I officially left the teenage years on Saturday and the girls made it extra special! We all met up at the local coffee shop where I opened the birthday package my family had graciously sent me full of lots of creative gifts :) It was very thoughtful and I loved it! Then the girls surprised me with a poster of ´The Top 20 Things We Love About Lee Ann`- they had chosen 20 friends from here to write me a nice message for my birthday. They as well wrote some sweet notes. It was a great surprise and something I will never forget- I loved reading them! Katie was even thoughtful enough to get me some USA colored balloons... from the trash!! At first she claimed she went on a long search for them but later admitted to where they were found, special all the same haha We then spend the whole afternoon into the evening on a farm with our students who study English at PBF, one being Vandir who shares a birthday with me, so we got to celebrate together!! PBF, the school, had a whole day of fun games and activites planned for all the kids (not just ours) who are studying English. We started with a little competition that Katie and I versed off in- we raced to grab a pen and the first person to get it (me) had to answer a question in English. I should probably not admit this but I incorrectly answered a question in passive voice.. yikes. As punishment I had to get my face wet and then, just using my mouth, get a piece of candy out of a pan full of flour- the end result was a hilarious picture! The whole day was so much fun for our kids, they had a slip ´n´ slide, scavenger hunt, sack race... all to practice their English! At the end of the day Vandir was telling us that he ´loved us forever´- it was precious. Then to end my birthday we went to the birthday party of another guy we didn´t know, but it was a lot of fun because we went with a bunch of our friends from the gym. In general, I could not have asked for a more special, blessed birthday and I am so grateful for all those who made it that way, both here and back home.
My previous photo project with the kids having them take 5 pictures of themselves, one each day, did not go as well as I had hoped so this week we started again, this time with me having examples to help them out. I am doing the photo project along with them and I now realize just how difficult it is and ridiculous you feel taking pictures of yourself but so far I have seen improvement so I think this time around we are getting it! We spent all day Monday, while Megan was doing computers, having a meeting discussing the beach trip list. Everyone had opinions and was fighting for certain kids but in the end we rounded off a pretty good list of 50 students that are invited to the beach. It was nice for all the teachers to feel like they had a say in the trip as well!
On Tuesday I treated myself to a massage in Imbau- kind of a birthday present to myself. They are very affordable here and the quality was equal to what I would pay a lot more for in the States, just the culutral difference in that the woman wanted to talk the whole time :) It is a such a small town so of course she is the sister of one of the other teachers at PETI. It was a relaxing hour all the same!
We moved our store up to Thursday this week and started selling things at a cheaper price as we will probably only have one more store and we are trying to get rid of as much as possible before we leave. All the donated clothes the Americans brought down have been a BIG hit, so thank you to all those who were a part of that. It always makes me smile to have a child show up in SLDM jersey! Then Friday we had an extra special afternoon planned for our kids- we cancelled PETI in the morning and invited everyone to come in the afternoon for a presentation from a church here in Telemaco. It is the church of our friend Niza and I have gone with her several times. When the pastor heard about our project he wanted to get involved. This is something we tried to plan a few weeks ago but it unfortunately fell through. This time it was a huge success!! They had about 10 youth from the church come to put on a theatrical skit portraying that true happiness can only be found in Jesus- it was very moving and entertaining. Then they had a young man, 21, come up and give his witness to our kids. He grew up in a home live I´m sure many of them can relate to- mother with drinking problems, siblings with drug addictions and he himself got into the same mess. He told his story about his conversion and how finding Jesus and the entrance of faith in his life changed everything. It was incredibly touching and had some people in tears by the end. Then he invited everyone forward to hold hands in a circle and sing some praise and worship then he led us in a beautiful closing prayer that had even more kids crying. The whole experience was amazing and spiritual.. God was definitely present and at work! It was something I will never forget and hopefully our kids as well!
I have been training Muay Thai even more these last couple weeks as we have a graduation coming up at the end of the month! I am trying to get in 3 classes a week, one being at 10:30 pm.. yikes! But I am really loving the sport and the friendships I am making in the classes! Although I am losing motivation to go to the gym in the unbelievable heat we are having here.. it is incredible! Lots of sunscreen and tank tops are needed to get through this weather. I can not imagine their summer- I actually don´t think I could handle it! :)
All I can think about is the wonderful cold weather that will greet me in a month. I´m sure you are all envious of the sunshine but I am looking forward to some snow! Sorry I am late posting this blog... I am behind on several things but today I have time to catch up as both the girls are gone so I have nothing to distract me :)
Special prayer request for my dad and all the men on CHRP this weekend- thinking and praying for you all that God may work in unthinkable ways in your lives and draw you into a closer relationship with Him!
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