Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! I love this beautiful holiday filled with loved ones and scrumptious food. Although, I am far away from many loved ones, I feel so blessed to have another family here.

I told you all last time that I decided to stay home for the weekend instead of going to Ant island. That weekend I ran a 5k that promoted health and wellness. I woke up bright and early and ran the race with my friend Kenny. Kenny and I ended up getting first place for boys and girls. I got 4th over all(I was pretty proud of myself) and I ran 3 miles under 30 minutes. Woohoo. We had no idea that our first place prize would be so great. We got a fan. A fan people! Any person on a island of heat and humidity would be stoked and on top of that we got a gift card to our grocery store. That was a good day.

The next week of school was down right rough. These kids need to be introduced to the RESPECT song. Seriously. I am still learning patience and reliance on God. There are some days that I feel mean and unfit to be a teacher. Then I remember that God did call me here and I choose to trust in His plan. A lot of times people say to one another that God won't give people more than they can handle. I have come to disagree with this reassurance. I am 20 years old and responsible for 17 kids that like to run around like monkeys. This is too much for me handle. The only way I can do this is through God.  I believe God gives humans things that are too much to handle so that we must rely on Him. All things are possible through Christ who gives us strength.

This last weekend was quite eventful. Saturday we went to church further away in our big van. On the way back home the van decided to give up on the hills and we all had to get out and walk. This is what you get in Pohnpei. I enjoyed my nice Sabbath walk picking Plumerias. My apartment got a little puppy that day too. My teacher aids dog had some puppies and we wanted one for ourselves. We need him Paliker and he is the cutest one month old pup. Later in the afternoon we visited the hospital to sing and pray over the sick. I always feel so close to Jesus when I pray for the new friends I make in the hospital.

On Sunday the girls decided to have a girls day. We took off in the big yellow truck without a destination in mind. We just wanted to get off campus and experience the island. We ended up at the docks were all the big ships live. We wanted to take a look at the Hawaiian science research ship that was here for the weekend. The security guards gave us badges that said we were allowed to be on dock and we felt pretty important. Lets just say this puppy did us good(we brought him on our adventure) two men from the research ship offered a tour on board. We were stoked! This crew had been on sea for 30 days doing some "research" in the Mariana Trench. After a nice tour we said our thanks and left. Later we went to the Village for dinner. Now let me pause here and say rumor was that James Cameron the director of Titanic and Avatar was on Pohnpei to film a documentary on giant squids. Well, turns out James Cameron likes to eat at the Village too. We decided that there was no way we could not ask for a picture. Kate and myself went up to where he was sitting and asked. I got a picture with James Cameron with his arm around me. By the way, we later realized that the ship we just toured was the one James was on filming squids in the Mariana Trench. Its a long story that I would love to tell so ask me when I get back if you would like to hear it.

This Thanksgiving week has been better. The kids really do pick random days to behave and misbehave. You just never know what you're going to get that day. Today we made Indian hats and had a feast with the 3rd graders. There was an abundance of food. Fruit, rice, chicken, and plenty of desserts. The day was over before I knew it. Tonight we are having a feast with everyone. We(and when I say we I mean everyone else in my apartment) has spent the day baking and cooking. I spent it rearranging my room and sleeping. Tomorrow the sm's decided to have our own small Thanksgiving dinner since our famalies were so thoughtful to send us packages full of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin mix.

I am thankful for my family, new friends and old friends, and most of all that Jesus has placed me on this beautiful island.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me packages! I got an abundance of school supplies from my church's bible study group and some lovely treats from my grandparents, and goodies from my parents. THANK YOU! I love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love to Love

Hello friends and family!

There is a little girl named Zamara here that loves to hug, jump, and hang on you. She is a smart girl but has trouble staying focused and still. Sometimes in P.E she'll come sit on my lap and I'll hold her for a long time. I love the long, cozy, meaningful hugs with someone you care about. This last week she gave me a big bear hug and as I was holding her she looked up at me with the most worried eyes and said "I am going to miss you when you leave."I reminded her that I am not leaving anytime soon but she persisted that when the next teacher comes she is going to miss me. This tugged at the strings of my heart. I have such a great opportunity to love these children and I am so happy to do that. 

Sometimes people like to skip over the ugly things in this world and pretend they don't happen. I know I say a lot of wonderful, happy things on this blog because there is a lot of wonderful, happy things here. But there is also the ugly side. The side where it is okay for parents to beat their children. Nothing can be said or done if we find out. This breaks my heart. Many of my kids come from broken homes, but you'll find that everywhere and anywhere you go. I feel so blessed to love these kids and I do with my whole heart. Sometimes it scares me how much they pay attention to what I say or how I react to a situation. I can get frustrated in the classroom and that's a natural, normal feeling, but it is how I choose to respond to it that matters. 

My happiest moments in my class is our Jesus talks. I never plan for our morning worship, but they turn out to be the best conversations. One day I was telling them how I like to picture myself kneeling before God when I pray. I said this just as a passing thought. The next day after morning prayer Caitlin excitingly raised her hand and said, "Ms. I pictured God in front of me when we prayed!" Jesus speaks through me to talk to these children. I love that I am His tool for classroom 16. 

We had a three day school week this last week. It was lovely. My students were their typical ball of energy selves and there were head on the desk moments. I can't forget the moments of Mekyva cleaning my entire classroom at recess. I get such a comfort out of people cleaning my classroom. The best thing I can relate it to is the feeling of someone playing with your hair. There was the moment of telling my kids that we were going to chapel and they jumped on me with joy. Literally, they tackled me with excitement. If you could peek into our class you guys would probably either be horrified at the sight or laugh your heads off. On this campus, kids can get wild and teachers can get crazy. At first it shocked me how different things run here compared to the typical American schools. I embrace it now.

On Thursday was our first school fair. I set up a bowling booth. It was fun for the first hour but it was pretty exhausting setting up the pins every minute. Eventually, I had some kind-hearted boys help run the booth. There was a sponge toss booth that all the teachers took a turn at allowing kids to through wet sponges at their face. I took some pretty hard-core throws. Most of all, there was a lot of candy. I may have got hungry and filled up with that instead of real food. Oops. After the fair we were all wiped out. 

This weekend most of the student missionaries are on the outter island of Ant. Ant is a beautiful island with sand. Sand! We don't have sand on the main island. I decided to stay back. Although, I really want to experience Ant I needed some alone time. Since I have started this journey with the 20 others we have been together pretty much non-stop. I am just one of those people that need to recharge with some quiet, alone time. Bryanna and Cierra are sick so I stayed with the infected. Yesterday was exactly what I needed and I feel much better! I slept in, watched some movies, cleaned the house, and ate curry at Johnson's house. He is Indian and makes the best curry! My mouth may have been on fire. (It also stormed last night and I was quite happy with my decision to stay indoors;)

Today is Sabbath on this side of the world so I'll be going to church soon and having a potluck afterwards. I hope you all have a beautiful day. Thanks for stopping by and as always feel free to comment. I miss you all!

p.s. I will update you all with pictures from the waterfall we went to soon! 

Love from Pohnpei.