So it's been a few days since I last posted. And the last few days have been jam packed!!! First thing to update you on....I think the dog that was sleeping on my balcony has fleas.....actually...I know he has fleas. Why, you ask? Because I've been suffering from flea bites around my ankles. They bite me and then I scratch them like crazy. My ankles have definitely seen better days. I'm happy to report that I have figured out a way to keep the dog from getting up the stairs and I don't think he's been there the last 4 days. I will also be wetting down the balcony and bleaching it like crazy so to kill the fleas, keep the dog off the balcony and so that I can spend my mornings in the sun.
The weekend was super busy and so much fun. So here it goes:
Saturday evening I caught the last Hokey Pokey Water Taxi over to Placencia where I stayed the night. One of the parishioners asked me if I would be willing to lead a service for them every other week, as the other student from Canada who was supposed to be placed there needed to go back to Canada because of a family emergency. I was a bit hesitant as I didn't want to overwhelm myself, but said yes, and I'm so happy I did. The congregation at St. John's is amazing!! I got to Placencia and was taken straight to the rectory. I was a bit taken a back as I thought Miss Sonia would be having me stay with her. I got into the rectory and my mouth dropped to the floor. They had a couch, and comfy chairs, a bed that didn't have springs popping out of it, a big kitchen and an ocean view, as it sits right on the beach. I stayed up until 10 with every door open and read while I listened to the sound of the waves!!! I've never fallen asleep the sound of the sea before....what a lullaby!!
Woke up Sunday morning, led an 8am service at St. John's, Placencia, had some breakfast which included fresh squeezed Orange Juice, (OverEasy's O.J. in Toronto has nothing on the O.J. here!) Miss Sonia's son Bruce then boated me across the Lagoon where I was picked up and taken to Mango Creek to lead the 10 am service. And as always the service in Mango Creek was wonderful. I love the congregation here!!! After the service at Mango Creek I packed up some of my stuff and headed to the bus stop where I caught the James Line Bus. It's an old School bus that has been fixed up that runs from Punta Gorda in the south to Belize City in the north. It's basically equivelent to a city transit bus except it runs on the Highway and not in the city. It has designated stops to pick up people and drop people off. The trip was about 4 hours and cost me $19 Belizean dollars. It was worth every penny, the country side here is beautiful and diverse. At one point we were driving down the highway with orange trees on my left and banana trees on my right. We then headed into the mountain region which is lush green with palm trees and all sorts of different vegetation!!
Lorna and Joe Sampson met me at the Bus Terminal in Belize City, we hung out at their place for the evening, it was wonderful!! Lorna's little grandson Kayvaughn is quite a shy little boy, but all night wanted to play with me, the family was blown away by how friendly he was being...it made me happy!! On Monday morning, Lorna and Joe took me on a road trip up to Mexico. It's only about a 2 hour car ride from the City. It was lovely. I found out from the trip that I need to renew my visitors permit every month by leaving the country. My new one expires on June 18 so I'm hoping to make my way across the Guatemalen border next month. During our drive to Mexico, we drove in the Sampson's SUV that has A/C. And about 20 minutes into our trip, I had to ask them if we could shut it off and open the windows I was FREEZING!!! I guess that means that my blood is officially getting thinner :) We arrived back in the city in the early Monday evening and we crashed.
I woke up early Tuesday morning and hopped the James Line bus at 9am, destination, Mango Creek. It was another long trip, and when I got off the bus all I could think during my walk to the rectory was "I'm home." I never thought I would hear myself saying that, but it was so nice to be back in Mango Creek where life was peaceful and ......familiar. I dropped off my stuff and headed to IPS where I taught a class about the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was wonderful to be there again. On my way out, all I could hear was "Hi Miss Chelsy" coming from every direction, and children running up to me for their daily high fives!!
This next week is proving to be busy as well. I head back to Placencia tomorrow morning at 7:30 to lead the Anglican School in a Morning prayer service. Then I spend the rest of the day at IPS. Thursday and Friday will be spent around town and writing a sermon. Saturday Miss Lorna and I will make a trip to Monkey River for their annual village festival. I will meet the school administrator, check out the church and the school, talk about services at the Church and hopefully make my way down a couple times this summer to lead a service for them and also talk about working with the school. Sunday will be service in Mango Creek at 10, and then Miss Lorna and I are going to take the bus to Punta Gorda for the night. I'm really really looking forward to it!!
I'm starting to feel more at home. My weekend away, helped me to realize how much I love Mango Creek and the people here. I was pretty bummed a week ago as I was feeling lazy and bored. But coming back to a community where people wave at you and greet you on the street and everyone knows who you are is really reassuring and affirming. I'm super excited to be doing God's work here!! Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for me and the congregation of St. Michael's as we minister together this summer!!
peace,
Chelsy
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
I turned 24 in Belize!
Who would have thought that I would have spent my 24th birthday in the tropical country of Belize. Definitley not me! Wednesday was my birthday and the day turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected. It's the first time I've been away from home and not able to spend the day with my family. I tried to distract myself of my emotions by heading to the school. I hadn't been for a couple of days, so the kids were pretty pumped to see me. They are so sweet, and it was such a wonderful treat to spend the day with them. Wedensday evening consisted of having Bible Study at the church. Some of the women have been meeting diligently every week to discuss the upcoming Sunday's readings, and they asked if I would like to join them....they didn't have to ask me twice, I was so excited to be able to meet with them. It was a small intimate study. Myself, Miss Lorna and Miss Bridget were there, along with Miss Bridget's neice Chelsea and nephew Cameron. Our discussion was great. The women of the parish are very passionate about their faith, it's so inspiring. They are strong women and God is at work in their lives. Miss Lorna then suprised me with a home made birthday cake. Chelsea grabbed one of the extra candles for the altar, set it next to my cake and lit a match. She and Cameron watched intently as I made a wish and blew out the flame. It almost made me cry. Drinks were provided by Chelsea and Cameron (fruit punch) and we had a wonderful little party in the church.
I've spent the last couple of days taking it pretty easy as the beginning of my week was quite hectic. I've spent some time working on my sermon and have found that the Lagoon is a wonderful place to go sit, and be inspired. I woke up this morning, headed out to the water side and got to writing. It was great. I came back just in time to open the church for Chelsea, Cameron and TanLynn three of the children from the parish who were sent over to sweep, mop and dust the church. Not knowing what was going on, I helped out - found out later, it's their weekly job and that I didn't need to help out, just needed to be around to open the church. It was great to hang out with them and talk to them. They are a wonderful group of kids. It's very encouraging knowing that they are members of the church. They have great leadership potential! Very exciting for the church!
Since I last posted, my veranda, has turned into a sunbathing spot for a particular smelly, dirty, ugly stray dog. He comes up the stairs, and climbs through the fence part of my porch and basks in the sun all day. I have to kick him off every morning. He's a sneaky sucker too. He'll leave when I kick him out, but he doesn't stray far, he keeps an eye out and waits until I'm gone and then climbs back up the stairs. When he sees me coming he leaves. So we have to put some wood over the fence as my veranda smells like gross dog.
I'm heading over to Placencia tomorrow afternoon and will be spending the evening with Miss. Sonia, one of the parishioners from St. John's Anglican Church in Placencia. Sunday morning I will be leading a service there and then boating back to Mango Creek to lead the service here. I have every intention of coming over to Miss Lorna's house and relaxing at her place as it is a lot more comfortable then mine. And it's nice to be able to spend the afternoon with people. Monday is my day off and I haven't decided what to do. I'll probably stick in Mango Creek again, but am hoping that next week I can hop a bus and ride up to Belize City for a couple of days to spend some time with the Sampson Family.
Please continue to keep me in prayer. I'm still homesick, I think I'm going to be homesick until the day I have to leave and once I get back to Canada will be homesick for Belize. I don't want to be, but I can't help but be. Particularly when I'm alone so much. I also ask that you pray for my health and strength. I'm still struggling with worrying about not having enough to do, this is one aspect of the ministry down here that I need to embrace and learn from, it's just really hard to do, coming straight from the busyness of Toronto. Hope you are well!!! Take care for now!
love,
Chelsy
I've spent the last couple of days taking it pretty easy as the beginning of my week was quite hectic. I've spent some time working on my sermon and have found that the Lagoon is a wonderful place to go sit, and be inspired. I woke up this morning, headed out to the water side and got to writing. It was great. I came back just in time to open the church for Chelsea, Cameron and TanLynn three of the children from the parish who were sent over to sweep, mop and dust the church. Not knowing what was going on, I helped out - found out later, it's their weekly job and that I didn't need to help out, just needed to be around to open the church. It was great to hang out with them and talk to them. They are a wonderful group of kids. It's very encouraging knowing that they are members of the church. They have great leadership potential! Very exciting for the church!
Since I last posted, my veranda, has turned into a sunbathing spot for a particular smelly, dirty, ugly stray dog. He comes up the stairs, and climbs through the fence part of my porch and basks in the sun all day. I have to kick him off every morning. He's a sneaky sucker too. He'll leave when I kick him out, but he doesn't stray far, he keeps an eye out and waits until I'm gone and then climbs back up the stairs. When he sees me coming he leaves. So we have to put some wood over the fence as my veranda smells like gross dog.
I'm heading over to Placencia tomorrow afternoon and will be spending the evening with Miss. Sonia, one of the parishioners from St. John's Anglican Church in Placencia. Sunday morning I will be leading a service there and then boating back to Mango Creek to lead the service here. I have every intention of coming over to Miss Lorna's house and relaxing at her place as it is a lot more comfortable then mine. And it's nice to be able to spend the afternoon with people. Monday is my day off and I haven't decided what to do. I'll probably stick in Mango Creek again, but am hoping that next week I can hop a bus and ride up to Belize City for a couple of days to spend some time with the Sampson Family.
Please continue to keep me in prayer. I'm still homesick, I think I'm going to be homesick until the day I have to leave and once I get back to Canada will be homesick for Belize. I don't want to be, but I can't help but be. Particularly when I'm alone so much. I also ask that you pray for my health and strength. I'm still struggling with worrying about not having enough to do, this is one aspect of the ministry down here that I need to embrace and learn from, it's just really hard to do, coming straight from the busyness of Toronto. Hope you are well!!! Take care for now!
love,
Chelsy
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Her name is Ruby, and she's red!!
So I decided to splurg yesterday and boy was it worth it. I went out and bought myself and bicycle here name is Ruby and she's red! It's been a bit of a challenge as it's been more then a decade since I've rode a one speed bike, but I'm slowly learning. I've gotten so used to riding mountain bikes and having the breaks on the handle bars. The locals have gotten a kick out of watching me ride as every 5 minutes or so, I got to rotate the petals backwards like you can on a moutain bike and I jerk into a complete stop. By August I will be a pro at one speeders again!! It's been wonderful having the bike, I've been riding it almost all day because I actually feel breeze when I'm on it. It's great!! And I can make it out to the Lagoon in 5 mintues and take time to sit and listen to the water.
I went to Placencia today with Miss Lorna, it was lovely. Very hot, we ended up only staying for about 2 hours which was plenty. I'll take in more of the tourist village on Saturday when I'm there for the night.
Spent some time at the rectory, I finally got gas and now my stove works so I made myself some lunch, cleaned up, hopped on my bike and went out to the Lagoon to read for a while. Met a man named Peter Dueck who lives at Spanish LookOut which is about 100miles away from Mango Creek. It's a village of about 1500 people and they are all from Canada, living in Belize. Our conversation was very delightful.
I've been trying to be at the rectory between 2:30 and 4:30 as the children get out of school at 2:30 and 3:30. They usually stop at the bottom of my stairs, call out for Miss. Chelsy. I come down, we sit under the mango tree, some of them climb up the tree looking for ripe mangos (I've learned not to sit directly under the tree when they're up there, mangos hurt the head when they fall) and they pull out their homework and do it while I sit with them. Yesterday I had about 15 children under the mango tree between 2:30 and 4:30.
That's all for now. I've been feeling a bit homesick lately and could definitely use your prayers! Thanks all! Hope you are well.
peace,
Chelsy
I went to Placencia today with Miss Lorna, it was lovely. Very hot, we ended up only staying for about 2 hours which was plenty. I'll take in more of the tourist village on Saturday when I'm there for the night.
Spent some time at the rectory, I finally got gas and now my stove works so I made myself some lunch, cleaned up, hopped on my bike and went out to the Lagoon to read for a while. Met a man named Peter Dueck who lives at Spanish LookOut which is about 100miles away from Mango Creek. It's a village of about 1500 people and they are all from Canada, living in Belize. Our conversation was very delightful.
I've been trying to be at the rectory between 2:30 and 4:30 as the children get out of school at 2:30 and 3:30. They usually stop at the bottom of my stairs, call out for Miss. Chelsy. I come down, we sit under the mango tree, some of them climb up the tree looking for ripe mangos (I've learned not to sit directly under the tree when they're up there, mangos hurt the head when they fall) and they pull out their homework and do it while I sit with them. Yesterday I had about 15 children under the mango tree between 2:30 and 4:30.
That's all for now. I've been feeling a bit homesick lately and could definitely use your prayers! Thanks all! Hope you are well.
peace,
Chelsy
Sunday, May 11, 2008
I survived my first Sunday!
Hey Folks,
Well I officially survived leading my first service in Mango Creek. Wearing an alb in this heat is CRAZY DEADLY!!! I didn't sleep much last night as I was super nervous about screwing up the service and that my sermon wouldn't be what people were expecting. You know me, worry wart Chelsy. Anyway, after not sleeping much I woke up to do my morning devotions. I've been struggling a lot with transition and how out of place and comfort zone I feel down here. The people of have been wonderful, it's just a different experience. Anyway I was reading the reflection for today's readings for Pentecost:
"The coming of the Holy Spirit nto our lives gives us some important polarities to contemplate. On the one hand, the Spirit brings diversity - manifest in different culturs, languages, and races. On the other hand, the Spirit brings order, as in the scriptural writings which reflect stability, identity, and truth. How do we deal with diversity while acknowledging on truth?"
It was this paragraph of the reflection that brought me an immense amount of comfort this morning as most of my mornings have seen some tears of fear, anxiety and doubt. And the paragraph that challenged me to be aware this summer of how I deal living with diversity while acknowledging one truth. I'll keep you posted!!
Next week, is going to be semi busy. I'll give you a quick run-down and then update as the week goes by! I have my day off tomorrow and will be spending it hanging out at Miss Lorna's so that I can be sure to stay away from any church stuff. Tuesday, Miss Lorna is taking me across the Penisula to spend the day in Placencia. I'm very excited to see the village as I will be leading services there as well during the summer. Wednesday I will be back at the school with the Infant II-2 class practicing our King of the Jungle song. And another teacher asked me to stop by her Infant I-1 class to teach her kids an action song for the festival. Thursday and Friday are designated sermon writing days. Saturday I will be hopping a boat back across the Peninsula to Placencia where I will spend the night with one of the parishioners of St. John's and lead an 8am service. Then I boat back to Mango Creek to lead the 10am service at St. Michael's.
Continue to keep me in your prayers. I'm taking one day at a time and trying not to worry about looking lazy to the community as it's something that I have been worrying about a lot. Hope you are well!! Looking forward to hearing from you when you have a moment!!
Chelsy
Well I officially survived leading my first service in Mango Creek. Wearing an alb in this heat is CRAZY DEADLY!!! I didn't sleep much last night as I was super nervous about screwing up the service and that my sermon wouldn't be what people were expecting. You know me, worry wart Chelsy. Anyway, after not sleeping much I woke up to do my morning devotions. I've been struggling a lot with transition and how out of place and comfort zone I feel down here. The people of have been wonderful, it's just a different experience. Anyway I was reading the reflection for today's readings for Pentecost:
"The coming of the Holy Spirit nto our lives gives us some important polarities to contemplate. On the one hand, the Spirit brings diversity - manifest in different culturs, languages, and races. On the other hand, the Spirit brings order, as in the scriptural writings which reflect stability, identity, and truth. How do we deal with diversity while acknowledging on truth?"
It was this paragraph of the reflection that brought me an immense amount of comfort this morning as most of my mornings have seen some tears of fear, anxiety and doubt. And the paragraph that challenged me to be aware this summer of how I deal living with diversity while acknowledging one truth. I'll keep you posted!!
Next week, is going to be semi busy. I'll give you a quick run-down and then update as the week goes by! I have my day off tomorrow and will be spending it hanging out at Miss Lorna's so that I can be sure to stay away from any church stuff. Tuesday, Miss Lorna is taking me across the Penisula to spend the day in Placencia. I'm very excited to see the village as I will be leading services there as well during the summer. Wednesday I will be back at the school with the Infant II-2 class practicing our King of the Jungle song. And another teacher asked me to stop by her Infant I-1 class to teach her kids an action song for the festival. Thursday and Friday are designated sermon writing days. Saturday I will be hopping a boat back across the Peninsula to Placencia where I will spend the night with one of the parishioners of St. John's and lead an 8am service. Then I boat back to Mango Creek to lead the 10am service at St. Michael's.
Continue to keep me in your prayers. I'm taking one day at a time and trying not to worry about looking lazy to the community as it's something that I have been worrying about a lot. Hope you are well!! Looking forward to hearing from you when you have a moment!!
Chelsy
Friday, May 9, 2008
posting pictures is making me impatient!
Hey Friends,
As you are all aware the blog is lacking in pictures. I've been trying to post a few here and there, but as I'm sure you can understand, the internet connection is not quite as efficient here as it is North America. If it continues to take too much time to upload photos, I will try and fire off an e-mail to folks who I have e-mails for. And until then, if you have a Facebook account, you can check out some of the photos there. There aren't many but it captures life in Belize a bit better!! Hope you are all well!!
Sending love from Belize!
Chelsy
As you are all aware the blog is lacking in pictures. I've been trying to post a few here and there, but as I'm sure you can understand, the internet connection is not quite as efficient here as it is North America. If it continues to take too much time to upload photos, I will try and fire off an e-mail to folks who I have e-mails for. And until then, if you have a Facebook account, you can check out some of the photos there. There aren't many but it captures life in Belize a bit better!! Hope you are all well!!
Sending love from Belize!
Chelsy
Thursday, May 8, 2008
I had NO idea a person could sweat this much!!
Hey Everyone,
Well it's day five in Mango Creek, and the last couple of days have been RIDICULOUSLY HOT!!! Thank goodness the rectory where I'm living stays semi-cool with the breeze from outside. Miss Lorna has lent me a fan which has been a huge blessing, and helps me to sleep better at night!!
I made my way back to IPS yesterday to spend the day with the same two classes as I did on Tuesday. I have one word for them.....CHAOS!!! But what fun!!! I spent my morning once again with Teacher Sharlene, I took the 8 performers outside under a tree to practice our song which has been turned into a poem with actions they aren't singing. For only learning it 2 days ago they are awesome!! We went back to the classroom where Teacher Sharlene asked me to help her teach the kids about Bar Graphs. They are such sweet children. I'm still getting used to the fact that the people in town here respect me a lot because I'm a Deacon and therefore have authority. They have no problem handing me their lesson plans and a piece of chalk and letting me teach the class while they try and settle children down. You wouldn't see that in Canada. Anyway I helped Teacher Sharlene out, which she appreciated. She has 38 children between the ages of 5 and 6 and they can be hard to handle at times. Yesterday a number of them were not listening very well, and while they were fooling around two children came up to me with their assignments for me to check them. I gave them a star on their page and then held up my hand for a high five. The two children smiled and smacked my hand. Some of the misbehaving children came up to try and get one, I told them I wouldn't give them a high five, unless they settled down and did their work. I had NO idea it would actually work. By the end of the morning it had caught on. Before any of them left for lunch at 11:30 I had 38 children lined up around the classroom waiting to show me their work so that they could get their high five. When I walked in again this morning I was greeted with little voices saying "Hello Miss. Chelsy," and wasn't allowed to sit down until I had made my high five rounds. It makes me laugh everytime I think about it.
Miss Lorna took me out to the Lagoon which is about a 15 minute walk from the rectory and possibly one of my favorite places in Belize. It looks out onto the village of Placencia. We took some lawn chairs out yesterday and sat beside the lagoon for over an hour and we sang our way through St. Michael's Hymn book to learn some Belizean hymns. It was a blessed moment.
I left the school early and am now over and Miss Lorna's house. The heat has really been taking a lot out of me. Miss Lorna can tell and she is making me take it easy. We just had a wonderful lunch with rice, and shrimp cooked in Cocunut Milk, and fried Bananas with cinnaman (sp). The heat is something that is going to take me a long time to get used to. I'm finding it hard to not have much to do, but at the same time am realizing it's okay. I need to get out of my busy life routine and into a laid back Belizean routine where.....sounds easy....but it's not!! I'll keep you updated as to how it goes!!
Other than that, that's life in a nutshell. My internet connection has been a bit iffy over the last couple of days, but I'm hoping to have access to it daily if possible to update everyone!! Hope you are well. Talk to you soon!!
Well it's day five in Mango Creek, and the last couple of days have been RIDICULOUSLY HOT!!! Thank goodness the rectory where I'm living stays semi-cool with the breeze from outside. Miss Lorna has lent me a fan which has been a huge blessing, and helps me to sleep better at night!!
I made my way back to IPS yesterday to spend the day with the same two classes as I did on Tuesday. I have one word for them.....CHAOS!!! But what fun!!! I spent my morning once again with Teacher Sharlene, I took the 8 performers outside under a tree to practice our song which has been turned into a poem with actions they aren't singing. For only learning it 2 days ago they are awesome!! We went back to the classroom where Teacher Sharlene asked me to help her teach the kids about Bar Graphs. They are such sweet children. I'm still getting used to the fact that the people in town here respect me a lot because I'm a Deacon and therefore have authority. They have no problem handing me their lesson plans and a piece of chalk and letting me teach the class while they try and settle children down. You wouldn't see that in Canada. Anyway I helped Teacher Sharlene out, which she appreciated. She has 38 children between the ages of 5 and 6 and they can be hard to handle at times. Yesterday a number of them were not listening very well, and while they were fooling around two children came up to me with their assignments for me to check them. I gave them a star on their page and then held up my hand for a high five. The two children smiled and smacked my hand. Some of the misbehaving children came up to try and get one, I told them I wouldn't give them a high five, unless they settled down and did their work. I had NO idea it would actually work. By the end of the morning it had caught on. Before any of them left for lunch at 11:30 I had 38 children lined up around the classroom waiting to show me their work so that they could get their high five. When I walked in again this morning I was greeted with little voices saying "Hello Miss. Chelsy," and wasn't allowed to sit down until I had made my high five rounds. It makes me laugh everytime I think about it.
Miss Lorna took me out to the Lagoon which is about a 15 minute walk from the rectory and possibly one of my favorite places in Belize. It looks out onto the village of Placencia. We took some lawn chairs out yesterday and sat beside the lagoon for over an hour and we sang our way through St. Michael's Hymn book to learn some Belizean hymns. It was a blessed moment.
I left the school early and am now over and Miss Lorna's house. The heat has really been taking a lot out of me. Miss Lorna can tell and she is making me take it easy. We just had a wonderful lunch with rice, and shrimp cooked in Cocunut Milk, and fried Bananas with cinnaman (sp). The heat is something that is going to take me a long time to get used to. I'm finding it hard to not have much to do, but at the same time am realizing it's okay. I need to get out of my busy life routine and into a laid back Belizean routine where.....sounds easy....but it's not!! I'll keep you updated as to how it goes!!
Other than that, that's life in a nutshell. My internet connection has been a bit iffy over the last couple of days, but I'm hoping to have access to it daily if possible to update everyone!! Hope you are well. Talk to you soon!!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
May 6 at Indepencen Primary School
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Alright, I officially need to get into a routine of not showering in the morning. I think it’s going to end up being evenings. I woke up again to no water. So I tried to get myself as ready as I could for the morning. Took a walk to the superstore to buy a bottle of water to drink, it’s ridiculously hot today. And then walked over to the school.
I visited Teacher Sharlene’s class. She asked me to come by to teach her children a rhyme or poem with actions that they can perform at the Festival of Arts. She picked 8 children from her class for me to teach, they will be the 8 to perform. I decided that I was going to teach them a camp song that had lots of actions. It’s called ‘King of the Jungle.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with it the words are:
Whose the king of the jungle? Ooga ooga.
Whose the king of the sea? Bubbly, bubbly, bubbly.
Whose the king of the universe?
And whose the King of me?
I’ll tell you J-E-S-U-S is!
He’s the king of me.
He’s the king of the universe,
The jungle and the sea. Bubbly, bubbly, bubbly.
It took me about a half an hour to teach it to them and it was slow going, but it was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed the actions, particularly when I did them, because I had to exaggerate everything I did to try and encourage them to exaggerate their actions, and they found it quite funny. I led the song as a repeat after me for them, and as soon as we got to spelling out Jesus, they all knew exactly who we were talking about. I could hear little voices shouting out, “that’s Jesus.” Only problem is, the 8 in the front of the room kept reversing the ‘e’ and ‘u’. J-E-S-U-S quickly turned into J-U-S-E-S. After a few more practices we got it figured out. Teacher Sharlene asked me to come by again tomorrow morning and work with the 8 who she wants to perform at the festival. I’m looking forward to it.
Independence primary school is an amazing school. It currently has 800 students enrolled and employees 31 teachers. It’s a government run school, that receives no government funding. This lack of funding has not stopped the administration from doing wonderful things with their program. Two years ago they introduced a computer class to the school. They started out with 8 computers that they were able to buy with a donation from someone. They then charged students who wanted to enroll in the course extra so that they could save up money to continue to buy more computers. To date they now have a designated computer room that they have been able to install air-conditioning into, they have 20 computers, and have been able to purchase and use LCD projectors as part of their teaching strategies. Like the computer program, they hope to also implement a music program. To date they have 10 guitars and are hoping that with time they will be able to purchase more so that the program can grow. They are also in need of someone who can play the guitar to teach the children. It’s days like today I wish I would have learned that instrument. I’ve been very inspired by the teachers and administration staff at the school. And I can definitely see God at work throughout their community. What an encouragement to see so many children getting an education.
Later on this afternoon I returned to IPS to sit in on a standard 4 level class to listen to the teacher talk about HIV/AIDS which is a growing problem here. I showed up half an hour early which turned out to be late. Anyway I sat in the back of the classroom the teachers were so welcoming. During the children’s break I found out they wanted me to lead the second part of the discussion as they thought that’s why I was coming. I had to decline as I wasn’t prepared. They laughed, probably at the shock on my face. But it worked out well. I will be heading back again tomorrow for the day to work with the same to classes again!!
Thanks all for reading and for praying. You don’t know how much it means to me that you are upholding my ministry, the ministry of St. Michael’s and the ministry of the community in your prayers.
Alright, I officially need to get into a routine of not showering in the morning. I think it’s going to end up being evenings. I woke up again to no water. So I tried to get myself as ready as I could for the morning. Took a walk to the superstore to buy a bottle of water to drink, it’s ridiculously hot today. And then walked over to the school.
I visited Teacher Sharlene’s class. She asked me to come by to teach her children a rhyme or poem with actions that they can perform at the Festival of Arts. She picked 8 children from her class for me to teach, they will be the 8 to perform. I decided that I was going to teach them a camp song that had lots of actions. It’s called ‘King of the Jungle.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with it the words are:
Whose the king of the jungle? Ooga ooga.
Whose the king of the sea? Bubbly, bubbly, bubbly.
Whose the king of the universe?
And whose the King of me?
I’ll tell you J-E-S-U-S is!
He’s the king of me.
He’s the king of the universe,
The jungle and the sea. Bubbly, bubbly, bubbly.
It took me about a half an hour to teach it to them and it was slow going, but it was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed the actions, particularly when I did them, because I had to exaggerate everything I did to try and encourage them to exaggerate their actions, and they found it quite funny. I led the song as a repeat after me for them, and as soon as we got to spelling out Jesus, they all knew exactly who we were talking about. I could hear little voices shouting out, “that’s Jesus.” Only problem is, the 8 in the front of the room kept reversing the ‘e’ and ‘u’. J-E-S-U-S quickly turned into J-U-S-E-S. After a few more practices we got it figured out. Teacher Sharlene asked me to come by again tomorrow morning and work with the 8 who she wants to perform at the festival. I’m looking forward to it.
Independence primary school is an amazing school. It currently has 800 students enrolled and employees 31 teachers. It’s a government run school, that receives no government funding. This lack of funding has not stopped the administration from doing wonderful things with their program. Two years ago they introduced a computer class to the school. They started out with 8 computers that they were able to buy with a donation from someone. They then charged students who wanted to enroll in the course extra so that they could save up money to continue to buy more computers. To date they now have a designated computer room that they have been able to install air-conditioning into, they have 20 computers, and have been able to purchase and use LCD projectors as part of their teaching strategies. Like the computer program, they hope to also implement a music program. To date they have 10 guitars and are hoping that with time they will be able to purchase more so that the program can grow. They are also in need of someone who can play the guitar to teach the children. It’s days like today I wish I would have learned that instrument. I’ve been very inspired by the teachers and administration staff at the school. And I can definitely see God at work throughout their community. What an encouragement to see so many children getting an education.
Later on this afternoon I returned to IPS to sit in on a standard 4 level class to listen to the teacher talk about HIV/AIDS which is a growing problem here. I showed up half an hour early which turned out to be late. Anyway I sat in the back of the classroom the teachers were so welcoming. During the children’s break I found out they wanted me to lead the second part of the discussion as they thought that’s why I was coming. I had to decline as I wasn’t prepared. They laughed, probably at the shock on my face. But it worked out well. I will be heading back again tomorrow for the day to work with the same to classes again!!
Thanks all for reading and for praying. You don’t know how much it means to me that you are upholding my ministry, the ministry of St. Michael’s and the ministry of the community in your prayers.
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