouragement to all of us that we are not alone in this great task! On Sunday we sang at a YWAM-sponsored mission event at which Kalvin shared about his six weeks this summer in Thailand with the PIBC team. They worked with Campus Crusade for Christ national workers. Elilai from our Palau team spoke about our experiences there. I introduced the students at both events. I guess my Communication degree from Houghton College serves me well after all. Special thanks to Dave and Joyce Owen for the photos!

Nuestra sobrina en Ecuador nació el 9 de agosto. Se llama Zoe Victoria Bedoya y sus padres orgullosos son Wilo y Gisela. Muchas felicitaciones. Our niece in Ecuador was born on August 9. Her name is Zoe Victoria Bedoya, and her proud parents are Wilo and Gisela. Congratulations to all! Gracias a Diego y Mercedes por la foto. Thanks to Diego and Mercedes for the picture.

Our friends Erik and Nancy gave us a playhouse for the yard before they left for their next military assignment in Virginia. Joel and Amelia love playing on it. Thank you, Lord! We are enjoying the final few days together as a family before my responsibilities at Pacific Islands Bible College start kicking. Next week the meetings begin in full. Please pray for me that I can serve the Lord joyfully as I fulfill my responsibilities at PIBC.

We are enjoying the Olympic Games. Thankfully, one of the three channels we can get is KUAM, the Guam NBC affiliate. The only bad result is lack of sleep because the rebroadcast here goes until 12 or 1 in the morning. We have caught a few events live during the morning. The opening ceremony was quite impressive, complete with the moving boxes that had people inside and 2008 drummers. I was a bit disillusioned later to learn that the fireworks display was superimposed and the Chinese girl singer was lip synching, but such is "show business," and the Chinese put on a good show. I wonder how much that program cost to produce. Four years ago we cheered for the U.S. and Ecuador during the parade of the athletes from the different countries. This year we cheered for those two countries plus Guam and Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, where many of our students come from. We are becoming a more international family as time goes on. Yao Ming and the ...

This past week we finally received a book from Amazon that we ordered back in May. We thought it had gotten lost somewhere. Sure enough, the postal service mistook GU (Guam) for Guyana. It came to us with the stamp "missent to Guyana." Our packages are taking vacations in new and exciting places. We ordered "The Little Red Lighthouse" for Joel and Amelia because it was one of the sites that we saw in New York last summer on the Circle Line Cruise with the rest of the Liebenzell USA missionaries.

Recently Joel and Amelia have begun to prepare puppet shows for their parents, us! We enjoy watching their creativity and enthusiasm. It brings back memories of when my neighbors, my sister and I would present plays in our neighborhood. I guess the proverbial apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

On Wednesday night our church, Bayview Baptist, held a Children's Luau. Each child was supposed to invite friend. We invited a family, but unfortunately they weren't able to attend. Maybe next time. We arrived early and helped Valerie and the other ladies to decorate the room in a Hawaiian theme. The children started the evening by making leis out of paper flowers, straws, and yarn. Even our new interim pastor and his wife, Mike and Judy, sat down with the kids and made leis. I was impressed, and I'm sure it meant a lot to the kids. We eat hot dogs, chips, fruit and cookies, a perfect menu for children! Here are our "hula kids" playing with their friend Lina. Joel showed us how "limbo" he is! Look how much fun he had playing the game. After the games we watched a puppet show. We had a great time helping and enjoying the luau as a church family.

During our time in Palau we shared in many different church services, encouraging believers in their faith and informing them about the work of Pacific Islands Bible College. Sometimes the German Impact Team accompanied us, and sometimes they held a separate service elsewhere at the same time. We participated in our first church service at Koror Evangelical Church. The church holds two services, one in Palauan and one in English for expatriates who live in Palau, from the Philippines, the U.S., Japan, and other places. Chris and Nico shared a skit with all of us at Airai Church. Chris played the grandson to Nico's "Grandpa," who kept asking the question "And then?" to show the importance of preparing oneself for eternity. Very effective! (Thanks for the picture, Nico!) One church, at Airai, held their evening service outside. There was a space down the middle, so we split our team in two parts and sang "in stereo." The team members didn't like thi...

August 3 is Mom and Dad's 51st Anniversary. Last summer we all spent their 50th together in PA. We gave them a free week at Sandy Cove in MD, which they redeemed this summer. Mom told me that she and Dad went parasailing and enjoyed it very much. It astounded me, but their sense of adventure impressed me. I only wish that they had remembered their camera. Have a great anniversary, and thanks for everything you have taught us through your godly example.