Managaha Memories: Friday

Saipan (as seen from the shores of Managaha)


The Island

Camp Site

"Welcome to My Island." One of the heroes of "Micronesian Queen's" people is buried on Managaha--the great Carolinian leader that brought his people to Saipan more than 150 years ago. As a result the island has special significance for the Carolinian people.

Our annual Outdoor School Campout to Managaha Island was last weekend, Thursday, February 26 through Sunday, March 1, 2009. As always it was a fun time with our school family. A lot of precious memories were made. Here are a few of them:

K-9 Class
This year one of our class sessions was presented by the K-9 police unit. Their presentation included some exciting demonstrations by their drug-sniffing dogs.

A K-9 officer prepares to go to work.


The K-9 officers pose with SDA students and teachers.

Alumni: Once an SDA student, always an SDA student

Two generations of SDA school students. The girls on the left are current students of ours. The woman on the right is Brooke Nevitt one of our alumni. Brooke graduated from SDA's 8th grade in 1993, I believe (I also taught her brother, Daniel, during my first year in Saipan way back in 1998). Though her family moved off island quite a few years ago, Brooke's been back on-island for awhile. She's served as the principal of Northern Marianas Academy and is currently working for Coastal Resources Management and it was in that capacity that she came out as a presenter to the students of her alma mater.



Alumnus and former student of mine Myla Grace Capilitan (center with striped top) with her fiance Derek, her son and her mother. I'm sure it was pretty wild to come back for this year's outdoor school as a mother and presenter when it wasn't so along ago that she was one of the kids.


Prepping for the bonfire: Kids unload wood collected for the bonfire Friday night where'd we'd later roast marshmellows for s'mores and share precious time together.

Marshmallow roasting sticks the made island-style


Suppertime for the Little Fella: Elijah simply loved the entire weekend. I've never seen him in such a good mood. He loves being outside and this weekend he was outside virtually all the time, even at dinner!

Jaimie Nickell with her parents, Jerry and Toni Nickell. Jerry was our week of prayer speaker for the week leading up to the campout and our speaker throughout the weekend. It was so wonderful to have them here with us.


Daddy and Daughter: Jerry and Jaimie share some quality time on Managaha



Cooking Groups
On Friday evening, the students met with their teams and cooked an item to contribute to supper that night. It's one of many Managaha traditions.

"Micronesian Queen" studies the mysteries of Barbecue: "Our group should do barbecue!" my students cried during our planning session before the camp out. "Ohhh, guys. I don't know how." "I do" said one student. "So do I" called another one. Against my better judgement I agreed. And though the rice cooked over the grill was hard, the barbecue--when it was FINALLY finished, was quite good.

Traditional local-style "red" rice and chicken on the grill.

One of the other cooking groups working on their contributions for the Friday evening meal.

Grilling into the night: Night fell, everyone else went ahead and ate, and we were still waiting for our barbeque to finish. My student "J" reminds me that it turned out fine in the end--and it did. It just took a long, long time. The last of the barbeque we ate for breakfast the next morning because supper was long over by the time it was finished.

Why We do What We Do: The Kids. It's all about the kids.

One of our new students this year, from Korea. He is known for seeming for polite and well-mannered to teachers and adults, but also having a mischevious streak that shows up among his peers. He's quite a character!











The girl on the left, who I call "Bella" is turning out to be quite a basketball star!

The boy in the white t-shirt is getting a lot of attention from the ladies this year!

A Mark: Grace Like Rain

"J", "Micronesian Queen", and "Unique", the daughter of our new pastor and the newest student in our SDA School 9th grade class, play and sing "Grace Like Rain."

One of the marks that those who are led by the Spirit leave on this dot in the Pacific are the songs that they teach us to sing. Songs like a "Dig a Hole" brought by Kathy Stair in 2000-2001 and "Milk" and "The Slinky Song" by Graves and Gleason in 2006-2007. And this song. When I heard the girls, I couldn't help but think of the one who taught it to us. You know who you are. . .this song is for you, who taught and lived it. "J" plays better than ever, "Micronesian Queen" has graduated from uke to guitar, and a new friend now sings along, but the song remains the same--a mark you left behind.

REAL on the Road

"J" leads in "The Machine", an attention-grabbing improv that we use to start off our Street Market shows. Thanks to former REAL director, Grant Graves for the idea!

REAL Christian Theater is on the road for it's ninth season. It's hard to believe we've been doing drama ministry for that long now! Our youngest members of the team were only one year old when we first started out.

The team is at full strength this year--twelve actors ranging from grades 5 to 12, four directors, a hard working sound/lights/props tech, and our manager Carol Paez. We've been touring on and off since November; our most recent shows have been performances at the Thursday night Garapan Street Market, pictured here, and an hour long show at the Friday night Youth on the Rock service at Grace Christian Church.

Currently we are working on our dinner show fundraiser, a play called Meet Me in St. Louis, which we expect to stage in April. My senior class when I was in high school produced this play and it was so much fun. It was cool to go over all those familiar lines that I learned when I was a student, only now, it's my students that are going to perform.

I know I've got a few REAL alumni who read this blog--former directors and actors--so Xian Xian, Mai, Bev, Vero, Grant, Aya, and all the rest. . .this one's for you!

Our Street Market shows are all about short, funny skits with lots of action, corny gags, and few lines, anchored by our "message" pantomime to music. Here we present a skit called "The Ticket Line."

That's me, the consumate front man.

Team members perform a skit called "The Mad Reporter."

Our version of "Everything", the pantomime set to a Lifehouse song by the same name. That's me and "Little Sister." You can find many versions of this popular Christian sketch on Youtube. This is one of the best, in my opinion. As soon as I can figure out how to convert my avi files to mpegs, our version will be on the web too. I believe former director, Mai Rhea Odiyar also performed this sketch with her Mission Life team this past fall.

"Little Sister" and "M" as the drama kicks in in "Everything."



Here's the whole skit.

The Bible Study

Our strawberry shortcake, made at The Bible Study, Wednesday, February 4, 2009. Our most recent dessert, made last night, was a cherry cobbler.

". . .sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb."
--Psalms 19:10b

That's the way the Word of God is described in the Psalms, and it's around that theme of something sweet that our recent youth Bible study developed. Each week on either Wednesday or Friday several of my middle school and high school students meet at our house to make a dessert and study the Bible together. While the one satisfies the sweet tooth, the other satisfies the soul (and is a whole lot healthier too!).

On Wednesday, February 4, 2009 we made a strawberry shortcake and studied what the Bible has to say about human nature and the concept of sin. We made the cake first, then studied while it baked and cooled, then ate at the end of the study and after a tasty spaghetti and garlic bread dinner provided courtesy of Babs.

The desserts have been good, but the studies have been even better. The kids have been asking a lot of really good questions. We couldn't cover all of the issues that came up on the topic of sin, so we continued the topic at our study last night, where we went into even greater depth. As it stands, our next topic will be on magic, a topic that branched off of last night's study, that we wanted to explore in more detail. The use of magic of all kinds, including black magic, is quite common in this part of the world, and my students, some of whom have dabbled in it, want to know what God has to say about the topic. Pray for me, as I prepare for the study--I need wisdom in navigating this subject.

I believe the most important thing I can share with my students is a clear conception of God and His love. If they can find a real and meaningful relationship with Him, then everything else that truly matters in life that I want them to learn will, I believe, fall into place as well.

Our Bible Study group. We usually have 3 to 6 kids attending.

Super Bowl Monday

Kids and teachers watching the Big Game at our house, Monday morning, February 1, 2009.

Monday morning, February 2, 2009 we crammed 45+ kids into our living room to watch the Super Bowl. That's right, I said Monday morning. The Super Bowl is one of very few programs that is aired live in Saipan on our local cable channel, and Super Bowl Sunday is actually Monday morning here in Saipan. Thus on Monday morning the island's sports bars are full and the public school system usually finds a way to dismiss classes so that everyone can enjoy that American football classic, the Super Bowl.

At the SDA School we have school but it's hardly what I'd call a "regular" day. When we first moved to Saipan, we watched the game at the school, back when the school had cable service. Now, we bring all the students in grades 5-10 up to our house to watch. For one day out of the year, our student body, which normally leans more towards basketball and volleyball or soccer for our Korean students, suddenly cares deeply about football. The kids and teachers pick a team to root for and to hear the trash talk you'd have thought we were avid fans,closely following the regular season this past fall. The truth is, many of the students have only heard of the two teams the day of the big game and they often choose their teams based on nonathletic criteria such as which team has the better looking uniforms.

Nonetheless, the kids cheer enthusiastically for their team, and during close contests like this year's Steelers-Cardinals nailbiter, they even get excited about the game itself. Of course, the game isn't always exciting--particularly when all they're doing is running the ball and no one is getting any touchdowns, the kids get a little restless. It's even worse that while we get the game itself, we miss what many call the best part of the Super Bowl--the commericals. Instead we get a handful of local commercials repeated ad nauseum, the very occasional Budweiser commerical slipped in, and awful lot of plain station identifications screens with generic rock and roll riffs looping in the background. Still, everyone's grateful for school day free of school work, and everyone manages to have a good time until the game ends, usually around 1 in the afternoon.

Look at all those shoes! We take off our shoes in the house and so the kids did the same leaving with us this monster pile of shoes.

Farewell to the Ravia Family

Pastor Eliki Ravia, his wife Aeyesha, and son "Nem" at the airport on their last day in Saipan, Wednesday, January 28, 2009.

Pastor presides over the baptism of five new members on his last Sabbath in Saipan, January 24, 2009. True to form, Pastor was busy with the Lord's work, literally right up to the day he left.



The Ravia family surrounded by church members and friends at the airport.



Many people come and go from Saipan,and all make their mark. But among the student missionaries, contract workers, and various others who make Saipan home for awhile, there are those for who leave a still larger, broader, deeper imprint. These people make more than a mark--their presence in our little Adventist community on Saipan and beyond defines an era. These people may range from institutional leaders (take the Era of the Ludders--that of Richard Ludders, the former dental clinic director, and his family) to everyday people (the Era of Malou, a dental assistant at the SDA Clinic for decades). What they all hold in common is a length of time in Saipan that is measured in years rather than months, during which they've become an integral part of daily life in Saipan. When they go, Saipan is irrevocably different. Their position may be filled, their jobs carried on, but their space in our hearts remains irreplacable.

One such family took their Long Walk this past Wednesday, January 28, 2009. With the departure of our beloved Pastor, his wife Ayesha, and their young son, the Era of Pastor Eliki Ravia on Saipan came to an end. At least for now anyway (for they promise to return). Pastor Eliki has gone to Fiji where he will be pursuing further education at Fulton College. We were sad to say good bye to our pastor, school board chair, and for Babs and me, our next-door neighbor and friend of four and a half years. But we are also happy and grateful for the inspiration, good memories, and love they've given us all over the years.

Pastor Eliki was one of my heroes in my Annual Heroes and Inspirations blog last year and with good reason. He and Ayesha are gentle, genuine souls. Their fervent faith and classic brand of Adventism are leavened by their sincere humility and embracing love. Even when he bid us farewell at his going away party this past Saturday night, January 24, he was asking us to forgive him if he'd hurt or offended any of us in his pastoral efforts. And instead of basking in his own glory he was,with tears in his eyes, paying tribute to other members who have worked tirelessly, and thanklessly doing the grunt work of the church. But pastor was just like those deacons he honored--ready to pitch in for the church at the drop of a hat, willing to work hard without expectation of thanks or reward. Whenever I've had the occasion to work with the Ravias, I've found myself "marveling and recognizing them as having been with Jesus."

I will miss that sturdy knock on our door and opening it to find Pastor grinning with a bunch of bananas or soursap fruit in hand. I'll miss his trade mark self-deprecating chuckle and his confident "No problem, no problem" in the midst of the latest church debacle. I'll miss Aeyesha's neighborly kindness and shy smile. I'll miss "Nem's" little visits to our house and his fascination with our dog Kimo. I will miss the Ravia's fellowship and friendship. But I know that they will be a blessing wherever they go--that Pastor's passion for people and for the Lord and for people and the Lord to come together will continue to burn brightly. Wherever they go, the Ravia's will be a light of God's love. And if God does, indeed lead them back to Saipan, as they hope He will, after their sojourn in Fiji, they will find a church family welcoming them back with open arms. And if not? Well, then we'll look forward all the more to that day when there will be no more goodbyes and an eternity of good times together.

God bless, and Godspeed, Pastor Eliki, Ayesha and "Nem".



Pastor and Ayesha with a young church member at their farewell party, Saturday night, January 24, 2009.

"M", "Little Sister", and "J" present "Nem" with a farewell gift from his schoolmates at the SDA School at the farewell party.

"Nem" checks out his memory book.

Angie, "Nem's" kindergarten teacher, with "Nem".

"Nem" with school friends who came to the airport to see him off.

"Nem" with his kindergarten classmates at the airport. "Nem" was pretty excited about leaving actually. He got lots of candy and gifts and was probably thinking, "Man, we should move more often!"

Pastor and Ayesha with some of our recently baptized church members from Kagman.


Ayesha with two women from the church.

linic CFO Ernie Lacorte and Carol with Ayesha.

Pastor handing over church keys to our head deacon at the airport.

Babs and I with our next door neighbors for the past four and a half years. It's awful quiet next door since they left.

The Ravias with some of our students who came to the airport to see them off.


The Ravia family takes their Long Walk.