I had Taco Bell for lunch yesterday!

that's right! Taco Bell. You're probably thinking big deal, I eat taco bell at least once a week. Well, when you live in a county that doesnt have a taco bell it's kind of difficult and so I have lived almost 6 months without it. But Pastor Martin was in Guam last week and when he came back he brought us bean burritos. It was very exciting. Best burrito I've ever eaten.

Well, that's all I have time for now. Hopefully I can post a real post soon and tell you all the things that have been happening in my life over the last couple months. Christmas break is in a week and a half! YAY! I'M SO EXCITED! :D

Pictures to go with my last blog.

Scott (the other freshman sponsor) and I with the freshman that stayed around after church for a picture.

Me, Megan, Rebecca,Rochelle, and Jessica at KB Bridge vespers.
Us with the kids after the KB Bridge vespers.Eating smores.

Singing at the KB Bridge vespers.

my weekend

I know this blog is very over due. Sorry that I haven't been blogging that often. I will try to do it on a more regular basis...I hope. Well, our first quarter has ended. It's hard to believe that I have been here for almost 3 months now! Tomorrow is parent teacher conferences and I am a little nervous to meet my students parents.

This last weekend was really good. It started out a bit shaky when one of the Chinese students (we have about 30 students come from China to learn english) passed out and started seizing during Bible class. She was rushed to the hospital and it was discovered that she has had this problem before. No one thought to tell us this rather important piece of information when she came here. Her classmates were pretty shaken and she was banged up from when she fell (apparently she had just stood up when it happened), but she is doing ok now.

Friday evening we had a special vespers planned at the KB Bridge. When we got there we were supposed to have fire wood waiting for us, but it wasn't there. So a couple of the other SM's went on a quest for firewood. Apparently they had quite the adventure when they thought that they were going to be attacked by a dog, but I wasn't there so I can't really tell the story well. After we got the fire going we started singing then some kids did a skit about leaving our burdens at the cross. After that Nicole told a story about when she had lost her best friends because of an accident. Then she had each kid write a problem or burden that they were dealing with on a piece of paper and then throw the paper into the fire. This was supposed to symbolize giving all of our worries and burdens to God and trusting that He will take care of them. All the kids seemed to respond well to the vespers. And of course after wards we had smores because you cant have a campfire without smores.

Every sabbath before sabbath school begins, one of the classes presents something before we split for the lesson study. This week was the Freshman class. And since I am one of the Freshman class sponsors I and Scott (the other sponsor) were in charge of organizing it. Only about 12 of our students actually showed up at church, but they did very well. Three of the girls did a skit about spending time with God every day. After the skit, one of the girls explained the skit a little. I found out later that her family practices traditional Palauan religion, so it was a bit surprising that she took such a strong roll in the program. After the skit all the kids got up and sang a song. I was so proud of my kids. Some of the kids stuck around for the lesson study and they seemed to really like the class. I hope to see them in church more regularly.

Anyway, I will try to get some pictures up soon.

God is good and the Devil hates it!

Today I had an awesome Soph.A World History class! We are studying Egyptian history right now and we had been talking about ancient Egypt. One of my students asked a question about why the men that found King Tut's tomb died and if the curse was really real. So, I started to explain to them that because the ancient Egyptians were very much into the occult and the supernatural that Satan had a strong hold on them and the curse probably did exist. As to whether the people died from the curse, I couldn't say for sure, but it was possible if they believed in it, because Satan can take a hold of the smallest things and use them against us. However, if we trust in Jesus, then we have no reason to worry. Then, one of the girls raised her hand to ask a question. When I called on her, she said that she had changed her mind. I asked her if she was sure and she said, "Yes, it's really more of a Bible question not a history question." Now of course no matter what class I'm teaching I am always more than willing to answer any spiritual questions. So, I told her to go ahead and ask it anyway. Here was her question, "Why does Satan bother some people more than others." WOW! What a question to ask and what a complicated answer it has. Now you have to keep in mind that most of our students aren't Seventh-day Adventist, and they don't have a very good foundation in the Bible. So, how was I supposed to answer this question?! As I started to answer the question, she interrupted what I was saying to clarify her questions. "Miss, I mean, I know this lady who is a really good Christian. She's always praying, when she is in her car and everywhere and she sees a lot of demons." Yowza! Way to complicate an even more complicated questions. So, I sent up a quick silent prayer to God, knowing that He was going to have to answer this one through me. Here's what God brought to my mind. I told the students that when Satan was kicked out of heaven, he became very angry and bitter at God. And because he is angry and bitter he doesn't want us to be happy, so he tries to make us angry and bitter too. But when people start to grow close to God, he realizes that he is losing control and he tries even harder to draw us away from Jesus. But, we don't need to worry if we have God on our side, because no matter how hard Satan tries, he can't touch us as long as we stay close to Jesus.

As soon as this student asked the question, the class started to get loud. It was as if Satan was trying to drown out my words. I can tell you, the supernatural forces are very real. I saw both sides working today. And I am so happy that Jesus wins!

Sharks, Jellyfish, and Ocean Currents

We had an amazing weekend! It was our staff retreat, and a much needed break too. We spend Friday evening through Sunday camping on the Rock Island called Ngemelis. Ngemelis is about an hour away by speed boat, when we got there the tide had gone out, so we had to walk a ways in on a sand bar. Before sundown we spent some time swimming, but by that time the tide was coming back in and the current was pretty strong where we were, so we were all exhausted by the time we came back in.

Sabbath we decided to walk around the island, which we estimated was about 3 miles. Part way around the Island, we decided we were thirsty, so Nelson (our principal) just started climbing up a coconut tree like he was a monkey or something and the started sending coconuts down. It was pretty cool. So then some of us decided we were going to try. My attempt was really more of me hugging the coconut tree.

Sunday, we decided to go snorkeling. Most of the group had gone out before and we were trying to find them. When we got out farther, the current started getting pretty strong because the tide was going out. Finally we decided that we should head back to the edge of the island where we could walk along the edge of the rocks and the current wouldn't be as strong. Right before we start off, Tania says that she isnt a very strong swimmer. So we start out and I am swimming as hard as I can and finally i reach the rocks and stand up and start looking for the others. They are a little farther out, but most of them have reached the rocks also...except Tania and Jeri. Tania was screaming, "Help me guys, I can't fight the current anymore." So, I start freaking out and trying to make my way up the rocks. And Jeri is swimming with Tania trying to bring her in. I'm praying so hard with every step I take. Of course by the time I reach the others Jeri and Tania were around the corner of the island and we couldn't see them anymore. All we could do was wait and pray. Thankfully, Jeri is a strong swimmer and she was able to bring Tania in safely. I think the angels were swimming with them though. Tania said that she was actually able to stay calm the whole time. She thought it was funny that I was freaking out more than she was. But I think it is justified, because when you are fighting the current all you can think about is keep swimming. When you are standing on the safe rock, watching your friend and boss get swept out to ocean, it's easier to freak out because you are safe and you know they aren't yet.

Sunday afternoon we loaded the boats and did some snorkeling on the way back. We stopped at a couple different spots, and I finally saw some sharks! We even stopped at this one place that is known for sharks. At one point I had about 15 sharks swimming under me! Of course by under me I mean I was snorkeling at the top and they were about 20 feet below me. It was so cool. Oh and don't worry the sharks that are on the reef aren't really dangerous. The dangerous ones are out in the open ocean.

We also got to go to Jellyfish lake. For those of you who have never heard of it, Jellyfish lake is a land locked salt water lake. And in this lake, there are millions of Jellyfish. These Jellyfish are the only ones in the whole world that have lost there need to sting. They don't even have their stingers anymore. There was one point that I was swimming though thousand of them! I couldn't swim with out bumping into jelly fish. they are so cool. They range in size from the size of a pea to probably about 8 inches in diameter (at least from what I saw). I think Jellyfish lake is one of my favorite places!

Well, that was the basic overview of my weekend. It was great fun and we all got sunburned. I would have put pictures up but my camera batteries decided to die on me, so I didn't have my camera for the whole weekend.

First day of classes.

Here are some more pictures I thought I would put up for you all to see. Enjoy!

Yeah, I have a starfish on my head!
My roommate, Katie , is amazing. We get along really well! She teaches second grade at the elementary school in town.Drinking coconut water. YUM!

Today was my first day of actual classes. Over all it went very well. I was a little nervous because my first class was the problem class, but I walked in laid out my rules and they didn't give me any problems for the rest of the class period. In fact, all my classes were good. I know that there will be problems, but I know that I can handle them with God's help. Over all, God really blessed me today. I am very enthusiastic about teaching after today, and I really believe that it will be a good year. Most of my students claim they don't like History or at least don't want to admit if if they do, but I am hoping to be able to make my classes fun enough that they will change their minds after this year.

Did I mention already that our enrollment is higher that it has ever been here at PMA? Our freshman class just about doubled first day of school! Now we have so many students, we are having trouble accommodating them all! we are already having to order more text books for most of the classes as well as more desk, since several class rooms don't have enough. We could also use more teachers, which God has already been in the process of solving. We have two individuals who are very interested in coming to Palau to teach. So, God willing we will have two new teachers soon.

well, that is about all I really have to say about today. I will try to get some pictures of the school up soon, however I don't currently have any on my computer.

Some Pictures!

Here are some pictures from snorkeling on thursday. This pictures got a little washed, but I still wanted to put it up.
This was one of the spots we stopped to snorkel at. Palau is so beautiful!Some of the SM's I'll be spending the year with.

In Palau

hello! We have been in Palau for a week now and have been very busy. I will be teaching World History, U.S. Government, U.S. History, and Speech this semester. I am getting very excited about school starting, which is good because it's almost here. We start on the 13th. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go out to the rock islands and do some snorkeling. It was so Amazing! We saw so many pretty fish as well as other ocean life. We picked up star fish and sea cucumbers. At one place some one picked up a sea cucumber and it started squirting out sticky stringy stuff. It was really hard to get off. We also got to swim with a school of fish...i think they are called Yellow Jack. They were very pretty fish. There were so many different types of fish and coral that we got to to see. It was beautiful. There were lots of star fish and sea cucumbers that we could pick up. It was all so cool! One spot we stopped at, there were lots of giant clams. They were so cool, we could swim down and touch them and watch them close up and slowly open again. I can't wait until I get Dive certified!

It seems like something exciting happens every day. The other day we went swimming down by the bridge and as we were climbing out Stacy, who was the only one with goggles, saw a Lion Fish right where we were about to climb out. We were very thankful she spotted it! So we found another place to get out and watched it from out of the water. They really are interesting looking fish, but you wouldn't want to come in contact with one, so God was watching out for us that day.

Well, that's all I have for now. I will try to get some pictures up soon.

One week left!

Hello everyone. I am starting this blog to keep you all posted on what is going on in my next year serving as a missionary. It is hard to believe that I have one week left here in the U.S. For those of you who don't know or maybe just forgot, I will be spending the next school year working as a teacher on the beautiful island of Palau, which is in the south pacific. I will try to make regular updates on what is happening, as well as post pictures for you to see. Thanks so much for all your prayers and support.