Namibia Day 57, 58, 59, 60, 61

26^th, 27^th, 28^th, 29^th and 30^th of October

Nice!


Me and Iyaloo
My Afternoon Group with Gloria!

This week flew by, which the weeks keep seem to be doing. I only have 19 days before I leave for the States, the time has really seemed to fly by especially this past month with all the excitement I have gotten to experience with weekend trips/visitors etc.

This week was very exciting with David’s birthday as well as 2 new comers from the states came on Thursday! Wednesday was spent at FHS during the day and coming to my house afterwards and watching Wall Street with David and Robert. Its always relaxing to watch a movie here in Namibia because its like a little taste of home seeing that most of the movies we watch are American made. After the movie we went to a restaurant called Nice for dinner. What’s neat about this restaurant is that it was made so the Polytechnic culinary students could practice their skills in an actual restaurant. Not only was the food delicious, but the restaurant itself was a designers dream. It was very modern, but really emphasized the concept of contrast in lighting. With low light lighting and a table on an island surrounded by water it was just the taste of a western restaurant that I needed this week! We had a terrific time and really enjoyed the entire night.

Thursday at FHS went well, as game days always seem to be a crowd pleaser! Afterwards we went straight to the Greidanus’ house to meet Courtney and Anglea! It was so nice to meet the new faces, but it was also a little bit of a bitter sweet feeling knowing I would have been staying with them in Otjiwarongo. It is the sense of I wonder what the Lord would have done through me if I ended up going there instead? Its so strange isn’t it, knowing that with one little alteration I could have been working in the orphanage with them. (For those who don’t know the background story I was originally assigned to go to Otjiwarongo with Courtney in August, but when she decided to go on full term for two years that delayed her coming for support reasons, because I was going there alone AIM thought it would be best if I worked in Windhoek at FHS.) It was so nice getting to see all the AIMers as well as fellowship and pray for them as well.

Friday was a hectic day as we were putting in the last touches for Saturday’s fun day with the kids. After FHS we went to Mugg and Bean to catch up on emails etc. I ended up relaxing at home on Friday which was much needed R&R time. Its crazy how being in a culture you are not used to can really wear you out, even 2 months in!

Saturday was Fun Day at FHS for the 12 and younger crowd. It was a lot of fun to see how excited the kids were to watch Toy Story 3 on the “Bog Screen” (the center’s projector). One of our co workers decided to make the experience a lot like a movie, everything from the windows covered so it was dark inside to the popcorn and movie aisles the kids sat in. We all had a blast after a little bit of a slow start! Later in the afternoon we got to meet up with Sarah and Hannah for the 3^rd weekend in a row (yes, I know we are extremely blessed!) It is always such a treat to see them and hear their updates from their weeks as well. After watching the Bang- Bang Club on Saturday afternoon with Robert and David, we headed for Naf’s house for dinner with his family, the Greidanus family and the fairly new AIMers which totaled to about 23 people! It was a lot of fun having fellowship with all of them as well. I have to say even though I had an extremely great evening I was a little sad that I was not home celebrating with my fellow Spartans in our first conference championship on both the guys and girls sides! I was so proud of them and wished so much I could be there, but as it is I could not. This is one of the times that being away from home is hard when you know you are missing such an important event in so many loved ones lives! Congrats guys I am so proud of you!

Today was a great day, waking up and getting to go to church with both Sarah and Hannah. I have really enjoyed going to New Song every week. Since a lot of the congregation is filled with International members it gives me a great feeling of comfort as the format is very westernized which is something that I have looked forward to every week. After church we went to Fresh and Wild and enjoyed the beautiful outdoor scenery in possesses. After a great afternoon of fellowship and encouragement we had to say goodbye to the girls for the week as the headed off to Rehoboth.

As I conclude this week and look forward to the next I am praying that the Lord really uses the time I have hear to the fullest. I want to make sure my time is intentional and the way I act around the children is even more deliberate. I pray for the same thing when I go home in the next couple of weeks that I am making sure there that my speech is seasoned with salt and that I am making sure to glorify the Lord for all he is doing through me as well as others! Thanks so much for all the support and prayers I have really been feeling that. Until next time, God Bless!

Namibia Day 55, 56

24^th and 25^thof October

The beginning of this week was very difficult for me as I had little sleep on Sunday night coming back late from an event filled, active weekend. It was also my first day teaching remedial, which is the program at FHS that acts as a formal school for the kids who can not go to school for multiple reasons. Also there is an extreme heat wave going through Windhoek right now and humidity with it as well, it needs to rain! So between all of these issues it mounted for a difficult day.

I sat with girls for 45 minutes trying to explain the ones, tens, hundreds and thousands places and the students still were not understanding. I am not sure sometimes if it is the language barrier, or my accent, or just difficulties in learning or a mixture of all of them. I found myself getting very impatient and irritable and had to pray right in that moment. I just pray that I continue to lean towards the Lord in times of need instead of reacting the way I am naturally inclined to.

Today was a bit of a better day until I came home and realized that my camera lens is jammed so my camera will not work! I am so upset because I am almost home and I really want to be able to take pictures in my last couple weeks here as well as my lay over in London! Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to unjam it this week.

I also received 3 packages from home today! I feel like I always get so spoiled and receive them all at once. This was definitely a highlight of my day, thank you Mom and Mom-Mom for thinking of me!

Something that have been difficult for me during my time here have been noticing the infamous sore on certain children’s skin. Because this is such an HIV/AIDs prevalent country there are a lot of children as well infected with the disease. The external sore is a well known trait for the disease and is seen sometimes on our children. It is so sad to see this because it’s a reminder that the children I am working with do have a lot of difficulties beyond learning and education alone. I just want to continuously remember this when I am getting frustrated with them as well as when I return back State side that these children with HIV/AIDs have a face now and are personal to me!

On a lighter note another adjestment I am still getting used to is when someone says “Wow you’re figure keeps changing, you are looking fuller!” it is considered a compliment. And Yes, to answer your question I have heard this comment this week! Guess I will be running the moment I get home!

Namibia Day 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54

17^th, 18^th, 19^th, 20^th , 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd of October

This last week has been a whirlwind. Its so weird how when you are in the last couple of weeks in anything whether it’s a semester, a school year, a year it goes by so quickly! This last week I did not do too much out of the norm. Besides work, I did laundry one day, had a meeting about our upcoming trip this past weekend we started the meeting on Wednesday at a restaurant called Wimpy, which I thought was interesting and then after coffee it was moved to Cattle Baron a local favorite restaurant of ours here.

Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting two new volunteers from the Engos Farm right down the road. One of the volunteers happened to originally be from Doylestown, PA which was great to see a face from home. On Thursday we also celebrated Minnie’s birthday at bible study which was fun to not only fellowship, but have cake as well! We have been reading through Philippians in our study and I have really learned how I am so quiet about my faith in fear of persecution and I want to ask for prayer requests that I am bolder in my faith, but in an appropriate and gentle manner.

Friday was a big day as we were leaving for our trip this weekend! Our friend David Ward, from New Song Church helped organize it all and we were so thankful for his help! He even made us our meals during our trip. The trip started on Friday night when we picked up Hannah and Sarah in Rehoboth just an hour south of Windhoek. It was amazing to see all of the mountains just outside of the city limits! So beautiful! After a flat tire fix and dark already set it we finally made it to our camp site. I was a little nervous because there was a rumor going around that since we got to the site so late it would be too dark to set up the tents. I was not a fan of this since I have not only heard from my nervous Mother about all the poisonous snakes located in the Southern Countries of Africa but also hearing all the new stories about scorpions being found in sleeping bags. To say the least I slept in a tent all weekend! It was great waking up Saturday morning and praising the Lord for the beautiful mountains in our weekend “backyard”. Between the mountains, the sunset and the stars in the African night sky (as well as the safety of the weekend) we had so much to praise the Lord for!

Saturday was spent hiking up a mountain right next to the campsite. After a 2 hour hike up and another hour and a half down we had the privilege to swim in a water hole/ creek with a water fall and cliffs to jump into the refreshing water. It was a great afternoon of swimming, showering and reading devotions which Wilko helped lead. “Porkie” what we had for dinner that night was delicious, a stew with lamb, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and much more! It was especially a treat since most of the weekend we were eating a “man’s menu” of meat, meat and more meat on the brai!

Sunday we set off early on our voyage to Sussess veli waking up at 3:45 making sure we were at the gate when the park opened at sunrise. There we hiked up on of the largest sand dunes in the world nicknamed “Big Daddy.” Pictures do not do this dune justice, but after just about an hour of hiking we reached the top! What an amazing view from the top, well worth the drudge up! Well ok, if the view was not worth it, fake sand skiing on the way down was worth it!

After stopping at the dunes we decided to start making our way back home, taking a small detour to the town of Solitare. There was a bakery there which was quite amazing to me considering we hadn’t seen any sign in civilization in many many kilos. Here we stopped to have the “Best Apple Pie in Town!” (it’s a little humorous considering the town is made up of maybe 5 houses and 20 people!)

The way home was a little nerve racking considering we were on Christopher’s last spare tire in his tiny Volkswagen with gravel roads the whole way home, but the Lord provided!

Thanks so much for your prayers for this weekend, I know a lot of people were nervous, but it was comforting to know the group was surrounded by prayer the whole time! Hope everyone is enjoying the crisp fall weather!

N'Dahafa in my Dad's Camp Shirt Represent!
Robert and Richard with the kids!
The Mountain we hiked up!
Us at The Top!
Our View!

Namibia Day 44, 45, 46, 47

13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th of October

Thursdays are always fun days for me here in Namibia. I get to go to FHS and it is indoor games and puzzles day at the center. I have never been so thankful and so excited to put puzzles together. Mostly my morning group enjoys them more than the afternoon group of the middle school-ers that want to whoop their friend at the newest card game that “teacher” has taught them (the last couple weeks it has been the “spoon game”). But putting puzzles together are so much fun here. Every piece you put together the children are enthralled by, but whenever they put a piece together they call “teacher look, teacher look” a phrase that can either excite you or annoy you depending on the mood and stamina of the day.

This Thursday I had the privilege of hosting Bible Study again with Minnie at our house. This has been a day where I have started making food for everyone who has come. This has been both a really fun and rewarding experience as I am trying to prep my cooking skills for soon to be married life. This week we started our study off by singing worship songs and later getting to talk about Chapter 2 in Philippians which has been a sweet reminder of our reason to be here as foreigners in Namibia.

Friday was the day I was looking forward to all week since early on, Abigail, our boss at FHS invited us to go to the game park at Okapuka Ranch. This establishment was our first trip outside of the city, which was a treat in itself! The Ranch was amazing! We got to go on a safari as well as watching the lions eat. The park was a resort and the restaurant had glass surrounding walls or open airways that watched over the watering hole that a lot of the animals congregated to at night. It was an amazing experience and I was so happy to have so much fun with all my co workers after such a hard week.

Saturday was an early morning as all of us staffers decided to go to Ouema’s funeral. It was very interesting because in this culture the memorial service is the day before the actual burial. This memorial service can last for hours with people sharing stories, singing hymns and a sermon being preached. The burial was the next day and the body is transported from the Mortuary to the person’s home, from the home to the cemetery and a line of cars follows the hearse while it is driving. Abigail explained that the cars go so slowly that people on the street are sometimes passing them. This can take a couple of hours depending on how close everything is to eachother. In this case the processional started at 6 am leaving us to be at the cemetery at 7 am. The burial service was very similar to ours, but a lot of hymns were sung during the ceremony. There was also a time where anyone who wanted to partake got in a line to toss some dirt over the coffin after it was lowered. After this the pallbearers helped cover the body with the dirt that was dug from the whole and completely covered the hole as well as added a mound on top to show where the body now lays. I thought this was very interesting how all the attendants waited until the body was completely covered and the plaque was placed above Ouema’s body until they departed the scene. Afterwards there is a time of grieving at the person’s house, but the FHS staff did not attend this intimate gathering.

It was hard to take everything in after the funeral, but I did have a quick nap before Hannah and Sarah came into town and we met downtown for lunch at Mugg and Bean with Heidi and their two Dutch friends from Rehoboth as well. After meeting for lunch we got to go to a local orphanage in Katutura. It was amazing to see how excited these kids were to be with us. It really broke my heart knowing that a lot of these kids had been in and out of hospitals for medical problems as well as being orphaned at such an early age in life. It was a lot of fun playing with the kids, but very exhausting as all of them wanted to be held at the same time! After the orphanage Sarah, Hannah and I set up camp at my house for our sleepover! As we were deciding what to do Tacos came to mind so as a group we met David at the grocery store and stocked up on homemade tacos with homemade tortilla shells (we could sound very domestic, or I could just tell you the truth and tell you that they do not have either Taco seasoning or shells in the stores here) It was a fun night of cooking and fellowship and we ended the night with a movie called the Kingdom (we had a previous movie, but it was very poor quality and probably pirated, so we exchanged for a new one)

Sunday morning came very quickly, but Sarah, Hannah and I went to church at New Song and had an amazing lunch afterwards at Fresh and Wild! It was so nice to spend time with them this weekend and get encouragement from them as well. It was also nice that they did not have to leave right after church because they were taking the Bus back home. Because of this we decided to watch another movie for a lazy afternoon. We decided to watch The End of the Spear. If you have not seen it, please do! It was an amazing movie about a story of 5 missionaries in Ecuador that would do anything to answer the Lord’s calling and even go and preach to a group of people who killed eachother for entertainment. I know I sound like a billboard, but please see this movie you won’t regret it! The rest of my afternoon has been catching up on emails and reading. I will try to post pictures later this week when I have internet access. Thanks so much for reading and I am excited to see what the Lord is doing in each of your lives while I am away have a wonderful week!

Namibia Day 41, 42, 43

10^th, 11^th and 12^thof October

This week started off very different than any other week here so far. Monday was declared a half day at FHS. One reason because of all the time and effort the teachers put in to make Career Day possible, the second reason was because the floor of the school needed to be painted and this could only happen if the children were not in school during the painting process. That allowed me to go home, nap, catch up on some emails and prepare my mashed potatoes for Round 1 of Canadian Thanksgiving at Robert and David’s guest house.

Aideline, John, Anika, Corrie, Abigail, Anna and I all joined together for Thanksgiving. The menu included Fruit Salad, Boneless Chicken Breast (Turkey is extremely hard to come by in Namibia) Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Rice and Samp and Beans. Talk about an assortment! We had a great time having fellowship with most of the FHS staffers which was a lot of fun and what I felt like I really needed this week.

Tuesday we had the entire day off due to the flooring and an unofficial “teachers day”. Anika, Corrie, Robert, David, Tanya and I decided to explore the Namibian National Art Gallery for something fun to do in Windhoek. After the museum David and I went on a 2 hour adventure trying to find the movie Hotel Rwanda for “African Movie Time” (a tradition we started last week) of watching a movie that took place in Africa and talking about it afterwards, we gave up and decided to just go to Tanya’s empty handed for her Jamaican Sweet and Sour chicken YUM! We had fun hanging out and watching Criminal Minds before heading to the Greidanus’ for Round 2 of Canadian Thanksgiving. After a lot of eating and great fellowship we returned to our separate homes and settled in for the night of interrupted sleep due to the Turkey that Alisa seemed to find in the only store in Windhoek David did not check!

Today was a very emotional day for al of us at FHS. Ouema who has worked in the Kitchen since 2006 passed away yesterday. Not only was the day emotional for the staff, but telling the kids was worse than we thought it was going to be. Ouema was a woman who was loved by many and many of the children at the center looked to her as their own grandmother. She also took care of her own grandson who was orphaned at an early age. I have to say through all the emotion of the day I was very encouraged. A 6^th grade girl in my group, Franscina was so upset about the news of Ouema. I was not sure what to do for her so I just hugged her and scratched her back and finally ask, “What can I do to help?” and she responded, “Do you have a Bible that I can read?” At her age I never once would have turned to the Lord during such an emotional time and it was truly inspiring to see such a young girl have her priorities so straight. Even though the death of Ouema was emotional the Lord showed himself in miraculous ways today like he always tends to do. The comforting thing for us as staff member, the rest of the FHS family and Ouema’s family is that we all know she is in a better place with our heavenly father.

My prayer requests today would just be for Ouema’s family and her grandson especially that only knew her as a caretaker. Please pray for the children at FHS as well and for us as staff members to allow the Lord be seen in amazing ways through her death. Thank you so much everyone and God Bless!

Namibia Day 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th of October

This week was a little hectic with planning the career day that was going to take place this past Saturday. David was in charge of putting everything together that added a lot of work to be done this week. Tuesday was a good day we had bible study in the morning with my co workers we are going through the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and we were talking about how to avoid temptation. I had a huge reminder in this chapter how important scripture memory is and we decided to learn 1 Corinthians 10:13 for this week, “No temptation has seized you beyond what is common to man. But God is Faithful he will not tempt you beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can It was very insightful and convicting and its always such a better way to start the day when I have gone through the scripture and what the Lord is telling me that particular day.

The rest of Tuesday was spent making cards for the people we respect and are obedient towards (Obedience has been the theme over the past 2 weeks). It was good to get to talk with the kids and why the respect the person they made the card for.

Wednesday was Teacher’s Day here in Namibia so the kids had no school and we had no FHS. But since the we arranged a field trip in advance to the Biosphere Expeditions we took the kids to the “farm”. I was picturing a very American looking farm with cows and horses, but to my surprise the farm consisted of Springbox, Rhinos and even Giraffes. Unfortunately we could not see any Cheetahs or Leopards because they are predators and are only out at night. The trip was a lot of fun and I was excited to meet the foreign researchers that worked on the farm.

After the farm visit in the morning Robert, David, Tanya, Anika, Corrie and I all decided to go on a hike in Windhoek called the Aloe Trail. I was a little skeptical going anywhere off of pavement into the bush because of snakes, scorpions etc, but it was a lot of fun! We ended our trip at good old Vintage with a delicious smoothie to finish our about 5 mile hike or so.

Thursday I had a frustrating morning with my kids. Girls being girls and caddy and boys not listening. Everyone had to sit out for 5 minutes at break time. I think this is a next concept to them, but I was not sure how to deal with their misbehavior. Its always a learning experience to say the least! Late on Thursday I went to David and Roberts Guest House and we decided to have “African Movie Thursdays” and we watched Blood Diamond. If you have not seen it I highly recommend it. It was very interesting and shows the struggles some people have gone through in Africa specifically in Sierra Leone at this time. After that we met up with some friends from New Song Family Church and grabbed “bottomless pizza” it was a lot of fun to hang out with a different group of people and we are excited to do it again!

Friday was a good day, mainly preparing for Career Day. David, Robert and I went to the Greidanus’ and used their internet to prepare my presentation for career day and other odds and ends that had to be done that night before the following day. Unfortunately we had a small malfunction due to some laundry and our western ways and used to having a drain in the back of our washer to empty the excessive water. So to sum up the rest of our Friday night we were scooping water into buckets trying to make sure the house was back to normal. It was a very exhausting night to say the least, but I know God has a purpose for everything.

Saturday went really well with Career Day. I was the only FHS teacher to share with the kids. I taught the kids about architecture since residential interior design is probably a little difficult to explain in this country. I had a lot of fun presenting my topic with the kids and getting to show them pictures on my laptop and model building computer programs, I hope they had a good time because I sure did! The rest of my Saturday was spent relaxing and catching up on some emails etc. A restful evening that I sure needed!

This morning I went to New Song Family Church and am starting to feel really connected there which is a prayer answered in itself. The congregation is really friendly and I am excited that I have started to meet some new people. The rest of my day will be spent preparing lesson plans for this week as well as making a grocery list for the products I will be needing for Canadian Thanksgiving at Robert and Davids and our Jamaican Dinner tonight at Tanya’s. Hope everyone has had a good week and a restful Sabbath, thanks for the prayers I can really feel them! God Bless!

Cards that We Made this week!FHS Center
Rhinos we saw at the Farm!
Bucky we drove around the farm in!
Me with the Kids at the Clubhouse where the reseachers stayed
The Kids with the crew!
Us infront of the Bucky!
David, Robert and Tanya on our walk!
Me overlooking the city of Windhoek!The Girls!
The trail we hiked while playing 20 questions!

Namibia Day 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

27^th, 28^th , 29^th and 30^th of September, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd of October

I know I have been awful with updating my blog recently and I am so sorry about that. Things have been hectic here and internet is expensive making my blog posts not so colorful with pictures. As a visual learner I love looking at pictures so I have a harder time writing my posts considering I know you will not have an image of what I am describing.

With that said the images I have posted below sum up my last week here in Windhoek. Last Tuesday the Foreign Volunteers had a meeting with the FHS Supervisor, Abigail, about things that were going well at FHS and things to improve on. The meeting was at Vintage, my new favorite place to go! Of course the meeting was estimated to last about 15 minutes, but with so many ideas brewing it last about 2 hours, and an hour after the restaurant closed at 5:30. It is interesting I have noticed here that the wait staff will not wait for you to leave and clean up, they will just leave and since the restaurant was gated in, we just let ourselves out with glasses still on the table and all.

Wednesday last week it was my turn to share during Bible Time. I got to share the story of Jonah and the Big Fish. It is amazing remembering that story growing up, but looking at it now with mature eyes and seeing how I can relate exactly to Jonah. I often do the exact opposite of what the Lord asks of me, but I could not imagine being eaten by a large Fish because of it. Its amazing, because there are parts of the story I did not understand when I was younger and its been extremely informative to go back to these stories and really see the outcome and how the heroine of the story got there. I also was in charge of teaching “Culture” on Wednesday. I decided to teach the kids some of the “customary” dances in America. So naturally I taught them “The Hokey Pokey” “The Chicken Dance” and the “Macarena”. It was a lot of fun and my favorite part is when I asked the kids, “Where do you think we do these dances at?” and their response was “In Church?” haha it was lots of fun!

Thursday was a particularly fun day. Minnie and I were talking a couple weeks ago about starting up a bible study with the AIM Volunteers and a couple other fellow believers. We decided to go through the book of Philippians and started on Thursday night at Minnie’s house. I came home and made lasagna for the group, which was very fun. I love cooking when I have time! Its unfortunate though because cooking here is a little more difficult considering they will not have main ingredients (such as ricotta cheese for lasagna) that you need to make your entrée. The lasagna turned out though I looked up a recipe that did not call for ricotta. Little things like this have been a challenge for me getting used to the culture and not having a lot of small things that I am used to having easy access to in the States.

Friday was a very dramatic day for me. Without saying too much, there was a planning meeting that came as a bit of a shock and I was very confused by the outcome. I am asking for prayer in this area right now that I can trust the Lord’s plan even though I am confused about what happened at the meeting. Later in the day I had the opportunity to go to the Greidanus’ and have pizza to celebrate Sarah’s birthday. Sarah and Hannah came from Rehobeth and Minnie and N’dahafa, Robert and David, the Browns, Zeka and Anita and all 9 of the Greidanus’ were there. It was also a small farewell party for the Greidanus’ because they will be travelling to Capetown, S.Africa this week during their kid’s school vacation.

It was a lot of fun and I am happy we got to celebrate Sarah’s birthday all together. I also received a package from my mom on Friday, which was very sweet and made me chuckle a little as well… It seems that the peanut butter brownies my mom made for me and put in zip lock bags were enjoyed by a little critter before they got to me! At least it decided to save one bag for me!

Saturday was also a ball seeing that Hannah and Sarah were staying for the whole weekend at the Greidanus’ for Sarah’s birthday celebration. Robert and I took the girls to Vintage where we had a small breakfast and coffee. Afterwards we walked a little around town and then of course into the mall! We also walked around Independence where tribes from all over the country come down on the weekends to sell their crafts. Anyone looking for anything particular with souvenirs? We spent sometime just relaxing in the park before going to the Greidanus’ to meet up with Heidi (the woman who Hannah and Sarah are living with) and to watch up and then head out to Cattle Baron, a restaurant in Merua Mall. After wards we went to the Greidanus’ and played Dutch Blitz. Yes you heard me correctly… Sarah, Robert and Heidi had all heard of it before. We even played with Heidi’s deck of cards (and she is from Canada!). It was lots of fun just enjoying each others company over coffee and games.

Sunday went by quickly. I went to the Greidanus’ church, New Song Family Church and got to see a baptism take place. I was really convicted during the sermon about remembering my “first love”, Christ. I find often I fill the voids in my life with other things besides him and he is just longing for time with me. An interesting statistic Pastor Brian said was that 97% of people who attend church weekly have lost vision of their first love, are you one of them? This really hit me making me desire to make sure my walk is growing stronger everyday. After church Heidi, Sarah, Hannah and I went to the mall and enjoyed Pizza at a local restaurant before saying our goodbyes. The rest of the day was relaxing, just preparing for the week to come.

Today was a good day, especially for a Monday. I felt very refreshed from the weekend and ready to work. I have to say something I still feel I need to work on at FHS is having patience with the kids. I find that often all of the kids at once want my attention for their math homework. “Teacher, Teacher! ” is what they say after every single part of the long division problem. When I am not concentrating on one, they start tugging on my clothes and I end up snapping. If you could just pray that I learn to teach these kids to the best of my ability as well as love them in the midst of their frustrating demands. I also want to ask for prayer that I continue to show Christ to them in the best way possible. I am trying to pray with my morning group everyday before we start our time together, and one girl, Retta, even reminds me to pray if I forget, which I am thankful for. I just pray Christ give me new ideas to show him to his children. Thanks so much for reading and I will try to make sure I am writing more frequently! Have a terrific beginning of the week. God Bless!

Everyone at Vintage

Beautiful Dusty Sunset, you can see the rain heading in!Me playing with the Kids at FHS
Anieka helping the kids with a Puzzle
Robert and the kids!

Corrie putting together a puzzle!

The Orientation Group (minus David) back again!

Hannah, Me and Sarah at Vintage

Me and Sarah in the back of Heidi's Bucky!