Prez 2 Students, 10/19

Hey PIU Students, this is the latest edition of the . . . President to Students (Pr to Ss) News. This afternoon some of you will be ministering to a family in their time of grief. Thank you for helping the Hutapea family by setting things up for the funeral service for Edward Hutapea.  I am aware that from your perspective, forty-eight seems quite old. From my perspective, I look at Edward Hutapea's life and think, "He was only a little older than my sons. I think the last time I saw Edward was at his church, where his funeral will be held. I am glad that Edward was a man who trusted the Lord. I'm reminded of what another young man had to say, just today in Chapel. Victor Billy spoke about a crisis time in his life, and the decision he made to follow the Lord. I look at you, students, and I see such incredible potential. Don't wait too late. Start now. If you have started, keep going.    Live for Jesus. I figure that most of you won't recognize this picture, even though it is something on our campus, something that you use every day.   It's the meter that keeps track of how much water we use. That is water for which we have to pay. Recently, we had a water bill approximately three times higher than normal. The excess water cost as much as it would cost to take all our students and staff out for a nice meal. The extra money spent on water would be enough to pay the fees and buy uniforms for both our sports teams. You get the idea. When I first heard about the bill I thought that we must have a huge leak somewhere. It now looks like we had a number of little leaks. I'll be assigning some people to monitor our system, but I'm asking you to help. If you see a leak or a toilet that keeps running, let us know. Tell your RA, send an email to Celia and me. Don't wait for someone else to do it. We'll be monitoring our water usage over the next couple of weeks. Help us reduce the use of water. It's good for the environment and it's good for PIU. How about surprising a faculty or staff member. For no particular reason, just step up and tell them, "Thank You for what do." One way of saying thanks is with the work that you do at Clean and Green. Be in the Pavilion Monday at 10:00. Thanks for keeping our campus looking nice. DONT. I'm looking forward to hearing a report about our ministry this Sunday. I'm praying for you. The Student Development Team will tell you more about this, but mark your calendar. KTWG is raising funds by hosting the movie "Indivisible" at Micronesia Mall Theaters 12:40pm October 27 (Sat) and October 28 (Sun) Tickets are $12 and are available at Faith Bookstore and KTWG. The SD Team will let you know more. Some praise and prayer items: Reserve Fund is just over $64,000. We need $22,000 more. Pray for contacts that have been, and are being made. Pray for fellow students & teachers. I will travel to Texas for the TRACS conference at the end of the month. Kathy's brother is donating a kidney to his sister-in-law. Surgeries are about now. Pray for Van (donor) and Rhonda (recipient). K2 Dani Tavarez is attending a retreat in P.I. Several faculty staff are being evaluated concerning health issues. Something different that you might enjoy. The song, Allegri's 'Miserere', is almost 400 years old. It is sung in Latin, but is literally a prayer forgiveness, based on Psalm 51. It is hauntingly beautiful. Here are the first few lines. You will recognize them as being from Psalm 51..   Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offenses. Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.   You can read all the lyrics, here. Go to bed on Saturday. Be at church on Sunday! See you at C&G on Monday. The Prez.   By His Grace,     The Prez

The Prez to PIU Students, 10/5/18

Hey PIU Students, this is the latest edition of the . . . President to Students (Pr to Ss) News. Our Ladies Volleyball team played in the first game of the intercollegiate volleyball tournament. The Tritons won, but we are proud of our Tides team. I am very pleased with a number of things I see developing in our student body. I told a fellow pastor today that I see an emphasis on discipleship at PIU. I'm not only talking about what the faculty and staff are doing either. Kathy and I are privileged to be a part of one of the new family groups. So far it is going well. Kathy recently came home from Women's Dorm Devotions. It was student led. She was impressed. The attitudes around Clean and Green have been excellent. I heard good reports in regard to our student's ministry at M.O.M.C. I could go on, but I'll just say, thanks, students. Keep up the good work. Tuesday, my friend, and Board Chair, Bill Schuit, and the new Liebenzell USA Director, Dennis Wadley will be with us in chapel. Dennis will be speaking. You always need to be in Chapel, but especially on Tuesday. The Library has a new mascot, Tidey Bear. Ben Keiko tells me that Tidey is a great homework consultant. Stella never has to tell her or him (we don't know) to be quiet. Ben and I were a bit disappointed that the bear wasn't named Benny or H Lee, but we are OK with Tidey. It reminds us of our sports teams names, and as Scott pointed out, the library is about the "tidiest place on campus. Speaking of which, I try not to walk past a piece of trash. Join me in picking up and putting away. I'm sure Tidey Bear would approve. You students really blessed your old President's heart with the way you responded to the announcement about the need for $86,000 in a secure bank account. Alex told me that your response was, "What can we do?" A couple of things.   I posted two videos on the "Coffee with the President" YouTube channel. You can go to the channel, the link above, or click on the picture of Miaky for the Post Mangkhut Report. The first video features an impromptu video with some of the guys. The second one tells about the greater threat that involves the need for $86,000. Share this with others. Perhaps the Lord will lead them to be of help. etc. The second is far more important. Our students are our best recruiting and fundraising tools. Keep growing and becoming all that God wants you to be. A fringe benefit of that is people will look and say, I want to support a school that is working with students like that. As I write this, the special fund is about $63,000. That's about 73% of what we need.   We are at that make or break part of the semester. Keep working. Encourage one another. Tidey Bear can't do it all. Please pray for your teachers and we administrators, as we continue to lead PIU ahead. Be watching for the next edition of Ps to Ss. The Prez. By His Grace,     The IP

#22

Please register, ASAP, if you are interested insummer school. Registration for both online and classroom classes is open. See Hartmut.

Greeting to PIU-Guam Students from the President.  Here is some news and encouragement as we stretch for the finish line of this semester. Prez to Student News. Congratulations to all of you.  Certainly, congratulations are in order for the class of 2018. I look forward to celebrating with you this weekend. To all of you who are finishing this semester successfully, I offer a mini-congratulation (Is it possible to offer congratulation (singular)?) Anyhow, you are one semester closer to your big goal. You have done well! To those of you who just want this semester to be done--it hasn't been good for you and you want to be done with it--I also offer a word of congratulation . . . IF. Scott Refilong offered some wisdom recently.  For those of you trying to finish college this year.  Study smart not [just] hard. . . . College is a place for hustle and bustle sometimes but chill out.  You should be in college to slowly soak in every detail, to make you better in what you want to do, and, if you feel you cant make it this time  then so be it. . . .  Be happy to set and finish a long term goal in a long time. . .  Being happy to pass is always the given,  but for those of you that have a difficult time,  be content if you "happen" to fail because  you are STILL in the process of learning. Blessings. Finish Strong and Happy. Thanks Scott. if your semester didn't finish as you hoped it would all is not lost. The Bible is full of stories of redemption. In fact THE Storyof the Bible is about how God is redeeming this sin-ruined planet and its inhabitants for His glory. He can do the same for a messed up semester. If you realize that, I congratulate you Let me introduce you to Dr. Stephen Whatley. Dr. Whatley actually has two Doctoral degrees, but you don't need to call him "Dr. Dr.." He has taught for about 33 years in this part of the world, including at MIBS. He worked with Dr. Bill Wood, and was one of Iotaka's teachers. He is a young guy, like me. He will be teaching THEO 201, Christian Doctrine 2, during the first summer session. He will be staying in the guest apartment, where Kathy and I usually live. Please be nice to him and make him feel welcome. FYI: Dr. Whatley is planning to be in the Marshalls during July. Pay your bills, etc. I'm afraid that sometimes we give you students the wrong idea about meeting obligations. We talk about you won't be able to graduate, or we won't release a transcript, etc. The fact of the matter is, though those consequences are true, and you should avoid them, the real reason you should meet your obligations is because it is the right thing to do. The NLT captures the gist of Psalm 15:3 when it says that people of integrity are those who "keep their promises even when it hurts." Many of the good things you will learn ( or can learn) at PIU aren't on any test given in the classroom. The test is in real life. This is one of those lessons. Do the right thing. Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ps 15:4). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. righteous man is one who " We have a good layout for summer classes. Pick up a schedule in the office or view it online. Dorms will be open. See more below. Pell grants are available for summer school. If you haven't already, talk to Delight. For part of the summer, I won't be here to bug you. Your RAs have information about Dorm Clean-up,and summer dorm. Check with them. May 6 is out-of-the-dorm time. Here is the latest from Alex and Scott: The dorms close at 5 pm May 6th. If you need a place to stay between classes May 6th and summer classes start, please see Celia by Friday. If you are planning on leaving stuff, because you are returning, please place it in a box or plastic box and label with your name. (Remind me to tell you about my pickle bucket full of love letters.) If you are not returning please take what you can, give what you can to other students, and then place the other stuff in bags for trash. If you are planning to stay in the dorm over summer we need to know by Friday! Check with RAs for details. "You, students, are our best recruiters." We have a simple recruiting tool. Please pick up a few in the office.  It is engineered to encourage potential students to look further. We have it in both a digital and print format. Write Joshua to get a digital copy or see below. Pick out one or more friend, relative, or fellow church member whom you want to encourage to come to PIU. Get either a printed version of this "recruitment tract" or the digital version (See attachment) Write a personal note to your friend. Don't just send them the tract. For some this will best be done by email, Facebook, or some other media you students have mastered. For others, postal mail will work best. For a few, the best way to handle this will be to sit down with your friend and have a conversation. Whatever is best, just do it. If you are sending your note to your friend via postal mail, you can just give it to Joshua. We'll buy the stamp. This one is most important. Stop by my office so we can pray, and discuss how to best reach out to your friend. It would be good to mention that because of the sacrificial service of our staff, and because our accreditation enables US & Compact students to use Pell grants, education at PIU is a bargain, for many of you, it is free.    I talked to Dave and Joyce this morning. They asked me to pass on their greeting. They would love to be here. The will be in Cincinnati in June, visiting Samantha and the grandkids. Mike will be in Israel for an archeological dig. They'll see him briefly before he leaves. Dave sounds and looks good. He has a follow-up scan in July. Pray.   Have a great week. hm By His Grace,     The Prez.

#21

Greeting to PIU-Guam Students from the President. Here is some news and encouragement as we sprint for the finish line of this semester. Prez to Student News. We have a good layout for summer classes. Pick up a schedule in the office or view it online. Dorms will be open. See more below. Pell grants are available for summer school. If you haven't already, talk to Delight. For part of the summer, I won't be here to bug you. We are currently receiving applications for students who are willing to do maintenance work this summer in exchange for dorm fees. See Joshua and me if you are interested. I don't know about the students in PHIL 200, but I have a lot of fun in that class.Lately, we have had some fun with some old--really old--music. Here is a song (click on pic) that has a logical fallacy embedded in it. The first non-PHIL200 student with the correct answer gets a free Wendy's Frosty Here is another song just for your amusement. It's about one of your fellow students. If you have a song about another student, or me, let me know. Perhaps we'll feature it in another Student Newz. Prayer Request: Dave Owen has another scan on Tuesday. Dave recently shared some good ideas about avoiding worry. (Click pic) Your RAs have information about Dorm Clean-up, and summer dorm. Check with them. May 6 is out-of-the-dorm time. I encourage you to look at the report about the Staff/faculty Appreciation Banquet. The gifts from you students were much appreciated. "You, students, are our best recruiters." We have a simple recruiting tool. It is engineered to encourage potential students to look further. We have it in both a digital and print format. Get a copy, whichever works for you, and follow the steps below: Pick out one or more friend, relative, or fellow church member whom you want to encourage to come to PIU. Get either a printed version of this "recruitment tract" or the digital version (See attachment) Write a personal note to your friend. Don't just send them the tract. For some this will best be done by email, Facebook, or some other media you students have mastered. For others, postal mail will work best. For a few, the best way to handle this will be to sit down with your friend and have a conversation. Whatever is best, just do it. If you are sending your note to your friend via postal mail, you can just give it to Joshua. We'll buy the stamp. This one is most important. Stop by my office so we can pray, and discuss how to best reach out to your friend. It would be good to mention that because of the sacrificial service of our staff, and because our accreditation enables US & Compact students to use Pell grants, education at PIU is a bargain, for many of you, it is free.  Micronesia needs leaders like PIU alumni who are  already out there doing the job. Some of your friends and relatives need what PIU has to offer. PIU needs students. focus! Are you interested in living in the dorm this summer? If so, and you haven't let us know, please let Alex or me know, ASAP. Have a great week. hm By His Grace,     The Prez.

#19

Life has been busy, so I'm doing a plain text version of the Student Newz, this week. Since you have a lot to read already, I'll keep it short.

An observation as a teacher:

Get your own copy of your class' textbooks. 

Recruitment:

We have put together a brief "recruitment tract," both a printed and a digital version. Get one, or more, send it to a friend or relative with a personal note. Share the word about the good things at PIU.

Clean and Green:

The Lunch-i-fier strikes again. There will be lunch served after C&G this Monday.

You may have noticed some new furniture. So far it is in the way. Due to the kindness of one of our board members, Cita Tomada, and the hard work of some students and Alex. A number of our dorm rooms will have new (to us) dressers and desks. It should result in an upgrade of all our rooms. Thanks all around.

Speaking of dorms: The dorms will be open this summer. Check with Alex and Celia for more info.

I'm attaching the summer schedule. You can use Pell for summer classes. See Delight. Here is word about one of our classes.

One of our students needs to take 2: THEO 201: Chr. Doctrine 2 in order to graduate on time.

We are offering the class during the first summer session. We have a highly qualified teacher, Stephen Whatley, to teach the class. He is a veteran of MIBS. He comes with Dr. Bill Wood, and Rev. Iotaka Choram's endorsement.

If you need this class for your program, or if you just want to take it, or audit it, I encourage you to sign up immediately.

It will help you and it will help a fellow student.

Get your work done. Finish strong!


Summer Schedule:

PS:
The head of military chaplains on Guam Commander Tim Moore is looking for candidates for a 20 hour/week job as the Christian Education Director at one of the chapels on Guam. Job includes things like administering children's ed. programs, organizing VBS, etc.

Some of you are graduating in a few weeks would be good prospects for this job. Let me know if you want to find out more (no pun intended).

A Bonus Post on Godly Relationships:

Like many Christians involved in ministry, Kathy and I built our relationship, while in a college that was in many ways like PIU. I observe couples at PIU building relationships. That is good. I expect that some of those relationships will blossom into the kind of loving, lasting, committed marriage that Kathy and I have enjoyed for more than 45 years. That is very good. 

I can assure you that you don't get God's best from disobedience.

Before I came on the scene some Godly, loving people established some guidelines for building good relationships in this strange environment known as a Christian University.

Dating Relationships:
A Christian university, like PIU, is a great place to develop godly relationships. In order to keep all relationships godly we will together commit to the following godly principles:
Principle #1: Blessing
As a community, we wish to encourage healthy dating relationships on campus. However, we cannot bless what we cannot see. This is why we require these relationships to be visible and public. Couples need to resist the temptation to be exclusive and private. Behavior that is intentionally exclusive on or off campus is to be avoided. Keep your relationship “in the light” and include others in your time spent together. Seek godly counsel from staff and even other students, and God will bless your obedience to his ways.
Principle #2: Boundaries
Godly boundaries are clearly given in the Bible. These boundaries are for our safety and true satisfaction. Understanding these proper boundaries is very important. They include, but are not limited to:
 expressing physical affection
 amount of time spent (both in person and on the phone)
 commitment issues
 sexual activity

 

Students must not participate in any type of sexual immorality including premarital sex, samesex relationships, or any other sexually immoral behavior.  (PIU Student Handbook, p.19)

Let's be honest and face the truth. When we have special feelings for someone, it feels really good to be with them, even better to be in contact with them. Our guidelines and boundaries are there to help control the drive for more of those feelings that soon takes over these close relationships. I won't preach a sermon, here. I will give you an open invitation. Kathy and I are glad to help you build the kind of relationship that is pleasing to God and that will bring you, and the special person God sends your way a lifetime of joy. 

A couple of years ago when I was teaching PIU's Marriage and Family Class, in a hybrid setting, I posted a couple of things that might be helpful to you.

http://piucfor303.blogspot.com/2016/09/what-i-learned-in-locker-room.html 

I put together a brief autobiographical piece about how Kathy and I got together. It wasn't smooth. The first link is to a written version of the story. The second to a video. Both tell the same story.

http://piucfor303.blogspot.com/2016/09/plain-text-version-of-h-story_18.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je8AVYWsCJU&t=11s

Attachments area

Preview YouTube video Week 5 Howard & Kathy's Story

Week 5 Howard & Kathy's Story

#18

Please let us know, ASAP, if you are interested in summer school. Registration for both online and classroom classes is open. See Hartmut.

Greeting to PIU-Guam Students from the President. Here is some news and encouragement as we end the semester. Prez to Student News. Help with making yourself look good: Paul Drake sent around an announcement. I encourage, especially upper-classmen, to take advantage. "On Friday April 13 in the Research and Study Skills class we will be creating personal resumes. Resumes describe who you are, your education, experience, skills. Some jobs ask for one when you apply for a job. A resume collects all the usual information needed to complete a job application. For example, the Wendy'sapplication asks for the address of the high school(s) you attended. Who remembers that? It takes about 30-45 minutes to create and refine your resume. I'm willing to work with others interested, but prefer a class or group if possible." pdrake@piu.edu I have said it many times.  "You, students, are our best recruiters." We have a simple recruiting tool. It is engineered to encourage potential students to look further. We have it in both a digital and print format. Get a copy, whichever works for you, and follow the steps below: Pick out one or more friend, relative, or fellow church member whom you want to encourage to come to PIU. Get either a printed version of this "recruitment tract" or the digital version (Write me) Write a personal note to your friend. Don't just send them the tract. For some this will best be done by email, Facebook, or some other media you students have mastered. For others, postal mail will work best. For a few, the best way to handle this will be to sit down with your friend and have a conversation. Whatever is best, just do it. If you are sending your note to your friend via postal mail, you can just give it to Joshua. We'll buy the stamp. This one is most important. Stop by my office so we can pray, and discuss how to best reach out to your friend. It would be good to mention that because of the sacrificial service of our staff, and because our accreditation enables US & Compact students to use Pell grants, education at PIU is a bargain, for many of you, it is free.  Also pray for a team, the Houdes and Bento going to Chuuk this Friday. Micronesia needs leaders like PIU alumni who are  already out there doing the job. Some of your friends and relatives need what PIU has to offer. PIU needs students. focus! Are you interested in living in the dorm this summer? If so, and you haven't let us know, please let Alex or me know, ASAP.   Have a great week. hm By His Grace,     The Prez.