Who do I look like!?

Their facial recognition software just saw a smile and went with it I think.

My parents will be so proud

Two weeks into my stay here at Southern and I learned to tie my shoes!

Seriously.

The two seconds I'll save. And this knot is more balanced and less likely to come loose, so that's another five seconds (conservatively) I'm saving. I estimate I'll live another fifty years (Hey, I'm a vegetarian).

365 days in a year
x
50 years to go
x
7 seconds saved each day

That comes out to 35 hours I'll save in my life. woot! Thank Ian!
Now, back to wasting countless hours of my life looking at silly websites...

The Latest

Well, it has been a very up and down time so far. The place I found when I visited turned out to have a very different atmosphere than I was hoping for, so I'm moving next week. I had some very generous people offer me a room in their house. I will continue to find an apartment/house situation and look for a roommate.

I have to say this has been a very educational few weeks. Mainly in dealing with the ups and downs of being back in Western society, far away from family, and dealing with a whole new culture. In some ways, it has been more eye-opening than Palau was, but most importantly I have learned again to trust in God. He has really helped me out, showing me that He's got everything covered. My uncle is lending me a car for the foreseeable future, which is totally awesome. Walking in this heat wasn't exactly ideal. I can now feel more "at home" in Collegedale since I don't have to bum a ride to the grocery store or church.

Make sure you're giving everything to God too.

Officially at Southern

Today was my first day at Southern. I am taking a (free) SmartStart college class. I am taking the Life and Teachings of Jesus. It was hard to stay awake because I didn't sleep well last night.

I'm doing alright as far as fitting in. I am working on getting a vehicle. I'm also not sure about the place I'm staying at. I may move out to a closer, smaller apartment.

Check out my latest photos with my new camera here.

Where did Isaac go?

Well, first off, home.

But first, I was waay busy and I never had time to update. Before I forget, here is what happened the last month or so in Palau. In a few short paragraphs.

I had to fill in for the 5th grade teacher only two weeks after teaching at PMA. So for the last three and a half weeks of school I was a fifth grade teacher.

Teaching is great, but why does every class have to have that one kid that drives you crazy?

I was also continuing work as youth pastor which kept me with very little free time.

I managed to have a camping trip with some of the youth. It was an awesome experience.

After school ended, we spent a week cleaning up and I had friends from the States to show around. We went scuba diving and snorkeling. I managed to get sick and had a horrible case of reverse block. (Imagine a knife in your sinuses that won't go away)

We also got very little sleep because people were leaving and we would see them off at the airport. The flights all left after midnight, so I was getting 3-5 hours of sleep a night that week. Then finally I left myself.

I went to Honolulu for three days and had fun but not as much as I'd hoped for. I stayed in a hostel for the first time, which was cool. Oh, and I was "approached" by a prostitute, not cool.

Jet lag is a killer.

Southern is taking most of my credits.

I found a house with three roommates to rent. Crazy, I know. But cheap and very close. (and fast internet)

And now you're caught up. I had hoped for a better update, but I can't manage it.

Youth Camping Trip

With my newfound role as a high school teacher sucking up all my time now, the youth camping trip I had been planning for months almost didn't happen. I had wanted to have a spiritual retreat where I could really connect and push the idea that God loves them and wants what is best for them into their media-swamped brains. I hoped (and prayed) the beauty of Ngemelis would awaken something in them. At first I had around 15 youth and all seemed eager to go. As the date grew closer, more and more dropped out due to work or family obligations. In the end, six youth attended and one SM for backup chaperoning. Grace, Eva, Keo, Josh, Gelvon, and Julianne. Mladen was my last minute choice after I couldn't find a female SM who could make it after I had asked Ona but she was sick.
As I said, the trip almost didn't happen. The church boat was out of commission but was supposed to be fixed in time. It wasn't, so we had to scramble to locate another boat and a driver. My first week at PMA left little time to work on the details. I delegated quite nicely, but it still seemed impossible. I prayed that God would make it happen if he wanted it, but I didn't really want it to happen because of the stress and I was already tired by Wednesday and the thought of being "on duty" as a youth pastor in Ngemelis after teaching them all week wasn't all that appealing. But God made it happen. And he even changed my attitude on Friday so that I began to look forward to it. We almost forgot the permit that had been applied for three weeks prior. We actually picked it up at 2pm on Friday afternoon. The boat was supposed to leave at 2pm Friday afternoon. When I picked up the permit, they gave me a second copy and told me I had to take it to the ranger's station so that they'd know I was camping on the island that weekend. I tried not to panic because we were already late rushing around buying last minute items and picking up the youth and their supplies. I decided to let someone else drop it off, but when we got to the dock, no one was there that I expected to be there. So I made the decision to not drop off the permit copy. If they came to the island and tried to cause problems, I would politely ask the rangers to drop it off at the office when their shift was over. (hehe)
When we reached the island, we were greeted by a man who was staying in a smaller camp house that is usually abandoned. I had a flash of annoyance: I wanted to be alone with the youth with no outside distractions. However, I quickly brushed it aside thanks to God who has been teaching me a great deal about patience and humility lately. Twenty minutes after unloading the boat and beginning the setup process, Julianne came to me and told me that the old man (or rubak in Palauan) had already told her a story about how he had murdered a Bangladeshi worker a few years ago. (!) I smiled and said "Well, he seems harmless. Lets just say a prayer and not worry about it. The guy ended up being a great neighbor. He let us borrow fishing gear and a canoe to paddle around in. I never heard him speak English, but we had several people who spoke Palauan and that made it easy. We offered him breakfast and/or orange juice, but he said he didn't eat "American food." (Breakfast cereal I can understand, but who passes up free OJ!?)
Aside from meeting our neighbor, the first day was pretty quiet. We set up and prepared for worship. We did some sharing and Julianne presented me with a binder that she and Angeleen had made for me with the help of some others. It was a very touching memento that I will definitely keep. I actually got choked up at one point, but no one could tell. We discussed how we'd grown recently and what we wanted spiritually from the weekend. I encouraged them to find time alone with God (and they did!) that weekend. We sang songs, ate spaghetti, and eventually went to sleep. Well, I did. The youth stayed up till around midnight talking until the rain came. They came screaming from the beach "Isaac, get up, its raining." I had been sleeping outside on my air mattress. I stumbled out of bed, almost breaking my neck because one of my legs had fallen asleep and was worthless. As feeling returned, I realized I'd stumbled on roots too. Ah, the beauty of sleep-tingles mixed with the heat of stubbed toes. I slept well though.
The morning came and the youth didn't really wake up for several hours. Finally we got started on worship after I'd already eaten, snorkeled, canoed, and showered. Mladen was the worst offender perhaps. He slept 12 hours by my estimation. Lazy bum.
We swam, walked, talked, sang, lounged, laughed, chased, worshiped, and had a wonderful Sabbath. At sunset, we hiked to the top of rock island and watched the sunset. The youth were definitely feeling the Spirit, as was I. I loved that we had so much beauty, no rain, and a chance to get away from it all. Some construction workers came and worked on our camp house and some other facilities during the Sabbath hours, but we just avoided sticking around so that it didn't intrude on our quiet time. Normally I would have been ranting to someone and marveling at the injustice of life. A spiritual retreat with construction workers!!! But God blessed us regardless.
Sunday morning we did some more swimming, lounging, singing, sharing, eating, etc. I went canoing with some of the youth out to the channel where there is a rope swing that you can jump off a cliff into the water with. I did it twice. It was very high but very fun. I screamed like my life was over, but it wasn't really for show. The greatest fun was when one of the youth, Grace, kept asking nervously about dark spots under the water. We insisted that they were just inanimate rocks with no intention of harming her. She insisted they were "scary" regardless. In fact, we heard the word scary so often that it actually became a sort of fictional character in our outing. We would say "Grace, look out, scary is over there!" or "Watch out, I think scary is going to get you!" I guess you had to be there, but I laughed so hard at her antics as she would flip out at the slightest chance of something from underwater getting her. Eventually, I was laughing while swimming as she was swimming with unnecessary panic towards the shore after diving in the water. The look on her face made me turn onto my back, floating in the water, and laughing with a loud laugh I'd never used before. It was echoing off the cliff walls and the other youth were joining in. Little did I know that I was slowly getting closer to the underwater rocks and I kicked one. My laughter turned to a howl and thus ended my fun for a few minutes. I have a nice red and purple mark three days later. Oh the pain. It was worth the laugh though. Grace insists that I deserved it for laughing.
Ooh, this it out of chronological order, but on Friday night we also went walking around one of the island while it was low tide. We found cowrie shells, brittle stars, albino eels, rock crabs, and glowing algae. If you've never seen the waters blinking like starlight (beneath actual starlight) or had the sand flash with soft, green blips wherever you walk, you haven't lived.
On the boat ride home, I realized that I'd seen some of the PMA youth for nine straight days and by Sabbath it would be up to about fifteen solid days. We're going to be close by the end of the year I think. Or ready to kill each other. I just pray that they'll be closer to God by the end of the year in part because of my efforts.

Agape Feast

Based on my recent success with AY, the pressure was on to make AY great. The planning phase was short...the day of the event. I had been struggling all week to figure out what to do and Thursday night I finally remembered I had wanted to do an Agape Feast for awhile now. Early Friday morning I took one of the secretaries shopping for tons of good food and arranged for one of the women in the church to prepare some unleavened bread. We bought candles and a roll of white tablecloth. Some of the older youth had nothing to do after school, so I let them in on what had so far been a mystery AY. Several of the other youth begged to know what was going on, but it was more fun saying "You'll have to wait and see. It's a surprise"

I recruited some of the SM girls to help prepare the fruits and vegetables. We were supposed to meet about an hour before the feast started. I got a call in the afternoon from the woman who was to make the bread. Her power was out when she got home and she wasn't going to be able to make the bread. I went into mini-panic mode, but I found a recipe online, bought the ingredients as quickly as possible, and then tried to track one of the SM lady-types to make some bread. Unfortunately, no one really had experience, but Sumi and Adelina volunteered to bake it as long as we didn't hold them accountable for the results. When the time came to cut up food, we all did so cheerfully. The music I had selected was playing while we worked and the programs I had printed out were on standby. I lit the last few candles just as the youth walked in. They were all stunned. They had no idea what an Agape feast was, so it was great that I had texts and words prepared to explain it. We prayed and I explained the idea of preparing a plate for the person sitting across from you. The food included unleavened bread (turned out great!), baby carrots, broccoli florets, cucumbers spears, apples wedges, oranges slices, and grape bunches. Yes, I'm being overly descriptive. Because it turned out so great! Praise the Lord. The youth were actually pretty quiet and respectful. I had Josh read a passage from a book that speaks from God's perspective about love. I talked myself. We had quiet times. We had a great special music by Peterson. The SMs that came were impressed and so were the youth. I was so happy it all worked out and that people were spiritually uplifted.

Teaching...

A week and a half ago, I was asked by one of my friends, Marie, to do faculty worship for the elementary school. I agreed because I love trying to give the teachers a spiritual boost, and something about me smiling and being cheerful while all the faculty are half-asleep and dreading another day of dealing with students, grading, and lesson plans is strangely satisfying. My pastoral duties are more flexible, so I don't face the same challenges as they do. Or at least, I didn't. After worship, Eric, the school principal, asked to speak with me. I said "Uh oh" and he laughed and said, "You've heard?" I replied that I hadn't. I just assumed the worst when he wanted to talk to me. We laughed. Melissa, one of the SMs at PMA, had been ill for several weeks and recently had been put on an IV drip. She had decided that due to lack of recovery, it was time for her to head home. He asked if I would be willing to take her slot as Bible teacher at PMA. I was a bit stunned. But what an opportunity. I would get another paycheck, teach Bible every day instead of on Fridays and Saturdays, and I would get to know some more of the youth and hopefully make a difference. My pastoral duties have slowly evolved from big projects to smaller ones, so this was actually something I could do now. There wasn't anything stopping me other than the fact that I'd be swamped. I remember feeling that this was right. This was what God wanted. So I said yes. Eric was relieved.
I've turned down several other offers of jobs at PMA and I'm sure he was worried I'd do it again. He was also in a bind with only six weeks left, so I knew I had to chip in.
Well, Week One is over and it has been fairly stressful. I love the Juniors and Sophomores, but I have wanted to strangle Seniors and Freshman on several occasions. The biggest stressor this past week was the grading that Melissa left behind. She did do a bunch of grading before she left, but she also left some for me and one of the other teachers to do. I started on Monday and progress reports were due on Wednesday. We didn't finish them in time. There was simply too much, so I turned mine in on Friday morning, just before they went out to the students. I had to figure out how to enter them and make the grades calculate properly. Now I'm working on catching up with the assignments I've given since I became teacher and also getting an attendance sheet that actually has all my students. Oh, and figuring out what my duties are beyond teaching, like faculty supervision, chapel coordination, etc. It will be a rewarding experience I'm sure. I've already fallen for a few of the students, even some of the bad ones. I also appreciate how much teachers can hate a class clown, even when they're hilarious. Most of all, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, WHY CAN'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME TEACH!!!!!!?

Ahem
Yes, my discipline plan could use a few tweaks.

The Youth

Two weeks ago, I was struggling to figure out what to do for Friday night vespers (AY). Ken suggested taking them to Palau Pacific Resort for a hike up to the mountain where there is a nice gazebo. There were 14 kids piled in the back of the beat up church pickup that night. It was a successful night. We were able to get in and out without getting "in trouble" for not being members or guests. No one seemed to notice or care.

We played a game where you describe God with successive letters of the alphabet, explaining why you chose the adjective you did from your own personal experience. After that, we prayed and headed back to the church.

A few of the youth had tried to come up with another place to go, but all the nice spots in Palau are infected with drunk people on Friday and Saturday nights. So we went to PPR again. This time, the youth were supposed to come up with their own activity, but they pleaded their inability to think of anything and I just prayed and came up with something with God's help. And I'm glad He helped, because we had 20 people this time. It was a relatively huge crowd; we had people I'd never met before. I split them into small groups and had them discuss a text in 1 John.

I think it went pretty well. I still have some disruptive and/or not-caring youth, but a few seem to be genuine. One kid jumped in the water accidentally. He was heading for the water, but didn't see that their was a drop off so soon in the dark and -splunk- in he went, shoes and all. I had to drop off 13 of the kids. Although some of them could have called their parents, I think the ride in the back of the pickup is one of their favorite parts. We had a cop wave and say something, and I was sweating, but he didn't turn around even when I pulled off the road. Thank God for that. Many people ride in the back of pickups here, so I'm not sure they care. I did have a bunch of kids though. hehe. (I drive cautiously)

We need to work on the music part. Peterson was in the hospital with ear surgery, so he wasn't able to come the past few times. The youth have three guitars. One has been broken, one was just stolen apparently, and I need to find the other one in the stock room. It is unfortunate that I can't leave the guitar in the youth room. The youth will break into the room and use the chalkboard, eat potluck, and mess with anything I have stored in there.

Anyway, I feel like the youth are starting to get more cohesive here towards the end of my tenure. As I look forward to home, family, friends, and even school, I can't help feel bad that just as things start to roll around here, I'll be leaving them to their own devices. I keep talking about leadership and grooming some of them to be in charge, but I'm not sure they can do it with all the cultural blocks in the way. They all seem to be allergic to responsibility (which probably is normal for young people).

So I keep praying and trying to figure out how best to leave them. I don't want the programs to fall apart, but perhaps my job was merely to plant the seeds for their own personal growth. Maybe none of these kids are supposed to be leaders...yet.