Parliamentarian

This morning I took a test to become a parliamentarian, and passed it! The reason I have been working on this is that I attend so many meetings that attempt to use parliamentary procedure, but waste a lot of time because people don't know what that procedure is. The test was 100 questions, and I had 300 questions to study. I could relate many of the questions to situations I have experienced in meetings where the procedure was not followed. We had three workshops at this Parliamentarian conference at the Highlander near the Manchester airport. One workshop was on how to prepare an agenda. Another was on making evaluation forms. The third was on rescinding a past action. We also had a panel of experts that we could ask questions of. One person on the panel lives in Merrimack. Small world.

Community Church of Hudson

On March 18 I preached at the Community Church of Hudson, which was looking for an Interim Minister. It was love at first sight for both the church and me. The Deacons moved quickly to put together the Terms of Call, and I began my term as pastor on April 1. It is a 35 minute commute, (less than the 45 minutes to Tilton where I pastored for 3 years). The church building is HUGE! We could re-locate an African tribe, and still have room to spare. There is a Thrift Store in the church, run by the Women's Fellowship. I am thinking about re-doing my wardrobe with the goodies displayed there. So far it has been more the recipient than the seller -- everyone we know wants to clean out their closets and have us take clothes to it!
I preached my first sermon as pastor on Easter. There were 93 people, 25 of them were children and young people, 3 were seminarians, and our daughter, Loralee and son-in-law, Aaron came too! We now have a Children's Message and Youth message built into the service. There are many middle school students, and I look forward to spending time with them.
It is a joy to be back in the church pastoring after an 8-month break!
I continue to teach my course in Human Growth at St. Anselm, 24 freshmen in nursing, all female, and very lovable. I am also doing recruitment and training for Child Care Resource & Referral at Easter Seals. So if you are wondering why I haven't called you....

Latest Wiley News

Everything has happened quite fast, and I just haven't been able to keep up with this blog site. But here is our update:

MY FATHER came home from the hospital after having a bleeding ulcer mid-February, but then had a stroke, so went back, and has been in the hospital, rehab, and skilled nursing until Friday, April 13. It has been hard to see him stripped of his dignity, unable to talk, and reduced to the level of an 18 month old. There is always the feeling that we should spend more time with him, and every spare minute is either spent with him or feeling guilty for not being with him. Due to his health, we are not planning any mission trips in the near future.

MISSIONS: We have had the joy of presenting the story of our trip to the Czech Republic at 3 churches.

We led worship at Campton Congregational Church in northern New Hampshire, and were pleasantly surprised to find my brother-in-law's brother is a member of the congregation! Needless to say, we had to go out to lunch and catch up on family news.

Our second presentation was at a Missions Night in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Yes, right next to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower. We felt like we should have worn Pilgrim costumes! It was a fun evening. We brought things from Prague, and handed them out to the people there, asking them to guess what each was!

Our third presentation was in East Freetown on Sunday morning. It is a beautiful chapel, 
and the pastor is a DEAR friend, so we made many new friends there, and were treated to
breakfast/lunch afterwards!

News for February 25, 2007

My father went in the hospital last Saturday, after having stomach cramps on a daily basis for two weeks. The doctors found an ulcer in his stomach and were able to go in with a scope to fix it. Because he is 86 years old (87 in May), he has developed complications. His mind is quite confused so one of us is staying with him 24/7. My sister Cheryl came up from Rhode Island and has spent two nights at the hospital, my other sister, Lorraine has also done two nights, as has my brother, Earl. I am glad we are here in New Hampshire to support each other, and give my father the loving care he deserves. He continues to maintain his humor and positive outlook. To one of the nurses he said, "You must be an artist." She replied, "No, I am NOT an artist." My father said, "Yes, you are. You draw blood!"

We met as a family yesterday to discuss his care when he is released from the hospital.

I have met with the Vice President for International Education at Southern New Hampshire University to discuss a collaborative program with UNYP, the University where I taught in Prague. At this time everything is on hold due to my father's condition. Thank you for your prayers.

Next trip to Prague

 I met with the president of a local university on Monday, and brought him a proposal for a joint venture with UNYP. He was very open to it. I am meeting with the Director of International Programs at the same university tomorrow. Please pray for this appointment. My proposal is to teach a three weekend course in Prague, so we could go back for three to four weeks, and follow up with students, faculty, and contacts we made in the Fall. Thank you for your interest and support.

Greetings from students in Prague

 I thought you might like to read some of the e-mail messages I have received.

Hello Dr. Wiley,
Now that the course is officially over I wanted to say thank you very much for teaching us. It was very interesting and I feel I learned a lot. I hope that you are well and having fun. I hope that we will see you again. I graduate in June (I hope). Anyway, keep in touch, my email address won't change. If you need anything that I could help you with, let me know. Say hello to your family,
J

Hello.
My semester break is busy - right now I am working on an English-into-Czech translation
and I also have my job to put up with. But it's a little better now when there are no
classes to attend. I've only got one exam left so I think I'll get on. It's nice that you
asked. Ok, that's about it. I hope you're having good time home. I wish you good luck with your future classes (or current ones if they have started). Also please say hello to your son and good luck with his shooting...
Bye bye,
M

Hi Dr. Wiley,
How are you? Thank you very much for the e-mail; my semester break has been
going well. :) Take care, and thanks again for everything!
L

Hi, I hope you will be able to come to Prague again soon. Best regards, A

Thank you very much, it was a pleasure taking your class. I wish you all the best, we will miss you here at UNYP. Take care, thank you for everything.
Fondly, Z

Hi
Everything is fine and I am glad that you come to prague and have experience with european students:)) It was nice from you that you invited us for Thanks giving day to your flat (I was very surprised in a positeve way and I just want to say: thank you for everything :)
M

Hello Dr. Wiley,
Here is my final exam. Thank you for everything!
Sincerely,
L

Week of January 21

Last week and this week I read final exams and computed final grades for my course at the University of New York in Prague. I sent the final grade to each student, with an explanation of what assignments were missing. They were to e-mail me if my information was inaccurate, and sure enough, I had forgotten to record the grade of one student's assignment. I am just glad to catch it before sending grades to the registrar.

All exams came through fine with the exception of one. I suggested that the student whose exam did not come via e-mail, hand deliver the exam to me here in New Hampshire, and spend semester break with us! He said his plans had been made, but maybe another time! It turned out he had written his paper on a Mac and forgot to hit the button that allows it to be read by a PC. So we straightened that out.

Today I mailed off another package to the students at CISP, the middle school students Lloyd and I taught. We had worked on Proverbs, and I have made it into a booklet. I sent one to each of them with a personal note. Also to the other teachers. Sending mail internationally takes time at the post office!

Jose got an apartment in Boston on Monday afternoon. He had spent many, many hours searching Craigslist, and got quite a few possibilities,-- enough to decline living in the dorm (which cost $3000 more)-- but by the time he got down to Boston to look at the apartments, they were taken. People would say to him, "PLease come in the next 45 minutes"... and he just couldn't do that from here.

So classes started on Monday morning at 9:00, and he had no place to live. He stayed in a hostel the night before, sleeping in the same room with 3 total strangers, cell phone tucked under the covers next to his hand!

After class on Monday he was able to go right to the apartments that had openings, and found an excellent one, so he moved right in. Lloyd took a truck load of furniture on Tuesday, and Jose came home Wednesday to get the rest of his things. He drove his tracker down and has parked it outside his apartment window. We will probably bring it home when we go to Congress this next week. Anyhow, last Sunday was VERY STRESSFUL knowing classes were the next day and he had no place to live, and we are very thankful that he is now settled in for his last semester of undergraduate work. He is even glad to be back at Mass Art, and didn't think he would ever say that! God is good!

Week of January 16

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I read my Equality Depot catalogue! God bless equality!

Students at UNYP continue to e-mail me many times a day. Last week they were expected to visit a treatment center for people with mental disorders. I always like to take students on a field trip, but with my language barrier, could not do so in the Czech Republic. Students were encouraged to go to a facility near their home where they could communicate in their primary language. I have received most of the assessments of these field trips, and they were interesting. For the most part, the students think the mental health facilities in the Czech Republic are inadequate. One question students had to answer was: Would you place a friend or relative in this facility? Most answered No. Another question was, Would you want to work in this facility after you graduate from college? Many wrote that after having seen this place, they no longer want a career in mental health! I am so sorry for the fall out from this reality check!

Their final exams are due Thursday. Please pray that they will not be stressed but will do well.

We received an e-mail from a parent of a child at the Christian School where Lloyd and I taught in Prague. The school had received serious terrorism threats, and had to cancel classes. We pray that the students will be kept safe, and that their faith will be strengthened through this scary experience.

Today I finished a final edit of the Book of Proverbs that these students worked on with me. I hope to mail you a copy. I am now working on a "secular" book of Proverbs for those who are not people of faith but can benefit from the wisdom of this great book.

Today is the first day of classes at St. Anselm. My class is Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00. I thanked God many times throughout the night for a late afternoon class. Our property is covered with ice. The white birches are bowed to the ground. Lloyd saw and smelled burning of wires when he went out to get the mail yesterday, and there were pops throughout the evening from trees or transformers blowing up. At 2:00 A.M. there was a curious blaze in the sky, and my sister tells me that her husband (an EMT), and son-in-law (state trooper) were in and out all night dealing with trees down. We are thankful to be home where we can keep a watchful eye on things.

Jose's first class is Friday afternoon. He still hasn't finalized an apartment, but has his driver's license and tracker, so will be commuting for a few days. We pray for his safety and the right place in Boston for him to live near Mass Art.

Work in Prague Continues

Even though we are back in New Hampshire, I am getting daily messages from my UNYP students in Prague. I received the first batch of student papers via e-mail. My new skill as instructor is to correct papers on the computer! This means I used the red button at the bottom of the screen, and put my comments in red. I don't yet know how to cross things out, so put them in brackets. Because English is not their primary language, the students had varying degrees of success with a formal paper. This is the only assignment throughout the course where I am grading them on spelling and grammar as well as content. After correcting the paper, I saved it and sent it back as an attachment. One student did not receive hers back from me, and I did not receive a paper sent by another student, but we worked it out. Glitches on the web!

I had forgotten how stressed students get toward the end of the semester, and how much hand-holding has to be done. I might sit in the Faculty Room all semester waiting for students to show up during my office hours, and no one came. BUT that changes at the end of the semester. My Gordon students were the worst. They kept coming in my office during the last week of the semester and bursting into tears. It might be over an A-!!! So please pray that my UNYP students will not suffer from a lack of face-to-face contact these last three weeks. I plan to call them. Lloyd found that if you dial 10-10-9-8-7 before dialing the number, the call is not very expensive.

I went to Southern New Hampshire University today and talked with Sheila in the International Education office, a brand new office set up in September. They did not have UNYP on their list, but we began talking about things we could do across continents. Thank you for your prayers about future projects.