So, I had quite an interesting week! Tuesday morning, the city water was out, so my landlord switched our water to the well, AFTER he put in a bunch of bleach/chemicals to “clean” the water. As Tuesday went on, the area around my eyes got really red and itchy so I took a benedril and didn’t really think anything of it. But OH was I surprised Wednesday morning when I woke up…..I woke up and could tell that my eyes were really swollen because I could hardly open them, so I went and looked in the mirror and FREAKED when I saw myself because my face was so swollen and red you could hardly see my eyes (if you have seen the movie “Hitch”, I definitely looked like Will Smith when he had his allergy, except mine was just all around my eyes). SO REDICULOUS! I had NO idea what to do, so I got ready for school, put on some sunglasses, and went to talk to my boss! She took one look at my face, and was like “whoa, we should call the doctor!” haha! We called the doctor and he came to school to check me out and called the pharmacy to bring some meds, sent me home to bed, and said to call in the afternoon if nothing had changed. Well, by afternoon a little swelling had gone done but not much, and my skin felt like it was burning off, so he said to go to the clinic and get a shot. This is when it gets funny….my wonderful friends took me to the clinic, and when we walked in, we had to WAKE UP the woman at the front desk (it was only 7:30) and her first reaction was: “wow, mira, la cara de ella!” (look at her face!!) and started LAUGHING AT ME!!!!!!!!!! Totally not okay. (even though I did look terrible!) Then she went to go get the nurse, they took me to a room, and said they were going to give me an IV shot. So, the nurse gives me the IV, and after a couple minutes, the tube pops out of the needle part and starts shooting all over, and the nurse was like “ayy!” and quick handed ME the part that was connected to my arm to hold while she wiped it up, and then told me we would need to start over. HA. Meanwhile, the tube I am holding starts filling up with my blood and my roommates and I were laughing SO HARD and trying to take pictures of what was going on without the nurse noticing. Seriously? It was so ridiculous. After all this, she told my roommates that the medicine she gave me would put me to sleep in like 10 minutes, and we were all like OH CRAP we drove a motorcycle here, so I had to sit in the middle on the way home while Melisa held onto me in case I fell asleep on the ride home! HA HA! SO funny. I made it home awake (thank the Lord!) and went to bed, and the morning my swelling was down enough and the pain was mostly gone, so I went to school, and thankfully my kids were all very nice about it!! It was definitely one of my most interesting experiences here!!

Saturday morning, Julie-Anne and I went on a run, and while we were on our way back, there was a BULL in the middle of the trail! Again! Ah so scary--we were so nervous we were going to have a reenactment of the last time was saw a bull (it was running past us and we had to hop the fence). We just walked VERY slowly and quietly past it, and thankfully made it by alive!!

Saturday afternoon, Julie-Anne and I went to go visit some of the kids from her school! It was so cute. We went to visit some of her Haitian kids, and they live in this big building with a bunch of rooms in it, and basically one family lives in each room. Their “house” was a 10 by 10 room with 1 bed, and a plywood bench next to it where the 4 kids slept, then there was a sheet separating that area from the “kitchen” which was just a stove and a pile of pots and pans. It seemed that they had some sort of community bathroom situation, but I wasn’t sure. Definitely crazy. We sat on the floor between the bed and the kitchen and colored with them, they were so excited!

Field Trip to Santiago!

WYLD LIFE pics!!! Tuesday we had a "Battle of the Sexes" club-- had some awesome boys VS girls games--so much fun!!

I just realized it has been 2 weeks since I last blogged! Things here have been CRAZY! Last week, I moved classrooms (FINALLY!) not to the one I was supposed to (because it isn’t done yet) but it is SO nice!! It is so helpful to actually have space to move around, enough room to sit on the floor to read, etc! I am so thankful, even though it was super stressful! Things at school have been so rediculous--one of our teachers had a baby so there was a teacher/classroom shuffle because the person who was supposed to sub for her fell through, and there have been random holidays/speakers/whatever might come up that have made almost every day super random!

Tuesday we had Wyld Life (see pictures on previous post!) and it was Battle of the Sexes theme--we played some really fun boys vs. girls games and the kids loved it!

Wednesday at Bible study, our study was on idols. We are doing this really great Tim Keller book called " "Gospel in Life, Grace Changes Everything", that I would definitely recommend! Anyways, we started this study on idols, and I was thinking I pretty much know what my idols are...but I sure learned somnething new! There was a mini question section to help figure out a main root for your idols, and after taking it, mine came out as control. I totally can see where that is evident in my life when I think about it(especially here!) because I like to have a plan for everything, and honestly living here almost every plan I have gets ruined because the attitude here is pretty much to just "take it as it comes". I definitely see where God is teaching me (actually forcing me!) to give up that desire for control, and it is so good! After that, Thursday morning I was reading in the Psalms, and read Psalm 40 (SO COOL!)

"Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord, are the wonders you have done! The things you have planned for us, no one can recount to you! Were I to speak of them and tell them, there would be too many to declare! Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, then I said: 'here I am, I have come! I desire to do your will, O my God! Your law is within my heart!"

Thursday we went on a field trip to Santiago! It was craaaaaaaazy. A bus full of 4th-6th graders screaming, singing, fighting….and I was in the back in the midst of it! Needless to say I was exhausted at the end! It was very fun though, AND a major plus--we got to go to McDonalds for lunch! Hello America!!

I read another sweet Psalm this morning:
Psalm 34:1-9
"I bless God every chance I get; my lungs expand with His praise. I live and breathe God; if things aren't going well, hear this and be happy: join me in spreading the news; together let's get the word out. God met me more than halfway, He freed me from my anxious fears! Look at Him; give Him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from Him! When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot. God's angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray. Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see how GOOD God is! Blessed are you who run to Him! Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all His goodness!"

What an AWESOME week!! I definitely saw/felt God working in some pretty cool ways this week!

Since the beginning of the year, I have really been frustrated with how my Bible classes have been going. I always feel like I am talking and talking and the kids don't really care, but this week it was the exact opposite! The kids were talking like crazy and asking tons of questions. We even had to extend Bible class a couple of times into math time! I was so awesome.

I think I have written before about how my students are some of the meanest kids in our school (to each other at least). They are always calling each other names, and saying and doing really hateful things to each other (remember the super glue incident!) BUT Friday afternoon, I had my kids make up a song or a poem having to do with the Civil War (for war, or for peace) and one of the boys, Josue, wrote a song. Before he began, he told everyone that he was only going to sing his song if everyone promised not to laugh, and they all agreed (but I wasn't so sure I believed them). So, he sang his song, and afterwards everyone in the class clapped, cheered and told him what a good job he did and how brave he was! It was so crazy, HE was shocked, I was shocked, SO crazy. THEN he went and sat down at his seat, and all of a sudden started crying, and one of the girls asked him why he was crying and he said "I was sure you were all going to laugh at me, I can't believe you didn't, and I am crying because I am just SO HAPPY!" Oh. My. Gosh. Such a cool reminder to everyone in our class how much the way they treat people affects them!!

Friday night, the 6th grade girls came over for a girls night! They came over right after school, and we walked into town (which they thought was super cool, they even made all of us wear sunglasses so we would look extra cool), got ice cream, and went to the store to buy fake nails! After that we walked home and spent the next 3 hours putting on fake nails (who knew how complicated that could be!), eating, talking about life (mostly boys!) and singing along to Taylor Swift! It was such a fun night, and was so good for me to have some real time with my girls!

I always knew relationships were important, but this week I learned just exactly how important they are. Through different events in my classroom this week, I had opportunities to talk to my kids more individually, and realized they just want to talk to someone who cares and actually have that person listen to them. I didn’t realize how many of my kids just don’t have anyone who listens to them! I grew up in a house where my mom wanted to talk to me after school, and I was the one trying to push her away so I could watch “Full House” or “Step by Step”!! (haha, sorry mom!!thanks for always wanting to talk to me) So I just think I assumed that my kids did too!

One situation this week especially got to me. I was going to cancel campaigners this week because only one girl could go, but when I told her I was maybe going to cancel it, she freaked out (like really, freaked out) and said (more like shouted) “I count on having this time, its not my fault all of the other girls can’t go, I just want to have this time to talk to you! My mom is at work and I don’t want to call her, so can we please just still have it?” I was seriously shocked. I couldn’t believe how much she wanted to have campaigners, when honestly most of the time I am wondering if this girl even likes me! (She is not exactly nice to me very often!!) So, we still had it. We ended up going for a walk and getting ice cream and just having a really good conversation. As soon as the bell rang, she was at my desk ready to go and just started talking. My heart broke for her as she explained how she was hurting at home without her mom ever there, feels like she has no one at school, and said she hopes her dad moves to the states so she doesn’t have to see him again! This girl just needs LOVE and somebody to LISTEN to her!

Still thinking about this, I ran across this blog post and it had some serious info I needed to be reminded of on relationships.

1. Love the person. Seriously. Don’t just say it! Do it. Love the person no matter what their label is. You might need help with that. So ask Jesus to increase your love for people. Love is the most important aspect.
2. Care about the person’s story. A person is not a frog to dissect as you did in 8th grade biology. A person is soul that is to be handled with care. Only ask questions you care about! Only ask questions if you care! (This is a hard one, I feel like as a teacher I am always being pulled in 20 different directions!)
3. Know their name. A person’s name is the first break into the unknown. So learn it and do your best to remember.
4. Think about a good novel. Every good story is full of what? People, places, things, a thesis, a storyline, a protagonist, an antagonist and more. Questions are a way to get to story. Take a minute, yes, right now, to write down five questions that would lead to knowing a story.
5. Ask questions without question marks. Tell me about growing up. Describe a typical day for you. Tell me about one of your passions. I’d love to hear more about that. I’m very interested in this, tell me more. Each of these questions lead to answers that tell SO much about a person, and can help you learn to love them more!
6. Pay attention when in conversation. Remember things. This may seem mundane, but if you remember and connect dots when listening a person is more likely to share and to trust. Listening is one way of showing you love, care and are interested in the person.
7. Know how you best listen. If you want to get to know someone and you know you’re easily distracted, if possible move to a location where you can best give the person in front of you your greatest attention. If you get distracted by comings and goings, put your back to the door and face the wall. If you are at a party and there are lots of interruptions, sit at table, by each other in the living room or even suggest, “i’d love to get to know more of your story, would you want to get coffee and then set a plan at that moment!”
8. Think about questions you’d like to be asked. What are the things you wish people knew about you, but never ask to find out? Take a minute. What are they? Form questions that you could ask yourself to get to these things. Then when in conversation with someone else ask questions that get to that stuff.
9. Don’t have an agenda outside getting to know the person.
10. Be willing to be known too. People are most of all human. That is the most common thing we share. It is intrinsic to us. It is who we were created to be. And the human experience is full of life and story. It takes time, but every human has a story worth knowing.

“Get to know the person, not the label of kid, teacher, student, boss, mom, etc!”

“Most of the time we treat people as though they are statues. We see their form, label them and then ask questions from there.”

“It takes work to get to the middle. It takes a desire to know what is on the inside. It takes an attitude that speaks to the value of what lives underneath, that what is inside has just as much, if not more value than the appearance.”

“In many ways we must unlearn our “get to know you” strategies. Instead of asking questions such as, what do you do? where do you work? where did you go to college? what did you study? how long have you been a mom? how long have you two been dating? and so on. Begin with questions that get to the good stuff. (the other stuff is easy to learn) Ask questions that get to know a human, not a thing or occupation. Ask questions like: Where do you live? What is your favorite thing about your neighborhood? What do you love about life right now? What do you enjoy about your job? What are you passionate about?”


Ask questions, CARE, and most of all, love. That is how we will bring the kingdom!

This week was spirit week at school, and today was the DR Independence Day! Interesting day--we had to march in a "parade" which meant walking about 4 blocks in lines to the Catholic church, attending mass, and then listening to the mayor and a few other leaders speak! It was an interesting experince....I think I heard "Viva La Republica Dominicana!" about a million times! Definitely different than how we spend our Independence Day!