I am off to the Philippines! I will be leaving today, the 24th and coming back on January 2nd. I am going with 5 other SM's. I will try and keep you all posted as to our fun adventures but if I cannot get to a computer I will definitely write about it when I return. Please pray four our safe travels and good fun.
Merry Christmas to all!!
Much Love until next time...:-D
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Just a glimpse of God's work
So I had a pretty amazing experience today. Let me preface by saying a few weekends ago Ale, Haslel, and I (my roommates) decided to make a list of 20 things we want to do before we leave Palau and it really got me thinking about my true goals for this whole experience. Anyways, I decided to see what goals my students really have for their lives, so I gave them an in class activity and the directions were to write 20 things they want to do before they die. I was expecting most of them to just think of little things that 3rd graders think of and copy from my ideas but I was totally touched, surprised, and filled with laughter to read their answers when they turned them in. I would like to share a few with you...
Genesis- one of my tough kids--
1. Go skydiving
2. go snowboarding
3. Learn more things
4. Learn to Respect people
5. Go to College
Vi-my sweet girl--
1. Meet Hannah Montana
2. Be a Princess
3. See snow
4. Decorate a Christmas Tree
5. To have my own piano
Taldil-my amazing Pianist--
1. Learn how to make a piano
2. Be a Hannah Montana Staff
3. Go to the Taj Mahal
4. I want to be with Jesus
5. Play with Snow
Ilang- My little drama queen-- (this one brought tears to my eyes)
1. Climb a skyscraper
2. Live in black and white
3. Live in 1884 (HA!)
4. Be a spy
5. See Ms. Ashley in heaven
Reklai- My cute little story teller--
1. Visit Ms. Ashley in Tennessee
2. Get a very cool car
3. Get a girlfriend (HA!)
4. be a wrestler
5. act very cool
None of those were ideas that I had given them! I am so impressed at God's work within these children. It was soo amazing to see just a glimpse of the great work God is truly doing in their hearts each day. I'm so inspired. I love them more and more each day.
Hope this touched you as much as it did me.
Much love and prayers to you...until next time...:-D
Genesis- one of my tough kids--
1. Go skydiving
2. go snowboarding
3. Learn more things
4. Learn to Respect people
5. Go to College
Vi-my sweet girl--
1. Meet Hannah Montana
2. Be a Princess
3. See snow
4. Decorate a Christmas Tree
5. To have my own piano
Taldil-my amazing Pianist--
1. Learn how to make a piano
2. Be a Hannah Montana Staff
3. Go to the Taj Mahal
4. I want to be with Jesus
5. Play with Snow
Ilang- My little drama queen-- (this one brought tears to my eyes)
1. Climb a skyscraper
2. Live in black and white
3. Live in 1884 (HA!)
4. Be a spy
5. See Ms. Ashley in heaven
Reklai- My cute little story teller--
1. Visit Ms. Ashley in Tennessee
2. Get a very cool car
3. Get a girlfriend (HA!)
4. be a wrestler
5. act very cool
None of those were ideas that I had given them! I am so impressed at God's work within these children. It was soo amazing to see just a glimpse of the great work God is truly doing in their hearts each day. I'm so inspired. I love them more and more each day.
Hope this touched you as much as it did me.
Much love and prayers to you...until next time...:-D
New Pictures
Just wanted to announce that new pictures are posted on my Picasa web album which you can acces by clicking on the Pictures link. I added new pictures to the diving, Fun in Palau, scenery, and my students albums.
ENJOY! I KNOW I AM!
LOVE! :-D
ENJOY! I KNOW I AM!
LOVE! :-D
December Diving
I went diving on Sunday!! It was soooooo much fun!! We have this great deal going with a local dive shop named Day Dream. We get 3 dives for $40 whenever and wherever we want to go. They love us! We have so much fun with the dive master and the other staff divers. Our dive master's name is Soachi (So-I) and our driver's name is Boxy but when he first introduced himself to us we thought he said Foxxy so now we call him Foxxy B. HA! Then our other staff diver is named Spiece. We have inside jokes and sayings for all of them. They always want to go on our dives because they say we are so much more fun. We like to laugh and have fun....what can I say. :-D
Anyways, on this particular trip we went on 3 dives. Our divespots were German Channel, Blue Corner, and Helmet Ship (a shipwreck dive!). At German Channel we saw 2 mantarays and at both German Channel and Blue Corner we saw TURTLES!!! I was soooo excited!! The shipwreck dive was so cool. The ship sunk in 1944 during WWII. It's called Helmet Ship because a bunch of helmets were left and you can find them scattered through the ship. There were also old beer bottles left behind, guns, bombs, and barrels of something. We were able to go through the whole ship and stood on the bow of the boat like in Titanic. The bow was the lowest point sitting at about 75-80 feet down. It was a blast. There are pictures posted!
In the end, I'm more than happy that I went diving and I can't wait to go again. By far the turtles were the highlight of my trip and it's funny because now every time I see the other divers they always tease me about how excited I was. I'm sure you can imagine my excitement. :-D
Hope this finds everyone well...until next time. Much Love!
Anyways, on this particular trip we went on 3 dives. Our divespots were German Channel, Blue Corner, and Helmet Ship (a shipwreck dive!). At German Channel we saw 2 mantarays and at both German Channel and Blue Corner we saw TURTLES!!! I was soooo excited!! The shipwreck dive was so cool. The ship sunk in 1944 during WWII. It's called Helmet Ship because a bunch of helmets were left and you can find them scattered through the ship. There were also old beer bottles left behind, guns, bombs, and barrels of something. We were able to go through the whole ship and stood on the bow of the boat like in Titanic. The bow was the lowest point sitting at about 75-80 feet down. It was a blast. There are pictures posted!
In the end, I'm more than happy that I went diving and I can't wait to go again. By far the turtles were the highlight of my trip and it's funny because now every time I see the other divers they always tease me about how excited I was. I'm sure you can imagine my excitement. :-D
Hope this finds everyone well...until next time. Much Love!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thanksgiving....resort style!
Ok, so apparently I'm really bad at writing on this thing because clearly I haven't written in over 3 weeks. Moving on...THANKSGIVING!!! My all time favorite holiday! Honestly I had been dreading Thanksgiving for the sole reason of I would be away from my family and clearly this is the holiday that everyone gets together, eats turkey, and watches the Lions game. EVERY YEAR. Without fail. I was pretty upset that I would miss it but thankfully God knew just what I needed to take my mind off of being away from my loved ones. After all was said and done I had 3 full Thanksgiving meals, all wonderfully prepared by people of the community (not all on the same day btw) and a much better attitude about the Thanksgiving holiday. :-D
Well, it started out with my adoptive Palaun mother (all of the SM's have adoptive parents and they do things for us and make us feel at home etc.) Her name is Sarah and we hadn't really done much of anything together for the past few months with the excpetion of saying hello at church. Well this past weekend, she set me and Ale (a fellow SM, my roommate, and my Palauan cousin because her adoptive mom is my adoptive moms sister) up at a local resort that she works at for the weekend. The resorts name is Palau Pacific Resort (PPR). We had heard a lot about it but hadn't ever been there. Well since my mother works there she gets rooms and stuff for free so she sent us there and we got to stay in a room with a t.v. and eat and swim and do all kinds of stuff....FOR FREE!! It was so amazing! It was like being in the states...only on a much nicer beach! We had T.V. in our room and we certainly utlized that via the disney channel and ESPN and all of the other priveleges.
One funny story was I went to the bathroom in our room and it had butt rinsers and dryers! Of course I had to try it out. Weird experience I'm not gonna lie. AND!! Our shower had hot water!! In our apartment we don't get hot showers...ever. You best believe I took multiple showers within that less than 24 hour period. It was amazing.
Point of the story is...I'm really thankful that my Palauan mother was so gracious as to set us up at the resort because not only did it make me feel loved but it also made me feel as though I really wasn't that far away from home after all.
In the end, I had an amazing Thanksgiving, and though I missed the Lions playing and my precious family, I know there will be other times and that God has good plans for me.
Hope this finds everyone well.
Mucho Amor until next time :-D
Well, it started out with my adoptive Palaun mother (all of the SM's have adoptive parents and they do things for us and make us feel at home etc.) Her name is Sarah and we hadn't really done much of anything together for the past few months with the excpetion of saying hello at church. Well this past weekend, she set me and Ale (a fellow SM, my roommate, and my Palauan cousin because her adoptive mom is my adoptive moms sister) up at a local resort that she works at for the weekend. The resorts name is Palau Pacific Resort (PPR). We had heard a lot about it but hadn't ever been there. Well since my mother works there she gets rooms and stuff for free so she sent us there and we got to stay in a room with a t.v. and eat and swim and do all kinds of stuff....FOR FREE!! It was so amazing! It was like being in the states...only on a much nicer beach! We had T.V. in our room and we certainly utlized that via the disney channel and ESPN and all of the other priveleges.
One funny story was I went to the bathroom in our room and it had butt rinsers and dryers! Of course I had to try it out. Weird experience I'm not gonna lie. AND!! Our shower had hot water!! In our apartment we don't get hot showers...ever. You best believe I took multiple showers within that less than 24 hour period. It was amazing.
Point of the story is...I'm really thankful that my Palauan mother was so gracious as to set us up at the resort because not only did it make me feel loved but it also made me feel as though I really wasn't that far away from home after all.
In the end, I had an amazing Thanksgiving, and though I missed the Lions playing and my precious family, I know there will be other times and that God has good plans for me.
Hope this finds everyone well.
Mucho Amor until next time :-D
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