Hello my friends. I hope you all are dandy. I have lots and lots to tell so lets get to this!
I am going to start off by saying that these last couple of weeks have been really great in classroom 16. My kids do drive me insane, like off the wall crazy sometimes. But its okay because I love them. We have become a family. Even my most troublesome kid and I have the best relationship. It is so true that children need to know they are loved and they definitely return it back to me. They are all hilarious. You guys would love them too.
Last Friday was report card day. This means no school for the students but the teachers had to be in their classrooms to talk to parents. I had this idea in my head that my day would be a successful one filled with redecorating, catching up on grading, and lesson planning. Well, my island sister and also the kindergarten teacher Yosko came by and we were chatting and having a jolly 'ole time. Then she looked out the window to see one of my students father coming to my classroom. Now if you knew Yosko you would know that she is a jokester. She was telling me to get prepared for this dad because he used to make the last year teacher cry. I thought she was just messing with me and of course I could handle any parent. She wasn't kidding. This father comes into my classroom with the most intimidating looking face and I know I am in for a difficult time. I won't go into much detail but let me tell you folks that he had nothing good to say. Of course I put on my "I am the teacher and know what I am doing face" but inside I was crying. This man had made me feel like the worst teacher ever. After talking it out and thinking it out, I realized that he does not know what he is talking about. My 17 students are so important to me and I do my best to teach them, but honestly if they don't understand something like bar graphs, its okay. What is important is that they are trying their best and that they know they are loved. So word got around that Ms. Williams had a difficult parent.
After parent/teacher conferences, some of my friends and I decided to rent mopeds to ride around the island. This is something that my friend J Dub and I had been talking about since being at Southern. I was pretty excited and determined to drive one. So J Dub gives me the bike with a 1 minute explanation on how to drive it. I take a lap around school on it by myself. Then, the boys decide to put Macy on the back. Okay so here is this bike that I have taken around the loop once and now I have this person holding on to me and they want me to take her around the island?! I mean yeah I nailed that loop but I am not pro moped driver. Lets just say the last thing Macy and I said to each other was we are scared and then I crashed. Yes, I crashed. We didn't even make it around the first turn. I was trying to turn, but the parked truck happened to be there and I felt like it would be so much more fun to hit that! I kid, I kid. We both jumped off really fast and I think I went into shock. Did I forget to mention that everyone was there? The pastor, the principal, all the student missionaries, and some students. That was the beginning and end of my moped driving. The boys drove us around the island and it was so much fun. It takes around 2 hours to drive around the entire island. It was so beautiful especially on the other side of the island because there is only little villages. Sometimes it is nice to be out of the hussel and bussel of the town.
The next day on Sabbath a few of us went camping for one night on an outter island called Nahlap. This island is like a mini resort. There are sanded paths and a water slide. We just relaxed all day and hammocked all night. My hammock actually fell down in the middle of the night. It's funny because one of the last things I said before bed was that the hammocks were up really high. Luckily, I was pretty tired, said ouch when I hit the ground, and fell back asleep. You know how there is always that one person who just gets hurt all the time on trips? I realized that I am that person here on Pohnpei. I don't know how that happened, but it did. Everyone says that its because I take it really well. So I guess I'll take one for the team;)
This last school week was fun, crazy, frustrating, rewarding, and tiring. On Tuesday, I had my first Charlie Brown Christmas play auditions. A lot of students tried out and I was very impressed with them. Thursday was call-backs and we re-auditioned a few and then let them know what their roles were. Charlie Brown was so hard to pick! Mr. Martin(the other director) and myself may have been so unsure between two different students that we rock, paper, scissored it. I am so happy that the cast is chosen and we are ready to start practicing. We have our work cut out for us! If you have any directing/ play/charlie brown tips send them on over!
Wednesday was a holiday and I would like to thank the United Nations for giving us that. I love having Wednesdays off because it makes the week go by so much faster. Franky the principal took us out to see manta rays. It was gorgeous and so cool to see a huge manta ray at the bottom of the ocean. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and going into town for a little shopping trip. I am oh so excited to let you know that I am now a licensed driver in Pohnpei and I have driven the manuel yellow truck that I love so much. Here, the driver's seat is on the right side of the car but you still drive on the right side of the road. I have so much fun driving stick shift on a bumpy, pothole filled road. The rest of the week went super fast. Just keeping busy with the play and the littles.
I had an adventurous day today, but I'll save that for next time. Lets just say hiking and waterfalls were involved. I want to give a special shout-out to the Berrios family, my grandparents, my parents, the Brassingtons, and the Magsalins! Your packages/letters were received with great joy. I also want to say thank you for continuing to read this little blog of mine and I hope your day is filled with happiness. I miss you all!
Much love from the island.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Think good thoughts, yes I think I will
Sabbath Mwahu! As my Sabbath has passed, yours is just beginning in the States. On an island, you have plenty of time to think about things beyond surface level. Here are some of my Sabbath thoughts.
Can you imagine living on this land by yourself? There are pretty flowers, trees to give you shade, water to refresh you, animals to tend to, but no other people to fellowship with. I most certainly cannot. God knew what he was doing when He gave man another being.
"And the Lord said, 'It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'" Genesis 1:18
My Sabbath day has come to a close. Today I reflected on what it meant to be a friend and a child of God. To be truthful with you all, sometimes I feel misplaced on this island. I am not sure if the locals understand English and I feel awkward in some situations we are placed in. In church I decided to sit with a beautiful 76 year old Pohnpeian lady. She was so sweet and endearing and I felt comforted by her presence. She had trouble hearing me, but we made conversation and she took my hand in hers often when she spoke. So as I was sitting in church I was thinking about how God made everyone on this Earth and He loves them all. People have many different types of living, but we all have the same Father. He gave us each other to encourage one another.
I am thankful for people.
As I told you in my last blog, I had a rough time last week. This week was completely the opposite. I decided that I needed to pray for my children and my patience more. It made such a difference in how I responded to them. I worked individually with my child who cannot read or spell a lot more. It meant staying in for recesses and lunch(moments I normally steal for myself). I went over the bones and muscles in science and the kids loved it. I taught them the fruits of the spirit song. I jumped rope and played hand games with my little girls. I gave piggy back rides, held hands, gave hugs, assigned more homework(they asked for more), kept up with grading, and I laughed so hard I cried in chapel. These students have my heart. They are my kids and I love them with every molecule in my body.
This does not mean I didn't have moments where I was completely annoyed. It just means I decided to relish the little joys and accept the challenges. I was also able to work out with Ms. Lindsey, the third grade teacher. Lindsey and I like to go running and talk about life here on this little island. This week we talked a lot about the powerful influence of positive thinking. I can honestly say that I have gotten so much better at being positive and accepting that things don't always go the way you want them to. Think good thoughts people! It will make you a much happier person and others will notice.
This week was quite simple outside of teaching. I did get into a nasty habit of drinking coffee in the morning. I never have been one of those coffee lovers who needs their cup each morning. Well, unfortunately, don't talk to me until I have my cup of coffee here. Golly gee, why does it have to be so helpful in my teaching day? Sorry mom but it really does make a difference. My freaky cleaning lady came out and I cleaned the entire rest of the day after school. I put up white lights, picked lots of flowers for our apartment, baked cookies, danced in the rain, read with our book club, had a frosting fight with Cierra and Brianna, and painted a flower elephant. Tomorrow is Sunday and will be spent hopefully at the water but I do have some school stuff to do.
So yeah, don't think I have crazy filled days everyday as a missionary. I am just living a slow-paced life; cleaning, baking, painting, and teaching children. I have time to think of you all quite often. I hope you had a good week as well!
Much love from a tiny dot on the map.
Can you imagine living on this land by yourself? There are pretty flowers, trees to give you shade, water to refresh you, animals to tend to, but no other people to fellowship with. I most certainly cannot. God knew what he was doing when He gave man another being.
"And the Lord said, 'It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'" Genesis 1:18
My Sabbath day has come to a close. Today I reflected on what it meant to be a friend and a child of God. To be truthful with you all, sometimes I feel misplaced on this island. I am not sure if the locals understand English and I feel awkward in some situations we are placed in. In church I decided to sit with a beautiful 76 year old Pohnpeian lady. She was so sweet and endearing and I felt comforted by her presence. She had trouble hearing me, but we made conversation and she took my hand in hers often when she spoke. So as I was sitting in church I was thinking about how God made everyone on this Earth and He loves them all. People have many different types of living, but we all have the same Father. He gave us each other to encourage one another.
I am thankful for people.
As I told you in my last blog, I had a rough time last week. This week was completely the opposite. I decided that I needed to pray for my children and my patience more. It made such a difference in how I responded to them. I worked individually with my child who cannot read or spell a lot more. It meant staying in for recesses and lunch(moments I normally steal for myself). I went over the bones and muscles in science and the kids loved it. I taught them the fruits of the spirit song. I jumped rope and played hand games with my little girls. I gave piggy back rides, held hands, gave hugs, assigned more homework(they asked for more), kept up with grading, and I laughed so hard I cried in chapel. These students have my heart. They are my kids and I love them with every molecule in my body.
This does not mean I didn't have moments where I was completely annoyed. It just means I decided to relish the little joys and accept the challenges. I was also able to work out with Ms. Lindsey, the third grade teacher. Lindsey and I like to go running and talk about life here on this little island. This week we talked a lot about the powerful influence of positive thinking. I can honestly say that I have gotten so much better at being positive and accepting that things don't always go the way you want them to. Think good thoughts people! It will make you a much happier person and others will notice.
This week was quite simple outside of teaching. I did get into a nasty habit of drinking coffee in the morning. I never have been one of those coffee lovers who needs their cup each morning. Well, unfortunately, don't talk to me until I have my cup of coffee here. Golly gee, why does it have to be so helpful in my teaching day? Sorry mom but it really does make a difference. My freaky cleaning lady came out and I cleaned the entire rest of the day after school. I put up white lights, picked lots of flowers for our apartment, baked cookies, danced in the rain, read with our book club, had a frosting fight with Cierra and Brianna, and painted a flower elephant. Tomorrow is Sunday and will be spent hopefully at the water but I do have some school stuff to do.
So yeah, don't think I have crazy filled days everyday as a missionary. I am just living a slow-paced life; cleaning, baking, painting, and teaching children. I have time to think of you all quite often. I hope you had a good week as well!
Much love from a tiny dot on the map.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...
But these Christmas lights are quite delightful. Oh hello blog family, I thought I would take a little break from grading and update you on my island life. It's raining, the Christmas lights are on, and my soft folk music is playing. So get cozy and enjoy.
This last Monday was a great day. It rained ALL day people. Like nonstop. Now it rains everyday on this pretty island, but the rain is usually scattered and the sun comes out often. On this particular day the sun decided to stay hidden. So I decided to take out a sweater, drink some hot coco, and play Christmas music(Yes, I am one of those people). I love the feeling of being cozy and it was a feeling that was long past due. My kids decided to be angel students too. Monday you were surprisingly good to me. Tuesday through Friday you were not.
The rest of the week was tough in every way. The constant rain continued all week and I missed my sunshine dearly. My students were loud and disrespectful. I had moments in the classroom where I felt mean and frustrated. Worst of all, I missed home. There are so many changes that are happening back at home and I want to be apart of them. Before coming out to Pohnpei I asked God to make this year a challenge for me. I have heard that being a student missionary will change you and that is exactly what I wanted. Praying that prayer is scary because you're asking for a hard time. God has told us that trials will strengthen us and that is what I need at this point in my life. I am believer that this world we live in is a lukewarm world filled with people living in grey. I am a believer that Jesus is coming soon and we need to make a choice.
God has answered my prayers. Not in the way I thought He would, but I trust Him. I am learning that I must seek Him wherever I am. Let me tell you people that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, you must seek God. It is more of a challenge than I expected it to be. So I like to tell you all the funny stories and happy times here on Pohnpei, but there are times when I wish I didn't have 17 students education in my hands. That is the beauty of trials because I already feel like a stronger person and I love my kids with all my heart.
Anywho, I went scuba diving today. My first dive we had to jump off the edge of a wall into the water with all our gear. It was so heavy! We went 60 feet and quite honestly I felt like I was going to die. Every time I breathed in, water came in too. I don't think that is suppose to happen. I made it though and the second dive was much more successful. It really is fun when the gear decides to work properly. We also had Mrs. V's(a teacher here) 60th birthday party. They are the cutest Filipino family and we karaoked like there was no tomorrow!
I forgot to mention that I am in charge of the school Christmas play! It is a big deal. The high school students will be acting and elementary will be singing throughout it. I decided to do the Charlie Brown Christmas play(most of them haven't heard of it). I am so very excited to take on this huge task. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Monday has come around once again and so I have to be going. Thank you for reading. I really enjoy writing to you all in this little blog of mine. I hope you are all doing wonderfully. Remember to find little joys throughout your days and seek God. Please pray for me and my class of 17 rascals.
Oh and I would like to say a special hello to my mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law. I can't wait to live together in Tennessee. I feel so blessed to have you guys as family. Love you!
Much love from the Island.
This last Monday was a great day. It rained ALL day people. Like nonstop. Now it rains everyday on this pretty island, but the rain is usually scattered and the sun comes out often. On this particular day the sun decided to stay hidden. So I decided to take out a sweater, drink some hot coco, and play Christmas music(Yes, I am one of those people). I love the feeling of being cozy and it was a feeling that was long past due. My kids decided to be angel students too. Monday you were surprisingly good to me. Tuesday through Friday you were not.
The rest of the week was tough in every way. The constant rain continued all week and I missed my sunshine dearly. My students were loud and disrespectful. I had moments in the classroom where I felt mean and frustrated. Worst of all, I missed home. There are so many changes that are happening back at home and I want to be apart of them. Before coming out to Pohnpei I asked God to make this year a challenge for me. I have heard that being a student missionary will change you and that is exactly what I wanted. Praying that prayer is scary because you're asking for a hard time. God has told us that trials will strengthen us and that is what I need at this point in my life. I am believer that this world we live in is a lukewarm world filled with people living in grey. I am a believer that Jesus is coming soon and we need to make a choice.
God has answered my prayers. Not in the way I thought He would, but I trust Him. I am learning that I must seek Him wherever I am. Let me tell you people that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, you must seek God. It is more of a challenge than I expected it to be. So I like to tell you all the funny stories and happy times here on Pohnpei, but there are times when I wish I didn't have 17 students education in my hands. That is the beauty of trials because I already feel like a stronger person and I love my kids with all my heart.
Anywho, I went scuba diving today. My first dive we had to jump off the edge of a wall into the water with all our gear. It was so heavy! We went 60 feet and quite honestly I felt like I was going to die. Every time I breathed in, water came in too. I don't think that is suppose to happen. I made it though and the second dive was much more successful. It really is fun when the gear decides to work properly. We also had Mrs. V's(a teacher here) 60th birthday party. They are the cutest Filipino family and we karaoked like there was no tomorrow!
I forgot to mention that I am in charge of the school Christmas play! It is a big deal. The high school students will be acting and elementary will be singing throughout it. I decided to do the Charlie Brown Christmas play(most of them haven't heard of it). I am so very excited to take on this huge task. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Monday has come around once again and so I have to be going. Thank you for reading. I really enjoy writing to you all in this little blog of mine. I hope you are all doing wonderfully. Remember to find little joys throughout your days and seek God. Please pray for me and my class of 17 rascals.
Oh and I would like to say a special hello to my mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law. I can't wait to live together in Tennessee. I feel so blessed to have you guys as family. Love you!
Much love from the Island.
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