Farnsworth Forum

Come to Guam and visit our fruit orchard! We have three banana trees. Guam local bananas was smaller and slighly sweeter than bananas in the USA. We pay 98 cents a pound for them here, and we have missed the cheap Ecuadorian bananas. Now we shall see if we have our own bananas. Marisol is overjoyed to have a papaya tree. It reminds her of Ecuador. We have at least five kalamansi trees where we live. Kalamansi is kind of a cross between orange and lemon. It makes wonderful juice. Here Joel and Amelia are helping to make kalamansi juice without making too much of a mess. Joel is a wonderful help. Amelia seems more interested in her baby.

We invited our student helpers from our moving day with a fish dinner on Monday night. We had a wonderful time. Thanks again to Ethel, Johanna, Neinei, Jayvina, Jonathan, Mark, Benny, and Sonny! Jonathan especially enjoyed the three milk cake which he graciously grinded the fresh coconut for. Sonny thought his joy was hilarious!

Hi there, and Happy Belated Thanksgiving. These pictures are out of order, and I am sorry about that. Joel is thankful for good friends like Micah, who came to play with him on Thanksgiving afternoon. They had lots of fun. Marisol and I are thankful for our little "cutie pies" Amelia (who is shown enjoying her turkey drumstick a la King Henry VIII). . . . . . .and Joel (eating his cinnamin Jello salad courtesy of Mrs. Joyce Owen). We are all thankful for our PIBC family. . . . . .and for God's abundant provision of food always. And we are thankful for you, our faithful blog readers and prayer warriors. Thanks, and God bless you, everyone!

Last Monday Ned took down the swingset from our apartment. It was raining, and Ned isn't much of a Handy Man. But it is now done, and the children are enjoying playing on their swingset in the new house. In fact, as you can see from the picture, they are loving it.

Amelia now knows the names of the Disney Princesses, along with most of the little girls on the planet, I suppose. Cinderella is "Rella," Snow White is "White," and Sleeping Beauty is "Beauty." Here is a picture of two PIBC beauties, Amelia (of course I am an unbiased father!) and our Library Assistant, Stella Fatag from Yap. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but she has a heart that is filled with love for the Lord and her neighbors. She sent us this picture, and we wanted to share it with you.

Last weekend we held our annual PIBC Spiritual Emphasis Retreat at Rios Beach in southern Guam. The first thing Marisol, Joel and Amelia did was check out the beach. Instead of oversaturating the students with more group Bible sessions, Melissa prepared a prayer journal for them with Bible passages, and we sent them off by themselves for two hours of quiet time. I was so proud of the students to see them spend time alone with God. Solitude is not really a part of Micronesian culture, which is community based. While the students were off by themselves, Delight, Hiob and Evelyn were busy cooking hamburgers and hotdogs. Even Joel got into the action by helping to keep our cooks stocked with food. This is a quiet moment of Mamá with her niños Joel and Amelia. The kids are wearing the official Spiritual Emphasis Retreat Tshirts, which cost $5. I think they turned out really well. This is American football Guam style!!! Too bad our president Dave Owen wasn't back from his PIBC staff...

Here is a collage of pictures from our recent move. We moved today and had wonderful weather, a respite from all the rain we've been having. God is so good. Thanks for all of your prayers. The children seem to be happy in their new surroundings. Amelia has kept us entertained with her everlasting cuteness. Sorry, Daddy Bragging going on here! Amelia and Joel are checking out the new windows at the house where we now live. The kids are sitting on Amelia's bed waiting for their parents to finish unpacking some things. They have been so patient throughout this whole process. Joel has wanted to help move things. Amelia, too! Bless their little hearts. We asked some of the guys to help us today to move the "BIG" things, like this sofa, for example. Thank to Mamu (from Bangladesh), Jonathan (Chuuk), Sonny (Yap), Benny (Marshall Islands), and Mark (Chuuk). Jayvina is a good friend to Joel and Amelia and helped us today as well. She's also a great packer an...