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 :)