2004

Summer is the blonde American mother of 41 El Salvadorian children. Living in one of the four “houses” of the orphanage called Hogar Escuela Adventista, this PUC student missionary takes cold showers (with frogs), washes her clothes by hand, and is sung to sleep at night by bats hanging from her ceiling. It’s far from a plushy life. In addition to the hundreds of duties that come with parenting 41 children ages five to 20, Summer oversees a work crew of 11 little boys, heads planning for the 12-week summer program for the kids (remember, their summer is our winter!), plans worships, and life-guards at the pool. “I have never been so tired!” Summer says. And of course there’s the language barrier. One of Summer’s most difficult groups consists of several teenage girls who stay up in the bathroom an hour after bedtime. “One night I tried to ask them if they were sick, and I accidentally called them ugly instead, and they agreed with me,” Summer recounts. “When I realized what I’d done, my heart felt as if it were going to break.” Despite challenges, exhaustion, and the rocky transition time, Summer is certain that God is present: “I...

They ran Thursday’s colloquy. They dominated vespers on Friday. And they showed up prominently in the Sabbath church service. There was obviously something afoot, and it soon became obvious to all: it was Asian-American cultural emphasis week. This year, PUC has three special cultural emphasis weeks scheduled – one for Asian-Americans (Nov. 11-13), one for African-Americans (Jan. 27-29), and one for Hispanic-Americans (May 5-7). This quarter’s cultural emphasis events were a time for the many Asian-Americans on campus to be represented and have a strong, public voice. In a hip, energetic, and heartfelt colloquy, Kevin Camato and Diane Pulido hosted the game-show-style program, complete with interviews (both live and by video), book-reading by a very young Asian-American, a beautiful hula performance, and plenty of music. The program kept people awake and laughing, but also touched on some serious and very relevant aspects of culture and history. Friday vespers presented a more spiritual and personal side of Asian-American life as a number of students shared their own experiences at PUC and their struggles dealing with the conflict between being “Asian” and being “American.” Finally, on Sabbath Richard Choi, assistant professor of New Testament at Andrews University, spoke on “The Mystery of...

Decked with holiday finery and teeming with an array of visitors, the women’s dorm halls were bright and merry at the annual open house on Thursday, December 2. Christmas lights in every imaginable variety were draped over windows and strung from ceilings. There were chips and salsa, fudge, and other munchies in some of the rooms, and hot drinks in the foyers. There was much music and laughter and some attempts at movie-watching in the midst of the hubbub. Admittedly, there wasn’t a great deal of studying going on. Male students made up the bulk of the visitors, taking advantage of their one chance to see how the girls fix up their habitations or to hang out in the rooms of their female friends. But there were other guests as well; some teachers, community members, and assorted other friends made their way through the halls. “Open house is great,” says senior Joy-Anne Mitchell, “because you get to just hang out and have fun with people who don’t usually come to your room.”...