And now we will learn about the WNS test boycotts :)

     Sometimes, at night, I sit back and wonder, "Did my students really learn any of the stuff I taught them today?" Well, last week, I found out that not only have my students been paying attention, but they are able to apply their newly acquired knowledge to more than just the test itself. Every teacher's dream right?  My students decided that they would boycott their test last week on civil rights. I had to smile and be just a little bit proud of them for grasping what it was that we had been talking about for 2 weeks. While I humored them for a little while, I finally gave them an ultimatum. No test, no recess. They quickly sat down and removed their pencils from their supplies cases. This whole unit was an eye opener to me. I almost cried with joy a few times when I realized that these students are the products of a battle that so many people fought just a few decades ago. When students say things like "What do you mean I couldn't be in school with her because she is white and I am black?" it makes you realize that this generation of students doesn't see color of skin as any different than the color of the persons shirt. It just makes them who they are. Last week we also read a story about a young Korean girl who had to hide her gender because her mom wanted her to be educated. The story was written about a time in Korea when women were treated as less than men. We related the story to what we had been reading about in social studies. The students were fired up about both discrimination based on race and discrimination based on gender. I asked if they could think of anything that still encourages discrimination of gender today and when no one could think of anything, I asked them about colors of toys and clothing. They began to note that toys and clothing for girls are mostly pink, purple, pastels, etc; and clothing and toys for boys are blue and red and green. On student noted "People wearing clothes specific to gender is like racism against clothing." My goal with all of this is to get the kids thinking about how different things are for them and what issues they still face. It is interesting to me to see how they respond to what is going on around them.
     Tuesday this past week was Fasnacht Day, as most of you in Lancaster know :) For those of you who have never heard of Fasnacht Day, you are missing out! It is my favorite holiday based solely on the reason that it is the only holiday in which people celebrate a baked good. Now, I know that the point is not to celebrate the baked good itself, but it still makes me smile! Fasnacht Day is know by most of the rest of the world as "Fat Tuesday." It is the day before the first day of Lent in which all of your sugar and fats are supposed to be used up. Fasnachts are similar to donuts, however, they are traditionally made with potatoes. Luckily for me, all of the ingredients are readily accessible in Kenya, so I decided to make some! I found a recipe that said it made about 20. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I read a recipe for a baked good and it says that it makes about 20, it really means 10-15 because they want you to make the size about half of what you really will make it. Well, evidently that is not the case for fasnachts. I ended up with almost 50 fasnachts! I just kept cutting them out and there was still more dough left. Needless to say, we had fasnachts for almost a whole week with 5 people in our house. We of course coated them with powdered sugar for extra flavor :)
     Over the weekend, my roommate, Kristin, and I went shopping for some things we needed. I bought a new pair of running sneakers that are so bright that I think that they might glow in the dark. For those of you who know me well, you will know that I am not really a runner. I try to get into it, but with my knee problems, I have just never enjoyed running and then being in pain the next day. However, I have decided to try jogging and walking with Kristin and Jenn every day after school. Even though we only started to jog today, I have to say, I kind of enjoyed it! I think it helps to have a jogging partner, which is something I have never had before.
     Kristin and I also bought a bunch of new and used books for our classrooms during our excursion this weekend. We found a really awesome books store in a mall about 20 minutes away that has hundreds of used books! We were so excited! I got 6 new books for my classroom and Kristin got a few for her's as well. The kids are so eager to get their hands on them! I love seeing kids eager to read :) This weekend I also started, and finished, The Hunger Games  book series. I loved reading them! If you have time to read, I highly recommend them!
     This week is Spiritual Emphasis Week at our school. We are setting aside extra time to have chapel every day and to pray for certain things each day. Yesterday the students prayed for other students at the school who may not be Christians. Today we prayed for families that are struggling, and for family members who aren't Christians. I love hearing my students pray, and I love that they WANT to pray! They are always asking for us to pray for them for all kinds of different things. This Friday we will also be celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. We will be reading many of his books and having a party with all of the elementary school students! It should be a lot of fun!
     Finally, I just wanted to share that one of my students brought in a chameleon today as a class pet. He found it at his house and put it in a soda bottle with holes in it, added some leaves and brought it in. It was really cool, so I thought I would share. I love being able to see this kind of thing on a daily basis here! PS, it was smaller than my pinky finger!

Prayer Requests:
- Finances for myself and my coworkers as we prepare for traveling this summer.
- For Spiritual Emphasis Week at our school to help students grow in their knowledge of Christ.
- For the safe travel of the parents of the students in my class. Maybe are missionaries as well, and they travel much of the year.

Verse of Encouragement:
    "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you." James 1:19-21

Posting again already?! No way!

Hi everyone! I know, pigs must be flying because I am posting again in less than 10 days! I know many of you would like to have more updates, so I am going to try to post about every 10 days or so. Maybe my posts will be shorter then :) So here it goes...

Last week we had a Valentine's Day party in my classroom. It was a blast! The students all got to make bags to put their candy in as well as make cards with hand prints formed into a heart. The picture you see is one from Pintrest, but ours looked similar. We had cookies and soda, and more cookies and candy, and more sugar and then I sent them all home to their parents :)

Last week, my students read a story about baseball and I may or may not have brainwashed them to believe that the Phillies are the best baseball team on the planet. They learned quickly, from the White Sox loving 3rd grade teacher, that I may have been slightly biased. :) The week pretty much continued normally. I slowly regained back my strength from being sick and was able to get a lot of sleep to recover. On Friday night, two of my roommates and I babysat for the principal's three adorable children. I have never babysat with so many other adults! It was a fun time though. We watched Power Rangers with the kids, and it took me back to the good old days when I wanted to be the pink ranger :) After the kids went to bed, my roommates and I watched the first Lord of the Rings movie. I think we still have about 100 movies left on the list of movies I need to see. I was evidently sheltered growing up!

On Saturday, all four of my roommates and I went with a few of the other teachers to Crescent Island again. We got to walk with the animals like Doctor Dolittle (although I am still working on that talking thing :) ). Jenn got within about 10 feet of a giraffe before it noticed she was there. It was incredible! It drizzled all day, but it wasn't too bad until we were headed back to the bus. We got about 300 yards away and it started to downpour! It was the hardest rain I have ever been trapped in. I thought it was hailing because the drops hurt so badly! We finally made it back to the bus and just as we were about to leave, we saw a hippo out of the water! It was huge! We stayed clear of it though because they can get mean if they feel threatened. Finally, we headed back to school on a one hour bus ride, completely soaked. 

On Sunday, Jenn and I decided to go back to a church I had attended only once before, and she had attended twice. We really liked the service and the pastor. I think we may have finally found a church to attend regularly! Praise the Lord! After church we got the best ice cream we have had in Kenya. It almost tasted like home. We decided that we can get the ice cream whenever we want as long as we walk a 5K afterwards :)

Finally, I want to write about my finances. Some of you are supporting my monthly, and I am so grateful for that support! It helps with the day to day expenses like food, transportation, and rewards for my students. I am, however, in need of some one time donations if anyone is willing to help. The one time donations that were given at the beginning of my time here have been used for furniture, a car, and other start up costs. I would like to come home this summer, but plane ticket prices have gone up a few hundred dollars since I came home at Christmas. My goal is to raise $2000 before June in order to cover my plane ticket and have a small amount of money left over for gas and a few social outings while I am home for 7 weeks. If you are able to help with these costs, please e-mail me or message me on facebook so that I can talk to you about how to donate. You can also go to http://nics.org/Donate-start to donate anonymously. If you use the website, you can click on "single donation" and then select "missionary support" under the drop down menu for "destination." You can then type my name in the box provided. All donations done through the website are tax deductible. NICS does take out 8-10% of donations to support the home office. I am so thankful for all of you who pray for me every day and for those of you who are supporting me financially so that I am able to stay here and work with the students at WNS. I could not do this without you!

Prayer Requests:

- For the heath of the staff at the school. Everyone seems to be getting colds and stomach viruses like I had. Pray for healing for them please.

- For all of the teachers who are transitioning to or from Kenya this coming year. Pray for wisdom in decision making and for peace about the decisions they do make. 

Verse of Encouragement:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:10-17

Finally, I want to include a funny photo that I think many of you will enjoy :)

February

      We are 5 weeks into the new semester here at WNS. Time seems to be flying by so quickly! Students are growing both physically and spiritually. I love getting to see the gears turn and minds expand each day while I am teaching. I have 21 students this semester, and each of them is so unique. It's amazing how, at such a young age, you can see the potential in each student to become something great, even if they don't yet see it themselves. I try to remind my students every day that they have the passion, potential, and determination to do great things, but they have to choose if those great things are going to be good or bad. Each day I see them make choices and decide whether they were good or bad. 

      We started off the year talking about resolutions, and I broke the students into prayer groups. I asked them to pray for each other about a fruit of the Spirit that they thought they might need to work on this year. It was amazing how united the students became when they started praying for each other, not just as a whole class, but individually. The students have also started to do individual journaling every day. I give them a prompt that makes them think about themselves and who they are. The last two weeks in Chapel, we heard students and teachers give testimonies about what God has done in their lives. Afterwards, I asked my students to write about their stories. Their immediate reactions were to say "I don't have a story." or "God hasn't done anything big in my life." I reminded them that if they are a Christian, God has done some major things in their lives. Immediately, they went to work, and my room was silent for more than 10 minutes (which is not very common if you know how my classroom usually functions :) We like to have fun!). My goal is to help them to explore what they believe for themselves and not just follow the crowd.
     This week is Valentine's Day, and so my students and I read 1 Corinthians 13 to see what the Bible says about love. We then made a wreath to hang on our door. I had each student put their hand print on a piece of construction paper and then they wrote part of 1 Cor. 13 on the palm. As I was painting their hands to make the hand print, one very ticklish student said to me "This must be what buildings feel like....I feel really bad for buildings!" It made me laugh :)
     I have continued to do volunteer work on the weekends when I have time, and also find some time to have fun. Last weekend was Super Bowl weekend. Because we are 8 hours ahead of the East Coast, we were able to see the game at 2am. A bunch of the teachers got together at someone's house who had satellite cable, and we watched the game throughout the wee hours of the morning. It was quite the experience! Afterwards, we had a "southern breakfast." Those seem to happen a lot here with all of these southerners that I work with :) I have come to love biscuits and gravy, but I am still warming up to grits. Yesterday, I also went bowling for the first time at the one and only bowling alley (that I know of ) here in Nairobi. It was a lot of fun. The lanes are much skinnier and the pins are smaller, but it was still a blast! I also got to attend a soccer tournament that some of my students were participating in. They played so well and got 7th place out of 32 teams in their division. It really helped me to bond with some of the parents and students from my class. I think I will continue to try to go to some of their games because it was so much fun!
    This past week I was very sick with a bacterial infection in my stomach. The doctor told me it was food poisoning, but no one else at school or home was sick, and we all ate the same thing. 5 days later, I am still recovering, but I feel like I have more and more energy each day. I missed a day and a half of school due to being sick, but the one day that I was there this week, my students were so helpful and kind to me. They kept asking if I felt any better yet and telling me they were sorry that I was so sick.
     Friday night we also had our talent show at school. Although I was still not feeling great, I decided to go. I tried to keep an open mind knowing that it would not be the kind of show I have been accustomed to seeing at Hempfield. I was blown away! The students did an incredible job! They worked so hard to prepare some amazing acts! The finale to the show (not a contestant) was a group of 4 boys who did a break-dancing act that was incredible. My other favorite act was that of a student who "read" a poem that she wrote. I put read in quotes because reading doesn't always include as much passion and energy as this young woman put into her poem. She wrote a poem called "No Application Form" about disabilities. She talked about the fact that there is no application form for someone to get a disability, it is something they are given without ever asking for it. It was beautiful and she got a standing ovation from the audience.
     Overall, things are going well here. I am just taking every thing day by day and looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me at this school for the next year and possibly beyond. I thank each of you for your support as always. I miss all of you very much and can't wait to see you the next time I am home (dates to come soon :) ).

Prayer Requests:

- For continued spiritual growth in my classroom

- For my health to continue to get better

- For the 7 couples I know that got engaged in the last 3 months (seriously...there are 7 of them!). Just pray for their wedding plans to come together smoothly and for them to cherish this time together.

Verse of Encouragement:

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12