Written by: Gracelyn Lloyd
Schools in the Guam-Micronesia Mission (GMM) of Seventh-day Adventists are experiencing an extreme worker shortage. Currently, 47 student missionaries serve in GMM schools, and 11 are Southern Adventist University students, according to Steven Manoukian, director for Student Missions.
However, 47 filled positions represent less than half of the church school system’s 108 needed positions, according to numbers listed on the mission’s website at the beginning of the calendar year.
Administrators are calling for eight more missionary teachers to serve as soon as possible, according to Nancy Lynn Edward, GMM Education Administrative Assistant and GMM Adventist Volunteer Service Coordinator. The mission’s schools offer early childhood to high school education across nine Pacific islands. Edward said its most pressing needs are elementary teachers on the island of Ebeye in the Marshall Islands and the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Some GMM schools began the school year late due to a lack of teachers, including Ebeye in the Marshall Islands, according to Edward.
“Ebeye has 300 students but is short-staffed and has the greatest need of more teachers,” she said. “Elementary students are taught in the morning, then teachers return after lunch to instruct the high school.”
Edward added that, lacking sufficient help, some mission schools cannot provide high school classes.
Referring to two schools in the Federated States of Micronesia, she said, “This year, Chuuk closed their high school, and Yap is trying to keep up to 10th grade open.”
The GMM Education Department reported that COVID-19 closures brought the number of missionaries from 85 in the 2019-2020 school year to just 23 last year. Now at 47, Edward hopes the upward trend continues. When asked about long-term effects of the worker shortage, Edward said student missionary vacancies also mean a loss in the momentum to recruit future missionaries.
Edward said more local staff have stepped up, but students’ parents prefer teachers who are native English speakers.
Kiley Allen, a sophomore nursing major at Southern, was one such teacher. She recently returned from her 10-month service as the fifth- and sixth-grade teacher on Yap.
“All the parents of my students were so happy that I was there, coming from the U.S. system,” she said.
Allen hopes more student missionaries will help GMM continue providing Christian education so her students can have the same academic opportunities she has enjoyed, including attending college.
“Every location has its needs, but because they are islands and are confined, they do not have all the resources that the states have,” Allen said.
Referring to the difference that missions have on many of the islands’ students, Allen said, “Coming to school is the only Christian atmosphere they have.”
Allen added that her mission experience significantly impacted her life and deepened her dependence on and confidence in God, as she often prayed for God to be with her so she could better serve her kids.
Surveys filled out by returning student missionaries from Southern echo similar experiences.
“[Student missionaries in GMM] always had positive experiences,” Manoukian explained. “They’ve been able to be a blessing to the community because the need is great, so they come back fulfilled.”
He said student missionaries have reported positive transformations and strengthened devotional and prayer lives.
“The beautiful thing about GMM,” he said, “is that they have been doing this for many years, so they know what they’re doing.”
Individuals interested in volunteering can email Nancy Edward at nedward@gmmsda.org. Southern students can visit Manoukian in the Office of Ministry & Missions, located on the second floor of the Bietz Center for Student Life.
Open calls for GMM will remain posted on HeSaidGo.com until Dec. 31. Volunteers can apply now to serve for the second semester, which runs from January to June.