TRAVEL
Still, there are times when you need a change of scenery. Brad has traveled a bit -- attending meetings in Singapore, Chuuk, and most recently spending two weeks in the States to recruit teachers and meet with Pacific Island Bible College's accrediting agency. Cheryl. however, hasn't been "off island" since she arrived a year and a half ago.
We have plans to change that after Christmas. We'll be tapping into frequent flier miles to travel to Cairns, Australia for two weeks of vacation.
FALL SEMESTER
Brad has been teaching a class in spiritual formation and a world religions survey class. That all comes to an end on Wednesday. Most students will return to their islands for the Christmas break.
It's been a been chaotic at PIBC this term because of staff transitions. Steve and Anne Stinnette had to return to the States because of Steve's worsening eye condition.
Jens Schulz took over from Steve as the Guam campus director but then he received word that the US Citizenship and Immigration Service was revoking his worker status and that he would have to leave. Jens and his wife Karin are missionaries with Liebenzell Germany and have been serving at PIBC since the spring of 2001. They had come to Guam using religious worker's visas but apparently they have been doing too much administrative work at PIBC to be considered "religious workers" under the USCIS's current interpretation of the immigration rules. So they've returned to Germany to apply for a different kind of visa. Cheryl shares an office with Karin and they work together on the bookkeeping and business management side of things. Karin's departure has added a few more tasks to Cheryl's desk. We're hoping that the Schulzes will be able to return to Guam by the end of January. They seem eager to leave the winter weather in Germany.
Another chaotic complication is that Mary Johnson, PIBC's vice-president of academic affairs has been asked by her mission (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) to spend more of her time administering the teaching-English-as-a-second language program that the Lutherans have throughout Asia. Brad is assuming her administrative responsibilities.
In the midst of adjusting to these new roles we had a good visit with Dave Husby, the Covenant's Asia regional coordinator who spent a few days visiting and visioning with us this month. We are appreciative of the ongoing attention and encouragement that we receive from Covenant World Mission.
SPRING SEMESTER
Brad will be teaching an Introduction to Bible Study Methods class on the Guam campus and will be traveling to the PIBC teaching facility on the island of Weno in Chuuk to teach the World Religions class. He is particularly excited that he has recruited Hiob Ngirachemoi, PIBC Guam's dean of men, to teach the spring preaching class. This is Pastor Hiob's first foray into college teaching and Brad will be coaching him through the process.
OUR CHILDREN
Kirk, Kent, and Betsy are planning to converge on Tempe, Arizona for Christmas. Brad's parents live there, as well as one of his brothers and family. So it's good that they'll have some place special for the holidays. Kirk is busy at work in San Francisco so he'll only have a few days off. Kent will have enough time off before starting his last two quarters at UC Irvine that he'll be able to take a road trip to Canada with some of his Cornerstone friends from Turlock. After Christmas Betsy will visit Turlock and then return to Berkeley for her spring semester.
MICRONESIAN CULTURE
Happiness Lodge, one of our outstanding students as PIBC, has been blogging about Micronesian culture. This is a great introduction to the cultural challenges that our students face as they move out to become leaders throughout Micronesia. Make sure that you dig through his archives. http://pibcstudent.blogspot
PICTURES & VIDEO CLIP
Brad has been adding pictures to our website on a pretty regular basis and there are now several slideshows. We even have a video clip of the students (and staff -- can you see Cheryl in there?) doing one of their famous action songs in chapel -- Guam.Boydston.us
Our friend and PIBC colleague, Melissa Heck, just posted two video clips of our students doing a Micronesian stick dance -- missionarygirl-guam.blogspot.com. She also has lots of pictures.
FINANCES
We know that we can serve here only as long as the churches, individuals, and families who provide for our financial support continue to do so. We've been overwhelmed by your generosity and the follow through with pledges and commitments that have been made. Thank you. We have lost some supporters through death and because people's financial situations change. So we have to continue to seek new support and to keep our financial needs on the radar. If you would like to support the ministry you can send a check or commitment response to:
PM Support for Boydstons
Department of World Mission
Evangelical Covenant Church
5101 N Francisco Ave
Chicago IL 60625-3676 USA
Checks should be made out to the "Evangelical Covenant Church" with the clear designation "for the support of Brad & Cheryl Boydston." If possible print and include this .pdf form - bradboydston.com/pdf/responsefo
PRAYER REQUESTS
As we pray for each of you by name we recognize the significance of the connections that we have with people from other times and places in our lives -- and we're glad that those connections are still strong. We are blessed to have so many active friends and family behind us. Keep praying for us and our students.
• Pray for our students as they finish up the semester. There are a few who are trying to decide whether they should return next semester.
• Pray for the PIBC student evangelistic team going to the islands of Yap over the Christmas break.
• Pray for the students who are trying to decide whether they should be a part of the PIBC mission teams going to Thailand and Palau this summer.
• Pray for the PIBC leadership team as they try to decide what to do with the campus on Tol in Chuuk. There are a lot of expensive maintenance issues and we're very short of teachers for that site.
• Pray for all who are traveling over the next few weeks.
Thank you for your partnership!
COMMUNICATION
• Check the current time on Guam before calling --
worldtimeserver.com/current
• Call us on our cell phones! Brad -- 671-988-4252. Cheryl -- 671-988-4243.
• We now have a Stateside phone number where you can leave us voicemail -- 602-903-5085.
• Skype us -- BradBoydston or seespleez
• Guam address & phone:
Pacific Islands Bible College
PO Box 22619
GMF, GU 96921-2619 USA
Office phone -- 671-734-1812
• Email us -- Brad@Boydston.us or Cheryl@Boydston.us
• Covenant World Mission -- www.covchurch.org/cov/mission
• Pacific Islands Bible College -- pibc.edu
• Liebenzell USA -- www.liebenzellusa.org
• Liebenzell International -- www.liebenzell.org
• Our ministry website -- Guam.Boydston.us -- updated regularly.
• Cheryl's music -- CaminoMercedMusic.com
• Brad's website/blog -- Brad.Boydston.us -- updated almost daily
• Guam Visitor's Bureau -- www.visitguam.org
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