Is it Winter?

Back in Walla Walla, if it were 75 degrees out, I would be dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Here in Pohnpei, I’m in long pants and a sweatshirt! The weather has been very rainy and cold lately. Some days, it rains so hard our little creek on campus starts to almost come up over its banks. If it does, the eels in the creek come up on the sidewalks, terrorizing high schoolers, elementary students, and teachers alike.

Sweet Pria showing me her flower

My Kindergartners have finally almost got all their letter sounds down. I do flashcards with them nearly everyday and everyone has to be the first one to shout out the answer, whether or not the answer is actually correct.

“Okay guys, what letter is this?”

“Kite! Koala!” (It took me a while to explain what a koala was earlier this year.)

“No guys what LETTER is it?”

“K!”

“Okay, what sound does it make?”

“Kiiiitttttteeeee!”

Sweet mercy those kids….

The ruins

Earlier this month, my friend River, who is currently teaching in Kosrae, and his dad Weston came and visited Pohnpei. I took a day off school and the three of us, and a local named Nixon, went around the island. We went to a beautiful waterfall, and some really cool ruins. Apparently nobody knows anything about the ruins. How old they are, or how the rocks even got there. After that, we took a boat out to Black Coral, a small outer island, to go snorkeling. Despite the rain, the snorkeling was really good! The waves were pretty rough along the channel so it took me a while to get my flippers on because the waves kept knocking me off the rocks that I was sitting on. One wave caused me to scrape my knee up on some coral and now I have a wonderful infection going on. J

Some of my fierce warriors, JT and Max

Today was supposed to be the elementary school picnic but because it was raining so hard, our principal decided to call it off and call it a school day instead. But that was definitely not going to happen, because most of our kids were not even there and we also had nothing planned because we made no lesson plans for Friday. So our kids pretty much had recess all day today.

I have 89 days left here. I’m excited to go home, but not at the same time. I want to go home and see my family and friends, but I also love it here. I will not miss the heat, or the invading cockroaches that seem to be in every kitchen drawer, but I will miss my students a lot. I think one of the first things I am going to do when I get home, is lay on the wood floors of our house. I miss it a lot!!

Sorry for not updating for a while! Happy Sabbath!

My Crazy Children.

Starla!

Time has been flying by this month. At times, the days and weeks seem to drag on and on, yet at other times, the days seem to fly by. Nothing exciting has really been happening here, hence the reason for the lack of blog updates.

After the long break from school at Christmas time, my kids seem to have forgotten their manners. Everyone in the class seems to have turned into a bully of some sort whether it’s through actions or words. One of the fazes going through my class right now is giving a classmate a thumbs up. Sweet mercy if one kid gives another one a thumbs down, everything breaks loose. The tears, the angry and pouty faces, the accusing, pointing fingers, and whiny “Ms. Ceeeeee…..”  I am so grateful to have had the experience of being with my two nieces and nephew growing up so I know how to handle 4-6 year olds. Although I will never be able to understand what goes on through those little brains of theirs, I know how to handle their behavior at least.

I have all the respect for my mom who was a Kindergarten teacher in Romania, teaching over 40 kids by herself. I have a mere 13 kids in comparison and already have my hands full!

Kody with his always crazy hair.

The Junior class is putting on a Valentines banquet this weekend and all the students have been asking me: “Ms! Who are you going to banquet with??” “Just myself!” “Awh Miss why? Don’t be boring! One of the guy SMs can ask you.” It’s been fun to watch some boys ask girls to be their dates in various ways, through songs, signs, or other creative ways. Today we handed out midterm grades for the elementary and high school and a few of my high school kids asked me, “Ms, why couldn’t you have given us the midterm grades AFTER the banquet? Now a bunch of us probably can’t even go!” I had to laugh when I heard them say that. “Hey that’s your own fault sweetie! Study harder!”

Amazing how entertained kids can be with a couple
pieces of pipe cleaner!

Tonight we had mid term conferences and I had written a note home to all the parents encouraging them to come to the conferences and telling them that, “Knowing how your child is doing in class is something every parents should know.” I think this little side note guilted some of the parents because I had five sets of parents show up! The most ever! Two of the parents that came had never come before and they were the ones I really needed to talk to. Before the conferences started, Franky made us some of his famous lentils. No offense to my mom’s wonderful cooking, but Franky’s lentils are the best I’ve ever had. I ate so much I am still stuffed after several hours!

Hope you are all surviving the cold and snow over in the Northwest! I am definitely not appreciative of this ridiculously hot and humid weather over here.  

My Story.

My class supports WWU!

Every year at WWU, we have a dedication vespers for student missionaries heading out the next school year. Watching almost 90 students, a lot of them my friends, go down the aisles, and listening to the stories from past SMs, I felt a tugging at my heart. I thought to myself, “Wow, that would be really cool to go to those places and do all those things!” But, I pushed down the feeling almost as quickly as it had come to me. I didn’t want to go anywhere next year. I would finish my schooling in the next three years, and be done. I didn’t have time for that.

A few weeks later, with only about 4 weeks left in spring quarter, I get a call from my parents saying that they were coming up to Walla Walla to talk to me about something. I honestly had no idea what they had to talk to me about. As we sat in the girl’s dorm lobby, my parents explained to me that they didn’t have enough money to send me to WWU the next year. They needed a year to save some money for me to continue on. They suggested that I go SMing next year. “No.” I replied. “No I don’t want to!”

Snack time! Maximus, my new student.

 The next couple of days were sort of a blur. I went to the financial aid office to talk to a lady who could always dig up money for students somehow. We talked for a while and I found that there was really not much we could do except find some scholarships. I thought maybe I could work for a year to earn money for school the next year. No, I would lose my scholarships and have to start paying loans. Attending a different school would not work because I would lose my scholarships when I came back to WWU. Finally after a few days I trudged over to the Student Missions office to see what was going on over there. I was greeted with excitement and Jeanne was the most helpful person in the world to talk to. She talked to me about how wonderful it was to be a missionary and told me to talk to some other people that have gone. She showed me what places I could go on such short notice. I wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country so I could practice my Spanish but I would need a visa and it was too late for that. We looked at the islands and after talking to some people, I decided on Pohnpei or Palau. I applied for Kindergarten and other random grades in elementary for Pohnpei and after about 2 or 3 weeks, I got accepted to be the Kindergarten teacher in Pohnpei. At that point, I was getting somewhat excited to go be a missionary.

I spent 6 weeks after school was out for the summer, in Spain studying abroad. A mere nine hours after arriving home in Oregon from Europe, I was on my way to Hawaii for orientation. As I went to the meetings, I was amazed by how many people were there. There were dozens of people around my age dedicating a year of their lives to serve others. WWU alone sent out around 90 people and Southern has a number close to that.

This year has been one of, if not the toughest year of my life. However, the past 6 months that I have been here have been the most amazing months I have ever experienced. Sure, I experience a lot of hardships. Some days I just can’t help but cry because I am so frustrated. I’m trying to teach 4, 5, and 6 year olds how to read in their second language when many of them don’t even understand everything I am saying! I’m tired of sweating almost constantly, and having giant cockroaches pop out of nowhere and scurry across the floor. But, right now there is no place I would rather be than Pohnpei, Micronesia. Becoming a student missionary may not have been something that I wanted to do, but now I am so incredibly glad that God led me in this direction. I have made life long friends, and experienced things that have helped me trust and depend on God more. God really knew what He was doing when He sent me here. A week before coming here I was told that I would be teaching 1^st grade instead of Kindergarten. Then it got changed back to Kindergarten when I got here at the school. Since Kindergarten only goes until noon, I teach three high school classes in the afternoon. God knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle 1^st graders all day, so He gave me both little children and high schoolers. I couldn’t have asked for a better arrangement!

God has my future all planned out. Sometimes it’s frustrating not knowing what is ahead in our lives, but we need to learn to rely on God to lead us in the right direction. It sometimes feels like God is taking my hand and leading me down a pitch black pathway. Sometimes I shake off His hand because I want to go my own way and I end up tripping and falling. Yet God is always there to pick me up right back up and take my hand again to lead me in the right direction. That is something I struggle with everyday. I try to take matters into my own hands, and sometimes I get impatient and try to go ahead of myself. One of Jen’s favorite verses in the Bible is this:

“God, the one and only-I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, and impregnable castle: I’m set for life.”

Psalm 62:1-2 MSG

Amazing friends!

If any of you reading this and are considering becoming a student missionary, please talk to me! I would love to answer any questions or concerns you might have.  Becoming a student missionary is one of the best things that have ever happened in my life. I have no regrets whatsoever coming here!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

Here are some other great blogs to follow. Jen and Karyn are both here with me!

jwrate.tumblr.com

overseasunderskies.tumblr.com

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Sunshine on a Dreary Day

A group of people that I love!

Before I was put in swimming lessons at the age of 10, I was terrified of even getting water on my face. On Sunday as I swam 60 ft. below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, I thought about how ridiculous I was. Being underwater is like being in a whole different world! All is quiet except for the sound of the bubbles from the regulator heading to the surface. The water is a beautiful shade of blue mixed with green, and once in a while, you will see a school of colorful fish passing by. Although this dive session wasn’t at a coral reef and we didn’t see anything really cool except for an old glass coke bottle, the beauty of the ocean still amazed me. The four of us that took the class are going diving on Sunday with our instructor for our first dive not in the class. Hopefully we go somewhere with more ocean life! Being down on the ocean floor reminded me of one of my favorite songs, Indescribable, by Chris Tomlin. Here are some of the lyrics:

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea

Creations’ revealing Your majesty

From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring

Every creature unique in the song that it sings

All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,

You placed the starts in the sky and you know them by name,

You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable,

Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing God

You should definitely listen to the song if you haven’t heard it before!

This week, I have been trying to teach my kids the lesson of patience. Every time one of my kids have a question (Which is about every 10 seconds), they yell “TeachERRR!” or “MS. C! I need HAAAALP!” I’ve had to tell them many, many times that if they have a question, they need to raise their hands and be quiet. Needless to say, this is not an easy thing for them to do! Five years olds just can’t seem to stop talking!

Monday was a hard day for me. None of the kids would listen, they didn’t understand almost anything I was teaching them, and it was just SO HOT outside! I prayed, and asked God for the patience and help that I needed to get through that rough day. God definitely put Summer in my class for the reason of making my day. She is the little sunshine in my classroom. Every recess, she comes and sits on my lap and plays and talks with me. That day, she comes over to my desk and sits on my lap, and just cuddles into me. I hug her and almost start to cry. God always provides some type of comfort in our time of trouble! I think things have improved since then. Even though my kids are constantly causing trouble, I can’t help but love them!

Every day at worship, I ask my kids what they are thankful for. A lot of kids quickly raise their hands and they say that they are thankful for some of the most random things! My Little Pony, sharks, snow, puppies, and one they like to say is you! They love to say that they are thankful for their teachers, which is really sweet. J My quietest kid, EJ has finally started to sing at worship! He has never opened his mouth during worship and this week, he has finally started to sing with us! I didn’t say anything to him but inside, I was jumping around with happiness! He’s finally opening up more!

Every month, we have something called branch Sabbath school. Our SM group is splits into two groups and we head to either Palikir or Kapinga to do a children’s afternoon program. I’ve always gone to Palikir but this last Sabbath, the whole SM group went to Kapinga. Kapinga is a poor village made up of Polynesians. When we got there, we jumped out of the truck and walked around the village inviting kids to come to the program in the big community hut. We started off with singing songs and as the sound of our music spread through the village, more and more children came. We had at least 50 children there of all ages, if not more. After singing, we did a skit of Jonah and gave them all coloring pages and markers to color with. Listening to the kids sing, and seeing them laugh as we acted out our story made my heart so joyful! My flip-flops got taken which irritated me at first, but I realized that someone probably needed them more than me.

The days and weeks are going by very quickly. I can’t believe I only have 4 ½ months left here! Karyn showed me a beautiful picture of mountains and trees and my heart literally ached because I miss it so much! I will be there soon enough though!

Happy Sabbath to all of you! Thank you for all the messages of encouragement I am receiving!

Back in the Swing of Things

Sleep is something that I can’t seem to get enough of here on the island. Getting back into the routine of getting up at 6:15, to be at staff worship at 7:15, was pretty brutal after being able to sleep in as late as I wanted during break.

Outer island of Ahnt

On Sunday, I de-Christmased my classroom, rearranged the desks, and cleaned. I encountered quite a few spiders hiding among the glittery Christmas strands I had strung around the room. If you know me, I don’t do well with spiders. So my solution to dealing with the spiders, was to pull down on the strands from the ceiling, run away from them, then wait for the spiders to crawl out so I could kill them with my flip flops. It was quite effective!

Monday morning, I get to flag raising to find that I have a new student in my class. The family had just registered that morning so I was totally unprepared for another student. The boy’s name is Maximus and so far he’s been a pretty good student. Now I’m back up to 13 crazy 4-6 years olds in my classroom. On Wednesday, I decided to evaluate the students to see how well they know their numbers. I called up each student individually and asked them to count as high as they could. One of my boys, JT, did fine up to 10 but then paused.

“Alright JT, what comes after 10?”

“15! 18! 13! Eleventeen!”

I tried my hardest not to laugh and told him to go ahead and sit down.

View of the high school from my porch

Haylee has been finishing her reading and phonics work very quickly in class, so after she turned in her assignment, I asked her to come sit on my lap at my desk. I help up some easy words I had written on a piece of paper. Together we sounded out the letters and put the sounds together to create the words. It took a lot of sounding out, but we finished the list and I told her I was very proud of her and her parent would be too. Her face lit up and said, “Ms. C you think they’ll be proud?” “Of course they will be proud Haylee!” She slid off my lap and skipped back to her desk with a big smile on her face.

Our playground has recently acquired three teeter-totters. (As if the carousel wasn’t enough of a death trap already! There’s a reason those things were banned in so many states.) I’d say the teachers enjoy them almost as much as the children do! As our group waits to go somewhere, you will often times find a few SMs going up and down on them. Watching our children get on those contraptions however, is not fun. I’ve had several children fall off of them already, trying to get down without asking me for help.

All of us dread Parent-Teacher conferences. Not because we dread seeing the parents, but rather because we sit in our classrooms for hours alone because parents don’t come to see us! I had three out of thirteen parents come and talk to me. The only parents that come to these meetings are the ones whose child is doing well in my class. I learned from talking to some of the locals that if a parent knows that their child is not doing well in school, they don’t like to come to talk to the teacher because they are embarrassed. That really disappoints me because I really need to talk to some parents but they avoid me constantly!

I received my Christmas package from my sister and a surprise package from Joni this week! I was so excited! Thank you to everyone that has sent me packages and letters! They always bring a lot of joy to my day!

I have no new pictures this time, so the pictures that are up just show the beauty of Pohnpei. J