Lets be Thankful

Yesterday (Tuesday, November 25th) was the school's annual Thanksgiving program. Every year large tents and picnic tables are set up outside in front of the school. On the sidewalk in front of the classrooms there is a long row of tables set up for all the food that everyone brings. The program begins with the CDC (Child Development Center) classes. Even the toddlers, ages 18 months to 2 years old participate. I loved watching the younger classes get up and recite poems and sing. They did so with such enthusiasm as their parents looked on. The smiles were contagious. The older grades did a nice job too. It's good for them to have these opportunities to get up in front of large groups. Next year the eighth graders will be attending the only high school on the island where their classes will be three to four times the size they are here.
   













   



     After every class had shared their songs, poems, skits, etc, it was time to eat. I can honestly say I have never seen so much food in my life as I have when our school hosts a potluck. Eight long tables literally packed with trays, dishes, bowls and platters of every kind of food imaginable. Everything from sushi and pad thai to turkey and mashed potatoes.
   

     Saipan is a culturally diverse island. Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Chamorro, Carolinian, (and even a bit of Russian culture) is very present here. In the couple of months I have lived here I have learned a bit about each of these ethnic groups. For instance, I learned from the Korean girls I tutor that in Korea they celebrate Chuseok, a "thanksgiving dinner" in honor of the harvest. This island is a regular ol' American melting pot. We celebrate the differences, and the similarities.

           

           

Managaha

This is Managaha. Smallest island in the CNMI. It's only a couple miles away from Saipan, and if you are a local you get a free boat ride. On my first trip to Managaha it rained practically the whole time. At least we were swimming so a little extra water didn't bother us. On the second trip the weather was perfect. In the sunshine, the water is a dozen shades of clear blue. The variety of fish and submerged WWII army tanks make for an interesting afternoon of snorkeling. Now you know where to find me on days off.

   

While relaxing on the beach we found several crabs. We all took turns being brave and posing with them. Unfortunately Venus didn't think I had had enough photo opportunities, so later when everyone buried me under the sand she had me pose with the crab again. I was grateful when I could move my arms and legs.

Pananampalataya

I have a new name! On one Sabbath afternoon while practicing for special music with a group of the women from church, I asked what the translation of my name was in Tagalog. Pan-an-am-pal-a-ta-ya. I think I finally got the pronunciation right on the tenth try. It stuck, and now I hear it as much as I do Faith.

You know that scene in "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" where missionary Gladys Aylward is given a new name by the people she lives and works with? I guess it was from watching this movie, but I always felt like part of being a missionary is being granted a new name by those you are serving. It gives you a sense that you are connecting with the people, their language and their culture in such a personal way.

It's now about week fourteen for my roommate and I. We've managed to adapt enough to the heat and humidity to where we don't need to use the air conditioner (much). Good thing too! Electricity here is ridiculously expensive due to the fact that there is only one plant on the island, and the electricity is generated by fossil fuels.

I haven't taken on any additional responsibilities at the school as of late and I am starting to settle into my weekly routine. Yearbook is well under way, the Friday letters are printed on Thursday, and the newsletters are distributed without a hitch. I think this is the first time I have been on good terms with a copy machine. I am still teaching the after school academy math classes for kindergarten through the fourth grade. Last week I was the substitute teacher for both grades three and four. I have had been in the teaching environment long enough to decide that I like my major in public relations just fine. It is a lot of fun though, and the more I get to teach, the better I get to know all the students at our school. I've almost got all 150 names down.

Carolyn and I have become baking pros. The rest of the teachers at the school always tease us and ask us "so what did you bake this weekend," but we don't mind because we know they like it when we bring samples. Pinterest is a never ending source of inspiration. This last week I made an old family recipe. The taste of oatmeal "mookies" was a really welcome taste of home. Thank you Mom for the cranberries!

As far as church involvement goes, I think Carolyn and I are booked for special music for the rest of the year! Ever since the first vespers when Carolyn and I played a duet on the mandolin and violin. . . It is a lot of fun to practice with Carolyn and it gives us something to do when we are at home on the weekends. I am also teaching the youth Sabbath school every third Sabbath.

Just this afternoon I was sitting in my room when Carolyn leaned around the corner and remarked how much she was loving this year. I quite agree.

Missionaries from Guam

Last month the Saipan SDA School had some special visitors from Guam. The SDA missionary staff from the health clinic flew out to give a presentation at our school and provide free health screenings for the students in grades 3 through 8. During both chapel and the health screenings, the medical staff spoke to students about the 8 laws of health. After chapel, the doctor and nurses set up stations where they could measure students body mass index, and check blood pressure & blood oxygen levels.


It was great having the medical staff from Guam come out. So many of our students bring nothing but candy to school as their lunch, so I was glad that there were more voices encouraging them to eat healthier. When we weren't working, we were giving the medical team a tour of the island.

Not many newsworthy things happen on this island, so naturally this visit made the front page of the newspaper that next Monday!

http://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/guam-sda-clinic-holds-outreach-saipan/

Sabbath Hikes & Miracles

On a sunny Sabbath afternoon this last weekend I joined the youth group on their hike to Bird Island beach. Right before we left the church to drive there we said a prayer for God's protection. Never under-estimate the power of a simple prayer like this. Just hours after that prayer, I witnessed God answer it. It all began a half hour after this picture was taken.

I had never been on this trail before. The hike was only fifteen minutes from the trail head to the beach. I was excited to be outside enjoying the island with this happy group of teens and hadn't thought to bring anything in the "just in case" category. The path down to the beach was a bit narrow, a bit muddy, and in some areas quite steep. Down at the beach we played some bible trivia, had a short vespers, and then began the hike back up. We had given ourselves plenty of time before sunset to get back to the cars. On the way back Joeie, (pictured to my side) was hiking with two of the new youth group members Leoni and Carmen. Half way up, Leoni began having trouble breathing. That is when Joeie learned she and Carmen have exercise-induced asthma. This is also when Joeie learned that both Leoni and Carmen had left their inhalers at home in their school bags.

Meanwhile, the rest us our group had made it back to the cars. We hadn't been there long when some of the kids began calling for help. John, the other youth leader, and I quickly headed down to see what was the matter.

I'll pause here a moment to describe the last fifteen feet of the trail. It was fifteen feet of steep, slippery ground that had become so muddy from foot traffic that the park had tied a thick rope to one of the trees so that you could use it to climb up. Leoni made it to the base of this steep part and then collapsed to her knees. Joeie, John and two of the older youth rushed to her side offering support so that she wouldn't not fall back. About this time Carmen, who had made it all the way to the car, was experiencing difficulty breathing as well. After one attempt to help Leoni up the last part of the hill, we called 911.

By now neither Leoni nor Carmen could give us a verbal response, and both were struggling to stay conscious. The sun was setting and we were without flashlights. The mosquitoes were out in full fury and the kids were back and forth between praying, quietly panicking, and trying to offer help. Bird Island is on the Northern end of the island, and a pretty good distance away from the one hospital on the island. It is also well outside of cell range. The first two medics who arrived quickly assessed the situation and called for more help. They would need 6 guys to carry Leoni on a backboard up the hill.

It seemed like an age before the rest of the medics arrived. It seemed like another age before they got both girls in the ambulance and were headed to the hospital. When the rest of us made it to the hospital we were exhausted, dehydrated, ready to hear some good news. Good news came. Both girls were recovering rapidly and would be discharged that same evening.

I don't believe our group could have been more under-prepared for the events of that hike. This is one of those experiences that should go at the top of a list for reasons to remember the boy scouts motto. Yet good things came out of it. The girls learned a valuable lesson about taking their condition seriously. Joeie, John and I know how to better prepare for situations like this, and everyone on that hike witnessed God's hand of protection over us. Praise the Lord for cell reception when you really need it.    

International Coastal Cleanup

One of our goals this year is to have our students participate in some kind of community service every month. You don't have to look too hard to find ways to make a difference on this island. One opportunity present on every beach in Saipan is picking up litter. Trash is everywhere here. When the bureau of environmental and coastal quality announced they were starting their annual international coastal cleanup project, we were the first school to sign up. Equipped with garbage bags and gloves, we made our way up "beach road" and collected everything from gum wrappers to old shoes. Part of our task was to keep a tally of everything we found on forms the BECQ provided. Last years participants recorded finding 1,685,422 food wrappers, 555,007 straws, 940,170 plastic beverage bottles, 4 guitars and 1 rubber chicken. I wonder if they also kept track of shoes because we found a lot of them...

About two hours and a mile of beach later we had collected eight bags of garbage. After a quick pose with our hard work, we loaded everyone on to the bus and drove them back to the school where a reward of Ice Keki awaited us. This project was about a month ago. Just recently I walked down beach road again and all the trash had returned. Its hard to not feel frustrated when so much hard work seems to vanish with the rise in tide. The job is never ending. At least there is satisfaction in knowing you've made a difference, even though it only lasted for a little while.

A Bowling Tournament

As the public relations assistant for Saipan SDA School, one of the larger roles I play is to help organize fundraisers throughout the year. Having only done very minimal fundraising before this year, I was/am very grateful to our office manager, Virle, for helping me navigate this part of my job. I have learned so much from her in three months! One of the first big fundraising “events” we hosted this year was a bowling tournament.

As this was the school's first time hosting a bowling tournament, we were glad that one of the parents volunteered to help us organize the event. With his help we got all the details of the event figured out. I designed posters and large tickets for the tournament. We then composed a letter to all the local businesses requesting support of this event. We got a lot of support too! Even Subway sent us gift certificates. With the cash prizes and raffle prizes taken care of, all that was left to do was to sell tickets.

The capacity for the event was 60 participants. Only a handful of tickets were pre-sold, so we all held our breath the day of the tournament to see how many would come. Thankfully the little bit of advertising and word-of-mouth brought out over 40 people to participate in the event.

Although this event wasn't a huge success monetarily speaking, a lot of the people who came did not know about our school previously. We made many new friends, got our name out in the community, and had a fun time. I’d say it was well worth the effort.

 

Fall Week of Prayer

There are so many reasons why I love working at the Saipan SDA Elementary. One of them is that although I spend a lot of time working on fundraisers and other exciting stuff in the office, I also get the chance to break away from all my exciting chaos and spend Friday chapel time in the mornings with the kids. During our Fall Week of Prayer, every day was like Friday. Every morning we gathered in our snug chapel area to sing songs and listen to a short worship thought. Our theme was “God’s Promises.”

At Mt. Ellis Academy, Week of Prayer was a big deal. We always had a group of students lead out in songs, there was some kind of decoration put up and lots of effort went in to creating an atmosphere of worship and reverence. I wanted to help create that for the school here. Our Principal Mr. Berglund is quite genius at encouraging so many elementary age kids to participate in the reverent atmosphere of chapel time. Still, I wanted the week to stand out, so the art teacher Becky Bailey and I created a large banner with our theme to put on the wall up front. Kuya Joe, our schools maintenance man and carpenter extraordinar, built us a wooden cross that could stand on the chapel stage.

That last bit of preparation was in planning the music. I had never led out in singing up front before, and I had also never played my mandolin in public before. The two made for quite an exciting time for me. Like my speech teacher always said, “fake it till you make it.” However, if one is learning to play an instrument or lead out in song service, (or both in my case), an audience of elementary students is the best place start. They don’t judge you for messing up. In fact, they were so enamored with my mandolin that they didn’t really seem to care that our theme song “Shout to the Lord” was both off tempo AND off key. Sorry Dad, I don’t think I inherited your musical ability.  

One of the mornings I also was the worship speaker. My topic was on listening for Gods voice. I told the kids a short story about a farmer and a lawyer who went walking in busy downtown Manhattan…..

Right in the center of Manhattan, the farmer seized his friend’s arm and whispered, “Wait. I hear a cricket.” His friend remarked, “A Cricket? This is downtown New York, you can't possibly hear a cricket.” The farmer persisted, “No, I really do.” “It’s impossible!” was the response. “You can’t hear a cricket! Taxis are going by. Horns are honking. People are screaming at each other. Brakes are screeching. Both sides of the street are filled with people. Cash registers are clanging away. Subways are roaring beneath us. You can’t possibly hear a cricket.” The farmer then declared “wait a minute!” He led his friend along, slowly. They stopped, and the farmer walked down to the end of the block, went across the street, looked around, cocked his head to one side, but couldn't find it. He went across another street, and there in a large cement planter where a tree was growing, he dug into the mulch and found the cricket. “See!” he yelled, as he held the insect high above his head. His friend walked across the street, marveling, “How in the world could it be that you heard a cricket in the middle of downtown, busy Manhattan?” The farmer replied, “well, my ears are different from yours. It simply depends on what you’re listening for. Here let me show you.” And he reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of change--a couple of quarters, three or four nickels, and some dimes and pennies. Then he said, “now watch.” He held the coins waist high and dropped them to the sidewalk. Every head within a block turned around and looked in the direction of the farmer.

I love sharing that story because so many lessons can be taken from just a simple story about listening. When I wasn’t playing music or setting up projectors I was taking pictures for the yearbook. Lots of fun moments to capture. Here are some snapshots from the week:

Wrong Side of the Reef

One of the perks of living on an island is that you have almost unlimited access to some of the greatest places to snorkel. Obyan, Laulau, and Pau Pau beach are some of the ones we frequent most. The beaches vary only a little. Each has warm, clear water and a decent variety of coral and fish to see. Unfortunately in most places the water isn't very deep. Sometimes only one or two feet deep, and in shallow water you have to either turn around or stand up and awkwardly make your way over the coral rocks with your fins on. I can see why people like to swim past the reef to the deeper water. I have only been beyond the reef once. The water was cooler, the fish were bigger and there was so much extra room to swim around. It was nice. There were four other people in the group I went out with. We swam for a half hour before we decided to head back to shore. One of my friends turned to me right before we turned back and warned me about the strong current. "Do not stop swimming," she warned.

The current didn't feel strong at first, but the closer we swam to shore, the stronger it got. I began to swim hard. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on moving forward. Several seconds later I opened my eyes and realized that I had been swimming over the same rock. In fact, even with my fins on I was loosing ground to the current that was slowly pulling me back out. I had a mini freak-out moment, and then I began to scan the ocean floor. Earlier on our way out I had noticed a rope that the scuba divers use and figured that if I could find it again I could use it to pull me to shore. I was in luck, the rope was close. It was anchored to the ocean floor about eight feet below me, so I dove down and grabbed it. I felt the current surge around me as I began to pull myself forward. When I finally reached the edge of the reef a wave picked me up and carried me the rest of the distance. Back on the large rocks at the edge of the reef, I stood and marveled how I hadn't hit anything on my "ride" in. I watched as the rest of my friends slowly swam in and thanked my lucky stars for that rope. I never have been strong swimmer. 

A couple weeks ago our school was on the front page of the newspaper. A doctor and several nurses who are working as missionaries in Guam flew out to Saipan to give our students a free health screening and teach them about the 8 laws of health. I had been able to get in contact with one of the education reporters for the Saipan Tribune and have him come out to write about the school event. Incidentally, the caption for this event didn't draw as much attention as the article right below it about the five people who have drowned in the last couple months. 

Needless to say I will be swimming close to shore from now on. I am sure glad my guardian angel was swimming with me that day beyond the reef.