Description on pictures

The apartment pictures are pretty self explanatory. I attached a video to go along with it. It's sort of small but I really don't need that much space when there is dorm lobby to go hang out in too.

The new dorm pictures are as follows from top to bottom : Left view of lobby with table and aquarium, also Junior wing and my apartment. Right view of lobby with couches fireplace and TV, also senior wing and window to chapel. Middle hallway down freshman sophomore wing and also head deans apartment. Kitchenette. Study room. View of boys dorm from girls dorm. Girls Dorm. There is also a guest bathroom, office (we're still waiting for our new desk), laundry room and basement with exercise equipment. It's all very homey and is a bit like living in a hotel. We are very blessed.

The study room has been getting some use now that I've started tutoring. The girls do their homework in there when I'm not tutoring as well. I like teaching better than tutoring even though they seem like the same thing. A lot of the stuff I have to learn with the students, like math and english. I've forgotten a lot, such as prepositional phrases and Algebra 2. It's cool though. I like being able to help. I enjoy explaining things so they understand. I'm also helping a girl study for the SAT even though she's only a freshman. She want's to do really well so I've started her off with some vocabulary words.

Finished Dorm!

New Apartment photos. Description to come

Getting ready to be busy

We are just finishing our spring break. I used some of my time to set up a schedule for tutoring with the girls that have down grades. I will be very busy from now on. The schedule leaves little time for free time. This is ok though. I think I will be more productive with the small amount of time that I have.

The new dorm is amazing to be in but the water tastes like sawdust... blah. I will post pictures of my apartment and the dorm once I finish unpacking. Not much else to say as we've all been on break.

Rewards of Practicing Authority

The weekend before we moved into the new dorm the head dean slept in her new apartment. So, I was on duty for the last four or so nights. Since the rooms were set up in classrooms in individual cubical like rooms everyone can hear everyone else and any lamps that are left on can be noticed by everyone. The RA was having trouble quieting a particular room down for lights out so I came in and told [lets call her] Andrea to turn off her lights and stop talking. I had to tell her three times and then she still mouthed back to me one last time. I was thinking of what I could do so that she would understand that her behavior was unacceptable. I was really at a loss of what to do because I didn’t want her to think she could walk all over me like that. So, I decided to take her phone away.

The next day (Friday) she came and told she couldn’t find her phone and I told her I took it and the reason I took it. That evening Andrea walked by the office with a friend and a swear word slipped out after she dropped something. That whole evening she was being extremely obnoxious and irritating seeming on purpose and she kept talking back to me as well.

At WA there is a policy where if a girl swears they have a worksheet to fill out about why they swore and what they can do to change, etc... There are three worksheets for three offenses and then on the fourth offense they are sent to ad-committee where further action is applied. I looked in her file and noticed that she had filled two of the three worksheets out so I gave her the last one and explained that she would go to ad-committee next time. This worksheet was almost completely blank and said, ‘In 250 words please explain the effect on other people your misuse of language has caused and explain what you can do to change.

She was very perturbed at me but twenty five minutes later she returned the paper. It had 59 words and basically said, ‘my language did not effect anyone except the dean. Her name is Katherine Miller. To change I will not talk around her ever again.’

I called her back in the office and explained that the sheet was not acceptable and asked her to try again. Another twenty five minutes later I got it back and it was not completely how I wanted it but it was better and longer, so I accepted it. I then essentially said, ‘I know it seems ridiculous that you had to fill out this paper for accidentally letting a word slip but, you can control these accidents and these worksheets will help motivate you to form better habits. I love you and want you to grow into a respectable young lady.’ I said I’d give her phone back the next day in the afternoon and she walked out without saying anything.

On Sunday Andrea came in and wanted to talk to me about something. She actually apologized about how she had been acting. She was sorry for mouthing off and disrespecting me the last few days and said she was under some stress. This was so cool! I forgave her and offered condolences for her stress. Now we’re friends again and all is well.

Love your enemies

I was reading the blog that Sterling and Alex (4th and 6th grade teachers in Yap) are keeping and they gave an account about what's been happening with the man who killed Kirsten. I'll post it here so you can read it.

The last thing we want to talk about is our visits to the prison. Over these last months, Alex and I have been talking a lot about what it means to really take Jesus up on his offers of a new life and how to walk in his footsteps. Along with the other SMs, we began thinking about the ways that we handled ourselves after Kirsten’s death. Alex and I felt that when Jesus asked forgiveness for the men who crucified him, he also gave us a challenge to forgive those who have hurt us. Not really knowing how to go about these sorts of things, we borrowed a car and drove to the police station. There we kind of sheepishly asked to talk to whoever was in charge of the jail. We were led to a back room and then spoke with the boss’s secretary. We asked if it was possible for us to meet with Justin, the man arrested after Kirsten’s death. We were informed that not even family was allowed to see him. But I guess we were politely persistent enough that they eventually took down our phone number and said they’d call us. Two weeks passed and we didn’t hear anything from the jail. Finally we manned up and called them. They again took our number and said they’d call us back. However, this time they called the next day and told us we could come! I’ll let Alex finish the story.

On the following Sunday, Sterling and I headed over to the police station to finally visit Justin. After we arrived, they had us sit down in one of the roughshod visiting booths as they went to get Justin. Not surprisingly, Justin didn’t want to see us. We left him some cookies, soap, and a towel, which they said would be delivered to him. This was surprising, since earlier we were flatly denied both seeing him and leaving him anything. God really opened doors for us. On Thursday of that same week, we left him a pithy letter and some chocolate bread.

Yesterday (Sunday), we again went to the prison. This time, Justin agreed to meet us. We sat in the booth and watched as a young man, chained hand-and-foot, shuffled up to the other side of the glass. So started our first visit with Justin. I’ll let Sterling take the reins.

Justin looked young. His hair was trimmed as well as a his beard. I don’t know why I remember this but his shirt was inside out. His fingernails were long. When I saw him, I was struck with the feeling that there was no life left in his eyes. He talked quietly and rarely looked us in the eyes. We spoke through a glass window and it was pretty hard to hear him. I didn’t know what to say so I think I asked him twice how he was feeling. We talked for a bit about his childhood and then we talked about life at the prison. Over and over, he kept saying how sorry he was. We told him we forgave him and told him about a God who promises to forgive us. We prayed twice with him and asked if we could bring him a Bible. He told us that he had read our earlier letter and had said to himself that at least now he had two friends. I don’t really know what else to say. We’ll be trying to meet with him as regularly as possible. Alex wants say some stuff to end our post now.

Alex here. In the recent weeks after Kirsten was murdered, we heard many and mixed reports about Justin and some awful things happening to him. [Edit: Some content removed.] Even in the face of tragedy, even if we are affected by terrible acts, even when the most despicable sins fall at our feet, we need to keep our heads. This is only easy to say, of course. However, what I hear disgusts me. Don’t fight fire with fire. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Pick your cliché. God calls us to be above the rest. As believers and supposed followers of Him, we need to ask ourselves:


In the face of this blatant, inhumane mistreatment, who is the real criminal?

Sterling and I saw a man who may be feeling more pain and emotion than anything I could imagine. What saddened me during our visit was not the fact that a man murdered Kirsten, but the fact that a man is seen and treated as less than human.

I am overjoyed that they have been visiting this man. I think it's just so cool! I'm not really sure what else to say about it. I think it's so true that as Christians we need to treat our enemies with love.

Luke 6:27-36

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Matthew 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,[b] 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren[c] only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors[d] do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Please keep him in your prayers as well as Kirsten's friends and family.

Pretending with the Bestest of the Best.

On the 23rd it was my turn to speak for chapel. When I began I said a prayer and then told the students to listen very carefully. I was going to ask them some questions and expect raised hands and answers. First I read Colossians 1:12-17:

12 Give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Who created all things? Jesus created everything. He is the creator. He created even you!

Next I read Psalms 139:13-16

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The plans of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

How are we made? Marvelously!!

How much does Jesus know about you? Everything!!

The students where doing excellent.

I asked them to think about the other things that Jesus has made. Think about the snowflakes… they are so tiny but they are so exact and perfect in the angles of each molecule. They are exquisite. Think about flowers and trees in the summer; how all the little veins on the leaves go exactly where they should so the tree doesn’t get thirsty. Even, think about things outside of nature, like when you’re playing basketball. Think of all the elastic properties in the ball that allow it to bounce and the physics behind what lets the ball come back down from the basket. Jesus made all of this! How intricate and beautiful these things are especially when we take time to look closely. These things are incredible!!

Next I had the students do something and you can too. Raise your right hand. Turn it over so the palm is facing up towards your face. Now, bring it up close enough so you can examine the tips of your fingers. Can someone please tell me what you see on the tips of your fingers? As I had anticipated, some students took this as a chance to get silly and started getting distracted, but I quieted them down and the answer was, ‘finger prints’, little ridges. These ridges help you grip things and feel things and are completely unique to you. Your fingers are just as intricate as the flowers and snowflakes and even elastic. Your entire body is just like this, inside and out, the visible pars and the invisible parts.

So, when I say the invisible parts, what do you think I’m talking about? Your very person; the part that thinks, and has wishes and thoughts, and likes and dislikes. Jesus made that too! And you are just as intricate and delicate and complex as the things we see in nature and all around us. Jesus made you! He knows you! He knows every crawlspace and corridor of you heart. He knows you more than you can even think about, more than you yourself could even try to know.

Next, I want you to think for a moment about the friends that you have that you consider to be your best friends… What qualifies them to be your best friends? Can someone give me some reasons? They go out of their way for you, they are always there for you. They know you better than just an ordinary friend. They accept you just as you are.

So, from these reasons, what can we now qualify Jesus as? Our bestest of best friends!!! What incredible news!


Do you talk to your best friends? Of course you do. That’s what friends do. So, if Jesus is our bestest of the best of all of all our friends, then what a privilege it is to talk to Him! And we can talk to Him about everything and anything and at any time!

This brings me to Philippians 4:6:

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’

We shouldn’t hold anything back with Jesus. He knows everything anyway, so we don’t have anything to lose. He loves us no matter what, as our best friend. Nothing will surprise Him.

Now, I think I might know what some of you are thinking, because I’ve felt it too. It can be hard to talk to Jesus, especially if it means saying more than, ‘Dear Lord, thank you for today, thank you for my food, please be with my family and friends, help me with my homework, please forgive my sins, Amen.’ Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not inherently a bad prayer, but our prayers should also go much deeper.

When you’re in a new place and you’re meeting people for the first time, what does it feel like? What are some examples? Awkward, uncomfortable, unfamiliar… Knowing that Jesus knows us super well might not make it easy at first to talk to Him. It might feel awkward, or uncomfortable, and unfamiliar. But I want you to try something the next time you talk to Jesus. Try it tonight, or tomorrow morning. Even if you feel like a complete idiot for talking to what might feel like empty space in your brain or the walls in your room. Sometimes praying out loud helps, personally I prefer this way... I want you to pretend. Pretend that you are already friends, pretend that you have known each other for years. Pretend that you go way back. Ignore the feelings of awkwardness. Even if it doesn’t feel right, just keep on pretending.

This is essentially what you do when you’re meeting new people as well. You pretend that you know each other already and then eventually, after a while you’re not pretending anymore. Now, you do know them, and now you’re being real with them. This also can happen with Jesus. Jesus already knows you. But if you keep talking to him, even if it feels artificial, it will start to become real because YOU will start to get to know HIM. You might think that is a little different because you’re the only one talking but, Jesus can talk to us. He talks to us through other people sometimes and by guiding our thoughts sometimes and also when we read His Bible. Those are a few of the many ways He talks to us. And the more you talk to Him the more comfortable you will be and eventually you will KNOW He is your friend instead of just UNDERSTANDING it. And He will mean all the world to you!

I’m telling you this because I’ve done this, and Jesus is now my everything!!

He’s my reason for getting up in the morning and living each day. He is the reason I keep going when things are extremely hard. He is the reason I have hope when I’m weighed down with sadness and even depression. Jesus is who gives my heart wings when I’m happy! His love for me is what fuels the very essence of my being…

I want each and every one of you to have that very same thing.

And so, as I close, I want to encourage you to talk to Jesus. Just try it. Please, just try it for a couple days, a couple of weeks. It can be about anything, like, ‘Jesus, so I was at the store today and I saw this guy with this crazy hair style!’ or, 'Jesus, I had a hard time sleeping last night and I really don’t want to go to school today.’ Or, ‘Lord, how does the guy with the snowplow get to work in the morning?’ or, ‘Why is it called a building when it’s already built?’ or more seriously, ‘How can I get along with so and so?’ or, ‘What should I do with my life?’

I encourage you to ask Him questions, you’d be surprised at how He answers sometimes. Often times I’ve asked Him a question and I’ve even forgotten about asking it but then sometime later I believe He’s used things and experiences in my life that’s helped me find the answer. I’m still waiting for some answers, and I’m content I’ll find them at the right time.

If you do this, you can and will get to know Jesus, even if at first you’re only pretending to know Him.