Wow, silence for the first time in 3 hours! It's almost a scary sound. Over our half term break 17 of our senior students and 3 staff members went to Amano Christian School (and 3 other schools) to compete in netball (Girls) and soccer (boys). Today 20 Amano students and 4 or so staff members have arrived here. Our students have been anticipating it all day and the excitment has been building since assembly. Even my students, who won't have anything to do with the competitions, were bouncing outta their seats (literaly) today. This was my afternoon off and generally when I'm down at my house I can't hear the students too much. However, I knew exactly when the Amano bus rolled in as the noise level tripled! Starting tomorrrow they will be competing in various sporting events against our students; mostly track and field stuff but I believe their will also be soccer and netball (it'll be switched tho boys playing netball and girls soccer). Our boys might actually win this time. The girls (who were undefeated in netball - except when they played the under 19 team) may taste a bit of what it feels like to lose. I've been trying to help Phil Towse with coaching them.... but they have so many bad habits I spent most of my time trying to undo the habits and reteach the correct way! It should be an interesting weekend. Even though it is my weekend off I have offered to help in the kitchen as our cook is now in Canada and Pam Ronald is subbing for her. Pam is also runs the nursing clinic and is one of the dorm parents for the boys so she's quite busy! I figured with the extra bodies on station she might need a break or two, plus 2 of her 3 kids will be competing so it might be nice for her to get to watch them. On Tuesday the whole school participates in Sports Day (track and field). I think by then our seniors will be wiped out! They might even be grateful to get back to regular classes on Wednesday.... well maybe not. :) I know it's early but I probably won't post again before so..."Happy Canada Day" to all my Canadian friends! and "Happy Independence Day" to my American ones. :)

Falling behind yet again...

Monday and Tuesday of this week were our half term holiday. The students all think the break is for them... ya right! My duties for the last 2 days was afternoon swim. I took my lawnchair down to the pool and worked on my tan. :) ya, life is rough. Actually it was rather rough this morning getting up and back into the school routine. Apparenty the kids thought so too as they all seemed to have left their brains in the dorm this morning. I can't complain too much though, they were all too tired to act up! One quick prayer request. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before but I'm fairly certain one of my students suffers with dyslexia. I've been trying to find creative ways to help him understand and learn the material but I feel like I'm failing him. Please pray that God will give me the wisdom I need to help this little boy get a good start on schooling, so he doesn't end up falling through the cracks.

The Good and the Sad

The past weekend was a rather interesting one. It was my weekend off, so after lunch on Saturday I was free to do as I pleased until breakfast on Monday. I have begun working with a group of kids in a village called Kazomba (I think that's what it's called) which is not too far from Kalene Hospital. The parents of the children I'm working with are very good friends with my parents. Hannah Garcia joins me on our Saturdays off and we go out to the village and work on English/ reading and math skills specifically with the two youngest as we would like to be able to get them enrolled at Sakeji next year. However the older 3 are always hanging about as well and enjoy taking part. This week when we arrived it was obvious word had gotten around that we were coming because there was a lot of cheerful youngsters chasing the truck down the lane. They all joined in our "class" which ended up being somewhere around 15 children ages 2 -15+. It's kind of like teaching in a one-room schoolhouse. only this was a very small livingroom. I think next time we'll have to sit outside under the trees! It's a lot more of a relaxed atmostphere then my school classroom and the children come and go as they please. After a few hours there we packed up and headed to Kalene hospital as there was a special "Jubilee Tea" planned in honour of the Queen of England's diamond Jubilee. The hosts had gone out of their way to make it a fun and special evening. Of course when we arrived we were served tea and shown to the buffet table which was full of scrumptious "British" fare such as cucumber sandwiches, triffle and little cupcakes with the Union Jack on them. We were divided into teams based on the Common Wealth country we came from. Hannah felt a little out of place, being American. We had missed the physical games (such as tug-of-war) but were there in time for the 'mental' games. Of course in the end England won (it would have been a shame if they hadn't as most of the questions were about their country!). Sadly Canada came in third, but then, we're used to not winning at Olympic events, so we took it quite well. :) Just as we were preparing to leave a phone call came in with some very disturbing news. A missionary plane was seen floating upside down in the Zambezi River! After much telephoning between mission stations and prayer we got most of the story. A new young missionary pilot, stationed at Chitokoloki Mission Hospital had crashed into the river. This really shook us all up. We didn't get all the details until yesterday evening. I won't write them all now, but if you look on the Chit website http://www.chitokoloki.com there is an update on Jay and Katrina Erickson. Please pray for their family at this time of loss. Although it is a great tragedy for us left behind, they are rejoicing with their Lord and Saviour in heaven and for that we give the glory and praise to God. It was a great reminder to us all that life is short and can be over in the blink of an eye. We need get right with God and make each and every day count for His glory and honour!