Dear Partner,
Career-wise, Kathy and I haven’t had to ask that question as
often as most of you. When we married in 1972, the answer was, “We move to
Pennsylvania so Howard can finish school.” In the Spring of 1973, we replied,
“We’ll take our two chairs (all the furniture we owned) and move to Virginia to
pastor the Covington Bible Church.” That wonderful ministry took up most of our
lives. We left fulltime pastoral ministry in the Spring of 2015, and were
settling into a semi-retirement—social security, short-term missions, and
various ministry opportunities—when the question was put to us with more
urgency.
It’s been over four
years, so I’ll remind you. We already had the tickets for our second four-month
ministry in Palau, when former President of PIU, Dave Owen called. He was sick.
We found out later it was cancer. Would we come to Guam instead of Palau, and
fill-in? Though we have visited the states at least yearly for the past four
years, 172 Kinney’s Road, Mangilao, Guam--the PIU campus--has been our home. We
have led, fundraised, taught, dealt with thousands of details, and sought to
pour our lives into the young lives that make up the student body of PIU. We “pastored”
the school through the traumatic first months when we didn’t know whether Dave
and Joyce would return, when we watched a beloved teacher die here on Guam,
when we dealt with the departure of key staff, and the Administration and Board
asked whether PIU could survive. We rolled up our sleeves and led and
encouraged the dedicated staff that remained in doing the self-study and other
work needed to accomplish the reaffirmation of our accreditation. Tough
decisions had to be made and the results dealt with. In partnership with
colleagues in Texas we began an online delivery of courses, with the goal of
placing teachers with a Biblical worldview in public school classrooms.
Further, our hope was/is that this would lead to an education major, that could
help transform schools in Micronesia. Like all new ventures, this demanded more
than we imagined. Then came the Novel Coronavirus.
Like when this latest phase of our ministry started, we already have our tickets for May 5. Four + years ago, we hit the ground running and haven’t stopped yet.
The paragraph above describes the big things. In addition,
Kathy has taught Intro to Music, served as campus hostess, part-time
receptionist, mentored women students, counselled and loved on people, kept
house, and so much more. In the absence of a full-time maintenance director, I
have taken on various projects, repairs, and improvements. I’ve preached on
average a couple of times per month. I’ve taught two different Theology
classes, New Testament Survey, and Critical Thinking—on average, one class per
semester. Kathy has helped with music in our Guam church, and at least one
other church. Both of us were privileged to return to Palau on two occasions,
and I have been to the Republic of Marshall Islands, two of the four states of
the Federated States of Micronesia—Pohnpei, and Chuuk. In addition, I visited
various places in the USA on behalf of the school, and we were given a brief
but wonderful trip to the
Philippines.
Our last days on Guam are filled with getting things ready for the next President—still unknown—finishing the classes we are teaching, overseeing (and doing) some major--for us--campus improvements, while continuing to deal with the day-to-day demands of service in a small school. Oh, and we have to pack our suitcases.
So, I come back to that question, “What do we do, now?”
The short answer is--on May 5 we fly back to Virginia. We’ll
move back into our home in Covington. The longer answer is--there are some
things we know and others that aren’t clear yet. For now, I’ll just say--for
the first few months we’ll be spending some significant time decompressing.
We’ll get moved back in, get a car, spend time with family, etc. We also hope
to see as many of you as possible. We’ll tell you more in the future. We’ll be
involved in ministry, just not as intensely as the past few years. We plan to
maintain a relationship with Liebenzell Mission USA, though we don’t know exactly
what that will look like. I hope to take preaching opportunities that come up.
I have no doubt Kathy will occupy herself productively. As I say, we’ll keep
you posted.
For most of my ministry, I have served on the sending/supporting side of missions. For the past six
years, Kathy and I have been on the other side of the equation. We have been regularly awed and consistently grateful for your faithfulness and generosity. Our account with LMUSA has remained healthy. Between our Social Security, the support you have given, and the reduced-cost housing we have enjoyed on campus, we have been well cared for. Thank you.
Our mission policy is that retiring missionaries, if their
account has the funds (and ours does) continue to receive their “salary” for
three months after they return. Since we are not leaving the mission, but plan
to undertake some part-time or periodic ministry with LMUSA, we want to keep
our fund open. The mission will pay us our full salary May through July. After
that our account will fund air fare and other expenses for mission related
ministry. We had accumulated enough frequent flyer miles that our tickets on
May 5 are free.
Since we will no longer be active missionaries--putting my old, pastoral, missionary-sender hat on for a moment—it wouldn’t be good stewardship for you to continue to support us. Sometime in the near future, you should stop supporting us with your gifts. I won’t presume to tell you what to do, but I will share a suggestion. LMUSA has a fund labeled PIU. Visit https://www.liebenzellmission.org/ for more information. There are also several other PIU personnel who are supported by giving through LMUSA. The website will give you information concerning these opportunities and on how to contact the mission. There is also a capital fundraising project I started, in honor of my friend and predecessor, Dave Owen. See here. If you are interested and need our help, let us know. Kathy and I continue to stand behind the work of PIU and LMUSA. Perhaps the Lord will guide you to pursue one of those options. Whatever choice you make, Kathy and I want to make sure you know how grateful we are for your investment in our lives, the future of Micronesia, and the ministry of Pacific Islands University. Funds that remain in our fund will continue to be there for expenses in regard to any future ministries we would undertake with LMUSA. Exactly what that would be, we don’t know, but we have already begun some discussions.
I know this is long, but I shouldn’t finish without sharing
some specific reasons to praise and some requests for prayer.
Praise:
·
One of our projects at PIU has been the
promotion of the Dr. Dave Owen Memorial Fund. Dave was my predecessor. He is
with the Lord, now. (That’s his wife, Joyce, with Kathy in one of the pictures
above.) While COVID put a stop to active fundraising, DDOMF has achieved more
than 25% of its goal. We have been able to use those funds to repair and paint
the roof, paint the exterior of the building, and engage in other improvements
(ongoing). Soon the Pavilion, a student gathering place, will have a new coat
of paint. (see https://piuddomf.blogspot.com/)
·
Along the same line, on Graduation Weekend, May
1, we will have a ceremony to name PIU’s main building--the Ezra 7:10 building--in
Dave’s honor.
·
We are thankful that we have been able to spend all this semester in a real classroom. We expect to finish the semester that way.
·
As we look back over
this venture we are extremely grateful for the great group of partners who pray
for and support us.
·
With the help of family and friends, we were
able to purchase a good used truck that is waiting for us in Covington.
·
We have been greatly encouraged and supported by
both our Guam church and CBC in Covington.
·
Having recently celebrated HM’s 71st
Birthday we don’t take our good health for granted. Thank you Lord.
Prayer Requests:
·
We want to finish well.
· We are leaving behind a number of mentoring relationships. We praise the Lord and desire that others will pick up these opportunities.
·
The classes Howard has taught can easily be
covered other instructors. Not so, the music class Kathy taught. Pray for
wisdom for a replacement.
·
It seems that recently many in our circle of
friends and colleagues have been
faced with health issues. Some have
died. Pray
for help, healing, and comfort.
·
We will leave PIU with a mix of emotions. We
will miss folk here. We
look forward to being nearer family and friends on the
mainland.
·
We need wisdom as we move on to what is next.
Grateful for the privilege of serving,
Howard
& Kathy
