Answered Prayers

I was reminded recently that I really need to update my blog, so here goes. :)

I'm now 3.5 months into life in Guatemala, and I love it! I wake up each morning and look out the window and can't help but thank the Lord for bringing me here. Yes, I'd like to be closer to Villa Nueva, but the truth is I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be and I'm doing doing exactly what I've always wanted to do--teaching and serving as a missionary at the same time.

I love my students and there's no way anyone could deny that! And the beautiful thing is that my students love me! (They tell me it all the time! :) Sure we have some tough days in the classroom, but even when I have to move a clip, my students know it's because I love them and have high expectations for them. First year teaching is going so much better than I imagined it would!

I've also finally moved out of my host family's house. I've been ready to be on my own for about 2 months now, but couldn't find an apartment for the kinder and 5th grade teachers and myself. The kinder teacher and I finally settled on a temp. place that's really quite like dorm living. We have a big room though with our own balcony! We'll be here for a month and then on Dec. 15th we'll finally move into our very own apartment!!! We just went Friday to check out the place and it's GREAT! 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, fully furnished...and it even has a fireplace!!! And it's cheaper than what I was paying to stay with a host family.

I haven't had a migraine in 2 weeks!!! Seems like a funny thing to celebrate, but even on my preventitive medication I was having approx. 2-4 migraines a week! And let me just say that teaching with a migraine is tough! 2 weeks ago I cut bread out of my diet almost completely b/c I read the yeast can be a migraine trigger, and while I miss the fresh bread from the local bakery, I love the freedom of NOT having migraines all the time!

So there it is...a brief summary of some of the ways God has blessed me and answered prayers in recent days. I really am overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness here and I'm so grateful for the friends I've made.

A Trip "Home"

Long time, no post. I know. But how about a fantastic picture to make up for it! :)

I travelled to Villa Nueva over Independence Day weekend (Sept. 13-16) to spend some time visiting my favorite little guys back at NLCH. Although I left at 4:30 AM with a huge migraine, the smiles and laughter of the little guys (and a bit of medicine) made everything better. This picture was taken of me playing with Adolfo--the newest kid at the Home--maybe an hour after I arrived. It was such a refreshing weekend being back with those little ones and it filled me with so much joy to be able to love on them again. I think the picture shows that though. :) I'd upload more but I think I'll have to wait until I have a better internet connection. School is going well and I love my students, but I'm definitely looking forward to a trip back to Villa Nueva for Christmas!

A Glimpse into my Classroom

Well, it seems to be taking far too long to upload pictures and I've still got lesson plans to finish by the morning (we turn them in every Friday) so here are just a couple pictures of my classroom. The classroom is very small, but there actually is still a little more to show...maybe next time. I also have some cute pictures of my 13 adorable students, but I may just take a group shot and post that another day. The class is great. I'm really having a lot of fun with them so far and still can't believe it's my very own class! Sometimes I think about it in the middle of the day and can't help but smile.  More to come later...

Our calendar area (a little of it got cut off in this pic, but you get the idea)

The whiteboard, Our class rules, A monkey themed alphabet chart, and perhaps one of my favorite things--one of those posters on the far side is a monkey-themed reading strategy poster. Also...about our class rules. The bananas are a little messy b/c one the first day I took them all off and the kids each wrote their names on a banana saying they agreed to our class rules. Then they got to decide where their banana went. (Yes, those are the Wilmore Elementary rules! :)

This pic came out really dark, but you can see my big welcome sign and the beautiful curtains that I bought the fabric for and had a Guate and Colombian friend make using a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun! They look SO much better than the other old curtains in the school! And they only cost about $20. 

My bulletin board that I LOVE!!! I was going to put each child's name on a monkey but then decided that might be too much. The tree part along the side is actually felt and it's stuffed so it sticks out and is "3-D". 

Cows, Lizards, and Vultures, Oh my!

You just never know what you might find when you accept a teaching position at a school sight unseen. The school facilities here are very small which requires some serious creativity in room arrangement, but the location is beautiful. The school is right at the top of a hill and the view from my classroom is great. That being said, I almost laughed out loud by some of the other views I saw on the way out of the library and to my classroom today...

-I step out of the library and straight ahead of me I see 2 cows! Second glance revealed they were just on the other side of the fence.

-Turn the corner to walk down the sidewalk and there I see my friend the lizard with the blue tell running across the path! I saw him last week and considered catching him for a class pet but decided I don't know enough about how to care for them.

-Only a short while later I looked out the window of the room I was in and saw a huge flock of some sort of vulture like bird circling around! They're not exactly vultures...we were told the name of them and I forgot...but apparently they live in the trees all around the school campus.

All that being said, set up in my classroom is going well except that I feel about a week behind. My bulletin boards and walls are looking great but I've got tons of stuff to sort through that previous teachers left--a lot of it old and not worth keeping, and all of it VERY dusty. Kids come on MONDAY!!!

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The Class List!

We received the much anticipated class lists today! Boy do I have my work cut out for me! If this year doesn't prepare me to be an incredible teacher in the U.S. where extra assistance and resources are available, I don't know what will! So here's the break down (subject to change):

13 Students Total

-9 girls

-4 boys

-11 ESL students

-7 students who repeated kinder

-2 students with ADD/ADHD*

-1 student with a learning disability*

-1 student with a behavior disorder*

*Guatemalans seem to have little to no understanding or acknowledgment of special needs. I received an info sheet on each child from the kinder teacher and she identified the students as probably having these disorders. (One student with ADD actually has a father who claims it.) With the basic info supplied, it sounds like she's probably right on. It also sounds like the child with the BD may have sensory issues.

So...I've definitely got my work cut out for me! I have to say, the info sheet on the child with the BD was one of the first I read and I actually got very excited. The school does not accept children with "severe" disabilities because we do not have the resources to meet their needs, and since working with behavior disorders is something I'm very passionate about, I was pretty thrilled about that one. I definitely think he's going to be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to meeting him and finding ways I can help him manage his behavior. 

It also sounds as though the majority of my students are somewhat behind academically, be it due to limited English skills or inattentiveness. One more week and then they're all mine! Oh boy! 

Some Starter Pics

Here are some pics of some of the events I've mentioned already. I'm finding the internet is very slow at uploading pictures so I think I'm just going to leave you with these for now. Enjoy!

Some of the teachers at the Fuentes Gorginas...natural hot springs not far from here.

(Becky-Middle School Science/History, Laura-Kinder, Kim-H.S. History, Me-1st)

The Fuentes

Another pic of the Fuentes. They were beautiful and SO warm! :)

Fernanda, as she's sometimes called--daughter of one of the office ladies at the school. It wasn't quite that cold, but Guatemalans like to bundle their kids up.

A view of Xela from the roof of our Principal's house.

Men climbing trees outside the stadium to watch the soccer game! I wish you could see how high they really are! It's crazy to watch them get up b/c the city has cut all the low branches off so people don't do this, but soccer is everything to these people.

As I said, soccer is everything...that and celebrating. This guy was just sitting on the fence waving a torch around. Others were setting off fireworks from the stands. And the final score...0-0!

Laura (Kinder teacher), me, and Kim (H.S. History teacher) sporting our new Xela jersey's at the game.

Some of the fireworks set off from the stands at the game.

Estoy Aqui!

Thank you for your prayers as I travelled on Friday! I made it safely, on time, and with all my (very heavy) luggage to Guate City where I received a very warm welcome from the director (Michael), principal (Josh), and other new teachers of the school. It was almost overwhelming how kind and joyful they were, considering the other teachers had only arrived hours earlier. (I myself was pretty exhausted.) Immediately we began building great community and it felt a bit like being amongst a group of Asburians. I can't say I enjoyed the ride back to Xela--you see, they're blasting through the mountains/volcanoes to create (more) roadway and well, the rocks and some landslide mess is still all over the road--but I did enjoy the conversation in the bus. I finally arrived at my host family's house around 11 PM. 

Yesterday, was the "Xela Shuffle".  Josh and Michael took us all around the city, showing us all the important places, including the Wendy's with free Wi-Fi from which I am writing this and enjoying an authentic Guatemala Frosty. Haha. Josh and Michael helped us to change over money and get cell phones so we were all set. We had lunch at Josh's house where everyone was initiated into IAS by an attempt at Guitar Hero! We had some free time in the afternoon and then last night was the big immersion into the culture...we went to a Xela soccer match!!! It was a blast! I didn't watch the game so much but enjoyed watching the crowd and getting to know the other teachers as we chatted throughout the game. It ended with a 0-0 tie. I have some pics and video of the game I hope to upload soon, but I forgot to bring my camera cord to Wendy's...and it's an awful long trek back home. 

Today all the teacher's went to the Fuentes Gorginas. The Fuentes are natural hot springs up in the mountains. They're beautiful and VERY warm...ok, hot! It was beautiful and so relaxing. And since several of us have not had the chance to shower since arriving, myself included, it was a welcome substitute. 

Tomorrow work starts. I'll catch the bus to school at 7:20 AM (which is going to be hard since I'm not sleeping well), and arrive around 7:30. We have a full day of training scheduled, including a tour of the school. I finally get to see my classroom!!! Michael said that I'll have a full class-15 students. 

I think that's about it. It really is beautiful here and the staff that I've met are great! We've really hit it off well. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Thanks for your continued prayers as I prepare to meet my students in about 2 weeks!!!

And So It Begins...

After spending almost 9 weeks in Guatemala last summer, my heart was hooked. I had fallen in love with the people, the place, the culture, the climate...you name it, I loved it. But I still had another year of college to complete before I could even consider returnign to the country that God had so clearly called me to.

Shortly after returning to the U.S. and starting my senior year at Asbury, I received an encouraging note from a dear friend who had spent the previous summer in Nicaragua. I found that note again when I was packing up to move out of the apartment this May. God spoke clearly to me and encouraged me through one particular line in the note: "Your time in guatemala has prepared you for what God has awaiting for you." Re-reading those words at the end of the year assured me Guatemala is exactly where I'm supposed to be next year.

I have now purchased a one-way plane ticket to Guatemala City, leaving on August 1st. I will be living in Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela--pronounced Shay-la) and teaching first grade at the Inter-American School of Quetzaltenango (www.ias-xela.org). I also hope to be doing some more mission work at New Life Children's Home in Villa Nueva (www.nlch.net) during my school breaks.

I am starting this blog in order that you might remain informed of what is happening in my  life while I am in Guatemala. I'll e-mail or post other contact information in the near future. Thank you for prayers that have already been prayed during the process of seeking and finding this job!