What a privilege it has been to have good friends & fellow team mates David and Jill Mayer out here with us in Guam and Micronesia this summer all the way from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Jill came for 2 months to help teach our new summer intensive English program. She and 3 other teachers started the program which has students fully immersed in English during 4 classes, meals, study time, devotions and recreation 5 days a week. Many students come to PIU wanting to take classes, but their English skills are not up to college level work. This program was designed to help these students in manner that will greatly increase their chances of succeeding in a US accredited school. Jill and her students have had a great time learning English and interacting on just about every area of life and how walking with the Lord makes a difference. Thank you Jill for your investment in their lives. They will never be the same because of your investment in their lives.
David, has recently been accepted as a board member for PIU. He arrive on island the third of July and was able to stay 2 weeks. He is helping PIU with its plans for campus growth. He and Steve spent much of David's time on island meeting with government officials and others to discover the best ways to help PIU grow its physical location so that we can train more people for the "harvest field". David, Steve, and David's daughter Anna also spent 3 days in Yap so that David could meet our Yapese board member and gain some cultural insight into Micronesian life.
David thank you for sharing your wife and daughter with us for so long and being willing to invest so much of your time and talent for the students of PIU. We will see you out here again in February!
We also have had lots of fun seeing and experiencing life on Guam. Anna even braved picking up a coconut crab at Chamorro Village one evening. We've toured, and hike and snorkeled our way around the island. Often we were accompanied by other students or staff. Anna was also able to help out with Vacation Bible School at Bayview Baptist Church while she was here. Our students love her and will miss her a great deal.
Michael and Libby Stroh also joined our summer teaching crew. Originally from Ohio (not far from where the Mayers originated), Mike has been studying at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas for the past few years and came to Guam to work on his internship and to teach the General Epistles class. Libby was also part of our Basic English program and taught reading.Thanks so much for all you gave to each student and staff member. We already miss you. (On one of our reef walks, Mike found this blue starfish and several others, one of which had 6 legs instead of 5.)
Below is the Certificate in Basic English teaching crew plus Mike. Mike and Libby you've met. Then there is Jen Rydzik (in the middle) has been teaching remedial English with us since Fall 2009. Sarah Brubaker (a recent graduate of Columbia International University in SC) joined us this summer also. She taught the Bible portion of the CBE program and will continue on this next school year teaching the Freshman English courses. Jill taught the writing segment and after Libby had to return Stateside, she took over the reading segment as well. Well done one and all!
