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| Learning Center Students and Me :) |
Not really sure where to start…the beginning, the end, the beginning of the end. It’s all a muddle of emotions, thoughts, and experiences. I will say leaving Samoa when push came to shove was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do-not necessarily the country because I will not miss the mosquitoes, flies, heat, etc. but the children, the people. Those kids hold a very big chunk of my heart and it felt like it was being ripped out or at least in half when I left.
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| Saying goodbye :( |
How about a few highlights? (I will start with the MOST amazing!)
- WE GOT CURRICULUM!!!! I woke up to an email from my mom saying, “if only you could get the curriculum for the school before you leave, then I think you will have accomplished everything that you needed to while you were there.” Immediately after reading this, I opened an email from the Ministry of Education saying that we were approved for curriculum! A week later we picked it up- over 100 books including teachers’ manuals, workbooks, novels, etc.!!!
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| Books! Books! and more Books! We got curriculum finally!!! |
- Miss Samoa came again to teach contemporary dance to the oldest girls. They of course loved it!
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| Miss Samoa/South Pacific, Latafale, teaching dance |
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| Dancing with the kids :) |
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| A thank you letter (in English) that one of my students wrote to Miss Samoa/South Pacific |
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- The team from Fiji came and went bringing much needed encouragement, help, prayer support, bodies, and so much more. We were sad to see them go, but excited that two of them are praying about coming back to staff in the Learning Center (and a bunch of others are coming back in September to run a School of Counseling). They also blessed me be picking picking me up from the airport and spending the day with me during my 10 hour layover in Fiji.
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| Praying over and sending out Ben, one of the Fiji team |
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| Some of the Fiji team- picture taken at the airport in Fiji |
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| The whole school including teachers and Fiji and Korea team. Farewell
for the Fiji team- and in Fijian culture you smear baby powder or
something similar all over the dancers faces and give them money which
if not quickly put in your pocket can be "stolen" by other people. |
- We also had a DTS team from South Korea helping in the Learning Center twice a week teaching music (as one is an opera singer/music teacher) and art (one is studying design) as well as joining us for P.E. and teaching about dental health (one is a dental hygienist).
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| Our Fearsome Superheroes :) |
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| Teaching the kids how to brush their teeth. |
- Trained Hallie, or new Texan teacher, to take my place and eased her into teaching my class.
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| All of the Learning Center teachers- John, my co-principal, is the back middle |
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My classroom
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| My class (minus 1) |
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| Some of the boys and I right before they performed a fire dance |
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| My final dance |
- Registration almost completed with Samoa Qualifications Authority (SQA) in which I played a large part in the application and paperwork process.
- I decided to take a few days for myself and enjoy the “other half” of Samoa by going away to a resort in Savai’i. It was a nice time with me and God, relaxing, getting refreshed for the weeks to come, and just enjoying Samoa- remembering all the things that I love about the country, the people, and why I was there.
A few fun
stories:
We had one family who could not afford uniforms for their children. These two boys were the only ones in the school without uniforms and you could tell that it was starting to take a toll on them. The usually carefree and joyous countenances of these two boys was replaced by morose and withdrawn looks. It was rare to see a smile from Ray who usually is only smiles. I finally decided enough was enough and whether I was being slightly culturally insensitive or not, I wasn’t going to let those boys suffer anymore. I decided to buy those boys uniforms (of course I would have found a good way to do it and had John give it to them or something…) But I didn't have to worry about any of that because when I walked into the shop that sells all of the uniforms, I started talking to Ann who is the head manager and whom I have done all of our ordering and dealings. She immediately said that the store would “gift” the uniforms to the two boys as “prizes” from last year that were just late in being delivered. They could come in anytime in the next few days to be fitted for uniforms!
So
currently I am in England. I had a few fun days in Detroit with my sister, Megan, and her family in which I froze! Coming in on the plane I realized I had no long pants or a jacket-oops. And now I am enjoying the slightly warmer weather in London with my other sister, Katie, and her family. At this moment I am sitting on a train heading up to the YWAM base in Harpenden in which I spent the two years previous to heading to Samoa to see friends, mentors, roommates, and return full circle. We have had a wonderful time exploring northwestern France, southwest England-Devon and exploring the surrounding area with the blessing of absolutely gorgeous weather.
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| Spending time with my niece and nephew |
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| Siblings! |
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| Seeing my niece and nephew in Detroit right after getting off the plane. |
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| Visiting my good friends in Cambridge. |
As for the
future, I am still not certain. I am hoping to use this time in England to get some time to pray and seek the Lord as to my next steps. I spent all of my energies focusing on Samoa and finishing my time there well and completing everything that I needed to and investing time in people, that I didn't think or pray much beyond that. My plan is to be home until around September- have some downtime and time to see people- and then head on to the next adventure. I am still really leaning towards heading to Kona and working with the teacher training programs there called Educating for Life. (The trainers go into other countries and train the local teachers how to teach. It’s a year long program in which the teachers receive a certificate upon completion. I would help initialize the program, train and mentor a core group of teachers, and let them run the program on their own with my assistance and supervision- I would be there for the first month and then return as needed, but regularly keeping tabs on them.)
So as I am currently not directly on the field, please feel free to withhold your monthly support during this time. If you do want to continue supporting me through this season of rest and redirection, all of the monies will go into my missions account to be used when God tells me when and where to go. However, regardless, please continue to keep me in your prayers as it is big transition and lots of unknowns.
