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Hello Friends, 

 Crazy to think that I began my student missionary year to Pohnpei two years ago! While I am physically not in Pohnpei these days, my heart is. I'll go more into that in a bit.

 I recently took a summer class called Cross-Cultural Communications. This class taught me that visiting other cultures and performing mission work takes more thought than we think. Meaning that, although people desire to help other countries in need, many times that "help" ends up having a negative impact. Imagine if you will a fruit tree. Naturally the tree will provide fruit, but as we all know every tree has roots. Here is the analogy. Many organizations will go to places to fix a fruit problem such as sickness or constructing new buildings, but what really needs to be fixed are the root problems such as access to education and finding ways to live sustainably. 

While I was in Pohnpei, I noticed a root problem. Lack of health education. Disease, sickness, and death rates are increasing due to an unhealthy lifestyle choices. James 2:16 says, “If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” Here is my taking action plan to help eliminate the lack of health education on Pohnpei. (Let me note, this is an assignment for a class, but hopefully one day it takes action!)

With 30,000 USD given each year throughout the course of three years, I will establish a wellness center. The wellness center will bring awareness to the health issues and educate the locals on how to live a healthy life. Fitness and agricultural/gardening classes will be offered. 5k-runs and health expos will become a regular event. 
  The first year I am in Pohnpei I will focus on relationship building, gaining the trust of the locals, assessing their needs, and building and equipping the wellness center. Also, I will be looking for educated locals to teach and manage the center. The second year, the wellness center will kick off the opening of its doors with a 5k-run/ health expo. This will introduce the locals on what this new center is about and hopefully inspire them to become a member. The third year, I will evaluate how the wellness center is performing and see what changes could be made to

God Gave Me Both

Has it really been 1 month since I have last written to you all? wow time sure does fly. I hope you all are happy and well. Lets get to this bloggin!

As of the lates, I have been feeling like I am never, ever going to get off this island. I am tired. I am an 80 year old trapped inside a 21 year old body. Dramatic much? Yeah, I guess. They work us hard over here. I had my first dream about going home last night. I even put away a few things in my suitcase. I get butterflies and spurts of excitement when I think about flying away. My naturally bubbly self has been overcome by tiredness. I am usually a positive person that focuses on pretty, happy things. Lately, it takes too much energy that I don't have to do that.

Luckily, I remember that I am tremendously blessed. I am in a beautiful place and I have made lifelong friends. I love my 17 headaches of children. I do. My friend here says I glow when I am with them. I like that because my heart glows too. So even with all the drama of administration and 20 college students that see each other every day, I live in a beautiful place with beautiful people. God has given me challenges and blessings at the same time. God gave me both.

I missed writing you guys in February. Being that Pohnpei doesn't get on the news often, I am guessing you missed hearing that we were in a drought for a week in February. Yep, the second rainiest place on earth was in a drought. Pohnpei relies heavily on the rainfall. We didn't get rain for one week which means no water pressure. No showers, no doing dishes, no flushing the toilet. I was roughin it up by taking bucket showers and letting my pile of dishes just build up. In the States, schools have snow days. In Pohnpei, schools have drought days. School on Valentines Day was cancelled due to the fact that we couldn't flush our toilets. What teacher wants to deal with kids who have to go but cannot? Not this one:)

I went camping on an outer island the other weekend. This island had nothing manmade on it. It was small, filled with palm trees and dropping coconuts. The water was crystal clear. We sang songs around the campfire and slept in the jungle. My friends and I snorkeled to a beachy island that was neighbors with our camp. I always seem to miss seeing the sharks and string rays, but other people saw them. I laid out under the sun, got burnt from the sun, and then laid under it some more. My favorite memory from this camping trip was paddle boarding. Sunday morning I woke up early to watch the sunrise while most everyone else slept in. The ocean was mysteriously calm, so my friend and I took out the boards. We paddled a ways away and laid out on the boards. The sun was still rising, the water was warm and clear, and the main island looked giant and beautiful from my board. It was one of those peaceful moments that you have with just you and the sea. Sometimes I feel far away from American life, but being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean definitely has a good life as well. 

3 more months to go on this big, gorgeous island. 3 more months with the kiddos. 3 more months of endless hugs and back rubs from them. 3 more months of spontaneous moments in the classroom. 3 more months of being a teacher, mom, and friend to classroom 16. 3 more months, but a lifetime to cherish them.

Thank you for your love and prayers. It means the world. 

Island love. 

Smiles for All

Hey Y'all! It's that time where I write to you again and tell you about my Pohnpei adventures. I hope all is going well for you guys wherever you may be. Please get comfy and enjoy!

January has been a great start to the year. I began teaching again, knowing that I am more than half way done. 4 more months people! This makes me think about going home and what that is going to be like. It also makes me think about leaving my kids. I feel a lot more confident this quarter in the classroom. I have my crazy, wacky, animated teaching style down. It is so much fun trying to explain what words like "compare" mean, but what is even more fun than that is hearing a child say, "oh I get it now!" The best.

This week I had a great "Jesus moment" at Bible time. I told them the parable of the lost sheep. I had them close their eyes and imagine 5 sheep, 30 sheep, 60 sheep, 100 SHEEP, and then I told them that God knows every person, loves every person. It was a special, quiet, focused moment(these moments are hard to get sometimes). Then after praying little, smiley Norman raises his hand and said, "teacher when we were praying I imagined 100 sheep." These kids are killing me with their cute faces and happy comments. I love them. 

On Saturdays we will occasionally do an outreach ministry. This month we went to the hospital to sing. It is easy to sing in a big group, split up and pray, then move on and not realize that you are a blessing these people. On this particular Sabbath we were singing and a lady came up to us and put lotion on each of us. This is very meaningful in Pohnpei. It is a way of humbling themselves and saying thank you. It reminded me that God uses us even when we are unaware of it sometimes. Yesterday, we went to a village to sing and color with children. I was singing "Father Abraham" with the children and they were cracking up. Big, hardy, joyful laughter! I have sang this song countless times since being here, but yesterday I could not be more happier singing it with kids who were having so much fun. 

As of the lates, I have been cooking. No, not just macaroni & cheese. Actual, healthy cooking! (See mom, I told you there was hope for me one day) My friend and I have been making scrumptious meals such as eggplant, salads, homemade bread, and stirfry. It has been so much fun to turn the music on and loose myself in cooking and the occasional smoke. One challenging thing on this island has been eating healthy. The first couple of months my diet consisted of pop-tarts, mac & cheese and pancakes. Woo. Finally, after 5 months I have learned how to eat right here. Anyways, I can probably make you something special and delicious when I get back. Just ask;)

Well folks, not too much else has been happening. I think about you all often and I am so happy to have friends and family who support me. It means the world. I love you all! 

Island love.

Happy 2013!

Hey to all of you! We are now living in 2013. CRAZY. 

It has been a little while since I have caught you all up on life on the island. I hope you all are comfy cozy because I have some stories to share.

Lets start off with the last week of school before Christmas break. This week was full of adrenaline and sleeping pills for me. I had so many last minute things to do for the Charlie Brown Christmas play and I was pretty stressed out. Luckily, Mrs. Airens, my teaching aid, took charge of my class so that I could run around and do all my director duties. I was in and out of my classroom, decorating the gym, rehearsing with the actors, and figuring out lights and sound. WHEW. Just thinking about it makes me wonder how I managed to stay sane. I had lifesaver friends to help me out. Play rehearsal was rough. Getting the choir off and on the stage and telling my actors when to go on stage was quite the chore. The play day came and I tried my best to remain calm. Now I know all of you are wondering how it went right?!...everything went wrong!
No, I am totally kidding. It could not have gone more perfectly and smoothly. The actors did great and had fun on stage. The different choirs transitioned on and off stage quickly and sang loudly. There was one moment where we realized our charlie brown christmas tree was missing and we had to make another one real fast. I could not believe how perfectly the program went. I wish you all could have been there. You would have seen one proud director. Thank you for all you best wishes!!

Christmas break was a nice, long, slow, relaxing, boring, fun, adventurous break. My body went into shut down mode for the first couple of days. Going from insanely busy to nothing to do at all meant it was time to sleep. So I did. The first week I explored downtown Kolonia. You can probably do it in 30 minutes but somehow we dragged it out. Our surfers went surfing a lot. Campus was extra quiet. At times it was a bit lonely and other times it was exciting. On actual Christmas day I was a bit down. I skyped my folks and may have teared up on them. Luckily, they were there to encourage me and remind me on why I am here. Christmas dinner was a different story and I don't think I have ever eaten so much in one day. We went two dinners and it is extremely disrespectful to not load up your plate. Boy was I glad to be wearing a loose skirt;)

New years eve is where it is at over here! Nothing starts happening until midnight. At 12:00 we dropped our own created ball off the balcony. It was decked out in christmas lights. Who needs New Yorks when we can make our own? Then, we jumped into our trucks; drove around town throwing water balloons at people and banging on our metal drum. Yes, this is what everyone does for 2 hours. I came back drenched. 

Today was my first day back teaching. I was beyond excited to see my children again and hear about their break. Although break was much needed, I didn't feel very needed without the kiddos. I am very happy to be back with them. 5 months down, 5 more to go. 

I wish you all the happiest start to 2013. Leave a comment if you wish. I love you all!! 

Love from Pohnpei. 

P.S. Thank you for all the packages. I received Christmas cards that are now hanging on my fridge, supplies and goodies for the kids, and yummy food. Your unceasing thoughts and support will always warm my heart. 

Diagnosed with a Case of Island Fever

I haven't been able to write lately because I am burnt out. We all know the feeling of having so many things on our plates that when we finally get some free time all we want to do is sit. Sit and stare. That's how it has been for me. 

Directing the Charlie Brown Christmas play has added a lot to my plate. I have never done anything like this before so it is a learning adventure. There is a line in this play where Charlie says, "I don't know anything about directing a christmas play." Oh Charlie, I know exactly how you feel. It scares me to think that this play depends on 7 through 14 year olds. Sure, I can tell them where to stand, never turn their backs to the audience, and use big expressions, but it is up to them to memorize their lines. Yeah, it has been stressful, but they are starting to pull it together and I am very pleased with our lead roles. 

My days lately consist of the littles jumping on me and clinging to me for seven hours. If I had a personal bubble before here, it is FAR gone. At 3:00p.m I leave a dirty classroom to head straight over to play practice where those kids talk over me and mean Ms. Williams says, "Really? I have been with 2nd graders all day and they listen better than you" yes, my patience is on the verge of breaking. Right after play practice I work on props until about 8:00p.m. There is not once a sit down break for even 5 minutes in this day. This day is long. On Thursday my body finally had had enough and after practice I could barely talk to anyone. I went in my room and locked myself in there for about 4 hours. I needed peace. I needed quiet. I needed God. 

Luckily, I have one more week and then it is break time. I am really excited for the Christmas play too! I will be sure to film it on more than one camera( just in case) because I would love for you all to see it someday. 

I have been needing to look for the positives here lately. Routine has definitely set in and I think I have a small case of island fever. The kids are ready for a break and teachers are ready for a break. I can't imagine being off this island right now, even if I want to be. Sometimes it is very hard to be here. Most days are days that test my patience. Sometimes I have thoughts that I shouldn't be dealing with kids not listening and parents getting upset. They are selfish to think they can walk all over a person who doesn't have to be here. Really, I am the selfish one. God calls us to places for a reason. We must have faith in Him. 

One of my students said to me this week, "Ms. I am going to miss you over break." A simple saying by a little girl, yet it warmed my heart. This was God's touch of encouragement. My little boy Alex calls me mommy and I have stopped saying I am teacher. He is a lovey dovey, always wanting my arms around him. Sometimes I will stop what I am doing, especially if I am busy, and just give him a long hug. This is God's touch of encouragement. 

I have the awesome opportunity to explain what faith is to my children and tell them stories about my childhood and family. It brings me comfort and makes me feel that I am not too far away from home. Through all the stress I deal with here, I receive so much love. I am blessed. 

I hope you are all wonderful. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. They mean so much to me. I love you all. 

Sending over some island love. 

"We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

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.

Scary Parents, Crash and Burn, and a Merry Christmas Charlie Brown

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. 

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. 

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. 

Cast Away

Hello all. Well its that time again where I tell you more about my stories and experiences in Pohnpei. So we better get to this.

Last weekend we went to an outter island called Black Coral. This island was just a piece of jungle land that you could walk around in probably 2 minutes and it had no electricity. As the little fishing boat with 20 people on it pulled up to the shore, the owner came out to welcome us. This man was seriously the guy from "Cast Away" long beard and all. But of course Pohnpeian. I knew we were in for the rough island experience that I had longed for and boy did I get it.

We chose our hammock location right away. I so wisely put mine over the ocean. There happened to be a tree on the island and a tree in the ocean that I could connect too. Although, it was pretty amazing swinging over the ocean when the rain came my other friends and I didn't last too long and moved into a little hut. The next day started off interesting to say the least and I am pretty sure I have experienced something that you have not(don't be jealous). so here it goes.

I was oh so innocently walking over to the ocean with my snorkeling gear when two of the other student missionary boys call me over. They tell me that whistling into a crab shell will make the crab come out a little bit. I try it and the little crab peeks out despite my poor whistling skills. The boys then tell me I should let the crab tickle my lip because it feels funny. I would like to insert here that this is when I had poor judgment and writing this makes me feel like the smartest person in the world(hmm...).  Anyways, I put the crab up to my lip and let it tickle me. This is where things get a little fuzzy. I think they told me to do it again and somehow the little crab was back up to my lip and he decided to clamp on to it. It hurt and I naturally said ow. They thought I was kidding. I wished I was. So they began trying to get the little crab to release itself from my lip. This crab was determined and would not let go. Every time they went to tug it off the little guy pinched me even harder. There may have been tears rolling down my face, but I could not stop laughing. I mean come on who gets a crab stuck to their lips? Some of the staff came over to see what this commotion was about and Archie pulled out his knife and after sometime succeeded in cutting the crab legs off. The boys felt really bad about my puffy lip, but I just thought it was hilarious. I have the crab shell for keepsake. 

Thats not where the story ends. This next story was a bit more scary and not so funny. After removing the crab off my lips I eventually made it to the water ready to snorkel. The reef was beautiful and had lots of fish with vibrant colors. The other student missionaries had seen sharks in this area and I was determined to find one myself. I set off snorkeling around the island with two other guys with the quest to find a shark. We made it to the other side of the island and still had seen no shark. Then another guy showed up and said he just saw a few in the direction we had come from. So we all agreed to turn back and I was exhausted anyways. The boys took off pretty fast and I had intended too but I just was so tired. I began swimming and realized that I was not going anywhere. I was right before the big waves were breaking and all the swaying started to make me sea sick. I looked to the boys and they were way ahead of me. I began to get nervous. Here I was in the ocean with big waves breaking and I had no energy to do anything about it. Now you might wonder why I didn't just ride the waves in? The island side I was on had only coral to get through the shallow waters and that stuff hurts. I tried to remain calm but the ocean is not really my comfort zone. Luckily, one of the guys noticed I was missing and came back. He tried helping me but I must say I was in a bad mood and I suddenly was determined to get on land even if I had to go through the sharp coral. I started to take the waves in and the poor guy had to follow. Oh boy, it was so scary to look behind me and see a huge wave beginning to break and look in front of me and see a huge piece of coral. The wave would push me around and I would do my best to dodge the coral. Somehow we made it in with limited cuts. Once we got on the mangrove shore I sat down for awhile because I still felt sick. I was not quite up to the adventure of finding a way to our island(we landed on a different island right across from the one we were camping on). After about 10 minutes 2 other guys showed up and the same thing happened to them. I was so happy to make the party of two a party of four and I found the drive to start making our way back. We were walking through this jungle land when we met up with a lot of other guys that were out looking for me. I guess the principal noticed that I was gone and wanted them to go find me. I was so happy to make it back to camp. I was gone for 2 hours. They told me it was a really bad rip current and then it all made since. Anywho, I didn't go back in the ocean after that. 

Woo so those our my "Cast Away" stories. I'm not quite sure I would last that long on an island by myself. I'll catch you guys up on classroom stuff later because that was longer than I had anticipated. I hope you all are well and thank you so much for reading. It really does mean so much.

I am sick once again. I am not sure I slept at all last night so wish me luck in the classroom today. Poor kids. I love you all and comment if you wish!

Sticky notes and tropical settings

Hiya friends, family, and fellow blog readers. It has been a little while since I last posted so lets get to this.

 The past couple days I have been sick(the little ones are always sick) and I must say Ms. Williams probably would not have received teacher of the week award(if there was such an award). There was a lot of sitting on desks, blowing into tissues, and sneezing like no other. I guess if the kiddos come to school sick and try to learn, I should try to teach my best sick. Anyways, the week is wrapping up and I am recovering from this nasty little cold of mine. 

Today I had teacher/parent conferences. Honestly, I was not expecting any of the parents to come but to my surprise I had 4 out 17 parents come. Success!(This may have a hint of sarcasm) They were all parents of my A students too. I did have to tell one mom that I caught her son cheating off my teacher edition book today and made him write "I will not cheat" 50 times. That was fun. As I was sitting in my classroom talking to my students' parents I kept thinking how it is so weird to be on the teacher side of the desk. Being a teacher still hasn't fully hit me yet. I have students and they come to me expecting me to teach them and they have parents that trust me, a 20 year old, to do that too. Why would they do that?

Can I just say that I love my kids. I really do. Every morning after I get out of staff worship and walk to the office some of my students run up to me and say, "Ms. Williams" with a big smile on their face. It melts my heart. Sometimes it surprises me that they like me because I am not there friend in the classroom. Today I had like 7 of my students hiding behind the office wall getting ready to scare me. I knew they were all there though(teachers are licensed ninjas) when I walked by them they were all shouting, "busted, we got busted" and then they took off running to the classroom. They make me laugh.

Classroom 16 can get crazy sometimes and there are moments that I just sit at my desk and breathe. One stressful day I took out my sticky notes and started making a list of all the positive things going on in the classroom. Doing this really helped me focus on happy things and not let the stress make me turn into the grinch. This is what I saw. I saw Jackie Hope playing teacher at the board and giggling the cutest, darn giggle you could ever hear. This little girl has the cutest personality and cheeks that you just want to pinch all the time. I saw Ryan and Mekyva playing hangman with our spelling words. I saw Sophia fixing a fallen poster. There is something about Sophia that is so soothing to me. She always knows how to make me calm. I saw Kavika at his desk and when he realized I was watching him he gave me a mischievous smile. I wish you could meet all my students.

As for life outside of the classroom, Pohnpei just keeps getting better. Last weekend I went out to P-pass with the surfers(it is known for being one of the best surf spots in the world). I am still not sure why because the reef is literally right below the waves so if you fall you get banged up. But what do I know. The waves were depressingly small for the surfers but I had fun in my floaty just floating in the line up with them. Yeah, there were like 9 surfers and one floater. It was awesome though to be in the ocean with the sight of pure blue water and an jungle island behind you. We were out there for around 5 hours and it rained so hard at one point that the island was not visible at all. 

You know how you see pretty pictures of islands and tropical settings on calenders and different places? I see those pictures sometimes here and I feel like I live in that really pretty picture. The beauty overwhelms me. I am just so blessed to live on this beautiful, slow-paced island. I want you all to experience this so badly. I want you to see, smell, and taste everything here. I hope that my writing has helped you get a little glimpse of the beauty. I have too many stories to put on here but I would love to tell you about everything someday. If you want to know anything in particular feel free to ask!

Shout out to Carmen and David from my church back home. I received two lovely packages filled up with more teaching supplies I could ever hope for. My students and myself thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Also to my wonderful parents who have sent me so many wonderful things. You guys are the best.

So this where I say goodnight for myself and good morning to you all. Thanks for reading. I miss you all and I will talk to you soon!

Much love from Pohnpei.

P.S- We are camping on an outter island this weekend. It is about to get Cast Away status over here. More to come on that later.

Bundles of joy, oodles of pain.

Hi everybody! I am happy to write to you all again and I hope all is well with you.

 I can proudly say that Tuesday and Thursday I had successful days in the classroom (Wednesday I might have wanted to scream into a pillow). I was able to keep my kids silent (most of the time) and I think I might have actually taught them something. Score. There may of even been a moment where I thought I could do this as a profession, it passed quickly though.

I see crazy things being a teacher in the classroom people. Crazy, mostly inappropriate things. I have students coming up to me with mouths full of rice trying to tell me why another student is misbehaving. I tell kids to go change their card for cussing if they messed up a problem. I also walked into the bathroom to find a little boys pants and underwear on the floor. I don't even want to know what that was about. And sometimes I just let stuff go and laugh because I would explode if I had to deal with every single case. 

My heart just goes out to my little bundles of joy and oodles pain(lets be honest). Today, I had one of my little girls bring me flowers that she had picked from her house. I also witnessed a "cha-ching" moment for one of my little boys that struggles with math. I read with groups of four while the other students read independently. By the way, I have pretty much mastered the whole watch everyone while reading a book thing. I now know why they say moms have eyes in the back of their heads. Teachers do too. 

Besides being a teacher, I am also going to be a certified scuba diver pretty soon! Oh boy am I excited. I went on my first dive last Sunday and I feel in love. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. There's just so much equipment and gadgets of sorts its intimidating. But going 70 ft under water is way too cool. The place we dived didn't really have anything to cool to see( I know, hard to believe with being on an island and everything) but it was a secluded place perfect for learning. 

I am getting into my routine here. It's a good thing and a bad thing. I know what to expect but now the "honeymoon" phase is over. I love Monday and Thursday shopping days because it is a chance to get off campus and see different people. Speaking of seeing people, I think I know what it feels like to live in a small town. I am starting to recognize a lot of the people that I see at the stores here. I made friends with an older hippy fellow. Him and his wife left America on a sailboat not sure where they were headed and they ended up here. So cool. I really do enjoy the people here.

There are still so many stories to share but I am happy to share this much with you. I want to give a big shout out to my mom and the Berrios'! Thank you for your packages. I loved them. It seriously feels like Christmas when packages are delivered here and food is much appreciated. Please comment if you wish, if not, thanks for reading and I hope you are making time for adventures in America or wherever you are.

Much love from Pohnpei :)

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.