Graduation at PIU

In a letter I recently sent to a group of supporters of PIU, I pointed out that I am behind on providing video reports. Hopefully, this will make up for the lack.

Here is the link to the video of the 2018 PIU graduation.
Since the audio was recorded by means of an ambient microphone, it contains a good bit of noise from the crowd, but all is clear enough to easily understand.

In case you are looking for a specific part of the ceremony"

• The Procession begins just after the 3:00 mark.
• The Invocation and Welcome begin about 5:00.
• Rev. Steve Stinnette's keynote speech begins at about 10:10.
• Valedictorian Zaloma Tangelbad's address begins at 45:05.
• The awarding of degrees begins at about 54:00.
• At about 1:05:00, HM's thanksgiving remarks and his charge to the graduates begin.

Please pray for PIU, our alumni, and the Class of 2018.

March/April Prayer Letter

April 2018

Dear Teammates.

Our son, Chris, knows a lot about missionary life. He has told us numerous times that making a transition to another culture and place has its ups and downs. Even though Guam is part of the United States, it is not only 8,000 miles away from Virginia, it is quite a jump culturally. Though everyone here speaks English, when we go out we often hear more that we can’t understand than we can. We enjoy a meal when we can say “Please pass the potatoes.” Usually it is, “Can I have some more rice.” Back in Virginia, hunters would regularly give us venison. Right now we have some great fish in the freezer, a gift from a Palauan friend. We are enjoying new foods that represent the cultural mix of Guam. Like the waves and tide that surround our island we have had our ups and downs.

A while back I wrote to our granddaughter, Carrington. There is a lot of change in her family. I “We need to keep stability in our hearts.” That comes from walking with the Lord.

reminded myself, as I was writing the words to her.

More than the changes that come from relocating, the changes of new tasks, new responsibilities and new pressures have kept us busy making adjustments. February and the first few days of March were spent in preparation for our annual board meeting, then the intense three days of the meeting, were particularly challenging. For the sixteen months we have been here, we have made do, muddled through, gotten along, and by God’s grace figured out ways to keep going. That was the number one question our board considered: Can we, should we, will we, continue? I served for about a dozen years on the PIU Board of Trustees, for the last several years as chairman. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for the work that board members do. The seven members worked hard for the three days of our meeting. By the end of the first day they (we) had reached a consensus. We will go on. What we are doing is too important not to continue. The task before us is formidable (see the prayer list below). We know that we cannot know the workings of God, but we do see what we are doing as being in line with the commands and priorities of Scripture, so we see ourselves like the Israelites with the Red see in front of them and Egyptian army behind them. “Stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13). Pray with us that we will pass through this time to firmer ground.

Word from Kathy:

It has been a busy but good semester here at PIU!  I love working with the students and spend time with them in many ways, such as teaching Music 201 two nights per week, attending dorm devotions with the girls, having them stop in to talk or get help with studies.  Living on campus provides many opportunities to interact and just "be around" for them.  One of the girls has asked to meet for discipleship.  They have given me the name "Mama Kat" which is a real honor.  I take advantage of the Mama part at times...loving them, giving them rides to the store or appointments which gives me opportunity go deeper into their dear hearts, or even telling them to "clean things up" if needed!!!  Just like a mom!  Some days find me doing "banking runs" or errands for the school.

Our church has been a great blessing to us. We have met many wonderful new friends there and have some opportunities for ministry from time to time.   We enjoy looking for ways to encourage our pastor and his wife.

Our apartment is very nice and has become our "other home" where we enjoy our down time.

The "winter" has been milder and one of our favorite weather and adventure times found us driving around the south part of the island in glorious weather one Sunday afternoon.  We also discovered a gorgeous overlook that is hidden away and watched kite surfing which was amazing!  It was just one of those special days that was good for the soul being together and seeing God's mighty creation.

There are only three weeks left before graduation and much to be done in preparing to

travel back to the states for a month or more.  We ask your prayers for planning that time.  We hope to see some of you that have faithfully prayed and helped us be able to serve the Lord here at PIU.  We wish we could

see all of you!  Your prayers and notes have come at times to bring great encouragement. Know that each of you are a part of the ministry of PIU.

We have your name on a prayer card on our kitchen table and pray for you too.  Please let us know how we can uphold you.

God bless you and keep you and we send our love and prayers to you.

Kathy

Prayer and Praise:

• ·      Praise the Lord that a group of PIU students had a successful ministry trip to Saipan, a       neighboring island. This trip is part of our “reset.” It is the first such trip in seven years.
• ·      Pray for a good end to the semester.
• ·      H. was privileged to speak at a church on Easter Sunday.
• ·      Pray for traction for our student recruitment and fundraising efforts.
• ·      We need others to help us with these efforts. Pray for effective networking.
• ·      We are in the reaccreditation process. I have been spending about 8 hours a week, writing a self-study proposal, the first step in the process.
• ·     People in that hard-working World War 2 generation, taught us much that I know about work. One lesson was, “Don’t quit until you get to a stopping place.” With the reaffirmation of our accreditation, efforts to stabilize the finances, build a recruitment network, fill some staff vacancies, we aren’t at a stopping place. We plan to stay for a while. I would say that indicators at this time point to us staying through the 2018-19 academic year. We praise the Lord that we are healthy, overall. Kathy has (hopefully had a pulled muscle in her groin that has kept from exercise-walking for a couple of months. Pray that it will heal. My shoulder has healed to the point that I have actually been able to do a few pushups. Pray that health concerns won’t hinder us in what we are doing.
• ·     We bought a 2000 Nissan pickup for a second vehicle and to use for campus maintenance. Pray
  that it will serve well. It has already been hauling furniture. We praise the Lord that a friend gave us four new tires for the truck.

• ·         Dave Owen’s last scan was not as conclusive as hoped for. He has another April 24.
• ·         Pray for some neighbors with whom we are trying to build a relationship.
• ·         We are making plans for a trip to the mainland in May.

We leave Guam May 9. We'll be in Texas, Louisiana, and South Carolina and should be in Covington by the 19th. H will leave VA on June 13, and Kathy on July 2.

We are privileged to be your partners in this venture for God’s glory,

H&K

PIU Staff/Faculty/Board

For as long as I have had any involvement with PIU the school has had a staff/faculty appreciation event in the Spring. This year Liebenzell Mission USA, the agency with which Kathy, I, and some other PIU staff serve treated us, and our significant others, to a lovely evening at Fiesta, a favorite buffet of the PIU family.
Forty-four PIU-ers had a great evening of food, fellowship and celebration.
Joshua Combs had planned several rewards. Here Kaki Binejal  receives a certificate of recognition for years of service as school counselor. She and husband, Jele, plan to return to the Marshall Islands after Jele's graduation this spring.

Billy Edwin also received recognition for his years of service in our maintenance department, most recently as director. Billy plans to return to Chuuk in FSM.

It's been my privilege to work with Billy on a number of campus projects. I have greatly enjoyed my time with Billy.

Someone let us know it was Ruth Dixon's birthday. We sang to her.
You can tell that a good time was had by all.

I really enjoyed presenting the Christian Vision Award to Paul Drake, PIU's Librarian. Paul exemplifies the character and attitude that we foster in the PIU family. He cares for students greatly, and loves the Lord deeply. The award was totally unexpected to Paul. Congratulaions!

The Student Council got in the appreciation act. They gave gifts to the Binejals, "Uncle" Billy, and to the family on campus who does much to care for the students, Student Development Dean, Alex Tavarez, and his wife Dani.

.
It was a lovely evening. I think everyone hated to see it end. Part of the PIU family in diaspora, Joyce and Dave Owen recorded a five minute greeting. We let it run through the evening so guests could stop by, here from the Owens, and share a word of greeting with them (Be watching Dave and Joyce. They are on the way).

Again, many thanks to LMUSA for letting a group of dedicated servants know that their labor is appreciated.

Below are a few more pictures, including one with me and the wonderful woman with whom I share life and ministry.

 By the way, our matching outfits are a gift from the Binejals.

Thanks to Hartmut Scherer for the pictures.

Welcome to the Battle

It has been my privilege to lead Pacific Islands University for over a year now. PIU is an institution of higher learning. Wow, have I ever been learning. My entrance into this position was a "battlefield promotion." I am incredibly honored be in line behind Dr. Roland Rauchholz, Dr. William Wood, and Dr. David Owen. My job is made much easier because of the work these past presidents have done in making PIU the institution that it is.

Some of what I have been learning is important to you, as you make the decision about what is next in your life. 

• PIU’s reason for existing places us in a small, perhaps tiny, group of educational institutions.
  We want to provide you with an education that will help you make a living, but that is not really what we are about. Far more important than the salary you will earn or the title you will be given is the life you will build--the person you will become. Sometimes I rebuke myself for being arrogant when I say that I want our students to go out and change the world. Who am I, what is PIU, to expect such a lofty outcome? Then I think of a shepherd boy named David, or a band of twelve unlikely characters that Jesus sent into "all the world," and I know it can be. I look at PIU alumni out faithfully serving, and I think, "Why not?"
  PIU exists to transform. The paradigm for that transformation is the Word of God. Transformed people transform their surroundings, and as they model and share the life-changing word of God, others are transformed, and . . .
• The kind of transformative teaching we are offering at PIU can only come from a highly dedicated faculty and staff. Another thing I'm learning is that those who serve at PIU truly do serve. They are professionals, to be sure, but theirs is not a mere profession. It is a calling.
• I'm also learning that we live in a world of rapid change. Changes that took decades to evolve in the mainland US are thrust upon this region with the ferocity of a typhoon. Those changes bring a plethora of opportunities, including educational opportunities. 

At PIU we believe that knowledge should be practical, so let me practice that and apply what I have been learning. Why should I expect bright young students, full of hope, to choose to attend a small school in a rural area of Guam? What gives me hope that some of them will choose, out of all the options available to them, to attend Pacific Islands University? That hope burns in my heart because I believe there are some of you who realize that bigger isn't better, that there are young adults who aren't interested in studying What this World has to Offer 101. In their hearts there is a flame that could be fanned at PIU. It's a little light that illuminates a basic concept, God does great things through those who are yielded to Him and who are prepared to do His work. 

If you are one of those dedicated people, then welcome. My welcome is not a light-hearted greeting, like one receives when he arrives at a party. No, while we have a lot of fun at PIU, we are not here to party. We are here because we want to change the world, and by God's grace, and with His power, we believe that we can. My welcome comes from the heart of an old warrior clasping the hand of one younger than he, another who is ready to join the battle. Welcome, comrade, welcome to the conflict. By His grace, we will prevail.

Here is the latest edition of PIU's newsletter, The Tide's Current.

http://piu.edu/the-tides-currents-february-2018-newsletter

Two new videos on the PIU Coffee with the President Youtube channel

Part of the Coffee with the President partnership is me sending periodic video reports. I recently added a report that features fellow missionary, Alex Tavarez.

Mayson Red, PIU 2017, gave me permission to post this video of one of his poems.

Please pray for us. February 8-10 is our Ministry Equipping Conference. 

My good friend and fellow Liebenzell USA missionary Steve Stinnette is our main speaker.

H (for K, too)

A Missionary Saturday

What do missionaries do on a Saturday morning?
Missionaries are a varied lot, so nothing applies to all of us--well, Jesus loves us, so almost nothing.
This morning, I spent my Saturday morning a lot like the way many of you spend your "day off." There is a project that's been on the "Honey Do" list for a while now. Our lovely little apartment has limited storage. When we have company, like we do right now, it can be hard to find a place for everything. We decided a while back that a shclf above and to the side of the door would be useful. Yesterday I was at the building supply store, I saw what I thought would work, called Kathy for a measurement and came home with the materials. The first two hours of my day were devoted to

getting it installed. I think it will really help, and I earned points. : )
Our maintenance staff here at PIU is stretched thin, so I try to help out with mowing. I walk several days a week, anyhow, so on the days when I mow I do my exercise behind a mower. Since "our yard" is right next to the campus entrance, I figure it is also part of my public relations responsibilities. No doubt some millionaire will drive by, be impressed, and write us a big check. One can always hope. Bottom line, I figure being a good steward in an institution like ours, where we can't afford to do big things, means being faithful in doing little things.
After I finish writing this, I'll do something I did probably a thousand Saturdays in my life--I'm preaching tomorrow in a local church, and then on Tuesday in chapel--sermon prep is on the agenda.
Kathy's been cleaning up the mess I made hanging the shelf, doing some other cleaning, and organizing some paper-work. Wherever in the world, whatever title one has, a woman's work is never done.
A fellow missionary, Alex, lives over near the shop where the lawn equipment is stored. He was out doing some adjustment on one of his kid's bicycle--a Christmas present from grandparents. Don't forget missionaries have families. You know those pressures that sometimes make family hard for you? We deal with those, too, plus some other heavy things that are unique to folk who leave home and go somewhere where things are different than what they are used to.
To get back to my point, though, the missionaries here on the PIU campus are spending their Saturday, much like you will when you get up on Saturday morning a few hours from now. There is one other similarity. I mow grass and do household maintenance, just like you. My friend fixes bikes for his kids, just like dads all over the world. Missionary wives and moms are first wives and moms; like women all over the world in those roles they make life so much better for us all. In addition, just like you, we have to work hard to obey the Scripture, "Be anxious for nothing . . . pray." As I put pressure on the drill to bore into the block wall, as I walked up and down, and back and forth behind the mower, as I drug palm fronds away, and pulled weeds from a rock-garden out front, I had to fight the urge to worry. As you know, college administration is not what I've done all my life. When I stepped into this role I was aware that the possibility of failure was very real. I regularly read about institutions much bigger and better-funded , and with presidents more capable than Pacific Islands, shutting their doors. We just began a new semester. As my predecessor reminds me, that always brings new hope. Except when I let worry take hold.

For the year I've been here, we've been like the rebels (the good guys) in the new Star Wars movie. A large part of our strategy has been to stay just out of reach of the forces of doom that are chasing us hard. I take pleasure, and generally draw hope from the fact that we are still out in front.
Scripture tells us to pray instead of worry, so let me close this by asking you to pray for something specific. Pray for the accrediting reaffirmation that is upon us.
If we are going to make it and continue into the future, we need to maintain our status as an accredited institution. We are beginning the process that will lead to the reaffirmation of our accreditation. This time, and one more will make twice that I've led a school through a major accrediting project, but I have talked to enough people who have, and I've read and heard enough about what we have to do, to know it's a lot like the Great Tribulation. Plus, we have to pay a bunch of money for the privilege of enduring the affliction. "What if"s, and "I don't know if can"s pulsate in my head nearly as rapidly as the firing of the spark plug on the mower. Doubts spring up as fast and as plentifully as weeds in the tropical earth. I can't imagine worse timing. Don't we already have enough to deal with? Pray for me to be able to guide the team through this process. Pray for us to work well together. Pray that we will have the resources we need to complete the self-study, to pay the fees, host the accreditation team, etc.. Pray that we'll find ways to address the deficiencies we will find as we do our self-study, and hear from our auditors. Pray that God's will will be done.

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me on Saturday. I pray that you will have a great Lord's Day, tomorrow.

By His Grace,
Howard (for Kathy, too)