This post is from last last weekend, but it wouldn't post when I tried to post it haha, so I'm putting it up now :)

Today was awesome because this morning I got to watch Katie baptize Bendjy. I am so proud of him. It was such a sweet moment. I was so happy to be there for that. Later in the day I played soccer with him and went on the swings with him at the school haha it was fun. He came to our house and Samantha made homemade popcorn, which is sooooo good. Then I went with Bendjy to find these chips called Chiritos because you can buy like 50 little bags of them for 4 dollars. So we wanted to get them to pass out as a snack for Sunday School tomorrow. So Bendjy and I looked around and the stores near where I live but they did not have it so we took motos downtown, and we saw Samantha's student Guy, and he came with us too. And Bendjy found them for me and then we went back to my house. And then Bendjy texted Katie on my phone and he sent her all those fat cat emojis on facebook and tried to type stuff but it just came out as gibberish, so he sent her silly voicemails, it was really funny.

Then I had another Kreyol test and I got a 100%! But it was just memorizing vocab so it was easy. And then I taught Kimley and Emmanuella how to make snowflakes haha, because I taught both my students and Samantha's students how to make these really pretty pattern ones. It was fun. I love making snowflakes hahaha its really cool how they turn out.

The other day in second grade we were talking about letters, and so I wrote my address on the board as an example one for the class to see. And then I notice a few students pull out random scraps of paper from their desk and start to copy it down and soon enough the whole class is saying "Don't erase yet Miss Sarah!" As they scribble down my address, it was so sweet and cute haha.

Also Samantha and I switched classes for a little bit on Friday. So I could do a craft with the seventh graders, I loved teaching them. They were great for me and were so sweer and cute though,


Second grade though. It has been real challenging lately. Just with getting them to stay quiet and have control over them. I'm working on it though. I have been giving warnings and writing names on board and talking with students one on one. Sometimes it really helps, other students it doesn't work for. Please pray for me and my class that we could grow closer to God together. :)

This past week we only had school Monday and Tuesday, and then we got the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. It's been a really nice break. For the past 5 years, over Thanksgiving I went on a mission trip to Mexico with my youth group, but since I'm in Haiti this year I couldn't go, so I've been praying for my youth group all week and really wish I could've been there with them this week. Today I looked at pictures from the trip and the kids at the orphanage are growing up so fast, I almost teared up! I've been really missing Mexico and all the amazing people we get to visit there so much this week. <3

A few days ago I went to the restaurant by the school to get coke and milk mixed together. When her kids first told me about that drink, I thought it did not sound good, but as I thought about it more it seemed like it might actually be good like a creamy coke drink. And then I finally tried it and it was soooo good, I think it's much better than a normal coke. It tasted like a rootbeer float but with coke instead of rootbeer. You should try it. It may sound different, but its really really good and it made me so full. Like they give you this big cup and put ice in it and then pour in a can of milk in it and then pour a big bottle of coke in it and you stir it all up. It was yummy. :) And then at the restaurant I also saw Widloveson there one day. He is the cutest little cutie ever. I love him so much. He is in fifth grade this year, but I helped in his class when I visited Sonlight before, I think he was in 2nd grade. He is just as cute now as he was then. We talked in the restaurant for at least an hour maybe more, I love talking to him, the conversations we have are so funny. I asked him what he'll do over Christmas break, and he said how he's gonna eat a cat sandwich! Because that is like a special meal he has over that time I think haha, and he said cat is his favorite meat, and that is tastes spicy. He asked me if I would try it sometime but I said no because I don't eat meat, and he asked me why I don't eat it and I told him how I stopped eating it in 7th grade because I felt bad for the animals, and he was like, you don't need to feel bad for them, they're gonna die anyway, haha. That is true. And he also told me that he likes to eat onions and he can eat them raw by themselves. And he said he is gonna make little firework things when he got home haha. I love talking to him, he is really funny and adorable. And then I told him I'd come back tomorrow morning for spaghetti. And he said what if there is a giant storm and it's raining everywhere, would you still come? And I told him there is nothing that will stop me from coming because his mom's spaghetti is too amazing. And he laughed. And then I came and got her spaghetti the next morning, it was not raining though which was nice. It has been raining so much here lately though, almost everyday since the hurricane, so most everyone here is really tired of the rain because it turns the roads to mud, so its hard to travel in it, and it makes it hard to dry clothes. So were hoping for more of the sun. Yesterday it was beautiful out, but today it is back to rain again.

I also put up a Christmas tree in my class this week, it's cute. :)

I also caught a lizard in my rom this week, it was a cute little baby lizard.

And I also had lost my ipod for a few days and had been looking all over my room for it. The other day I finally found it, and guess where it was.......in my tennis shoes!! Hahaha, how does and ipod get inside your shoe?? I don't know but I was so happy to find it, its got all my good worship music and stuff on it.

Yesterday Samantha and I went on a walk. We walked up to the pretty cross and then past it where this path leads you up and down the hillside and the view from up there is beautiful. It was way greener out there than last time, because of all the rain. And then we saw a beautiful rainbow when we got home. On our walk, at one point we didn't take a turn when we were supposed to so we started walking through downtown. And we knew where we were we just didn't know the best way back. So Samantha said something to me like, I hope God will just give us another person we know to lead us home! And sure enough a few minutes later we hear "Miss Sarah!" And it's my student James, so we asked him if he could get his older sister to tell us the way back. And she ended up walking us back, which she didn't have to do but she wanted too which was really nice and sweet.

Our internet was also good enough that we could watch Gilmore Girls!!! I did not think I would be able to watch it here, so I was sooooo thrilled that we got too.

This past weekend was amazing, I got to go down to Port-au-Prince, for the 3 day weekend. Amber took us there to drop off Sarah at the airport because she is going to the states for around a week or so I think. The best part of the trip (other spending time with the great people I went with) was that I got to have sushi. That was the best thing ever, they even had vegetarian rolls which was perfect for me. It was so good. Sushi is the best and I was soooo happy to have it haha. We also got to go to the top of our building and it was at night, but the view was still so pretty. And the wind was blowing and I was cold, which is crazy because its always hot. That was the first time I have ever been cold outside in Haiti. We also went to this store called apparen project I think, it has things you can buy that people hand made and the money goes to a good cause. But to get to that store is crazy because its like hidden and the way to get there is you go up this one main road, then while your on that road you have to look for a butterfly (not a real one but like this 2 ft by 2 ft metal one that will be on one of the buildings walls, because the stores symbol is a butterfly). And the first butterfly, I don't even know how Katie saw it because it was a tan metal butterfly on top of a tan wall, so you would never notice it if you weren't looking. So then you have to turn where that butterfly is and then go down that road and look for the next one, the rest were orange which was easier to spot, but still its pretty tricky getting there you have to follow like 5 butterfly signs until you make it, it was an adventure. When we were there I also had a smoothie. It was yummy, It had mango, banana, strawberry, and peanut butter. I love peanut butter so it was great. :)

We also went to some grocery stores, it was very weird to go in a grocery store for the first time in three months, it did not feel like I was in Haiti because in Port-de-Paix there aren't any grocery stores. But a lot of the stuff can be pricey, I got a bag of Sour Cream & Cheddar chips, which I was really excited to have.

But yeah it was just great to spend some quality time with Amber, Sarah, Samantha, Lindsey, and Katie. I loved talking with them and getting to know them better. It was really great. And it was just so nice to change our scenery for a bit and have an adventure in Port-au-Prince. It was an awesome vacation. :)

And we went the weekend of the election in Port-au-Prince. So you would think it might be a little crazy there, but actually on Election Sunday, no one was out. It was crazy. Normally there is so much traffic that it takes an hour to get to from where we stayed to the airport. But we passed by the airport after just 20 minutes of traffic. There was barely anyone out and it was awesome because that meant no crazy traffic.

Like you wouldn't believe how packed it can get, and we were driving and at one point we weren't able to get through this one section, so Lindsey jumped out of the car and stopped this car to not pass us so we could finally get through, it was funny. And there are constantly people weaving their way across the street as well so there is a lot to watch out for if you drive.

And another time we had to get up this street in our car, that Amber is driving, and there is a big truck on the other side of the road and there isn't enough room to pass through. But there are people selling things on the side of the street, so they all one by one start pushing in their stuff another foot so we can squeeze though, like 15 people had to move their stuff, but we didn't even ask them too, it was really sweet.

Yesterday afterschool I was able to go with Kimley and his mom to the market. His mom helped me buy a ton of fruit, that I gave to Sarah and Amber who will give the fruit to their neighbors, and their neighbors will get to eat the fruit and then their gonna use the seeds to plant in those bags and eventually take these to the south to plant there. I brought a huge bag to fill with fruit at the market, like if you've ever seen those giant Costco or Ikea bags, it was as big as that (like maybe 3ft by 2ft and then like a foot and a half deep) and I filled it all with different fruit like citron (I think that is either lime or lemon not sure which), oranges, mangos, grapefruit, and breadfruit, and I ended up spending less than 5 dollars American for allll that fruit. The bag was so heavy haha.

And then today we didn't have school so I came to Port-au-Prince with Amber, Sarah, Katie, Samantha, and Lindsey. We took the bus down which is super bumpy haha but only the first half is, the second half was in a smooth road. Where we stay is beautiful and has a really beautiful view of the mountains with houses on them.

Yesterday night Sarah, one of the 6th grade teachers, told us about her experience in helping with wound care in southern Haiti. And it was just so sad seeing the pictures, it really did look like a bomb went off all over the south, all the trees were uprooted and all the agriculture and gardens were ruined. So the people there have no food because of that. And so Sarah is an amazing person with an incredible heart and her and Amber (the other 6th grade teacher) are doing whatever they can to help. And at this time, it is planting seeds in these little bags that they will ship over to Dan Marie, the area that Sarah helped at that had a lot destroyed by the hurricane. They got 1500 of those bags so far and they have neighbors helping them plant the seeds and its just awesome that they found a way to bring support to those people even though we live far from there. And so please just don't forget to not stop praying for those affected by the hurricane. The results of it were devastating, especially since it wiped out their whole agricultural system, so that they really have no food and have to start over all their gardens. So please, keep them in your prayers. Don't forget about them and that they still need support.

Also on Sunday I went to see Ketsia's Mom and Dad sing at their church. It wasn't during their church service, but basically their mom and dad are lead singers in a Christian singing group and they had an event taking place in their church that afternoon so they invited me to come. It was really fun. I got to sit by a bunch of little kids and listen to her parents sing, there were even MC's there who talked between the songs. And they also did a little play and recited poetry and there was dancing too, and I just watched all the little kids go crazy dancing everywhere, it was entertaining. And her mom talked in front of everybody, I wish  knew Kreyol better so I could know what she said, but at the end she pointed me out and said I was Ketsia's teacher and that she was happy to see me, she made me feel so special haha it was sweet. But they told me this event started at 3, so I thought oh maybe I'll be home by 5. But I got there and it didn't actually start until like 4:15 haha, but that was fine because I waited at Ketsia's house and sat and talked with her. And then It didn't end until 8 pm haha, I was not expecting that haha, but it was okay because I was having so much fun anyway. But I felt bad because I was supposed to take a taxi home, so her dad walked me up to the street where the mopeds pass by, but there were none, so he had to walk me home, but he was so nice and he told me not to be sorry when I apologized and he even asked me, "whats your favorite juice, I can buy you some juice" Both her parents are so so nice and sweet. I didn't tell him my favorite juice though because I didn't want him to have to buy me any haha. But it was so nice that he wanted to.

And then last Saturday, I had a Kreyol test with Kimley at his mom's restaurant that I got 100% on, whoop whoop! :)

Sorry I haven't updated you all in awhile, I've tried to but the internet has been off and on lately.

Today afterschool I had the best time. I took my bible study girls to the House of Hope, it was so fun. We just played with the kids, made bracelets with them with beads, drew chalk drawing together. It was so fun. That's my favorite place to be. Just playing with kids and holding them in your arms. Its the best. There are 68 kids there. I just sat and drew chalk with them and then they'd just come sit on my lap and I'd hug them and tickle them. It was sweet. I'm also glad I got to take my bible study girls there. They all loved it so much and were asking me, "When can we come back Miss Sarah??" So we will definitely plan another trip there :) And then on the ride back they all sang worship songs in the back of the truck, it was sweet. And they have really good voices too.

Today at school, that was another tough day, it's just hard to get them not to talk while I talk. And I've been stricter, but it doesn't always work. BUT during math I brought out the "silent turtles". They are little turtles that I made out of pipe cleaners and hot glued googly eyes to them, they're really cute looking. And today I told them that while their working on their math workbook, they may get visited by one of the silent turtles (I only made four). But the turtles only visit students who are not talking. And the turtles are scared of loud voices, so if you talk while their on your desk, they'll run away (aka Miss Sarah will take them off your desk). And man oh man were they dead silent. It was beautiful. And so hilarious and adorable that they all really wanted a turtle to sit on their desk as they worked. So I hope I can find more strategies like that to keep them quiet, because it worked so well.

This morning I went over to my kid, Saborah's house. She asked me to come at 8 am so I was up early this Saturday. She lives right across the street from Sonlight though, so it was a very short walk to her house. She is so sweet. We played dolls together. She played with my hair. We played this game with old CD's where you slide one CD on the tile ground. And then you try to hit that CD by sliding more CDs at it. It was really fun. She said whoever loses has to give a surprise to the winner on Monday. She won, so now I need to think of a good surprise for her haha. Then we played tic tac toe. We also went onto her roof which was really cool because they are in the process of adding an upstairs to their house I'm guessing because on the roof there are several walls for rooms except there is no roof and not all the walls are there. It was cool, I wanted to play paintball on top of her roof haha, because that what it felt like with all the walls, but it still felt open because not all walls were there and there were openings in the cement walls for windows so you could still see a lot of the outside. It was cool. We played hide and seek up there. :) And then they also made me spaghetti for breakfast. I don't deserve that they would do that. And then we went to the store right outside her house and bought some yummy crackers and gum.

And then after that I met a boy named Wesley, like my brother. :)  His full name was Nicolasy Wesley, but he goes by Wesley I think. There is a fence that separates the school yard from this piece of land with plantain trees and stuff on it. He was on the other side of the fence. I had a lot of fun with him. And it makes me wish I knew more kreyol to understand more of what he said but I was able to still talk a decent amount with him. I learned he is 8 years old and he's in 3rd grade. And he has 3 sisters and 3 brothers. And his favorite color is red and his favorite animal is an elephant and he doesn't like the rain. I talked to him for at least an hour and a half haha. I met his sister. She is 18 like me. And I would point to things and say "Koman ou di" (How do you say) And then he'd tell me how to say stuff in Kreyol and then I'd tell him how to say it in English. And the he asked me if I wanted to play a little game and he went on one foot and I did not know what he meant by that haha and finally after like 5 minutes of me trying to figure out what he was saying I realiezed he wanted to race by jumping on one foot. So we both raced on to the end of the fence by hopping on one foot. Hahaha, it was so fun. We were both laughing so hard. We raced several times. We were both so tired. We either raced by hopping on one foot or we ran. It was really fun. And we played hand games with me reaching over the fence at one of the lower spots, and him reaching his hands up so we could play. And then we played with our eyes closed. And then I would tickle him through the fence and he'd laugh and laugh and he'd try to tickle me through the fence too. Then I said "Tann, mw retounen" (wait, I return) And grabbed my notebook and black and red marker and then I drew his name for him all cool.

Then after that I made churro bites with a lot of the missionaries kids, Riley H, Riley, Cameron, Ethan, and Ally. They were ahhhhmazing! And Grace (Mme Robs daughter) was supposed to come, but poor Grace was sick with a fever and headache. So we brought a bag with some churro bites to her house. And we saw Rob's sick motorcycle that he fixed up. He said its a 650 or something which is a really big motorcycle, it looked so cool! I'm excited to see him ride it places, it turned out so cool.

And then I went to Kreyol lessons with Kimley at the restaurant. And he picked pages out of my Kreyol notebook for me to study for a test next week. (I have 44 pages of Kreyol notes in there so far !!) And then he talked in Kreyol and I would first see if I could understand him and then I'd try to say something back. And that was really helpful. Because if I didn't know something, I could just ask him how to say something. And I also would read some pages of notes to him and he helped me pronounce stuff right.

And then we went to Miss Katie's house and made amazing grilled cheese and watched Now You See Me 2.

It was a really great day. :)

And one of the girls, Ketsia, who I love with my whole heart, had not been listening the past few days and was mad at me for taking away a point from her team, she even wrote me a note that said "I don't like Miss Sarah" (but I knew it was just because she was upset with me about the points) but she came up to me during movie looking sad and I told her, "Oh Ketsia, I know your mad at me but I want you to know that I love you soooo much" And then she just started crying and gave me a big hug. And I just sat with her on my lap hugging her and rocking her side to side in my swivel chair until she stopped crying. It was really sweet. And I'm glad she knows I love her. and that she isn't mad at me anymore haha

And one of the other boys, Bendjino, he is kinda shy and so sweet. And today he gave me this super sweet letter, he had made a little envelope out of paper and it was just so cute and thoughtful. I love him so much. He drew me a picture of a heart that said "I love you" in the middle. And then He wrote me a letter and asked me questions like what my favorite color was and how many kids I have. hahaha. It was so funny. And then I wrote him a letter back. He is so sweet. Goodness I love him so much. And when I try to quiet the class he always has my back and says "Shhhh!"to the other kids haha

And I got like 4 other letters just today from my kids that say they love me. Those letters really do help get me through the day when the days are tough.

So this last Friday we passed our report cards to all of our kids, a lot of my kids have been doing well and there have been no D's or F's so far so that's good. And in class on Friday we made little butterfly rings out of paper and pipe cleaners and the kids really loved those haha. Then in the afternoon we finished the Incredibles during our movie time.

Over the weekend I had more Kreyol lessons which have been really helpful. Its been rainy so all the sentences I learned were about the rain, I learned how to say Li fe pli chak jou (It rains everyday) or Le ou ap mache, ou ap mache nan la bou si ou pa gade kote ou ap ale. (When you are walking, you walk in the mud if you don't watch where you're going) That always happens to me haha

I finished all my planning for Monday through Thursday for school! I love when I get it done the weekend before, it makes things a lot easier during the week.

Samantha made pumpkin bars for her bible study girls, so now our home smells heavenly haha

Today I went to my student, Lennley's house and I got to meet her older sister, who was really sweet and talked a lot with me. And then in the floor above their house, lives my other student Junior. Junior is hilarious, he always has a story to tell you, even in the middle of class which isn't always the best time haha but he is super adorable. He was so excited to see me when I showed up at his door! He immediately grabbed my hand and pulled me into a room in his house to meet his two older sisters and watch a movie with them haha. It was in French though haha. And I loved meeting his sisters too, they were so nice. One of them told me that she was excited to meet me because Junior told her I was a really good teacher. That meant the world to me that he thinks I am a good teacher. Because I'm so new to teaching and really don't know if what I am doing is actually good or not because I have nothing to compare it to. So it just made me really happy that he told his sister that :) And then after Lennley, her sister, and her mom all walked me home, it was really nice of them. They are all so sweet!

I don't know the details yet, but I just found out that one of our teachers Mr. Ryan, has to go to the doctor today, so please be praying for him and that God would be heal him in whatever sickness he is facing right now.

Update: It turns out he has kidney stones :(  so please be praying for him, as that is a very painful thing to go through.

Today was so fun in recess, we broke into two teams girls and boys and played tag in two rounds. First the boys have to catch the girls, but when they do, another girl who wasn't caught can free you. And then the girls had to catch the boys. It was so fun and extremely tiring haha, those boys are so fast and every time a girl would free me from them, another one would catch me right away haha, I was so exhausted afterwards, but we had so much fun. I love my kids so much.

I also showed them the Christmas song we are doing for the Christmas program, which is a big event here where every class performs a song. Our song is Joy to the World. I like it and they really loved when I passed out the lyrics to them today, they all started singing to themselves, it was cute. They can't wait for when we actually start practicing it, which will be next week I think.

Now I have to backtrack because there's a lot I have to catch you up on haha

Last Thursday, I went to a conference thing at the church in the evening, that Katiana (a 7th grader, who I've known since I first started coming to Haiti in 2011) invited me to. At it, I got to see Sophiana again (her sister who I also have known since 2011) she couldn't stay but came all the way there just to see me. I was so happy to see her, she no longer goes to Sonlight, so I don't get to see her as often.

Last Friday,  I went to Rose's house afterschool. They have another family living in one of the rooms at their house (a mom, dad, and little 6 month old baby named Romano). I got to hold him for hecka long and I loved it. He is so cute. And I read him the I love Waffle book, and instead of looking at the book he'd stare at me while I read, it was so cute. And I loved hearing his mumbled baby talk.

We also played hide and seek and Rose's older sisters would show me the best spot to hide in while Rose was counting.

On Saturday, I went to the market in the morning with Katiana. We bought peanuts and this syrup (maybe its molasses?) to make something called tablet with the girls after Bible study on Tuesday. After we watched Divergent at my house while we cracked open all the peanut shells. It took forever! We opened peanuts during the whole movie and still didn't finished opening them all! So we are going to finish at Bible study when all the other girls can help us.

Then in the evening Samantha and I went to Sarah & Amber's house (the sixth grade teachers) for dinner. It was so fun. I especially love spending time with the kids. Stanley and Ralph are both in preschool and they are so funny. And Marvens is 2 I think and he is the cutest thing in the world. Their family is so awesome and inspiring. Amber and her husband have adopted, I don't even know how many kids, at least 7 kids, maybe more, from Haiti. And they already run their own ministry at where they live, and then on top of all that they are teachers at Sonlight and man its amazing what they do. We also played this card game called nertz, it was really fun, you play in partners and I don't know how to explain it but look it up and play it sometime haha, it was fun. I played with Sarah and we won the last round! And then we played spoons and Sarah (the sixth grade teacher) won almost every round, she is really good.

On Sunday we had a three hour church service for the anniversary of the church's birthday. They had lots of different groups of people singing which I enjoyed watching. And after they gave everyone a soda and a sandwich, and there were a ton of people there especially that Sunday because of the church's birthday so they fed a lot lot lot of people. And then I also worked on grades because they are due tomorrow. We have to handwrite our report cards three times each, it takes forever! Haha, but I'm almost done!

I'm gonna go finish writing my report cards now haha, Love you all!

This last weekend we had a three day weekend which was a nice break. On Saturday we took a trip to the beach with some teachers, their kids, and the 8th grade boys. It was really fun. The water was really pretty and the waves were huge. So huge that I only went out deep twice and when I did it was too scary for me to stay out there long, I just stayed like a minute or two then went back to the shallow water. Some of the waves were really massive.
We all rode in Jerry's bus there and back. I got to play with little Conrad at the beach for a bit. He is so cute. I can't get over it. ♥
And I got to talk for a bit to an 8th grader named Paul, he was so sweet and asked me a bunch of questions like my favorite subject, animal, sport, color, etc etc haha
And I buried Witchy in the sand with Ethan, that was fun haha

On the way home a few of the tires popped and it took a few hours for them to fix them, but the waiting wasn't bad for me because we just threw a football around and played catch so it didn't seem as long to me thankfully!

Oh and last Friday Sonlight had their first basketball game so I went to that and it was fun. The court they played on was the same one that I played on before for fun, it's a nice court. They lost, but hopefully next time they'll win. And the second half of the game it was dark out and they only have like 2 lampposts out there so I think it must be more difficult for the refs and players to see.

And then 2 days ago on Monday I had my first Kreyol test with Kimley. I had to study all my notes for it, which was A LOT, I have like a ton of notes about Kreyol. 18 pages to be exact. And then he picked 10 sentences from all those pages and wrote them in English and then I translated them to Kreyol on my own (without notes) and I got 17/20! Which is 85%, which isn't too bad I think :) And then I bought food for Samantha and I at his mom's restaurant (which is where I also took my test).

It's really hard to learn a whole new language, like reeeaaalllyy hard, but I am so grateful I knew I wanted to come to Haiti back in 9th grade (because that is why I took French in highschool). And even though French is different than Kreyol, there is still a lot of overlap with some words at least so it has helped me a lot to be able to learn it quicker than I would have without knowing some French.

Also we got our freezer stuff yesterday, so I got my white chocolate chips, so today I made the kids nutella white chocolate chips cookies, they had all never had (or even heard of) nutella before! They loved them.. :) And Sephora set an all time record in hula hooping with 200 seconds, I don't know how I'll ever top that. My highest is 87 seconds.

Thank you for praying for Dayanne! She finally came back to school today and is all better, I was so overjoyed to see her this morning because I was starting to worry.

Also today I was so proud of my kids. On Wednesday's we read our book outloud together in one voice, and the last few weeks it was difficult because they would have trouble talking in one speed and I'd have to stop them often and help them start together. But today, I was so proud, I didn't have to stop them once! They perfectly read the whole story in one beautiful voice it was so awesome!! I gave them all points for reading so well.

Then also after school we ended class a little early and the whole school met in the church, to watch one of the 7th graders, Saul, be baptized. It was awesome! :) And my kids were all quiet during it (before we went over I threatened no recess tomorrow if they were bad haha, cause I really wanted them to be good!) And they were great so that was good.

Then after school we went to Lakup and that is always so fun. I recognized a couple kids from last time too and they latched onto me the moment they saw me. The senior boys came and did songs in Kreyol with them and then one of the visitors told them the story of Jonah and one of the boys, Clark, translated it. And then we played Simon di (Simon says) and Z-Cap (or something like that) its like hot potato, but you pass around a bottle cap in a circle and someone in the middle closes their eyes and says zcapzcapzcapzcap and then they say bo! or something like that and whoever has it in their hand when they say that is out. It was fun.

Then one of the other senior boys, Ralph, wants me to draw him too since I drew Adlyn and Vladimir, so I might have another art project to work on soon! haha :)


This is the picture I made of Adlyn and Vladimir

Please pray for one my students Dayanne, she has a fever and is at a hospital all the way in Port-au-Prince to get help with it.

Today I went to Maison D'Espoir (House of Hope). I love going there. First we went to the hospital and prayed with the patients and brought bags of water to pass out, this a common service for churches in Haiti to do. I was with Samantha and Ralph, a senior who translated for us. We saw this extremely tiny baby, it was a month old but looked like it was 4 pounds, if that, she was so small. We got to pray for her.

I also got to meet James's Mom and Dad. (James is an adorable boy in my class who I love so much, he is so sweet and has the cutest little smile my goodness). They were at the hospital because his Aunt is sick. I got to pray with them for her.

Then we went to play with all the kids at the House of Hope. I went and showed kids my "I love Waffle Book", I keep the book in my backpack because all the kids love looking at it haha. I talked to three kids, Valajeena, Syliana, (I have no idea how to spell their names haha) and I forgot the last one's name:((( I repeated their names like a million times to try to memorize them, but now I can't remember his name! Dang it! but I'm so happy I live here now, so I can just go next week and ask again. :) But yeah I was able to talk to them a bit and ask them questions like whats your fav food/animal/sunject, how old are you and stuff without any notes or a translator! I did pronounce stuff bad, but they figured out what I was saying. :)

It was awesome to see the kids there. ♥♥♥ I love kids so much.

This afternoon was so much fun. I went to watch basketball practice and when I got there I saw Bendjy! I was so happy to see Bendjy haha, I love him.

When we were there I made friends with a bunch of little kids who were at the basketball court. I brought my notebook that has Kreyol notes in it, so I was able to talk to them a bit. One of the kids was George, he is 11 years old, his favorite food is rice, he has 2 siblings, and I learned all this about him by speaking Kreyol since he doesn't know English well. And Bendjy helped translate some! And I showed all the little kids a book with my dog and nephew in it and they loved looking through it! :)

And then I taught them how to make origami hearts. And then I drew a few of their names in bubble letters, with shading to make them look 3D. They liked that too :)

And then George is learning English at his school, so he got out his English book and I helped him pronounce things. It was so cute to hear how he would say things. Like it was hard for him to say the h in how. So when I said "How are you?"  he'd repeat "Ow are you?" And then I'd say no, "hhhhhhhow" and he'd repeat "oowww" haha it was cute

And I got to see Bendjy's sweet dance moves haha because they brought a speaker to play music through during practice. we listened to Social Club and stuff it was fun.

Yesterday, I was not feeling good all day, but God is so good and since I wasn't feeling good enough to go and do anything, I stayed at home and watched this sermon on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCgyZBPq7k ) about just how important God's word is and how important it is to read it for yourself and it was just good for me to hear because for some reason since I got here it has been difficult for me to have my quiet time everyday so after watching that it really encouraged me and got me in my word. :)

And then Yesterday was so fun..

I went to Rose's house again. And her family is the sweetest, her and her older sisters made me cute drawings and notes. And her mom made us spaghetti for breakfast, it was so good. It had onion, avocado, banana, and then ketchup and mayo haha but I loved it. And they feed me so much and I want to be polite and eat it all, but its hard because they give me so much hahaha. And then after we ate I helped them wash their clothes and they taught me how to wash them by hand. And her mom let me and rose and her sisters lie in her bed after we ate and watch a movie on their little DVD player laptop thing. We just watched a little and then we went out and played kickball, dodgeball and I taught them and the other neighborhood kids how to play volleyball for their first time. ♥

Today I am so so thankful and in awe of how good our God is. It really seemed like the hurricane was going to hit our town. When I found out about the hurricane and the seriousness of it, at first, I was extremely scared and worried for the lives of those who I know and love dearly who do not live in stable homes here. I was crying and had a headache and just felt sick to my stomach about the destruction that could occur. And then I had messaged one of my friends on facebook to be praying for us and they wrote me back saying they would and then they also said "I trust God will protect everyone" and at this point in time, it did not look good and I was expecting the hurricane to hit us bad. And in all honesty before I read what my friend wrote I was not thinking God was going to protect everyone, I was thinking there is no way this massive hurricane the size of Arizona is going to somehow not hit Port-de-Paix. And then I read those words "I trust that God will protect everyone" and I realized my lack of faith and then began to give my fears about this situation to God. And understand that He really is in control and totally is capable of protecting everyone in my town.

And then the coolest thing ever happened. He did.

The hurricane did not hit our town badly at all. It was just like a really rainy day, it could've been so much worse, but it wasn't and I am so thankful. I am so thankful that even when I lack in my faith, God is still there for me and helping me through that doubt.

And I am so thankful for all of you who have been praying for Haiti and all the people here. Keep your prayers coming. Even though we were spared, sadly, the south of Haiti was not as fortunate.

Please continue to pray for all the people here in Haiti. Right now it is cloudy and windy, but the hurricane is supposed to hit tonight. I will be fine in my stable home, but please pray for all the Haitians who aren't as fortunate to live in as stable of structures. This storm will be most dangerous for them. Please pray for protection of our students and families here. My heart hurts thinking about the catastrophe this storm is capable of. But we are trusting God.

If you don't hear updates for me, don't worry, it is very likely that our power will go out.

Thank you for your prayers.

So tonight I realized I had a lot of extra data that I didn't use, because  tomorrow it will renew. So I thought to myself I should watch a video on YouTube because I haven't watched really any videos since I got here in order to save my data. And I was able to watch a 30 minute sermon by Francis Chan about courage. And I don't know, it just really fueled me up and was so encouraging for me to hear his heart. He talked about how the church is supposed to be unified and he read phillipians 1:27 "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel" and just before I watched this sermon I was reading the verse of the day on my Bible app which was also about unity, "I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment."
1 Corinthians 1:10 We are all united through Christ. I think that is so beautiful that even though there are so many differences between my students and I (like age, background, culture, and so much more) we can still be one in Christ and are united through him. Praising the same God that is doing amazing things here as well as back at home.


Also please be praying for safety for all the people in our town. Especially for the weather and that God would protect the people here.

This morning I met Rose and her sister at the school gate at 7 am. And they walked me over to their house. They are so so sweet. When I got there her mom was so nice and happy to see me. While I was there her mom was washing their clothes and I don't know how she does it because she was washing clothes when I got there around 7 and was still washing clothes when I left around 11. Because they don't have a washer or dryer so she does it by hand for her 3 girls, but she is just amazing. The whole time she had a smile on her face and she would talk to me in kreyol and have her kids translate. I could pick up on simple words like lave (to wash) or domi to sleep or bwe, to drink. And her mom said she can be my other mom in Haiti, she was so sweet. When I got there that morning, they asked how long I'll stay and I told them I could stay until like 11:30 and then they all said, we thought you were gonna stay all day and Rose said she wanted me to stay until 8pm,but said she would let me leave at 6pm because that's when it starts to get dark. hahaha but I had to go at 11:30 but it was so sweet they wanted me to stay all day. And since her mom was washing clothes, Rose's older sister (in 5th or 6th grade)  made us breakfast. She made macaroni, it was so good. I helped her a tiny bit by putting coal for the fire and cutting up the onions, but she did the rest. And they gave me a huge plate full of food, it was so yummy. And after we ate, Rose and I laid on her bed and had a tickle fight haha She could never get to me though because if I just barely tickled her neck she'd fall back on the bed laughing so much. She's so cute. And then Rose went and bought me candy while I was talking with her sisters. She is so cute and put it in an envelope that said "I love you very much miss Sharah" :) ♥

And then their cousin, Kev, came over. He is like 5 months old and so so cute! I loved his hair so much. They let me hold him for a good hour and I was so happy. I got to feed him milk and some soft cheese. And then when he cried I was able to calm him down by bouncing him. I'm an expert baby bouncer after Atticus haha.  He made me miss Atticus so much♥

And then they invited me over again on Friday for her moms birthday. Their so sweet. I'm honored that her mom wants me to come on her special day. :)

And then after that I went to Witchy's and Kimley's moms restaurant. And Kimley has been helping me with Kreyol a lot and so my first "test" was to order my own food at his moms restaurant without help. And I did it! This is what I said "Bonjou, ki manje ou genyen jodi a" (Good morning, what food do you have today?) And then his mom said "Diri" (rice) or "Poule" (Chicken). And then I said "Mw vle diri, men mw pa vle viande sou manje mw" (I want rice, but I don't want meat on my food) And then they gave me amazing rice and beans and I sad "Passe bon joune" (have a good day) And Kimley said I passed the my test! And that I pronounced the stuff right, which I was so happy about.

Then I went to Leisa's house and played with her cat haha. I just stayed there a little bit because then I had to go to my classroom to get ready for school next week.

It was a great day. I'm blown away by the kindness of Rose's family and so many other awesome people here :)

First time having oreo cheesecake cookies!!

 

I love my kids so much they are the cutest little things on this planet. I'm so thankful to God that I get to spend every day with them. So so thankful. I love it here more than words can say.

Today we did that art project where you color the paper with different color crayons and then color over them in black and then you get a paper clip and scratch off designs and it shows the color underneath. The kids really liked it they thought it was so cool. But I should've told them to draw with a paper underneath because a lot of them got their desks dirty with black crayons, but my helpers Mme Johnny and Miss Illianise are amazing and helped clean it up so quickly.

And also today all my kids did really well on their tests, especially reading! Because on the last few tests a lot of them would forget simple things like starting sentence with capital letter and ending with a period, but on this test I think none of them forgot except one, but still that's awesome. And their just all so smart in math and I'm so so so proud of them. :)

Then we finished Cars and started Ice Age during movie time.

And at recess we played with hula hoops that we got, and the kids really like them.

And then afterschool I went with Rose to her house, and she has two older twin sisters that go to Sonlight, their so sweet and cute just like Rose. :) And Rose's mom is so so nice. They bought me juice and her mom made me this amazing drink. It was mashed up banana, milk, sugar and some other yummy spices and stuff, it tasted amazing. You drink it warm. It was like if banana bread mix was in the form of a drink, it was just so good. And then she let me take home a jar full of this really yummy coconut snack that is like shredded coconut but it tastes sweet and is crunchy, its hecka good!
While I was there we watched part of Matilda on their laptop, it was in French and had Spanish subtitles haha, but we just watched it for a little bit and then I played kickball with them in their front yard. It wasn't a large front yard or anything, but we made it work and had a lot of fun. And it was less tiring to play since it was in a small space and you didn't have to run as much, so I liked that haha

Then I read part of our next reading story with Rose. And they invited me back over tomorrow for spaghetti breakfast, so I'm excited about that.

Yesterday, Thursday, I played soccer, when I play I'm always on Wawens and Marc's team. And I always try to steal the ball from Christopher, he is the best soccer player in our class I think, so its always hard for me to steal the ball from him. I almost made a goal, but didn't haha, but Marc made a goal!

And afterschool I played basketball with Woodkimley, it was really fun haha but I am horrible at it. Like to warm up I just shot baskets and out of probably a good 50 shots I made like 8 haha. And it was a little embarrassing because I stand out more because of my skin, so more people saw how bad I was haha, but I still had so much fun because I love playing basketball even though I am very bad at it. And then I tried to do lay ups. And then we played 2 on 2 game and I actually made 2 baskets during the game which I am super proud of myself for. We played against Algeorge, who is in 8th grade and on the basketball team at Sonlight, and this other guy who I don't know his name. We lost. But we lost 8 to 12, which isn't that bad. And then Woodkimley and Algeorge played another game and I watched, and while I was watching, I met two other girls at the basketball court and they were very nice and we tried to shoot baskets (on the other side of the court) and when I made it they clapped for me, it was sweet. They tried to talk to me in Kreyol, but I couldn't really understand, but I was able to tell them I was a second grade teacher in Kreyol. So that's something at least. I can't wait until I know enough to actually have a conversation with people, that will be awesome.

And then on Wednesday we had Kreyol lessons with Phoebe, Samantha's aide, and that was good. I was able to understand some of the questions she asked me and answer back so that was cool. But I still have so so much to learn. And Samantha and I went on a walk/run up to the cross with the pretty view.

Yesterday I found out that I was doing todays devotion. Because every morning at 7:30 am all the teachers and assistants meet and have a 5ish minute devotion before school. And so I just shared part of my testimony with them. :)

Every morning we start class with a journal question and today's was, What is your favorite recess games? And a lot of kids were like, the swings, or hide and seek, or the teeter totter. And then I walk over to Junior and he wrote, my favorite recess game is making the girls mad. hahaha He makes me laugh.

Almost every day he'll tell me word for word "Miss Sarah, I have a problem" And then he'll tell me his problem for the day. Today it was a little cut on his thumb that he wanted a band aid for, it wasn't a bad cut or bleeding or anything and he probably didn't really need a band aid, but I gave him one anyway haha.

Also today in Math they were absolutely perfect. It was amazing. My amazing helpers Miss Illianise and Mme Jonny started helping me with points (because they are in teams and can earn/lose points depending on their behavior) and so they were much better at taking away points when they misbehaved and because of that they would behave so much better to get points back. It was amazing . And then we made chicken masks because in science were learning about animals, like chickens. That was crazy. But fun. They were all clucking like chickens and being super cute and silly

And then afterschool I had bible study with my girls. We went over Philippians 2 and then did prayer requests. And Katiana prayed for us all, and when she prayed for me, I wanted to tear up because I've just known her for so long and hearing her pray to God was beautiful.

And when they heard I was only staying in Haiti one year they were sad and they told me I need to take seven suitcases with me when I leave so I can take them all home with me haha.

And then I taught them how to fold origami hearts because I love teaching people that

And then yesterday afterschool I went to Leisa's house. I helped her and Dayanne read our reading story. It was really good to read it one on one with them because then I could see what kind of words they struggled with and could help correct them. Then we went over our spelling words. And then we played. There were a few other kids there, one of them was Emmanuela
she was the first kid I met when I came to Haiti for the first time, when I was in eigth grade. And she was in kindergarten. And now she is in fourth grade! I had a picture of us together on my facebook of me and her back then and I showed it to her, at first she didn't believe it was her haha She is really sweet and cute.

So then with the kids I played duck duck goose, red rover, and hide and seek. And then I showed them snapchat filters for their first time seeing them and their reactions to what it did to their face was priceless, they loved it. :) And then I also showed the I love Waffle book that my mom made to the kids and they loved that too

Sephora on her birthday last Wednesday :)

The art projects we made for their sponsors last week :)

Yesterday morning I got Haitian spaghetti, which is a common breakfast food here, with Samantha, Katiana, and Sophiana. It was so good. It has noodles, sauce, and then peanuts, bananas, avocados, beets, carrots, tomatoes, onions, and most people (except me haha) have it with chicken too. It sounds so different than American spaghetti but I thought it was really good, I especially liked the banana, peanuts, and avocado in it! haha

And I woked in my classroom for awhile and got ready for Monday through Thursday again. Feels so good to get it all done before the week starts.

And then we had dinner and Katie's house. And I got to play with her dog, Hugo. He is an adorable Rottweiler. He is so so sweet and cute and cuddly. I miss having all my dogs, so I love petting and playing with him. :)

And then today I taught Sunday school, for 1st and 2nd grade for two teachers who were out of town this weekend, but it didn't go very well because there were just 3 boys who would not listen to me at all :( So that made it hard. But I talked to them about the armor of God and we dressed one of the kids up Ruth, and that was fun. I obviously didn't have real armor stuff, so she wore a hat for the helmet, and rainboots for the shoes and other silly stuff like that haha

And then after that I went to church. I always love the worship so much. But I wish I could know what they are preaching about. I miss hearing messages at church a lot, and I can't wait until I'm good enough at Creole so I can understand what they are teaching at church. If anyone who takes notes at church reads this, you should send me a picture of them through Facebook! Because I really miss hearing the messages at church. And it's harder to even like watch online sermons because you can't watch videos here really because it uses too much of the internet. But yeah send me your church notes!! :)

Today one of my kids, Leisa told another kid in class, "Miss Sarah is my mom"  haha she is so cute. I've already been to her house, and she told me she wants me to come again and play with her haha so I'll probably go sometime next week :)

And at recess today and all the girls were laying around me and some were braiding my hair and others were tickling my ears with a long piece of grass, because I started tickling their ears with it the other day, so today they got me back! haha But it was so fun. They are so cute! I have the best job in the world.

And then at the end of the day Love-Santia gave me a big hug and then she frowned at me and said "I will miss you Saturday and Sunday". It was so sweet haha.

And then yesterday was awesome. After school we went to the House of Hope Hospital/ Orphanage. First we prayed with every patient in the hospital and it's heart breaking to go into the hospital. I got to pray for a very sweet woman who only had one leg, but when she saw us she smiled so beautifully. I can't remember her name unfortunately, but you can pray for her too. :) And then we gave bags of water to everyone in the hospital because here they mainly sell water in these little bags instead of plastic bottles.

Then we went to the orphanage and that was fun to see all the precious kids. Cindy brought coloring books and chalk for them to play with, which they loved! The kids are so sweet. They liked playing tic tac toe with the chalk. I can't wait to go back. :)

Today was awesome! One of my favorite days so far.

So the church that is visiting this week brought a set of white boards, mini markers, and cute mini erasers! I was so thrilled. And the kids LOVE them! And it makes them so much more engaged during math time or whenever we use them, its awesome!

And today was Sephora's birthday and her mom made these amazing homemade cupcakes for us all, they were so so good.

And also the visitor in my classroom, Kathy, helped with doing a short reading test with my students so I can get a feel with how they are all doing with reading, so I'm really glad she was able to do that for me.

And then after school I got to go to La Coupe with Cindy, the church that is visiting here, and some of the senior boys and I loved going there. I loved it so much because there were just so many kids to play with and they all wanted to hold my hand and they are just too cute for words. :) And its crazy how many kids there were because the senior boys just went around the neighborhood for maybe 5 minutes to tell kids to come, and then there were literally like 50 kids in this tiny building ready to play and sing and learn about God. And the senior boys did church songs with them which was fun and then the church visiting did a little skit for them that was about Zacchaeus, it was cute, and one of the 12th graders translated it to Creole for the kids. And then we separated all the kids into two groups because there were so many and we played Simon says with them, it took them awhile to get it but towards the end they started to get better haha. And I just loved all the little kids, they just smile at you and want you to hold their hand, they're so sweet.

And I just felt so happy that I get to stay this time. Because I am always just here for a week and have to leave which makes it harder to build relationships with the people here. But this time I get to stay. This time I get to go see those kids again and hopefully learn more Creole soon so I can actually talk with them at some point. And I am so happy about that. I don't know how I will leave all the people here at the end of the year, but that's a long time away and right now I am just very glad to be here and so grateful to God that He gave me this opportunity.

And then yesterday I had my girls bible study. We did the SOAP thing (it stand for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer) with Philippians 1 like we did at Flipt.  It was good, except I forgot to remind them to bring their bibles! So we just all chose the same verse to write, which was Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" And then after that we just shared prayer requests with one another so we can pray for each other throughout the week. And then we made chocolate chip cookies and they turned out really good, they're good bakers! We made 30 cookies and they were gone in like 3 minutes haha

But I had fun with them, they are a sweet group of girls and I also showed them my room and the millions of photos of Atticus that I have hanging up haha They all thought he is so cute.

I'm excited for where this year takes us. Pray that we can always be Christ centered and honor Him through our time together.

This week we have visitors at the school, its so weird for me to not be a visitor this time but the teacher. But I have a very nice lady in my classroom who also is a teacher, I think she said she taught kindergarten for like 26 years! And so she helped me with our sponsorship craft. We had the kids go out one at a time with her and she painted their hand and then they pressed it onto construction paper and tomorrow they're going to glue a little heart onto their handprint. And today they wrote cute letters to their sponsor. And I got more letters from my kids that are so sweet. One girl, Marie Stephane wrote to me a note that said "Dear Sarah, I love you. You great mom." hahahaa it was so cute! I love her.

Then afterschool we went downtown and we found butter! Which usually you can't find here I think, so I bought some to make cookies with (because I have been using margarine, but butter is much better)

And then went for a run up to the cross, which is this beautiful cross made out of stones that overlooks a beautiful view of Haiti, it's so pretty, you can see the ocean and everything. :)

And then today I got two letters from my mom!!!! I was so happy when I saw them in my mailbox. ) She sent me letters and also pictures that I already taped to the walls in my room. :)

And baby said my name again today and my mom sent me a recording of him saying it! :) SO cute! ♥♥

Today I was able to plan for Monday through Thursday of this week!! Up until now, I was only able to be a day ahead. It feels great to be almost a whole week ahead! :)

And this week we have visitors, so I will have another lady in my class helping which will be really nice :)

And I got to see my kids all beautifully dressed up again for church today, they are so cute. All my girls brought cute little sunglasses to wear too, they are adorable! :)

2 days ago (Friday) I finally got my kids to be the perfect quiet noise level but to do it  had to take away a point from each team (because they were being so loud before that) but after I did that and they saw, they were so quiet. So during that quiet time I gave each team hecka points just so they could hopefully understand this is the noise level I want it to always be.

Afterschool I went to one of my student's houses, Leisa, and they actually have electricity and a TV in their house so we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks there haha it was fun. And there was this adorable baby there who was so cute and he always wanted to be held, if you set him on the ground he'd cry, he always had to be held. And he loves to wack people with his hands and he's just almost a year old, he's a silly baby.

And then on Saturday I went to the pool here with some other families. And it is absolutely beautiful, it is right next to the ocean and just is really pretty.

Then I got to Face time my family through facebook for baby's birthday party. I was so happy to see everyone there. I miss baby so much and can't believe he'll be one in 4 days!!!

Then I worked in my classroom, I am all ready for Monday and almost all ready for Tuesday. And today I hope to be ready for Wednesday and Thursday because the last few weeks I've only been prepared a day ahead, but if I can do it all now I know it will make things so much easier for me throughout the week. :)

Oh also on Friday one of my students told me she was sad because her brother was sick and I got to pray with her during class for her brother. After we prayed, she looked happy. You can be praying for Saborah's brother too. And I just thought it was so cool that I go to a school where I can pray with my students and have my students come up and pray for snack and teach them about the Bible.

Today was good. I still have so much to learn with how to be a better teacher, and make things more fun and creative.

During class today I got 3 different notes from my kids that said they loved me ♥♥♥ It was very sweet. I'm so grateful for them. Even when I feel inadequate or not good enough with teaching they remind me that love conquers all. And even more than what they learn this year, the most important thing I can give them is God's love.

Then afterschool I walked with my student, Kishi, to her house. She lives pretty far from the school, it was a nice walk though and she held my hand the whole way. And Benji came with us to her house.  Then at her house I got to meet her mom and dad and her 5 siblings. They were all so sweet and cute. And her little brothers were so shy and cute. They would peek their head around this wall to look at me and every time I made eye contact with them they'd laugh and laugh and hide behind the wall. And then they'd slowly peek their head out to look at me again and then when I'd see them they'd laugh so much and hide again. They were so sweet.

After going to Ketsia's house yesterday, so many more of my students want me to go to their house too. So I'm excited about that and getting to meet all the families of my kids. :)

Bible study girls (7th grade girls) ♥

I should be more organized now that I'm a teacher, but my 'writing things to remember on my arm' habit is hard to quit haha

Sephora and Kishi ♥

Rose ♥

Dan ♥

 Junior and Ketsia ♥

Jordansky ♥

Timothe, Emmanuel, and Sephora ♥♥♥