A monthly update

Its been a long time. Sorry for that. Since my last post lots of things have happened but here are the highlights:

Last month was Reading Day.
Reading day is a day completely devoted to reading. I have been reading Pippi Longstocking to my kids so that is who I dressed up as. I ended up winning the girl teacher costume award! yay! I took the wires out of my hair half way through the day after I poked one of my barnacle like kids in the eye. Nothing bad happened, thank goodness! When I got home I desperately wanted to wash my hair but the water was only dripping out of the shower. I bucket washed it and it took me about 5 shampoo's and over an hour to get the red out. It was worth it!

I was also a part of a readers theater with some of the other teachers and played Baby Bear.


When I arrived back in August I found that the Chinchen's dedicated the old preschool room to my ballet classes! We have a couple mirrors and 2 of the barres I had made last year. I got 2 more 12foot ballet barres made and painted. Now it's feeling more like a ballet studio! I am currently working on choreographing 4 dances and teaching them for the Christmas show.


The Christmas show........
I am busy getting details ready for the show coming in only 7 weeks. My biggest job right now is figuring out angel costumes for 300 students. Something I have no experience doing. I am also working on making the flyer so that the students can have a design contest. I will choose a couple of cute ones and display them around campus. Then, the winner will be used as the program for the show.

The village program is going well! They have finished making the bricks for the church and just began putting them up. In a couple of weeks I hope they will be ready for us to put on a roof. I am praying that someone shows up in my life that can guide me through this process in a way to not confuse me completely. I am hoping to ask my growth group when it gets closer to the time to help me with this.


My growth group is a small group from my local church. We meet at my house every Monday night and discuss the sermon from Sunday. We also pray and share. I've enjoyed getting to know the people in my group and doing outreaches with them.

We are planning to do a girls outreach in a couple of weeks. We will invite the girls basketball team to my house for a chick flick and FOOD. I'm hoping we'll get a good response and can make some more girls feel welcome at the church.

Parent teacher conferences are this week. I will meet with each parent to discuss their child's report card. This is NOT my favorite time of the year, but I know it is needed.

It is getting HOT. I seemed to have forgotten how hot it was before the rains start. I'm hoping they start soon to give some relief to my hard working students. We call all become a bit grouchy when we're sweating through our clothes during math. I have a hard time staying after school when all I want to do is jump in the pool!


Chop-chops and roaches are in full bloom around here. We have killed 2 chop-chops already in the last couple of weeks. These are gross spider/crab things that I have never seen anywhere but here.


I just wanted to update you on how things are going. Please pray that all of the details are completed for the Christmas show! Pray for my sanity through it and that the kids will learn so much more then how to act and sing on key. Please pray for myself as a teacher. That I would be able to teach the information in a clear and fun way that they can all understand and remember. Almost all of the kids have moved up their reading score drastically since the first day of school!

I hope everyone on the other side of the world is having a fantastic Fall!

Meet the New Kids

Here's the Happy New First Graders!

(Vanndel)

(Nzeru)




(Tabene)
( Sibonani)

(Emmanuella)

(Al-baatin, AKA: Bubba)

(Dominique)

Update

I just got back from Senza Village! I was my first time back since I've been back in Malawi. I've been trying to get settled in my classroom and in my new home before starting our Saturday treks to the village. About 50-60 kids showed up (the regulars) and were eager to hear about the gospel. Our two Malawian friends who go with us, Khuzwayo and Chisomo, were talking to the adults while Katie and I waited in the little church with the kids. Katie and I decided that we know the songs, why not start one? So we began the song and the children sang right along to Palibe Ofana. After that, Chisomo told the story of the Good Samaritan while we acted it out. Next, I told the kids about sin and asked them who has sinned. They all agreed that they are mean to each other everyday. I explained forgiveness and Christ's salvation and we prayed that Jesus would come into our hearts. I don't know how many understand but it is not about me understanding anyway. It frustrates me when I can't tell what they're staying and can't quite get a feel for what they understand. I told about my frustration to a man that I met at the end who trains men in the village to pastor the new church. He reminded me that it doesn't matter if I win hearts. My job is to tell them the Truth, and God will do the rest. That made my day so I wanted to share it with you! Don't worry about feeling like you've done a good job. All you must do is tell the gospel, and God will speak to the hearts of those he has chosen. I'm so glad he does that because otherwise, I would feel like a failure! God is so much more mighty in my eyes when I realize my need for him in every aspect in my life. So you can imagine, being in Malawi really opens my eyes to his power!

Please pray for the people of Senza village. They have 5,500 bricks made for their new church building. They're working to have 15,000 before rainy season starts in a couple months. After those are ready, we are working out how to get cement and sheet metal for the rest of the church. Please pray for God to give me wisdom and for him to be involved in everything we do at the village. I know that it is bound to become disastrous if I am in charge.

Back to School Night is on Monday night. I've been working hard getting everything prepared for it but am still nervous to present to the 2 groups of parents.

Ballet has started and my classes are overflowing with eager little ballerinas! ABC has a new studio for our classes. I am busy getting more barres made for it.

Thank the Lord for the great year ahead of me! He has answered my prayers and brought fun and kind staff this year and I am hopeful for what this year will bring!
Thanks for your prayers!

John 3:30
He must become greater; I must become less.

Rats on a Stick

Yummmmy! I finally made my way to the side of the road to buy a mouse on a stick. They were much smaller then I always imagined them. Not really any meat on there. The tails were really gross and they still had all their teeth. I was told the fur gets singed off but there was definitely lots of fur left. Of course I ate one..:-)




My neighbors saw me walking up with the rats (I was about to use them for my 3rd prank of the day) and they wanted to eat them. I was shocked when their moms got their video cameras and told their boys to take a big bite! Something is definitely right about those rats or the moms wouldn't let them eat them. Part of a balanced diet of course.

We asked what it tasted like and he said salty chicken. Notice the appropriate t-shirt.

One of the best parts is the way they are clamped onto the stick. They split the stick, shoved the little mice between it at the neck, then closed it tight with a string. And bada-bing, you've got Mickey in rigamortis. Glad I could share the experience with you all. Come visit!:-D

Servant

If anyone knows me at all, they probably know that I can probably relate a conversation topic to a song- whether I learned it when I was 3, or if it was on Y100 yesterday. This very rarely comes in handy except to annoy people who want to just have a conversation without me breaking into a diddy.

I've been thinking about what I will do in the future a lot lately. I have committed to a second year here at ABC, but am looking for what I will do after that. Perhaps still in Africa. Teaching, I've realized, is not very self gratifying. There is always something I could have done better, and always something I still need to do. I have thought about working with street kids. I know they need help, but am still not quite sure how. I’ve thought about creating my own ministries to start something new.
So, I was listening to my Kids Music playlist on Itunes the other day to find a song to teach my students, and a Doughnut Man song came on. Gotta love good ol' Doughnut Man:-) His song "I Wanna Be Great" came on and it struck me.

I wanna be great,
I wanna be super, absolutely wonderfully great!
James and John were hangin’ around, fightin’ over who was the best, but Jesus said you want a crown on your head? Well this will be the test, listen carefully: ‘if you want to be made great by the Lord well then you've got to be the servant of all!’

This is what I've been missing. I've been trying to think of what I can start or do that is new and that they don't have in Africa that is needed. Jesus says, just be a servant. Sometimes those aren't the jobs that are in the spotlight or make you feel good, but they have to do with your love. Tim Keller said:

“It ain’t ministry unless it is being dictated to you by someone else.”

When it comes to my future, I can do all I want to make a "difference" in Africa, but it’s not right if we’re doing it on our own terms. Only when you do it as a servant, is it pleasing to God. I cannot be a disciple of God if I don't execute what God wants me to do.
This song has been stuck in my head all day long so I finally decided to write it on my blog.

The greatest among you will be your servant, For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:11-12

Victoria Falls

I DID IT! That’s right, I laughed at the face of danger, I defied gravity, I purposefully did one of the dumbest things I have ever dared to do, I BUNGI JUMPED 111 meters (364 feet) off of Victoria Falls in Zambia! The video wont work so here are some pictures. I'll work on getting the video up.

5,4,3,2,1, BUNGI! (push)

Notice my dirty little foot slipping through

I wouldn't have been able to do it without Vicki

Was it fun? Umm… No. Will I recommend it to a friend? Ummm… NO. Will I do it again? Ummm NO! But I’m so happy I got it out of my system. The girl before me tore her ACL and couldn't walk off by herself. My head felt like it was going to burst open any second and I knew it might when my arm started to go numb. You can see in some close up pictures that my left foot was beginning to slip through the rope. I have the bruise to prove it!
I also was able to stay with my beloved friend from college who lives in Lusaka, Zambia. What a blessing to meet up with that wonderful girl!
I got there by bus. 12 hours of bumpy, stinky, bus travel. Don’t get me wrong, it was worth it!

This was the "bathroom" that costs 1,000 Zambian Kwacha to use.

After arriving in Lusaka and eating at SUBWAY (one of the highlights of the trip), we took a 7 hour bus trip to the falls in Livingstone. It is the rainy season so it was impossible to see the falls anywhere but this one point from the side.

Before we were soaked

The rest was like walking through the waterfall, even though it was only mist creating the monsoon.

After we walked beside the falls

The next day we drove about an hour to Botswana to go on a river/land safari. We saw SO many elephants and giraffe. It was awesome!

I had the Toys R Us song stuck in my head after I saw these guys

There had to have been at least 50 elephants

The next day we went back to Lusaka and saw a movie and saw what other types of ministries in Africa can look like. We returned back on another 12 hour bus trip making that 41 hours in all on a stanky bus. I don't miss it.

Now as I prepare to finish up my year with 9 weeks left of school, I can rejoice! He has made me glad!

“The heavens declare you are God and the mountains rejoice!
The Oceans cry Hallelujah as we worship you Lord!”

Jesus is in Heaven!

I have so much to blog because I haven’t in so long!
The staff at ABC wanted to make Easter week a memorable one for the students. Easter is why we do what we do. It is why we sing songs in chapel, it is why we learn scripture, it is why we love Jesus. We love him because he first loved us. Each day of the last week before Easter break was made special by an ABC college student teaching our Bible lesson. This was followed by a craft. I am not patient enough to do a fun craft everyday of the week so this was a special treat. The teachers thought it would be fun to get balloons and helium for the last day before Easter break. The plan was to let them go up to heaven to remind us that Jesus not only died for us, but he also rose again and ascended into heaven. As the day approached, we realized it would be much harder to get helium then we thought. We sent out a flyer to all of the parents asking if they had any idea where we could find it. Thank goodness, a parent knew where to find some helium. As we handed out the balloons to the anxious children, I realized from their amazed faces that this treat was more special then I thought. Only 2 children from my class had ever seen a balloon float before. Sure they’ve seen balloons before, but none that they had to hold on too to keep it from flying away. I was struck by their kindness when a preschooler didn’t have a balloon and most of my students volunteered to share theirs. They were told to keep quiet because the big kids were having their chapel not too far away, but they couldn’t contain their enthusiasm for very long. They watched the balloons ascend into the clouds, and, up to God just like Jesus did.

During Easter week I had my students write about why it is important that Jesus rose from the dead. They all had answers that said it is important because it saves me from my sins. But these two were my favorite:

Why is important that Jesus rose? It is important because he will
save us and he can't save us wen he is dead thats why. ~Johanna

It is important because he wanted to save our sins and he also wanted to save the bag guys.~ Alicia

Alicia failed to remember our discussion that sin makes us all bad guys, but I love the fact that she understands that Christ came for the ungodly. Something we have talked about alot.

Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord- that you alone are the most high over all the earth. Psalm 83:18