Spirituality

This past weekend, we had our Winter Retreat on Psiwi. It was great. Our last activity was to write a poem on spirituality (one of the four pillars of JVC). I thought it would be cool to share it with you all, in the spirit (no pun intended) of my last post.

Spirituality...
The need for a person to
enter into the self and
discover relationship to the
Creator is at its root.
In no other way can we act,
outside of it. We all
have one or maybe two
on which we base our lives.
Not just how we do, but
how we be.
There are few rules
but many guidelines formed,
shaping decisions made and
thoughts thought. All so
that one becomes self and
may understand the One.

Happy 2010!

Happy REAL New Year! The holidays were absolutely fantastic and relaxing. It involved relaxing on campus, visiting Saramen more frequently, and spending New Years Eve with my host family (which included embarrassing myself playing volleyball). New Years is celebrated from New Years Eve through Jan 2/3 (people are still saying Happy New Year!), by banging pots and pans to drive out evil spirits. Meg and Steph had family members visit, and Sam (indy volunteer) had one of his friends over as well. School’s started up and it’s looking good so far. It’s started off well so far, and I hope to update a bit more than I have in the past.

Last month we all enjoyed Xavier Day. It was filled with some awesome games, some dancing at the end of the night, and the eating of our pig, Isabella (we fed her leftover or half-eaten foods that we can’t use as left-overs, we now have another pig we’re getting ready for graduation). I got to take part in a few events, the most memorable being the “dizzy race” and an eating contest (I ate a bowl of whipped cream with an alum). This semester, we have cultural day to look forward to (it only happens every other year), and the students are already preparing dances and finishing up their huts for it. We also have track and field day, Catholic schools week, and probably some other things I’m not aware of.




Following: a reflection (optional reading!):


Although the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord just happened, marking the end of the Christmas Season, I figured this would still be a worthwhile reflection, something I’ve been thinking about for some time. NB: for the sake of this focusing on Jesus (a historical man who Christians believe to also be God), I’ll be primarily using the masculine pronoun in reference to God.

This reflection is based on the song “One of Us” by Joan Osborne…Not the most Christmas-y, but it drives a good point home.

The lyrics (I think, didn’t try to copy and paste):

"If God had a name, what would it be and would you call it to his face if you were faced with him in all his glory, what would you ask if you had just one question. And yeah, yeah, God is great, yeah, yeah, God is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, what if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home? If God had a face, what would it look like and would you want to see, if seeing meant that you would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets? [Chorus] Back up to heaven all alone, nobody calling on the phone, except for the pope, maybe, in Rome."

This song offers a few thoughts for reflection. What was the point of the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh in the person of Jesus? It was to become one of us. God humbled Himself in order to allow us to know how much He cares for us, all of us. Jesus experienced life as a refugee in Egypt, as a learner, as a young boy (or man) who experienced the death of his earthly father, a teacher, healer, prisoner, and convicted criminal (and others…). God showed His love for us by becoming human and living a human life, showing us that all aspects of humanity are able to be holy, that God desires to be part of our daily lives – not just on Sundays or when we really need our Creator.

Another thought that this song reminds me of is the parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25. For those unfamiliar, this is the parable when Jesus declares that what we do for the least of others (the poor, homeless, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, etc), we do to Him. Do I see Jesus in the people around me, even those I don’t know, or perhaps wouldn’t want to associate myself with? Do I see Jesus in those I live with or those I regularly serve? Do I see Jesus in my students and those in my local community? Do I serve all those with love regardless of how I feel about them personally?
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well, happy liturgical new year at least! Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical cycle (year C for any of those who care to know). We celebrated last night at 8 pm with pizza, soda, and a brief prayer with all the boys. The weekend we celebrate Xavier Day, a day after the actual feast and into the weekend. I'm sure that'll be all brought up in a later post (since it hasn't happened yet). There will probably be two more posts this month (one catch up, another a reflection I've been praying and working on).

Finals are in two weeks, crazy! I've had time to write one exam, hopefully it's a "good" one. One of the coconut trees fell yesterday in Peniasena (sp?) and is currently being held up by electrical poles. SO, we're on generator power until that gets fixed. Unfortunately, the tree is hanging over a road, and we're pretty sure the busses won't be able to get through (nor are we sure about the safety if they could!). So, up in the air if we'll have classes tomorrow.

I hope everyone back home has had a good Thanksgiving weekend and a not too stressful black Friday for those who ventured out.

Yeah, Definitely Need To Update

View on Pisar
Sunset on Param
Sunset on Pisar

Boys on Param

So, as has been mentioned in a few e-mails, I'm very behind on updating my blog. Part of this is because the past two weekends and this weekend I am off-island on other islands. Two weeks ago was our JV retreat on Pisar, this weekend we are having a staff retreat/outing there as well. Last weekend we were on Param for the Junior CSP (Christian/Community Service Project, we're not exactly sure which is the correct C).
Teaching has been getting better and busy. I also now have a host family, they're awesome and very involved in the Sapuk community. My brother is thinking of having me help him next year with some youth group stuff...we'll see! Lately our electricity has been on a 4 hour cycle, which can get frustrating if you forget to save a document on the computer (just an FYI if it takes me a while to get back to you). However, it's easy to get used to. I've also finally gotten ok with showering in the dark in the morning (our power doesn't turn on till 8 am-ish).
Other news: Boils are gone, I have 20 envelopes which means I will be writing letters again soon (sorry for those I owe letters to!).
Above are the pictures taken from Param and Pisar. I'll post more on Facebook sometime in the near future, hopefully. Some may already be posted thanks to Robin (Australian volunteer).

Joys

It's been a while, so I guess I'll start with some bad news: boils, everywhere. Ok, slight exagerration, but a have 2 boils plus a carbunkle (that's the technical term for having more than one boil in one spot). Also an annoying infection on the finger which makes it hard (annoying) to type at length. I thought I had known discomfort before, now I laugh. No, this isn't complaining, just letting you know why I may come back with a bunch of random scars on my body :)

Fun news!
I went to Tol again two weekends ago to get some info for a Christian Service Project the juniors were supposed to go on. It was pretty awesome and provided a lot of great things to reflect and pray on. I learned some Chuukese (very very little amount...ekis Chuuk). Unfortunately, we had to cancel the CSP due to the boat captain not wanting to go out when the weather was bad (it got better when we got back up to XHS, after all the girls had gone back to their sponsors). Don't worry, one WILL happen, and we will still get to go!

I'm currently talking like a Russian (with a very bad accent) in Literature. You may be asking yourself "Why?" Here's the answer: We're reading Animal Farm! By far one of my favorite books ever. I really should get to reading 1984 sometime...
The seniors have been given a case study project, I gave for case studies, they pick one and apply methods they've learned about so far in class. Hopefully it will turn out well. In English Skills, we're writing an Essay and prepping for the PSAT. They are really worried for some reason, so we're working on vocabulary skills (plenty vocabs, as we would say here) as well for the moment, I spent a good part of today writing prefixes and their meaning, I think I'm going to have them write songs in order to memorize them.

We have some Australian high school students visiting this week, should be interesting. They are staying at one of the nicest hotels here to sleep at, but spending most of their time with us and at Sapuk Elementary. 5 of the boys will be staying overnight tomorrow in the dorm. Hopefully this brief immersion experience will be helpful for them in some way.

Question: What is your image of God? What do you think it means about you and your relationship with God? Your vocation? (No, you don't have to share)

Heads Up

In case you were worried, no, none of the natural disasters taking place are anywhere near me. Thankfully, the Pacific Ocean is very large and, if a tsunami or something were to come in our direction, the water gets really shallow in random places within the lagoon, plus I'm on one of the highest points of this island. So please, if you were worrying, don't. :)

A better blog post to come. The power is probably going to turn off in a few minutes (it has been turning off at this time for the past couple of days).

It's been (over) one week!

...since our first day of school. Wow. So much to say, but so much beyond words! In just this one week I've experienced many ups and downs, joys, frustrations, sorrows, etc. that come with teaching. It's quite the roller coaster. One thing I realized this morning is that I need to be more firm and sure of myself in my morality class. Not that I am not right now, but I have been unsure how to handle the "touchy" topics we will be discussing in the class -- i.e. drinking and sex. I think being up front may be the best way to go The other day we did an activity and the class seemed a bit divided on those and more than a few issues. Hopefully it will make for good discussion and good reflection (my hope is that the class not only teaches them about moral theology but also how to think critically and prepare them for college, they are seniors in high school afterall!).
In other news, in case I haven't shared this already on here, I' ve been named "one" of the moderators for Campus Ministry. Currently, we are still awaiting the other Jesuit scholastic to arrive to teach and also help with CM, but his work papers haven't been pushed through yet. Right now, Steph is helping me out with it for the time being (helping meaning meaning completely guiding me). So far we're just trying to figure out who the student leaders are! Most of my job as CM moderator will be planning the service projects for the Fresh, Sophs, and Juniors, as well as planning out the Junior retreat and the Fresh and Soph days of prayer. It should be great and keep me busy enough, although I'm also thinking and praying about whether or not to suggest to our future "team" the idea of adding Bible study to the mix (currently one of the Austrailian volunteers, Robin, is doing this on his own. So making it part of CM would help to "institutionalize" it in the XHS community).

With sad news, I regret to say that I will bot be able to Skype as often due to a broken head set. I'll try to borrow others' when I can. Sorry for the bit of sad news.

Thank you to those who have sent actual letters. It's always wonderful to receive something in the mail! A lot of people have been getting packages, but I feel like letters are just as awesome because then I get to write back, sweet! If you would ever like to send a letter, but don't have my address, feel free to e-mail me.