Farnsworth Forum

Last weekend was another PIBC wedding. Merong is a PIBC alumnus (2008) and Joan a member of the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam. She participated in the teacher training I conducted for the PECG in 2007. Our friend Pastor Hiob officiated. We asked for a picture with the bride and groom after the ceremony. The fruit display at the reception was not only beautiful but tasty, too. Joel loved the food, especially the coconut crab prepared with coconut milk. We feasted on that in Palau last summer. Merong and Joan were kind to each other at cake time. It was a lovely day and we wish them God's blessings on their marriage. I wrote to my friend Kalvin that "one more handsome man is unavailable."

Here is a recap of the final days of our friends Hiob and Leah and their children Micah and Jireh in Guam. They have returned to Palau where Hiob will serve as senior pastor of the Koror Evangelical Church. We all started together at PIBC back in fall 2006 and we have worked together, laughed together, cried together, prayed together, and grown together. Although it is hard to say goodbye, we know that they will be a blessing to the Church in Palau, and we find comfort in the words of the Michael W. Smith song "Friends": friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them. Amen! We had a BBQ in their honor on campus at the beginning of June before the Thai mission team left. Delight posed with Micah and Hiob during a break from barbecuing. He is a fantastic barbecuer. Notice he's even holding the tongs, to a barbecuer what a hammer is to a carpenter. As always, everyone enjoyed the food, the centerpiece of any Micronesian celebration. Before our friends left,...

We allowed Joel and Amelia to choose one small gift at Disneyland. Joel chose Dale ears and Amelia Minnie ears. They wanted to pose with their Chip puppet and Mickey Mouse toy.

When we found out that Japan had a Disneyland, we decided to splurge and treat the children while we were there. We rode the metro train from the Higashi Nokorozawa station to the Maihama station, almost two hours, and we were there. Joel wanted to have his picture taken with Roy Disney and Minnie Mouse. Two different views of the Farnsworths with Cinderella Castle in the background. Amelia noticed Cinderella's dress while we were window shopping. The first thing we did was ride the merry-go-round. Although Amelia looks a little scared, she did ride two times. After the Castle Carrousel we rode Alice's Tea Party. What would a trip to Disneyland be without It's a Small World? That's almost sacrilegious! A new ride which we enjoyed was Pooh's Hunny Hunt, especially when the car bounced along with Tigger. Toontown proved to be a great place for Joel and Amelia. They visited Donald Duck's Boat, Minnie Mouse's house, and Chip and Dale's Treehouse (pict...

During our recent trip to Japan we had such a nice time with my friends from Houghton College, John and Susan, and their children David, Joshua and Esther. They work with Send International in Japan and are due for their home assignment in the States soon. So it was now or never for us to visit them. Glad it was now (then--we've been back two weeks). Joel and Amelia bonded with them very quickly. Our kids enjoyed meeting Esther, too. We attended the English Bible study which John and Susan facillitated every Wednesday morning at their church. John devised a set of simple questions to accompany the text, and then the class answered questions and talked about their application. The Christians in the class ministered to the non-Christians, which really excited me. It's wonderful to see people in ministry settings reaching out to others. To me that's what mission is; it's called the multiplication model rather than simple addition when the missionary is the only one minis...

These trees are so vibrant. God is certainly a Master Artist!

We are enjoying our ship, the USS Guam, for a few more days before we downsize. Summer is a good play time!