10 Hours

Hello friends! I’m in my second week of school right now and all is well. Honestly, it’s a big challenge, but I see progress in the students already. We have our first big test tomorrow in Social Studies. I guess we’ll see how things are going after I’ve graded their tests. What’s nice is that my grade has most of their specials like art, music, and French in the afternoons, so I have the opportunity to grade, make copies, and get prepared for the next day. I don’t have too much home with me at all. I like being able to leave and leave my work at work. You know? Plus this way I have the opportunity to focus on the youth and stuff with that.
Speaking of the youth, we had our beginning of the year youth bash on Friday night. We met at my VIA coordinator, Lisa’s house. We weren’t expecting more than maybe 12 or 15 kids to come, but 23 showed up! It was awesome. They’re a good group of kids, rough around the edges, but a good group. Nick, Lisa, and I are running things right now. So when we first got there we started off with some games and the kids absolutely loved them. ( some parents told us on Monday how much their kids were talking about the games.) ☺ After the games we ate tons of food… everyone brought something to share. After food we had a few more games to tie into the lesson. Then Lisa did the lesson, and then we had the kids write down things they wanted to learn about or talk about at youth group. I thought it would be a good idea because it seemed to work well with my youth back in the states. Then we did a few songs and the kids were on their way.
My only reservation with all this is the age difference between some of the kids. We have 7th through 12th graders all in one group. I’d like to split them up and do some more age appropriate stuff.
So anyways, this past weekend was nice and relaxing. Jean and I took the car and went exploring on Saturday. When we got up and around we went and used the internet for a while and then we went out. We looked into geocaching and found that there are some caches fairly close to where we live. Yay for bringing my gps! After we got all or info we went exploring. We wanted to go down to Lake Victoria and just chill, but instead we went to check out a resort on the lake. They have an amazing pool that we can pay to use whenever, so we wanted to get info on prices and stuff.
Sidebar: So those of you that know me freakishly well know that it is one of my dreams to swim in a place with a bar in the pool. Why? Because I just think it’s awesome! How fun would that be? I don’t even drink alcohol, but who wouldn’t want a nice glass of pop while they’re swimming around. Well, the pool has a bar in it!! I can now go where ever on my honeymoon… I’m no longer restricted to somewhere with a bar in the pool because my dream will come true at some point this semester.
Moving on, Nick had us over for dinner and then we hung out and played some games. Sunday Jean and I went to church at an Anglican church, not an Africa Gospel Church this week. It was a neat service. We were two of three mzungus there. We went for lunch at a cute café after church, came home, got our stuff, went down to the school to do some planning for Monday, and then met in the library with some WGMers and a few others for Sunday night fellowship. We led worship, which was great because they generally sing old songs not many people know and they do them a’cappella. A’cappella is ok sometimes, but I don’t like it all the time. We’re watching a DVD series for fellowship by Louie Giglio. The lesson Sunday was great… it totally tied into what I did for devos every morning with my class last week.
So now I’m in week two and even though things are going well it seems like the year is going to drag on. I think time will start moving faster once the subject matter starts advancing a bit. Right now we’re still reviewing a bit. Also things will pick up as I get to know the youth better and we’re all hanging out more. I already have a few of them picked out as some I would love to work on. One’s that I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them, you know?
So anyways, I’m starting to miss home a bit. The worst part is not being able to see my nieces growing and learning new things everyday. Alexandria still recognizes my voice and gets smiley when I talk to her, but I wish I could see her face. She has learned so many new things in just the past 3 weeks since I’ve been gone. There’s this song I’ve been introduced to this week called 10 Hours by Warren Barfield. He’s a Christian artist out of Nashville right now. Check out his myspace page if you have the chance.
Well folks, there are some new pics up on facebook… pics of my classroom and some other stuff. I hope all is well with you. The Lord is so good and so faithful. I hope you’re finding that to be true everyday for you. This morning I read Matthew 16:24-28 to my class during out morning devotional time. I encourage you to read it today and make it true for your lives everyday. Much love, homies!