Writing a Book Proposal

One of the things Steve has been doing is working on some of his assignments for his Master's Degree. One course required him to write a book proposal. He's been working long and hard on this one - a couple thousand hours at least. We could show you a picture of him writing, or maybe a picture of his paper, but we thought that would be kind of boring. So we'll let him tell you a little bit about it.

Steve states, "Well, the assignment was to write a proposal to a major publishing company for a book about Micronesia. But I had to stay within the limits of the assignment for the course. The title of the course was 'Human and Organizational Development.' The book had to have a minimum of fifteen chapters. I ended up writing a 44 page proposal for a book I'd like to write someday called, Human and Organization Development Principles in Micronesia: A Blueprint for Change. The things I learned were fascinating. I can't wait to get back to Micronesia to put this knowledge into action at PIBC."

Oh, by the way - he got an "A" on the proposal!

Not Trapped Any More!

OK, so by now you have figured out that we are not trapped on Schooley's Mountain anymore. We actually stayed a couple of days longer than we had planned, but it was totally OK. Since getting back to our base in Delaware, we've been involved in several activities while waiting for the eye doctors to decide how to best fit Steve's eye with a contact lens. One of the cool things that happened was a surprise visit from our daughter, Amy. She was asked by some of our good friends, the Owens family in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to come out for a visit. Here is Amy and one of the Owens' daughters, Bethany. We met them kind of halfway between Delaware and Elizabeth City, at a place in Virginia called the Peaks of Otter. It was very nice to spend some time with Amy. She and her husband, Matt, live in Sacramento, California. He's a youth pastor in a church there.

Trapped on Schooley's Mountain!

Anne and I drove up to the Liebenzell Mission headquarters over the weekend to see Dave Owen, the PIBC President, who was in the States for a few weeks on a PIBC recruiting trip. When we woke up Sundat morning, it was snowing hard. It snowed hard all day. Dave and I took pictures. You can see his wimpy pictures on his own blog. I say "wimpy" because Dave ducked out late last night under the pretext of "flying back to Guam." So this morning when I woke up, there was 6-8 inches on snow on the ground, and Dave didn't get to see it because he had wimped out and left for Guam. Now Anne and I are stuck and cannot leave as early as we wanted to. We will try soon, however, as we have to get back to Newark. Dave, just kidding about the wimping out stuff. We really were excited to experience winter so soon. Dave will be back in the tropics in less than 18 hours, so I have to kid him a little bit because after he left, it really started to come down really, really, fast and hard. These pictures are for all of you guys in Micronesia to look at and feel cool. I just looked at your beach shots from this past weekend and felt warm. OK, I'll be back with you in a few days after we get out of here!

Some Valuable Lessons

Dr. Cohen is the contact lens fitting specialist at the Wills Eye Institute for the new SynergEyes keratoconus lens that Dr. Hammersmith recommends I try. Thursdays are the only days she does contact lens fittings. Yesterday was Thursday. When I arrived yesterday at the Wills Eye receptionist’s desk for my scheduled appointment, I was met with the words, “Dr. Cohen has been called out of her office on an emergency. We have to cancel your appointment and reschedule another one. The next available appointment is not until January.”

Now, I must admit I was immediately disappointed and began to tear slightly as I stood there at the counter, the thought racing through my mind that I would have to wait another two months just to get fitted for a contact lens that might not even work anyway. My disappointment was evidenced by the cry that emitted from my heart, “Oh, God, no, no, no!...came halfway around the world…waiting 5 months…so close!” But after a brief moment, it’s like I felt a hand on my shoulder. I actually looked around to see who had touched me, and when I saw no one, I knew the Lord was there.

It was a moment that was bigger than just the moment. Now my devotions in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest were beginning to make sense. He is doing something deeper and broader than possibly giving me sight. I have been looking at the individual aspect of the thing – getting my sight back; He has been inviting me to get into His stride, run along with Him at His pace (which means I also follow where he goes). It was an invitation to trust Him with the intimacy of His presence in the stuff of daily life. Could I give up my agenda and trust God when He says, “Wait?” Or did I need a visible answer?

When Jesus heard that His buddy Lazarus was sick and was asked to come heal him, His first response was to “wait” and stay where He was for two more days. Why? It didn’t mean Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters any less, or that He was no longer capable or interested in helping. Jesus wasn’t looking at the individual aspect of the thing; He was running in stride with His Father! That meant risking His friends misunderstanding His love and His Father’s way when it differed from theirs. Wow.

As I began to ponder some of these things, I was interrupted by the receptionist’s voice. “Sir, we can get you in two weeks, on Nov. 15. Is that OK?” I smiled, breathed a sigh of praise to the Lord, said, “Sure, that’s perfectly fine,” and decided the Lord’s pace is certainly more exciting than mine anyway!

So, I thought it might be good to give you a little glimpse into my heart, with the hope you might benefit and be encouraged in your journey of running with the Lord.

Hebrews 12:1-3.

The WILLS EYE INSTITUTE Journey Begins!

As you already know, I am here to see doctors at the Wills Eye Institute. When we arrived, I learned that I needed a referral from a regular doctor first. So we found a regular physician that gave me the referral. It was too late to keep the original Wills Eye appointment, so we had to trust the Lord to get another appointment at Wills Eye. The Lord provided an appointment this week. I saw Dr. Hammersmith.

After extensive tests, Dr. Hammersmith

recommended the following: Try fitting me with a new hybrid type of contact lens called a SynergEyes lens, which has a hard middle and a soft outer edge. (Note: the SynergEyer is not the same as the Energizer. That's the bunny!)

If the SynergEyes lens won’t fit, or I can’t see with this SynergEyes lens, step two is to shave off the scars on my cornea with a laser, and then try the SynergEyes lens again. If the SynergEyes lens still won’t fit and/or I still can’t see with the SynergEyes lens after they shave the scars off, then they will do a cornea transplant.

I have an appointment with the SynergEyer contact lens specialist on Thursday, Nov. 1.

Some Waiting Activities

On one Sunday afternoon, we drove a little bit north up into Pennsylvania, and got stuck in the middle of an Amish traffic jam. No, not really. But we did have to share the road with several dozen Amish buggies, many of which, we're sure, were either on their way to a Sunday meeting, on their way back from a Sunday meeting, or maybe they were just taking a Sunday drive, just like us.When we were in Philadelphia waiting for Steve to see the eye doctors a few days ago, we decided to do a little sightseeing. Philadelphia was the first capitol of the United States, and the place where the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution took place. Here is Steve giving some political advice to one of the original delegates from Virginia. He was drinking a cup of cider. Steve already finished his.
Here we are standing in front of Independence Hall, where the "signings" took place.
Philadelphia was the home of Benjamin Franklin. There are many statues in Philadelphia, some of famous Virginians, like George Washington and Steve Stinnette. But you have to be careful, because a lot of people like to imitate the statues. Such a thing was being attempted when the picture below was taken. See if you can tell which one is the statue and which one is the imitation.

Our Place of Waiting

So while we're waiting for things to happen with the eye doctors, you may be wondering how our situation is. We live in the basement apartment of Don and Anne's house. Here's a picture of the apartment from the outside. We have our own bedroom, an office, bathroom, and a living room with a wood stove. Let's not forget the wood stove. It's what's been keeping us warm during some of these 30 to 40 degree nights! We have our own seperate outside entrance that we can use if we want to come and go without going through the upstairs part ofthe house.


The back of their house borders on some nice "woods" - that's stateside terminology for "jungle." There are miles and miles of trails winding their way through the woods, with deer all over the place. We even saw a fox a couple of days ago. We take walks, and sometimes I even attempt to run (jog, actually) along the trails. So far we haven't gotten lost, even though it would be easy to do so. There are a few streams that we have to cross. Here's a place where we cross almost every time we go hiking.


And of course, we've had to dress in warm cloths because it's not exactly "boonie stomping" weather! I'm waiting for it to snow.

Stateside

Our send-off from the Guam airport was very special. Here are some PIBC guys who sang, "Is Your Home in Micronesia?" which is the first song we heard and learned when we arrived in Micronesia 29 years ago. Oh, by the way, I'm dressed in a sports jacket because we were given buddy passes to fly in Business Class, and I needed to look "businessy." I DO NOT look forward to having to wear one of those things with a tie! After checking in, we went upstairs and were met by some PIBC gals, who continued to bless us with cards, leis, and prayers!










We spent some time with our North Carolina family, the Talatos from Guam. We ate breakfast with Sonia and her niece, Tiffany, a freshman at UNC Greensboro, at a place where they serve grits! The next day I flew to our Liebenzell Mission headquarters at Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey, checked out the apartment we'll be moving to after my 'eye thing' and got a P.O. Box at the Schooley's Mountain Post Office. Mike and Jane Galley took me out to lunch for Chinese food!









After visiting our moms in Virginia, we arrived in Newark (pronounced 'New Ark'), in the northern tip of Delaware. We've been here in Newark with our host family, Don and Anne Rodgers, for about 2 weeks now. Don is a friend from our Campus Crusade for Christ days on Guam. He was in Guam with me from about 1980 to 1983. I remember one time Don accidentally shooting a spear from his spear gun through the front door of his apartment when he as living across from the University of Guam. It's funny what 'stick's out' in your mind about someone after 27 years! He's been working with the U.S. Center for World Missions for a lengthy time, where he also met and then married an Anne.


There are a few perks living with a family who are connected with the U.S. Center for World Missions. We got to attend a session and spend some time with its founder, Dr. Ralph Winter, who was in the area last weekend. While there, I met another long-time Crusade friend - Tom Newhouse. OK, get ready all you PIBC students who are interested in missions - he said it would be fine if we sent a team to work with him in Cambodia. He prefers a longer term commitment, though. Anyone interested?


One of the things I had to do immediately after arriving here was cancel the appointment I had with the corneal specialist on October 10. The reason was I needed first to find a doctor here who would write me a referral - it's required to go see a corneal specialist. I finally found one, he gave me a referral, and now I have another appointment to see the corneal specialist on October 30. Whew! Finally!


One of the things we've been doing is getting ready for winter - I've been told it gets cold here! The Rodgers use a wood stove to keep warm during winter, so guess what we did? Chop wood! Stack wood! Haul wood! Wood! Wood! Wood! For 3 days! It was great!






Did I forget to tell anybody that I love NASCAR? Yep, I've been an automobile racing fan ever since I was riding a bicycle. There was a special dinner at Dover Downs, a NASCAR speedway. The first thing I'm going to do when my eyes are fixed is GO FAST!