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.
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