A Quick Update!

                Well, it is now about half over for me. It seems that the time has stood still at times, but at other times it has gone by super fast. This 3^rd quarter has had its ups and downs. There has been times when I just didn’t want to teach and then also times that I was glad I was here witnessing. 

These past couple of weeks have been quite a struggle with my 6^th grade science class. I have been experimenting with different discipline methods, but none seem to be working. The school has just started a new quarter, so I am hoping that this will give the kids a new start and a willingness to want to learn. They are a really smart class, when they apply themselves, but trying to get all of their attention at once is next to impossible.

The rest of my classes seem to be going really good. I have somehow connected with them and they know that I am their teacher. They are willing to learn and study. I mean not every single one of them is a perfect student. There are some that are still wanting to slack off and not doing anything. But because the majority of the class is behaving, I can now focus on the ones not doing so good and really push them to do good.

Even though I have had some struggles with the classes, there is always time for adventures here in Ebeye. I have really gotten to know the culture (for the most part) and have learned to adapt to it. I have visited some of the outer island and saw what life is like on that island; it’s simple! We went to an island called nene yesterday. It was very relaxing. We got to climb the coconut trees, spear fish, and relax in the hammocks. It was a very well needed day!

Until next time!!

                                                                       after the race!

                                                   This is a picture of the bomb they found!

                                                        This is the 11th grade science fair project

                                            Part of the 11th grade and their awesome sponsor!

                                                  My bike i pieced together... she's a beauty eh?

Over Time Things Get Better!

It has been awhile and I apologize. It has been pretty busy around here the past couple of weeks. Last post I left you with that I needed patience in the classroom. Well, I am proud to announce that I have finally found it! Or maybe I just have learned how to work with the kids. Whichever one it is, it is working. I am now starting to enjoy working with the kids. Yes, sometimes it is still hard and I really just don’t want to be there at that moment, but I am really starting to connect with them.

                I have found the problem; when I first came over here I was expecting it to be like the U.S culture and learning styles. Well, that is where I went wrong. They have their own learning style over here and I just needed to adapt to it. I expected different things out of the kids. So when I got here I just let myself down and it started to get to me. I was starting to think that I have failed in starting out the semester right. I have learned that I have to just take one day at a time. I was trying to teach the kids too much in one day. I don’t know, maybe I was still in college mode or something, by trying to give them too much to learn. I have finally accepted that if I teach them one thing a day then I have accomplished something!

                So, now onto some activities that has been happening outside of the classroom. Last Friday     (2-10-2012), I participated in the annual Kwajelan liberation day here in Ebeye. The day is filled with a parade and games. It started out with the parade. Ok, side note first. One of the things that you have to get used to over here is the time schedule. They said that the parade was supposed to start at 10 am. It didn’t actually start until around 1pm. There was no reason that it should have started that late. All of the trucks were lined up for hours. So everyone was there, there was just no communication. Anyways, the parade was pretty awesome to experience. Now, onto the games; they consisted of the 100m dash, musical chairs, and a 5.3 mile run from gucegu. The long run was the one that I participated in. They load the 40 participants into a school bus and transport you out to the last island. You then proceed to run back towards the great island Ebeye. It is a very exhausting run. It is just really hot and the wind is blowing on you from the ocean. I finished 7^th out of the 40 people.

                Now, back in the states you get days called “snow days!” Well, not here. Here we get bomb days. Last week there was a bomb that was found just a couple buildings away from us. This was a bomb from WWII era. There was some construction going on and they were digging into the ground to put some stairs in when they hit this with one of the shovels. The immediately stopped and called the bomb squad from Kwajelan. As a I had mentioned before that Kwajelan is a US army base, so that was usefull! I guess this has happened a few times in the past. So while they were there getting the bomb school was cancelled! That was very refreshing to get.

                This week is Education Week here on Ebeye. It consists of school activities throughout the week. Our first one, on Monday, was a big assembly with all of the schools. This was program for all of the schools to get together and here some speeches. Monday night was the science fair for the Ebeye SDA school. It was fun to see all of the projects that the kids and sponsors had worked on. I am sponsoring the 11^th grade and we did a lemon battery. We powered a calculator from just one lemon. We got second place. Tuesday and Wednesday are normal school days.  Tonight (Wednesday) is the valentines banquet. I know it’s late, but the kids really enjoy this activity.  Tomorrow will be a holiday for Ebeye, so no school. Friday will be the spelling B for our school. It should be interesting to watch the kids.  So all in all this week is nice and relaxing!

                Until next time!!

                

Patience

Patience….Patience….Patience….Patience

Maybe if I say patience enough it will fill my mind! These past two weeks have been pretty rough in the class room. The kids are starting to get more comfortable as me being their teacher, so they try and push my limits. I have kids running, jumping on tables, doing handstands, chasing each other with brooms, and lying down in the room. I will go tell one of them to stop and finally get them calmed down and then turn to someone else. As soon as I get to the other one, the first one is right back at jumping from table to table. It’s a mess!! Then when I finally get them all calmed down and ready to learn I start to talk and then it starts all over again. So out of a 45 minute class period I will end up teaching about 15 of that. I’ve tried many disciplinary actions and none of them seem to be working.

                 Not every day is chaotic. Some days I can actually get a lot taught to the kids and they are actually listening to me, at least I think so. Yesterday we had a review for our 3^rd quarter mid-terms and they all were being really attentive and a lot of them knew that answers. I was really confused in my head, because when I was teaching them that information they were not listening at all, at least I thought so. It was actually really refreshing to hear all of them participating in the review and knowing the answers.

                So right now I am going though this phase of recognizing the easiness of the U.S. Everything come to us very easily back in the states. We get used to this style of life and it spoils us! I mean if I wanted to use the internet back home then I could just get on my computer and its right there. Here, I have to wait 2 minutes just for Google home page to load. Back home I was getting used to this thing called an Iphone. If I wanted to search something I could just pull it out of my pocket and search; I don’t get those luxuries over here. You just learn to not need as much stuff. I am now starting to realize that every single one of those easy things was interfering with my relationship with God; hindering what I need to learn about Him and what He has given us to study daily, the Word. It is starting to hit me that this is one of my reasons for coming here to Ebeye.  It may be hard and not enjoyable at times, but God is right here directing my steps.

                All bad things eventually stop! I got to take a field trip the great Island of kwaj, which is about a 25 minute boat ride. This is not just an island, this is America! This island is a United States Army island and it shows that it is run by the U.S. Nice paved road, nice clean bathrooms with hot water and not salty, green stuff they call grass, and Subway and Burger king. Yes, I said Subway and Burger king. Of course I was not going to miss out on this opportunity to spoil myself. This is how it went down. Kwaj has softball fields and sporting equipment. So every so often we bring a team from Ebeye to go play on the fields. Well, I was one of their sponsors last night so I got to go. After we were done playing softball, we all went to the food court; MMM, delicious! I even bought enough so I could bring some back and have some for lunch today.

                Well even though these past couple weeks have been rough, I have been making memories that I will never forget. I know times will be rough and I won’t want to be here, But I can do anything with God on my side. I know I have to just keep pressing on and that is what I am going to do!

Until next time!!

Stressed to Relaxation

This week there was some up’s and downs. A lot of the kids were not listening and not wanting to learn at all. The learning style of the kids is very different than in America. You tell them to do something and they will just look at you with a blank look. Until you actually go over there and tell them right to their face, they will not do anything. It is a very big adjustment, but I am getting the hang of it! I know that I am here for a purpose and God wants me here for a reason. I really hope that I am reaching these kids somehow.

Now onto something positive! This weekend the SM’s here took a trip over to Carlos, an island about 30 minutes away. This island is pretty desolate. No running water, no electricity, and not to many houses on the island. We started our adventure on Friday around 5:00pm. We got to the island via boat and set up our camp, which we had to hike about three quarters of a mile with all of our stuff. I found two good trees and set up my hammock and then helped set up the rest of the camp. By the time we set up and had supper I was pretty tired and just went to bed. I had a pretty good sleep, until the rain came. I unclipped my hammock and went under the tarp till it was done. It only rained for about 5 minutes.  The next day we woke up had some breakfast and then had an adventure getting coconuts from the trees. I learned how to climb the tree and then knock the coconut off. I then proceeded to learn how to take the husk off and drink the coconut.

After my adventure it was church time. We all gathered on the ground to worship. It was a great sermon given by one of the island pastors. After church a group of us decided to go snorkeling on the lagoon side. This side of the island was very nice. There was not much coral until you went out past the reef, which we were told not to because of the sharks that like to live there. We got don’t snorkeling and then went and ate lunch. After lunch the group kind of just hung around and chilled. It rained a few times off and on all day long.

Now, for a real adventure I tried spear fishing in the dark. We went on the ocean side because we heard that there were more fish on that side. To get out there you have to walk on a bunch of coral and then you wait till you see a channel in the coral reef. I had the principal, from here, with me so he knew what he was doing. We saw the opening and went for it. Now, what you have to do is time your entrance with the waves. After the waves crash you have to swim hard before the next one or else you will get smashed against the coral reef. So, here I am swimming hard. I don’t have a flash light. That is with the principal and he is ahead of me about three feet. So I really can’t see much. I see him make it through and here I am still trying; I didn’t make it so here comes the wave smashing back on me. I can’t see anything, because the waves crashing produces tons of bubbles and sediment to fly everywhere. I just hold my head and hope for the best as the wave takes me back in towards the sharp coral. The wave passes and I am still alive! I got smashed back but luckily it was just a rock and not coral. I swim hard again and finally finagle my way through the 2 foot channel that is lined with coral on each side. We were out there for about 15 minutes and did not see much at all so we decided to go back in. same process all over again except the waves are making you fly towards the coral at a fast rate. I mean I have done this during the day, but doing it at night adds another element. The final wounds were just a smashed right shoulder and a pretty good cut on my heal from coral from the way back in. Today we packed up and headed to the dock to be picked up. There was a big Japanese ship there that was some sort of decoy. We got to jump off and have a blast.

God has been good to me so far. Yes, there has some down moments, but He has helped me through them and that I am glad for. I’m sure that there will be more down moments, but I can always count on Him being there. I am glad that God has put me in this position to not only teach the students, but to get closer to Him.

Until next time!!

                                                        Speaking at a Saturday night vespers.

Sorry...!

So, the Manatee I saw.... it was actually a Manta Ray. Yeah, sorry got the two mixed up while writing. They don't look anything alike just was writing fast...! But it was still really cool to see!

The First Week.....

                Well, the first week is over! To my knowledge it was a success; no one hates me yet. I actually had fun at some point this week! I didn’t know that teaching would be so hard. So, props to all you teachers out there! My first lesson plan last Monday took me about three hours. I just made another lesson plan on Sunday and it only took me like two and a half hours. I think that I am getting the hang of all this! One thing that I have really enjoyed is getting to plan when they have homework and quizzes to do.

                Ok, now on to information besides teaching. On Satuday morning, early, about 5:00am I was sleeping and I heard some commotion our side of our apartment. I just heard two guys yelling back and forth and then there was a woman yelling also. I had no idea what they were saying it was all in Marsharllese. So, to my curiosity I went and looked out our window and it was two intoxicated grown men fighting each other. I heard the fists smacking against the face and then one of them took a pipe, or something hard, and started to hit the other one. When we headed out to church I saw dried up blood from the fight that morning. I have no idea what they were fighting for, but come on guys really….

                Now, to a positive note! I went to shell island today. This island is attached to Ebeye by a gravel road. I got to go on my first spear fishing adventure. Right away when we started we saw this manatee just gliding in the water; so cool! Here I am just about to be done spear fishing and I take one more dive down to about 13 feet and I speared this little blue fish. Supposedly it is edible. So I am going to try it tonight sometime! It was a very relaxing Sunday here in the islands.

Until next time!!

The First Day

Alright, alright I’m getting accustomed to Ebeye! I know I said before that it is over populated here, but the people are really nice. I went for a run this morning and pretty much every one that I passed said, “good morning!”

In the last blog I told you what I was going to be teaching and today I actually got to teach. The first day went pretty good. My 6,7, 8^th grade kids were really good for me and then it gets to the 9^th grade English class. These guys just don’t want to be there. So it is really hard to get them motivated to do anything.

I know that I can do anything that I want to with God’s help. I’m definitely going to be needing His help. I really hope that I can reach these kids though my teaching. If they only get one thing out of this class, I hope that they see that I am a man of God.

Until next time!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and motivational speeches!!!

Ebeye SDA School

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Streets of Ebeye

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The Final Destination

Here I am thinking that I am done with all the complications and then I get to the Majuro airport on Thursday morning. I get through security fine and make my way up to the agent. Lets pause here for a second. The security checks in Majuro for your check in bags are very sketch. They just open your bag and then just kind of look around a bit. Lift this up here, that up there, and move that to the side and the cram everything back in not even close to the way they found it. But, they didn’t even check my whole bag. Anyways, I finally get to the agent who is going to check me in and she takes a close look at my ticket and says this is for the date April 13,2012. I was just in awe and thought to myself, man, you have got to be kidding me. It all worked out and the agent lady was very nice and straightened out my ticket.

 I have FINALLY made it to Ebeye; Wow, what a long jouney!!!! It feels like I have been traveling forever. Ebeye is…… different. There are SOOOO many people here, just crammed wherever they can possibly be. Kids running around everywhere, dogs running around everywhere, garbage everywhere on the streets, houses almost touching each other, small gravel roads, beat up cars, horrible aroma in the air, houses that about to fall apart, everything is flat, ocean surrounding us, beaches filled with garbage, and barely any trees. That pretty much sums Ebeye up. On the flip side of all the negative, the people are very nice, kids just want to be around the missionaries all the time, everyone says hi, the breeze of the ocean, and no rabies with the stray dogs so they are all friendly.

I really enjoyed my first day here. I have not taught any classes yet, but I am waiting in anticipation! I observed my classes that I will be teaching and it should be interesting to see the outcome. I have finally gotten my schedule from the principle here. I will be teaching 6,7,8 grade science, 9^th grade English and 9, 10^th PE for boys. I made my first lesson plans today. That only took 4 hours. Hopefully they go a little faster next week. I cannot wait to start teaching. I am going thoroughly going to enjoy giving my students home work and tests. I got to go snorkeling yesterday and I saw a stingray for the first time. It was probably like a foot and half in diameter, but unfortunately I did not have my camera. I was very upset, but I’m sure I will get another chance.

Even though my schedule is a little rough, I know that God would not give me anything that I cannot handle, so I am ready for this task. I am excited to see how I can use myself to show God through me to these kids. He has a good plan for me over here and I am ready to execute it. Until next time!!

Wakiki Beach- Hawaii

Plane ride to Majuro

View of the ocean outside of my window in Majuro

The Confusion

                I ended my journey in Hawaii.  I got to stay in Hawaii for about a day and a half. On the full day we got the chance to go to Wakiki beach and then we also took a little walk in Diamond Head Crater. Pretty cool stuff. I will post a picture of the view.

                Now, we start my adventure to Ebeye! We boarded the plane in Hawaii at 5:30am Hawaiian time. The last we heard was that the principle of Ebeye would be picking us up from the airport. Ten Minutes before the plane departed, Emily and I started wondering which airport the principle would be picking us up from? The plane that we were on stops at a lot of different islands; the first stop was Majuro. Emily and I look at our ticket and realize that our ticket ended here. We were really confused,  because we should have gone onto the next island called Kwajelan. When we landed it was 8:30 am the next day, so we were just really confused and on top of that the United air flight staff said that we had to get off and you would have to buy another ticket. Still confused at what to do, we got off and stayed there, because we still weren’t sure if the principle would be picking us up there plus we knew our bags were going to be stopping here.

                Here we are wondering around this outdoor airport trying to figure out where to go. We came to the conclusion that we should call the SDA School here in Majuro. Lucky for us, the principle of Majuro was already coming to pick another missionary that was working on Majuro. We hoped on board of his truck and started our adventure back to the school of Majuro. But first, we stopped at the end of the airstrip and watched the plane take off. When they do, the air that the jets put out almost knocks you down. It was the coolest thing ever. He showed us around Majuro (very different than what I had pictured before I came over) and took us back to the school. So far I have been snorkeling, drank and ate a coconut, had curry for supper, saw the town of Delap, and now going to observe some classes being taught here in Majuro. I am still confused in which day it is, but God is good and we just had staff worship and now off to see more Majuro life! Until next time!! 

               

               

The View!

View from the back yard of the place that I am staying in Hawaii. I know...... rough times!!

The Starting of it All

WARNING: I am not a writer.... deal with it!!

Sorry about the length of this first blog. I had to get the whole background of how I got to where I am now. The next blogs will probably not even be close to this length. Enjoy!

Now, to start the story of how I got to where I am at this moment. This "feeling" of being a student missionary has always been in my heart. I love to do mission work and always thought it would be nice to actually go be a missionary for a longer period than a week. This “feeling” got significantly stronger in March of 2011. I kept telling myself, “I can’t go do this, I have a pretty good job and why would I want to leave that.” I kept fighting it and fighting it. I have worked At Camp Wakonda for the past three summers now, and have loved it. Well, this summer at camp, there were ex-missionaries there that were just on my case of how I should just go do it and it was the best experience of their life. I could just see that they were happy with the decision they made and did not regret it at all. It really made me want what they had; that life changing experience story to tell everyone. At camp there was also a staff member that was going to be a missionary at the end of camp. She just seemed so excited to be going and this really made me start to think of the possibilities. So, what did I do, I prayed.

I had graduated from Andrews University at the end of December of 2010. At the beginning of the 2011 Fall Semester is when it really started to hit me and I remember thinking, “this is not a “feeling”, but now a calling!” The confusion now was, where? So, what did I do again, I prayed. There were just so many options and callings that were open. I knew I wanted to go somewhere, but where? One person would tell me to go here and another to go there; both having very good reports of the places that they went.

By the end of September I had narrowed it down to an island somewhere. So, the next step was start talking to Andrews Campus Ministries Department. They told me a couple islands that I could go to which included: Majuro, Jeh, and Ebeye. I had heard stories of all of them and they all sounded great to me. So, one day I told the missionaries office that I wanted to go to Majuro. Right away they started the process. I just had this feeling that this choice that I made wasn’t right; I wasn’t going to the right place. So, I prayed some more and I finally came to the conclusion to go to Ebeye in the Marshal Islands. I immediately went and told the department that I wanted to switch. After I told them this decision I felt so relieved. I knew it was the right decision.

So, now to get the funding for this decision I have made. Where was I going to come up with the money I needed? I had three months to get the amount I needed or I was not going to be able to embark on this journey for God. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed some more. I started to make my phone calls and within just a few days I had all the money I needed to go. “Alright God, you want me to go I get it!” I am just very thankful to these donors that were willing to fund me. There is no way that I would have been able to do this on my own.

Everything just kept falling into place; vaccinations were done, appointments were met, paper work filed, money received, and plane tickets bought. All of this brings me to the last week of The Starting of it All. I received an email from the principal in Ebeye and he informed me that he wanted me to teach 6^th, 7^th, 8^th grade science, 10^th grade biology, and 12^th physics. Wow! That is a very big responsibility. But, I kept telling myself that if God wanted me to teach this than I would do just fine. Some voice in my mind just kept saying, “Just email the principle back and tell him that would like to just teach the sciences.” I was alright with that voice, because I had never taken a physics class and haven’t taken biology since the 10^th grade. So, I emailed him back. The next day he counter offered me to teach 9^th grade English and P.E for high school boys. I knew right away that it was for me and emailed him right back and told him, “Yes!!” I love sports and being active and I can teach some English….! Hopefully it stays with these classes; who knows it may change again.

This brings me to the last couple days of this week. So far I have traveled on two different airplanes. Starting with the first one leaving Chicago Saturday morning and then changing planes in San Francisco heading to Hawaii! I have a one and a half day layover here and am excited to see the island life. I am staying with this awesome family that was willing to take my friend Emily (another SM going to the same place) and I in and give us a home for this layover. Last night I got to experience a New Year’s Eve in Hawaii. Crazy stuff; lots of fireworks EVERYWHERE!!!!

Well that is all for now. I will be updating this blog with more postings and pictures every so often so stay in tuned for more of my adventures. I am very happy about where God has been leading me in these past few months and am excited to see what will happen from here!