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. ;)