I had hoped to send these at least once a month, and I realize I am long overdue. I beg your pardon in regard. I am officially an undergraduate student of Biblical Studies and TESL at Pacific Islands University, 1/3 through my first semester of my junior year! It will take me a little longer than expected to finish due to finances. I will address that more below.
I am healthy and doing well, despite lacking sleep and good food. Micronesians tend to stay awake all night and sleep during down time. I'm trying to find a healthy balance there. We have catered food everyday, usually consisting of rice, fatty meats, and Korean style veggies. I share Al Bandstra's distaste for pickled kimchi veggies. I buy a lot of tuna, bread, and green peppers from the grocery store and prepare my own meals when I have time.
I am living in the men's dorm with 2 Americans (there are only 5 American students in the dorm) and one local. I am in close fellowship with the two Americans, Josh and Doug, as we spend many nights staying up studying and addressing hard questions with our Bibles and books. We all have a certain respect for our student-hood--that is, that we don't know the answers--and that we are here to learn from our instructors and each other. How different it is to live with brothers in Christ, than with unbelievers. On occasion we are so richly taught and blessed that we forfeit rest and spend time in prayer. There is also discomfort in the dorms. I mentioned the food and lack of sleep; another thing might be temptation to have sloth. I will go into more detail about my struggles below.
I recently won a 1989 Buick LeSaber by auction for $501.01. Some of you know I was praying for transportation due to the school's odd location. Well, the car is in great condition. It had one owner, and was donated to the school after that owner passed. Driving in a ugly brown vintage luxury vehicle is a far cry from my beloved manual sports car back home, but I am adjusting well and praising God for his supplication and sense of humor. (It happens to be the spitting image of my grandmother's old car, and it reminds me of her. I count it as a blessing for sure!) Humorously, on my first night driving I misjudged a u-turn and blew a tire on the curb. A week later I locked my keys inside at the Department of Motor Vehicles just after receiving my Guam Driver's License, and having an audience, broke in with piece of fence wire.
If you have seen my pictures, you have some idea of what Guam is like. I can drive through the city, walk through the jungle, swim in the ocean, eat wild coconuts, climb mountains, explore caves, and bask in the sun in a single day.
With my travels, however, I am getting a fuller picture of the earth and God's plan for it versus my romanticizing of it. Guam is a tropical island, but is a sort of paradise of deception if you are not careful. Some of my Micronesian friends have explained their upbringing on islands and how paradise quickly scoops you up into laziness and "island fever." Every place on Earth has its rose and its thorn. God's craftsmanship is extraordinary, but the residents are suffering from some isolation and apathy. On a positive note, I get to enjoy snorkeling in the ocean reef on a regular basis and am becoming quite the swimmer!
I will share a bit of history regarding the school. I'm sure some of you know the story of Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission. PIU is a result of both his initiation and Leibenzell missionaries from Germany. Most of Micronesia is catholic, thanks to the Spanish; and many of the students have catholic backgrounds. PIU is the sole protestant, evangelical university in the area. All of my teachers and most of the staff are missionaries from the States.
The school itself is a form of ministry, and with our small size, that is much more evident than it would be at a larger evangelical university. We have chapel twice a week, and devotion every school night. We have a fellowship/worship/game night every Saturday, and the students attend local churches on Sundays.
I am involved in several of the school's activities. I run sound for the worship team for all chapels and special events, and I play drums or bass as a back-up. I hope to lead worship here for the first time soon if not this Friday. I am also the male junior class representative for Student Council. (We just held a fund raiser for a StuCo scholarship we hope to be able to present students in the future.) Every Tuesday night, many of the students load up in a van with some sound equipment and go to the secular university (UOG) for Fellowship Live, an outreach we do for those college students. I get to take pictures and videos of the activities and play somewhat of a guiding role in prayer. It's cool to see the students' hearts for the believers and lost at UOG.
Perhaps the hardest struggle for me here is daily dorm life. Everyone here (like anywhere else) is either a Paul, a Peter, a David, a Pharisee, or a Roman. There is a lot of impatience, sensiivity, hypocrisy, brokenness, envy, rumor, lust, and rebellion. The amazing thing about all of that is the fact that God is making a kind of strand of firecrackers out of our short fuses that causes some to break down completely and give incredible testimonies and soft, raw hearts to Jesus. I have had to pray for an extra measure of patience due to a number of things, but God works on me just as hard as the prodigal son. Many times my sacrifice (a contrite heart) is my pride, and I am continually being forced to surrender it, all praise to God!
There have been several special events and side notes that I want to add to this email, but numerous as they are, I can't. Know specifically that God is working in more than just the school chapels and church services.
My requests to you are prayers for several things. First, upon arriving I found out that I am ineligible to receive any sort of financial aid, Leibenzell scholarship, or work-study due to my income last year. For this reason, I will have to find a job to pay for my schooling here. I know that God is already at work, providing for me in ways I can't imagine; but I would ask for your prayers still.
Second, please be praying for my brothers and sisters here as we all suffer from growing pains and some intolerance. There are some new believers, and some that are so close but are still held by things outside. My roommate in particular is suffering from certain things. He did sit down with us one night and we all prayed with him in tears for God to take his pain away and give him Jesus. He still needs prayers. There are so many negative distractions in his life and he just can't quite give it all up.
Third, please be in prayer for Faith Church as they continue to search for a pastor.
Fourth, please be in prayer for my sanctification.
Fifth, please pray for my future ministry both here and in Japan, that I would be continually Kingdom-focused.
Sixth, be in prayer for my family and I, as I have found it incredibly difficult to find time to stay in touch with them, and it looks like I could be overseas for as long as 3+ years.
I have been in correspondence with John Van Farowe, and may have some exciting news soon in regards to Japan. I miss you all and pray that God is working in your lives. I am working on a video/presentation that will hopefully convince some of your youth/children to come to school here! I apologize for the length of this email and will try to be more selective with the next one. So much can happen in a month! God bless and praise to Jesus our Lord.
Grace & Peace,
Kevin Patrick Graham
