It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring...

Oh hello, this song is constantly playing in my head because it rains quite often here. More correctly, it pours quite often here. But I love it because it brings the blazing temperature down a notch and for a moment I feel somewhat cool.

Today is Sunday here. A day for organizing, planning, and high hopes for a new week. Last week was rough. If you could take a peek in Ms. Williams classroom you might see the boys constantly at their friends desks, you might see the students mimicking every word I say, you might see hands lifted high with students shouting out, “teacher, teacher, I need help” (I’ve tried to tell them that the purpose of hands raised is so that they will be quiet). You might see me standing with my face to the chalkboard trying to cool down. Yes, classroom 16, you might make me a little crazy.

Thoughts have been flying around in my head like, “Am I really the best person to be teaching you?” “How will I ever teach you how to read if you won’t listen?” “Am I an awful person because my students can make me so angry?” I know, I know. These are little 7 and 8 year olds with cute little faces and innocent actions. That’s what I thought too but apparently they have the ability to make you feel angry, frustrated, and totally worn out.

They also have the ability to make you feel a deep love in your heart for them, deeper than I have ever known. This love comes from your troublesome child giving you a hug as they leave the classroom to go home, this love comes from the little girls drawing me pictures to hang on my wall, this love comes from them shouting out praise songs to Jesus. This loves comes from the God who placed me here with the purpose to love them. And in between loving them He also wants me to teach them.

The other student missionaries here have really helped me stay positive. We have grading parties with each other and that has become a time to swap stories of how we survive in our classrooms. I find myself cracking up at everybody’s stories because they are so similar to mine. Example: “ Sometimes I just go sit at my desk and make the students come up to me but then there are like 16 students surrounding my desk and I realize that was a bad idea…but I get to sit so whatever.” Oh my, how I laugh. I love these fellow workers with me. They are goofy and so encouraging.

When I am not teaching here, the group likes to have food parties. We have had pancake parties, frappacino parties, and fish parties. They are so much fun and the food is delicious. Seriously, we have some good food. There are quite a few of us SM’s all cramped into the boys little surf shack apartment but its great times.

I will forever say I am blessed to be here and have this experience. I find myself appreciating the beauty of this Island a lot. It really is gorgeous with the tall greener than green mountains and the rain clouds hovering them and with the splashes of red, pink, and orange flowers that cover these jungle trees. I wish you all could be here.

Thank you for reading and for your prayers. I love you all!

Happily ever after 10 months...or maybe just day.

Hi Y'all! How is everyone doing? I hope everything is well back in the States. I must admit I feel very out of the loop on what is happening in the world. But, I do have lots to tell about my first days of teaching. So let's get to it!

Monday was my last day to get ready for school. My last day to decorate and my last day to lesson plan. As the day faded away my nerves set in. I spent the day in my classroom and at 9p.m some of us walked down the street to get ice cream (which has become a routine that I love). All of us kept mentioning how nervous and unprepared we were. What better way to calm down than eating an ice cream cone?

When we got back on campus a truck was leaving to go to the hospital. The niece of our principal had lost a lot of blood and needed some desperately. They asked those of us who didn't know our blood type to hop in and go get it tested. So even though I still had MUCH to prepare for the next day I felt the urge to go help. 

The truck was speeding down the pot-holed filled roads and at first all I could think about was how if we crashed my life would be over. Then I thought about the urgency the driver felt to get there quickly and I realized that this little girl needed us to fill her up with more life and soon. I prayed the whole rest of the way that one of us would have this girl's blood type. It turned out that three of the guy's did and they were able to give blood. 

That night I learned two things. I learned that I have O positive blood(do I trust the results of this hospital though? questionable) and I learned I am in Pohnpei for a bigger purpose than teaching. I am here to love and care for all the people here. I was so nervous for my first day of teaching, but my God is the same God that chose Moses, a nervous speaker, to lead the Israelites home. Going to the hospital the night before school turned out to be exactly what I needed. By the way, my friends Lindsey, Cierra, and I stayed in our classrooms until 2a.m preparing for school. Woohoo thank you to my adrenaline rush.  

So that brings us to the first day of school! Oh boy, I was more nervous than I anticipated. I saw my students and parents lined up at my door and stood from a distance just watching and breathing. Right when I got to my classroom teacher Ms. Williams kicked in and the nerves flew out the door. I had so much fun meeting the students and singing with them! I was laughing in the middle of the songs from excitement. About 30 minutes later though I ran out of things to do! I quickly realized that I had a lot to teach. These second graders are probably more on a kindergarten/ 1st grade level. I made it through the day by improvising(yay heads-up seven-up). I was really pumped to get back in there the next day and review our procedures, rules, and teach happily ever after for 10 months. 

This is the part in my story where happily ever after turned into lets just make it through the day and I'll be happy. The next two days were rough. I have 15 students and the boys outnumber the girls. I have a few mischievous boys, one in particular, that keeps me on my feet all day. It goes like this, "boys, get in your seat. Go to your seat...go change your card and SIT DOWN." Yes, sometimes I don't like the teacher Ms. Williams. I just want to hang out with cute kids but that just can't happen on the teacher side. 

So yeah, it was a lot of repeating myself, getting discouraged after assessing them in different subjects, and and getting my serious face perfected. But, then there was the playing freeze tag with them at recess, and singing at the top of our lungs in class so that the whole school could hear, and pictures of me drawn, and laughter filling the classroom. I love each one of my kids, even the troublemakers. I love this opportunity. I love the friends I have made here. I love sitting in everyones apartment grading papers. I love riding in the back of trucks looking up at the stars. I love rope swinging into the ocean. I love that I have accepted that my classroom is being shared with a frog family. I love feeling God's presence when we sing to Him. 

Woo this got long! If you finished reading this I thank you. I still have so many other stories but I have to save some for when I get back too. Your support and prayers mean the world to me. I love you all and comment if you wish. It makes me really happy. 

Much love. 

When I grow up I want to be...

Kaselehlie or hello my blog family! I hope you are all doing wonderfully. This week has been full of lesson planning and cleaning out my classroom for me. I just wanted to share some thoughts that have been on my mind.

When I was little I had two dream jobs when I grew up. I wanted to be a cashier and I wanted to be a teacher. I took these goals seriously. Every time we brought groceries home I would take them out of the bag, scan them on my fake cash register, and bag them again. (Thanks for letting me do this mom!)

 I recently realized that I got both of my wishes and God used them together. Last summer I got a job at a clothing store. This was my first "real" job and I absolutely loved it. I saved up my money and left it sitting in my bank account for the school year. I then got the call to be a student missionary and that led me to teaching. How do these two things go together you might wonder? That money that I had made from my previous summer helped me buy school supplies for my future students that I had no idea about at the time. I love God's bigger picture.

I really haven't done too much other than prepare for the school year this week. I did make some delicious banana bread with some friends. Found my first cockroach in the bathroom(I knew that day would come), went running on the banged up track, and caught a frog.

Thank you for reading! I'll be sure to put up some more pictures and stories soon.

Love you all!

Alas we meet!

Hello family and friends and anyone else that might be reading this little blog of mine. I hope all is well in the States! I made it to Pohnpei so lets get this blog going!

Yesterday I left Hawaii at 6:30a.m and we stopped on two islands before landing on Pohnpei. Let me tell you Pohnpei is HUGE compared to Majuro and Kwajalein. Flying into to Pohnpei was the prettiest sight I have seen. We landed and were greeted with pretty head lei's made by the local ladies from our school.

When we arrived on campus we chose our apartments. I walked around the campus a bit and saw my second grade classroom. oh boy I am excited to get in there and teach! Everything is greener than you can imagine and wetter than you probably want to imagine. The humidity just does a whole body slam with you.

View from my apartment

The school provided us with a delicious dinner of fish, rice, curries, and all the fruit you can think of. YUM. After that we quickly loaded up the two school trucks to go jump in a river and cool off. Let me pause here and talk about these trucks. They are so much fun! They have long tailgates so pretty much everyone sits in the back. Imagine the breeze blowing through your hair, you are bouncing around from the rough roads, and the green trees with vibrant colors of flowers are being passed by. I wish you all could experience this! (one of them is also a yellow stick shift so I won't miss my truck back home too terribly).

I love this baby!

The river had a gorgeous, powerful waterfall. You know the infomercials with that small pool that sends out water and keeps you swimming in place? well thats what this reminded me of. The waterfall was so strong that you really had to swim hard to get up under it. But I did and it was kinda awesome.

I so wish you all could see Pohnpei in person! It is just a beautiful island with beautiful people living on it. I cannot believe this is where I will be living for the next 10 months! God has blessed me in so many ways already. I am anxious to start teaching and meet all of the kids. Thank you for your prayers and stop in to say hello if you wish :)


Much love.