First Week of Teaching

Well, folks, I have officially finished the first 4 days of my first year of teaching! :) It is a great thought, but then I think about how much more I have to learn and do, and it gets overwhelming. I have been taking it just one day at a time, and trying to keep my head above water. 

Backing up to when I wrote my last post here is some information on how everything went.
Parent orientation went well overall. I was really nervous, and was thankful when it was over. What really got me was when I realized that I was the teacher, there was no one else to pass the responsibility off to, and realizing that the parents are entrusting me to teach their child. What a great and challenging ministry God has called me to! I am so thankful that He will give me the strength to get through each day, month, and year. 

By Wednesday I was exhausted, I felt like I had hit a wall! (Probably because of all the stress to make sure everything was ready for parent orientation on Tuesday.) 

Thursday, being the first day of school, I was a little nervous, just trying to make sure I had thought through my procedures and knew what I wanted to have the students do, especially in the morning. Everything went smoothly until we got to the cafeteria for lunch. Not only was it my first time in there (during school hours), but it was also the students' first time as well, because in K5 they do not go to the cafeteria. Although chaotic, we got through the day, and worked out a better system for the next day. 

Friday was much better, we did not really have any problems until the end of the day, when somehow I started running late getting the students ready to go. I thought I had given myself enough time, however, I was had not. After talking to my principal about it, and her giving me some ideas we were able to get out the door on time the last two days. 

Each day brings it challenge and gives me something to think about, work through, and try to find a better way to make things work more efficiently. This is a good thing, though, because I learn best through mistakes. I know I have said this before, but I am so thankful for a great support system to encourage me, give me ideas, and challenge me to become a better teacher. I had a minor issue yesterday as I was struggling getting the students to listen, but again after talking to my superiors I was able to fix the problem and things went much smoother today. So God is good and things are going well. 

Here is a picture of students out at recess.

A flower one of my girls picked for me. :) In the States kids pick dandelions for their teachers, but in Guam, it is hibiscus flowers. 

On a side note...while I was sitting here on the couch just now, I saw this little friend crawling around in the dining room/entryway. Oh the joys of Guam!

Also, another answer to prayer....my boxes with all of my stuff that I shipped finally arrived today!!! I can now start settling in and making this place feel more like home. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for me regarding these. They arrived exactly one month after I shipped them, but over two weeks past the date the post office told me! Now the trick is to find the time and energy to unpack and organize. I was excited when they arrived, and unpacked, then lost motivation after fixing dinner and cleaning up....now I can't find my bed. Maybe tomorrow I can get a little more done, and just work on it little by little. 

Here are a couple more pictures of my weekend. I was able to take a couple hours and go relax at the beach, and regain my strength and motivation after a crazy week! It was just what I needed coming in to this week. 

The beautiful view of one of the beaches. 

A large blue starfish! I did not find this, but thought it was pretty cool and had to take a picture when a friend did.

Afterwards we went and got some milk tea to cool us off and give an extra boost of energy!

Well, I'm off to bed. I will try to update again in another week or so, and hopefully I will be more settled by then. 

Pictures!!!

I have now been on the island for a week and a half, and am adjusting pretty well so far. The people here are great! They have been super helpful and understanding, and it is very much of a family atmosphere at Harvest, for which I am thankful!

After being here for a week I was finally able to get my phone, so I have only had it for a couple days, and haven't had a chance to take many pictures but here are the ones I have taken of some things I see every day. :)

This is the view out my bedroom balcony. 

View from our living room window. 

Then, at Harvest, the lower elementary classrooms are in a separate building (far left in the picture) from the rest of the classrooms, which is super nice! My room is on the corner with the two windows. This picture was taken as I was walking down from the upper part of campus. (Straight ahead is the girls dorm for the bible college.) 

....and here is a sneak peak of my classroom. More pictures to come once I get everything organized and presentable. ;)

Please pray for me, especially this week. I am beginning to feel the effects of being a first year teacher. Tomorrow night is parent orientation, and Thursday is the first day of school. I am satisfied with my room, but it has taken me longer to get it ready than I expected, and trying to figure out how to organize things has been somewhat challenging. 

Before coming here I was told that I would need to plan to get a car, I wasn't sure how necessary it was until I got here. I was also under the impression that I could walk to school, however, I am in the larger apartments (3 bedrooms), but they are a couple blocks away from campus. Although, I am within walking distance it is not a good idea for safety reasons to walk. Thankfully many Harvest people live in these apartments, so finding a ride has not been too difficult. 

The other challenge has been getting my bank account taken care of. The problem has not been needing money, but being able to access what I do have. I have finally been able to get an account set up here, and I some funds put into it, however, it will be about another week before the funds are available. I have been surviving fine, but I try not to go to the store or spend any money unless I absolutely have to, because it gets kind of complicated if I do. 

Another minor road block has been that I am still waiting for my boxes with my belongings that I shipped from the States to arrive. The post office in West Virginia told me they would arrive August 2. Well, that date came and went and no boxes. After talking to people here I found out that very rarely do things arrive on the day they were supposed to, and they get "lost" somewhere in between here and there, because there is no tracking update. I am not worried, I know they will arrive eventually (maybe 2-3 weeks late, though ;)), it just becomes interesting when I need some of the things that are in there.  

All of that to say it has been challenging to get things for my classroom and get it organized the way I would like, because, although the people here are very willing to help out, I do not want to take advantage of them. However, through all of this I have come to realize that it's okay if my classroom isn't perfect, it's okay if I can't do everything the way I prefer, as long as it works, it isn't going to matter in the long run. Also, God knew that all of this would happen, and so instead of complaining about it, I just need to trust Him. Trust Him for strength to get me through each day, trust that He will work all the details out in His time, and be thankful for the many, many blessing He has given me. 

I mean, how many people can honestly say that they live on a beautiful island, teaching and ministering to kids of all ages, and have a great group of people who love the Lord and each other to work alongside with, in addition to having a great support group on the other side of the world praying for me! I'm not sure it can get much better than that! So, as I sit here this Monday night I am reminded that God has a perfect plan and will work out all things for good. In the big scheme of things, none of these little problems matter. I need to make sure that I am obeying God and that means teaching these first graders that will soon be headed my way. So, ready or not, let's get this school year started! 

Thank you once again to each of you for your love and support! 

Moving to Guam

Hafa Adai! Hello from Guam!

I am now an official resident of Guam. It's kind of a strange thought, especially since I have only been here for 2 days (less than 48 hours). But in the first 24 hours of being here we stopped at the DMV and I got my Guam driver's license, went to the bank to open an account (which is still in the process of being opened), and made my first trip to KMart. But first, let me back up and tell you about my trip over. 

My flight was supposed to leave at 6:10 on Monday morning, however, when I got to the airport I found out that my flight was cancelled and they told me I wasn't leaving until Tuesday morning at the same time. Although initially it was frustrating because I had said my goodbyes and was mentally prepared to leave on Monday, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise to have the extra day at home. I was able to spend more time with my dad (who had been gone the whole past week traveling with the singing group from ABC, and he came back Monday afternoon), and I was able to better work out my luggage situation. 
So, we went back to the airport Tuesday morning, everything went well and I departed as scheduled. I made it to my gate in DC in just enough time to board to head to Honolulu. However, when I got to Hawaii, I found out my flight to Guam had been cancelled due to a typhoon there. They were able to book me on a later flight that evening, and I arrived in Guam at about 3:30 Thursday morning Guam time. The layover in Hawaii also turned out be a blessing in disguise, because if my flight to Guam had not been cancelled I may have missed it, or at least cut it too close for comfort because of arriving a little later than scheduled. Also, because I had 10 hours in Hawaii, I was able to leave the airport for a few hours which was very nice! God provided a contact in Honolulu allowing me to go over to a family's house, have dinner with them, and relax before heading back to the airport. Then on the flight over, I had 2 seats to myself, so I could stretch out and get some much needed sleep! Thank you so much for your prayers for my flight over, God was very good to me, and everything went about as smoothly as it can go, which I am very thankful for!

Like I mentioned earlier, my first day here was a lot of traveling around getting the basic things taken care of, and I was also able to see my classroom and start thinking about all the work I have to do! ;) Harvest also had their midweek church service on Thursday, so I went to that, and then it was time for bed! Today (Friday) went much better! We had new staff meetings this morning, time with our mentors (lead or most experienced teacher of the same grade), and classroom time. After today I am feeling much better about the upcoming school year, excited to have my own classroom, and happily reminded of why I came here in the first place. 

God has been good to me and blessed me with many helpful, loving, encouraging, and godly people to take me under their wing for which I am very thankful! Our prayers have been answered! 

Please pray now, though, that God will give the strength and wisdom in preparing my classroom for the 25 little 1st graders that will be gracing me with their presence here in about 2 weeks. :-) There is a lot to do between now and then, and if I think about it too much I will get overwhelmed and feel like I can't do it. My mentor teacher has been a huge help to me, though, and I am extremely thankful for her! 

Also, please pray for strength to get through each day as I am still struggling with jet lag, so about halfway through the day I just start to crash. Thankfully, though, it has not been as bad as it could be or has been in the past. I just feel like I may be able to be more efficient if I were more coherent during the day. ;)

Well, I am going to go to bed now. Thank you once again for all your prayers and support! God is hearing and answering, and it is so encouraging! Love you all!

P.S. I will post pictures sometime next week after I receive my phone. I didn't realize until I didn't have a phone that that was the only camera I have, so as of right now I have no way of taking pictures. ;)