Far too much writing would need to be done to keep y’all ‘posted’. Weekend of the 7th we had a surprise visit from Manuel and MeHam and their daughters, Luca and Yona (I don’t know how to spell any of these names). They are Bible professors at a Bible college on another island. He is German-American raised here in Chuuk. She is Korean, but lived in Germany while she was younger. They met at Bible college in Germany. They took us on an island tour and to dinner at Truk Stop. Very good friends – I will post pictures later. They have invited us to Pacific Island Bible College’s ‘retreat’ this coming weekend, and if we can arrange to get a boat, I think we’ll go. Also, they (mostly she…hehe) has invited us to Korea at the beginning of the summer! She will be going to visit her family. Then, they’ll be going to Hawaii, the States (including San Diego and Kansas), and Germany. She would also like us to go to Germany for Christmas. Haha. Go figure that Manuel’s brother lives in Kansas and also, there is a Chuukese church in KC. KMCers, go check it out for me! I think it would be so fun, great, wonderful to send one of the recent grads or c/o 2007 to KC to study, and I know some people that would make great friends. :)

Ok, what else…This past weekend was Senior Retreat…what an adventure. It started with dinner on Friday night, Chapel messages, then…eventually… “lights out”…yeah, right. Unfortunately, one of the girls, Smaileen, had some sort of seizure during the night. She has been sick quite a bit since school started, and is actually failing classes mostly due to her absences. The girls woke us up because she was obviously having trouble breathing – had we been in the states, we would have called 911, but here there was no power and no phones. One of the other teachers was there and she seemed to think it was epilepsy, but the whole situation was quiet unsettling especially because it was experienced in another cultural setting. The other girls were all comforting her and holding her, but also talking about “Satan”. Of course, this was unnerving because we know the spiritual forces of evil are very real, but we weren’t sure whether the girls were joking. Apparently, Irene had asked the girls whether they were saved just before bed, and Smaileen had said she didn’t want to talk about it because it scared her. Eventually, she was resting normally again, and when she woke up, she seemed fine. Monday, however, she was in the hospital and we prayed for her in chapel at school. She had asked me to pray for her before because of some problems with her liver. Please, pray for the physical and spiritual health of Smaileen.

Katie and I had hoped the weekend would be an opportunity to get closer to some of the girls, but I don’t know how effective that was – at least with the girls that we particularly feel are hostile to us, doing poorly in classes, and disinterested. Perhaps some of this can be attributed to lack of English language skills. Please, pray for all our senior girls: Doralyn (beautiful smile), Evangeline (New to Mizpah), Ermy (perhaps and ally), Sumantha (very quiet, from a broken home), Arlyne (another ally), F-Cina (like the mother of the group-she takes care of the other girls), Imaculata (very shy, having family problems), Gina and Mickleen (two that seem the most difficult to reach)…and Narcisa (just moved to Hawaii to be with her parents).

So that should leave 15 boys: Way-one (wants to go to BYU), Franky (TMC or Pensacola?), KI (smart and kind, but ALWAYS calls out), Alvin (needs some MOTIVATION), Job (loves Jesus, broken family), Ray (Filipino missionaries’ son), Frank (very, very hard heart, “doesn’t care about his life”), Russel (abusive family situation), Serky (cares about basketball, very sensitive), Randy (trying really hard, needs help with English), Burnson (very quiet, needs help with English), Ricky II (could try harder, needs help with English), Rick (working hard, needs help with English), Foley (in love with his American teachers, needs to work harder), Isaiah (needs to sit down, be quiet and do his work, but a smart and friendly fellow).

And after you have all them smothered in prayers maybe my days will be easier! J Pray for me, too. I need LOVE for them demonstrated through patience and kindness. Also, I need WISDOM, especially in the classroom. I need CREAVITE IDEAS for teaching. Aaaaaaaah! About ½ my students are failing, and I’m sure ½ that is my fault. Pray for us! Thank You!

Also, if you'd like to send a care-package, these are some things I'd like for my students: charcoal pencils, mechanical pencils, 'regular' pencils, rulers, pencil sharpeners (that catch the shavings), erasers, colored pencils, hard candies (chocolate?), folders/binders.

It's amazing what 17 & 18 year old boys will do for a piece of candy or a new pencil!

After 1 month and 2 1/2 weeks, fatigue is setting in, my sleep pattern is starting to change from 8 hours to 12!?!? I have to stay after school on Thursday's to be the wicked witch of detention, but I have also been staying after other days of the week to help some students pull up their grades before the quarter closes next week. The one 'special' thing that i don't need, but think would truly be helpful is a projector for the computer. Might sound strange when I often complain about the power being out, but the school has a generator. I am (obviously) a visually oriented person and would love to put power point presentations up for my students. Also, I think this would be helpful for them because their listening comprehension is so poor. Admittedly, it could be improved simply by paying attention, but 1/2 of the problem is lack of language skills.

Sometimes our toilet doesn't flush. Nasty, right? One time after it was acting up and started to flush again, Katie sang, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."