God is good all the time

There have been several nights that I have tried to get an update written and posted, but I have been so tired I end up drifting off to sleep :) Tonight I am determined to finish this post :)

Today marks the end of our second week of school!  It has been a challenging and exciting two weeks!  I teach Kinder Two from 8am to 11am and then lead club time for the first and second graders from 11am to 11:30am.  

We have sixteen beautiful boys and girls in our class.  I am so thankful for my teaching partner!  I don't think I would have been able to handle all of those children alone :) 

Most of the children speak English-some are more fluent then others. We teach in English so the kids have no choice when they are in the classroom (which is a huge bonus for me!)

My favorite part of our school is that we teach the children about the love of Jesus every single day! These kids have the opportunity to hear about God on a regular basis!  I am so blessed to have the chance to plant seeds into the lives of these children!

 This is during Chapel hour at school this morning.
We actually have three different teams here right now!  It is amazing how God is bringing more and more people to continue the work here!  One of the teams brought puppets and did the presentation this morning.  As you can tell from the kids faces they were LOVING it :)

 This is Christy-  She has been such a God send!  She is here for three weeks and is a teacher back in CA.  She has been working with Ronel and I in our classroom and I don't know where we would be without her!  She has so many wonderful ideas and has already helped us to improve our classroom so much!  We will certainly miss her when she returns home!

The noise and excitement drew a small crowd outside the school :)

 This is inside our classroom.  Christy and Ronel pictured with the children

I wanted to end with this photo....This is one of my students, Adam.  This picture speaks volumes.  It totally sums up why I am here.  I have to admit I really have been struggling the past couple weeks.  I am so far outside my comfort zone it's not even funny!  But today when I looked over and saw him praying so sweetly it was like God just tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Don't get so caught up in everything around you, your only job is to love these children well and to point them to ME."  

I am SO thankful to be here and to have the opportunity to serve these precious kids!

School prep

 Me cutting out bible verses to hang on our classroom walls

 My teaching partner, Ronel

 The front of our classroom

 We went with an aquatic theme :)  Makes sense since we are living on the ocean hah ;)

The past week has been very busy getting our classroom all set up for school to begin on Monday!!!  We have been working so hard and everything is coming together  :)  Tomorrow we just have to finish up lesson planning and we will be all set!
I was feeling so overwhelmed about teaching but my partner is so kind and very willing to teach me as we go :) 

The rain continues :) Unfortunately when it rain the feeding sites are ususally canceled because some of the sites do not have shelters for us to move to when it begins to rain :)  And I have been so busy with the school that I have not participated in as many as I did when I first arrived. 

 I am beginning to get into a routine and life is starting to feel "normal" here (whatever that means)  :)
I am so used to the roosters that I literally don't even hear them anymore (for those of you who were on the missions trip in November-I know this sounds unbelievable hahah)  I am very confident riding every form of transportation now...And have also become an expert spider killer :)

Thank you so much for the e-mails and messages that people have been sending me!! You have no idea how it brightens my day when I hear from you!!!! 

Learning to dance in the rain (literally) :)

 Rainy season is upon us.
One day it was unbearably hot and humid and the next it was pouring rain!
It rained almost non-stop for 4 days.  An umbrella is not much of a help when it is really raining here. I love it though! It has brought cool breezes and even cooler temperatures to the Island!

This is the sight that met my eyes when I went to drop my laundry off.  The streets were flooded and so were many of the shops. Halfway there the thought did occur to me that I  could do my laundry another day...but I do enjoy an adventure here and there :)  I carried my laundry on my head as an umbrella and slogged through the flooded streets.
 When I arrived the girls were sitting on the counter to keep dry.  It was so funny!  All I could do was laugh...

And laugh...

And laugh some more :)

I am learning that life is easier when I laugh :)

Today is my one month anniversary!!

Here are some pictures of the house I am living in :)

 Here is the back.  We use this entrance the most.

And these are the chickens that live in our yard sometimes :)

I will be sharing this house with three other girls.  There are three bedrooms,  two bathrooms and a main living area with a kitchen and living room.  It is so sweet and cozy and I am very happy :)

This past week I definitely struggled with a round of homesickness!  God is so faithful though! Each time I was feeling upset or down He either used my devotional time or individuals here to speak words of comfort and peace to me.  I am so thankful that I know God is right beside me each step of the way!

School will begin on June 18th!!!  It is just around the corner!  I found out I will be teaching Kinder 2.  I think this is going to be a very wonderful and stretching experience for me :)  I am very excited to meet my students!  I will be teaching alongside a Philippine teacher named Ronel.  He has been a teacher for 5 years.  I am very thankful for his experience in the classroom and I am eager to learn from him!  The next couple weeks I will be busy helping to clean the school and get everything ready for classes to begin.  There is still work to be done on a couple of the new classrooms and overall it just needs a good cleaning due to the construction that has been going on this Summer.

Until next time! Olivia Joy