Farnsworth Forum

Joel and Amelia's Grandpa and Grandma finally arrived in Guam last night at 9:50 pm Guam time. Now we can stop counting the days. Thanks for your prayers for their trip. Joel greeted Grandma by giving her the lei that he and Marisol and Amelia made from flowers they collected on the PIBC campus. The entire Farnsworth family celebrated their arrival. Joel couldn't wait to get back to the house and read his school books to them. There was a loud knock on the door. The PIBC women, as directed by our friend Melissa, sang "There's a Welcome Here" and "We Are One Big Happy Family." My parents bask in the attention lavished on them by the women students. Notice the mwar mwars (floral crowns) that the ladies presented to them. We will definitely spoil them during their time in Guam. They will be here until January 10, 2009.

Enjoy these pictures from some of our recent activities: Joel and Amelia helped Marisol set up the nativity set, with wooden figures carved from olive trees in Bethlehem (or so they say). We want them to understand the true meaning of Christmas. Joel continues to thrive in homeschool, thanks to the Lord, not because we are world's greatest teachers. We aren't!!! Amelia liked to show her new Little Mermaid socks. What would we do without the Disney Princesses?

We really enjoy our occasional visits to the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam, even though we don't speak Palauan. The people welcome us with such joy, and the teachers always treat Joel as one of their own Sunday School kids. Here you can see him (second from the right, front row) helping the children to sing their songs in the service. Sorry, but there are no pictures from my preaching. I was so honored to be invited to preach there; I spoke about why Christians should see children's ministry as vital to church and individual ministry.

The tree is up and the house is decorated for Christmas. We are really organized this year in anticipation of Grandma and Grandpa's visit. Joel and Amelia have been a tremendous help.

Last Monday my Ministry Introduction class received a special blessing: a tour with the chaplain of the USS Frank Cable. This was by far the favorite of our seven field trips this semester. We began our tour at the naval base chapel where Chaplain Sherri explained how the chaplain needs to reach out to men and women of all faith groups. Then we headed to the port for the tour of the ship where the chaplain gave us a quick orientation before we boarded the ship for our tour. As you can see, Joel joined us for this special activity, and he loved it, especially going up and down the ladders in the ship. Joel proudly posed while holding the "wheel" of the ship. The class posed with chaplain Sherri and her assistant Jeff before we jumped in the van for our return to PIBC. We are grateful to the chaplain and her staff for this unique opportunity.

Joel has really come a long way in his swimmming class. It's hard to imagine the first day when he didn't want to put his face in the water. His teacher started him out, then pushed him on by himself. This was the first time Joel swam the whole length of the pool without coming up for air. Joel looked up at me with a smile of accomplishment on his face. Marisol and I are both very proud of our "little swimmer."

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend at beautiful Tarague Beach on Andersen Air Force Base for PIBC's annual Fall Spiritual Emphasis Retreat. This year's theme was prayer. Sessions dealt with Why Should We Pray, How to Pray, and Prayer as a Weapon in Spiritual Warfare. Amelia and Marisol relaxed outside of our snug three-man tent. All four of us fit (barely). Good food and fellowship were enjoyed by all. Joel and Amelia enthusiastically ate their breakfast of Spam and eggs. We even had a visit from the four little (wild) pigs. Jessy and Kalvin caught one and carried it off. They wanted to kill it, but decided against it. Joel and Amelia sat on a hamock. . . when we sent the students out to pray alone for at least one hour. Later we tried to swim, but the waves were rather large and powerful. Hollie gave the final talk on defeating Satan's footholds through prayer, using a student-performed skit to help the message get across. Ginny portrayed a person cau...