Friday, May 30, 2008

I Have Arrived!

I've safely arrived in Florida and am sharing a room with a girl named Melissa, who is hoping to move to Rwanda this October to do a variety of things, one of which includes humanitarian relief. There are also three other girls living in our house who work at the Center for Global Outreach (CGO) a.k.a. the New Mission Systems Office here in Fort Myers and another girl in COAT that plans to go to Thailand.

It has been kind of hard to connect with people since most of the others have been here almost two weeks already, but I have to keep reminding myself that I've only actually been here for a day and half! There are about 20 other people going through COAT training right now and I have almost learned all of thier names... There was one familair face, however, who is also going through COAT right now... Helen from Kenya/NMSI Training in January. She has such a sweet spirit! I arrived to find a card waiting on my bed that she'd had everyone sign. Her message read, "I'm so insanely glad you're here and I'm here and we're here at COAT together! Love and so many hugs, Helen." That really encouraged me! I think I've probably read it over seven or eight times in the last day and a half and each time it makes me smile! Pray that God would deepen our friendship and us to encourage and restore one another! Pray that He would show me which friendships to pursue and give me courage to initiate "hanging out" times with others.

One of the times that I think has the potential to be the most deep and vulnerable while I'm hereat COAT is a three hour small group called TrueFaced on Friday mornings. The whole title of the book we're studying is TrueFaced: trust God and others with who you really are. It's all about taking off various masks you wear and letting people see the real you, which usually results in a lot of teary, deep discussions and confessions that are recieved with love and prayed for. We got off to a great start, with everyone crying and being real in the first session.

There are nine of us in that group and it's led by a girl named Kylee, who I'm sure I'll tell you more about another time because she's awesome! Very full of grace and peace and wisdom....very good at listening, knowing when and which questions to ask, and mourning alongside of others. When I told Joe Belzer (Campus Minister with CCF in college) I was going to affiliate with NMSI, he said there's a lot of great people down there (which is true) and specfically listed Kylee and her husband Matt on the list of awesome individuals that I should get to know. Being awesome himself, Joe has a pretty good ability at pointing out awesomeness in others and was right on with both Kylee and Matt. Thanks for the recommendation, Joe!

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

'Twas The Night Before Moving Day...

Which moving day am I talking about, you might wonder...

1. Moving out of my house/to St. Charles. Check!

2. Moving out of my classroom at school/teaching as a career. Check!

3. Moving to Florida for NMSI training. That's the one! I fly out tomorrow morning.

Please pray for discernment, wisdom, and vision about the "what" and "where" of doing mission work. Also, for a spirit of vulnerability, transparency, and openness to all that God wants to do during this time. There have been SO MANY good-byes in the last few days...so many of you have reminded me how much God loves me through your words of encouragement, cards and notes, hugs, and great listening skills. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am leaving knowing that many people care about me!

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Friday, May 23, 2008

The Biggest Hug EVER

During the last week of kindergarten, a grandma came to class to have the kids make me some good-bye gifts and present them to me (talk about a sweetheart!). Here's a picture of the BIGGEST HUG EVER! I look kind of like I'm in pain, but I'm actually smiling and laughing and feeling extremely touched by thier gesture of love. The only painful thing about those last few days with them was thinking about how it was the last few days with them. Look close...can you tell that there are 17 kids hugging me in that picture? They're squished in pretty close!


God blessed me with an extremely loving group this year!

For example, one boy said he was going to get the Bookmobile, fill it with books, and drive it to "that other world you're going to" so I could have some books there. Later he told me he was going to come to the airport and hide in the plane so that he could go with me!

One family gave me a card that read, "The time you've given, the hearts you've touched, the lives you've blessed---these are true gifts from God. Thank you for sharing His love." A personal note at the bottom said I've, "definatly touched their hearts and have made a lasting impact on thier lives." WHOA! I think getting a note like that is every teacher's dream!

Those are only a few examples of the ways that God has been blessing me as I prepare to move!

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Month-er-ena (Formerly Known as the Macerena)

Whenever we change from one month to the next on the calendar in kindergarten, we stand up and do the macerena motions as we say the months in the year. "January (right hand on head), February (left hand on head), etc." The kids get a kick out of it, especially the part where you swish your butt from side to side at the end! Though this May was the last time I got to do the montherena with my kindergarteners, there will be plenty of reasons to celebrate the upcoming months as God reveals the "what" and "where" concerning mission work. I'm so excited to see what He does this summer and invite you to check back here for occassional updates!




These are my third grade Peruvian girls doing the montherena (Summer 2007).

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