A few weeks ago during my spring break time at the end of February, I was able to meet up with Carlos and Barbara from my church here and volunteer with a mission team they had in to help at Nueva Esperanza. We acted out the story of Joseph for the preschoolers and kindergartners, built a bunk-bed in the home of a few Nueva Esperanza kids, talked with kids in broken Spanish, and went to the children's museum in town called Chiminike (kind of like CoSI in Columbus). It was amazing to see how those kids just love unconditionally. Even though it was the first time I had met all of them, they immediately gave me hugs and kisses because they just wanted to love and be loved. Seeing them experience Chiminike for the first time and have the opportunity to explore and discover new things was wonderful as well. Such excitement exuded from their faces :) Throughout my time with the mission team and Barbara and Carlos, I felt extremely blessed to meet the people that I did.
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| This is Veronica. She was my shadow during our trip to Chiminike :) |
Since coming back from Christmas break, I think the relationships I have with my students have been deepening too. This is something I have been continually praying for, and I ask that you would lift those relationships up in prayer as well. I am confident that God is working in their lives. One of my students was working on a test in my room yesterday, and he had to write a sentence with one of his spelling words in it. The word was "nothing", so he wrote "Nothing is compared with God's power!" What a rich and simple truth to be reminded of by a fourth grader.
I also had the opportunity to read with three special second graders yesterday. To celebrate reading, parents of students were invited to come into school at the end of the day and have their children read to them. During this time, I went in to visit some of my students in the second grade class I work with. My precious little girl who I work with broke down crying when I noticed that something was wrong. Her mom wasn't able to come and read with her, and she was very upset. Because of this, I asked her teacher if I could take her outside and read with her. Instead I read with three girls whose parents weren't able to come. I absolutely loved this precious opportunity to spend some time outside of class to simply shower these girls with love.
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| These are two of the second grade girls who I had the opportunity to read with yesterday. |
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| Six of my second grade girls! They're all so beautiful :) |
Within the past couple weeks, I have been overwhelmed by encouragement and love from people who God has placed in my life. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to head up the mountain and stay with two other wonderful women from my school. During that time, we were able to find a quiet spot in the beauty of God's creation and pray, journal, read, and share together. God has also given me an amazing prayer partner at my school to lift me up and keep me accountable. In the past few weeks, I've been able to skype a few people who spoke such truth into my life as well. I'm humbled and blown away by how much support God has provided for me especially in these past few weeks.
I know these were a bunch of random tidbits of my life from the past few weeks, but I think that throughout this entire year, God has been teaching me more about His faithfulness and His unending love. I've seen it through my students, my friends, and my coworkers, and thinking about it renders me speechless. The more I think about His deep love, the deeper it appears. God is faithful, and He always provides exactly what I need.
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| A rainbow from my school parking lot! God is constantly reminding me that He is fulfilling His promises. |
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| Bonus picture! This is Genesis from Nueva Esperanza. She is sponsored by a wonderful woman from my church in Kingsville! |
