Monday, October 1, 2012

September Update


Dear friends and family,

I have been quite busy this term.  I am gaining more responsibility as the term goes on.  I am in a sort of student teacher position.  I am following Mr. R. in all of his classes.  He teaches 2&3, 4&5, and 8&9.  I am now teaching 3 classes with the 3rd to graders, Spelling, Language, and Science.  I will only be teaching Science for the next two weeks, but the other classes I will have the whole term.  I will also be taking either the grade 3 Math class or the grade 4&5 Scripture class.  I haven’t decided which class I will take, but I am leaning towards Math. 

We have had a very interesting week.  We were told last week that a lion escaped from the Congo!  I sometimes forget that I live in Africa, but that definitely reminded me where I am!  There was a trail of dead cattle and other animals from the Congo coming towards the game park that is near the school.  The kids were quite nervous all week.  The seniors walk to the nearest church once a month.  They went this Sunday and Mr. R. was teasing them about the lion coming out of the bush to get them.  Then they saw the guy who was tracking the lion, and Mr. R said that he was pointing out where the lion was.  It wasn’t actually there but I don’t think the kids appreciated his sense of humour. 

Also, this week we have had an outbreak of chicken pox.  One of the boys came to school with chicken pox, but his spots hadn’t shown yet so it spread to some of the other boys in the dorm.  Now that the first boy is over them 3 more boys have it.  A teacher’s wife has a 7 month old baby, and she is trying to keep him at home so he doesn’t get chicken pox.  Between chicken pox and lions it has been an interesting term so far.

Jessica, one of my roommates, and I take the junior kids for games on Mondays.  It’s a constant battle trying to figure out games to play with 42 kids and have everyone enjoy it and play well together!  So far this term we have done a scavenger hunt and a water fight.  The water fight went really well.  I got totally soaked, but the kids had a blast.  This week Jessica took half of the kids, and I took the other half.  We split it grade 1&3 and 2&4.  We each took one group then switched groups half way through.  It seemed to work a lot better.  I had a lot more control of the kids and I didn’t have to yell quite so loud.  I actually didn’t lose my voice this week!  I think we’ll try it that way again next week. 

Wednesday is the big birthday party.  The theme this term is the Wonder of the World.  All the teachers dress up, and the senior students make up skits and sing songs.  I am going as Mount Everest.  I am wearing 4-5 layers of skirts with a grey dress over top, a grey sweater to make my arms the same color, and a tall pointing cone for the mountain top.  I have a feeling I will be very hot by the end of the day!  I am very excited to see all the other costumes!  The staff members here are very creative when it comes to using the limited resources they have at Sakeji. 

God has really blessed us so far this term.  One of the girls as either committed or recommitted her life to Christ!  We were all very excited to hear that she growing in her faith.  Her parents were very excited when she told them when she went home for the weekend.  The spiritual focus is really strong at the school.  The staff members may not agree on everything, but they agree on the most important point.  They all want the kids to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Since some have already become a Christian, they also have a huge focus on discipleship.  The grades 8s and 9s have a Bible Study on Monday nights with one of the couples.  I am so blessed that God has called me to work at Sakeji for the past few months.  I am really thankful that I still have over two months left.  I will be really sad when I have to leave, but I will enjoy it while I am here. 

God bless you all at home.  I pray that you are all living for God in the moments!  “Step by step He leads me, and I will follow Him all of my days.”

With love from across the ocean,

Yolanda

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