Every day I am just overwhelmed at how much God is working in my life and all the lives around me! Let me paint a little picture for you... I work at a school filled with people who are just on fire for the Lord! At staff meetings, we spend the first 30 minutes at least just praising and worshiping together, and man can these people sing. I feel like I'm back in the Alma Choir sometimes! We pray often for each other and for our school. And not only with each other, but with and for our students! It's incredibly refreshing to be able to pray with my students and teach them about God. And often times I feel like they are teaching me more with their strong spirits. They are constantly finding the connections to God in my lessons and they love learning more about Him! The other day one of my little girls came in and recited the entire Psalm 23 in front of the whole class. And when she got stuck on one part, another student started reciting that part until she remembered and told the rest.
But not only are they knowledgable, but they are just so full of His love! They are always quick to hug and comfort a crying classmate. And after one student fell off the monkey bars and got pretty scrapped up and shaken up, they all just wanted to pray for her and for God to heal her.
One last story and a huge example of how God's love knows no boundaries, I have two ESL students, one from Korea who speaks some English and one from Bolivia who speaks almost no English. They can't talk to each other pretty much at all, but they have become best friends! They just hold hands and run around and play together at recess. They can't speak the same language and yet they learned to not only get along, but absolutely love each other.
God is so good!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Kindergarteners = Tiny Comedians
I survived week 1! And I still love it here and love my kids and love teaching.
While my students can be frustrating at times and I have certainly had a fair share of overwhelming moments this week, they never fail to make me smile and laugh.
Here are just a few funny moment and quotes from week one...
I went to pick them up from their library time (this was their first ever special), and walked in to find one sitting on the librarians lap (she cried after I left) and another one sprawled out on the cement floor completely asleep in the middle of the rest of my kids sitting up nicely listening to the story.
At recess on Thursday, one of my little cherubs comes running up to me with one shoe on. When I asked her where the other one was, she exclaims "It's on the other side of the fence! It just fell over there!" The fence is an 8 foot wall. Sure enough when I went to look through the gate, there was a small flip flop in the middle of the sidewalk down the street.
Today one of my students looks at me in the middle of snack time and says "Miss Merz, are you born again?"
While most of them remember my name, I still often get called "teacher" today I responded with "My mom didn't name me teacher!" to which another student responded with wide eyes, "Miss Merz, you have a mom?!"
And this was only a 2.5 day week! They are already winning over my heart. :)
While my students can be frustrating at times and I have certainly had a fair share of overwhelming moments this week, they never fail to make me smile and laugh.
Here are just a few funny moment and quotes from week one...
I went to pick them up from their library time (this was their first ever special), and walked in to find one sitting on the librarians lap (she cried after I left) and another one sprawled out on the cement floor completely asleep in the middle of the rest of my kids sitting up nicely listening to the story.
At recess on Thursday, one of my little cherubs comes running up to me with one shoe on. When I asked her where the other one was, she exclaims "It's on the other side of the fence! It just fell over there!" The fence is an 8 foot wall. Sure enough when I went to look through the gate, there was a small flip flop in the middle of the sidewalk down the street.
Today one of my students looks at me in the middle of snack time and says "Miss Merz, are you born again?"
While most of them remember my name, I still often get called "teacher" today I responded with "My mom didn't name me teacher!" to which another student responded with wide eyes, "Miss Merz, you have a mom?!"
And this was only a 2.5 day week! They are already winning over my heart. :)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
"Miss Merz, kindergarten IS so much fun!" Oh the joys of my students' excitement on the first day of school. Which by the way was today. It went great!In case you were worried, I can guarantee you I do in fact have THE cutest class in the world and just in case you don't believe me I am posting pictures below to prove it. With only a few criers, we survived the morning and everyone agreed at the end of the day that kindergarten is cool and they were excited to come back on Thursday. ....wait Kels, don't you mean tomorrow? (I know I can hear you all saying it) We found out yesterday that tomorrow is a holiday. Sometimes holidays get announced a few days before they happen here. Surprise! So tomorrow we have no school, but kids will return for full days on Thursday and Friday. I think that a 2.5 day week will be plenty to start out with anyway. Today was only a half day, but my kids were exhausted by the end. Here you can see pictures of my room and (as promised) my precious kids!
My Classroom complete! |
My classroom when I arrived |
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Week 1 done
It's hard to believe I have already been here a week! I am already loving it though! (It's a good thing, Mom ;) ) My fellow new teachers and I have filled this past week with learning as much as we can about the city, culture, history, school, and so much more. I am even starting to figure out my way around town a little bit. I am generally terrible with directions, but I have figured out how to get to a near buy store that has food. :)
We have been able to get internet at our house (when it works), which means that we've been able to watch the Olympics via youtube. The internet doesn't always cooperate, but when it does we've been able to catch some swimming and track. The best part is that what we see is actually live and has British commentators. They make some really funny comments.
Today we had our first all staff meeting. All the teachers and staff have flown in now and it's very exciting to finally come together as a team. I am amazed by the strength of this group's faith and so inspired by them. Literally half of our meeting this morning was filled with worship and devotion. It is so refreshing to be both surrounded by and working with a staff that is so on fire for God! He is truly working in our hearts and in our school!
I ask for prayers for;
- The staff as everyone gets settled back in and adjusts to the time difference
- My 17 students as the prepare to start their first year of school
- That I can stay calm and collected as I begin my first year of teaching! (Starting lesson planning has proved to be a bit overwhelming)
- Praise for the incredible peace that God has been blessed me with. :)
We have been able to get internet at our house (when it works), which means that we've been able to watch the Olympics via youtube. The internet doesn't always cooperate, but when it does we've been able to catch some swimming and track. The best part is that what we see is actually live and has British commentators. They make some really funny comments.
Today we had our first all staff meeting. All the teachers and staff have flown in now and it's very exciting to finally come together as a team. I am amazed by the strength of this group's faith and so inspired by them. Literally half of our meeting this morning was filled with worship and devotion. It is so refreshing to be both surrounded by and working with a staff that is so on fire for God! He is truly working in our hearts and in our school!
I ask for prayers for;
- The staff as everyone gets settled back in and adjusts to the time difference
- My 17 students as the prepare to start their first year of school
- That I can stay calm and collected as I begin my first year of teaching! (Starting lesson planning has proved to be a bit overwhelming)
- Praise for the incredible peace that God has been blessed me with. :)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
I made it!
I'm here!
After a long day of traveling (about 27 hours total), I finally made it in to Kigali on Monday night. Almost all my bags made it too, and I just picked up the lost one from the airport today, so now I have all my stuff.
So far, Rwanda has been nothing short of wonderful. Although things do get overwhelming at times, I truly feel at peace being here and can really see that this is exactly where God wants me.
Monday night I flew in with a few of the other new teachers, it was such a blessing to connect with them in the airport. We were picked up at the airport by Trevor (our Headmaster), and Kerry and Douglas Bryan (For those who don't know, Kerry is one of my best friends from Alma College and teaches 1st grade at KICS right next door to my classroom :) ). As soon as we came through baggage claim, they were there to greet us with hugs and ice cream! What a great welcome to Rwanda. :)
We then went to our new house. I am living in a house that is literally a 2 minute walk from the school. I live with two other girls who are also new teachers at the school; Jodi who teaches high school math and Katharina who is our school librarian. We are all really enjoying our new home and finding it adventurous to discover the little "quirks" about our house. For example, when you want to take a shower upstairs, you must, an hour ahead of time, plug in the hot water heater. Also, right before you shower you have to flip a switch downstairs to turn on the water pressure. Just something that is going to be different, but we're thankful for the hot water and the pressure!
This week we have been doing orientation at school. This has been incredibly helpful for our transition in to this year of living in Africa. Today we all shared our stories of how we found KICS and came to Rwanda. It was so neat to hear how God worked in everyone's lives through different situations and brought us all here. God works in some crazy ways!
Well I am currently at school using the internet and sitting in my very own Kindergarten classroom- SO exciting! I have not finished setting it up, but I promise when I'm done I will take and post pictures. :)
After a long day of traveling (about 27 hours total), I finally made it in to Kigali on Monday night. Almost all my bags made it too, and I just picked up the lost one from the airport today, so now I have all my stuff.
So far, Rwanda has been nothing short of wonderful. Although things do get overwhelming at times, I truly feel at peace being here and can really see that this is exactly where God wants me.
Monday night I flew in with a few of the other new teachers, it was such a blessing to connect with them in the airport. We were picked up at the airport by Trevor (our Headmaster), and Kerry and Douglas Bryan (For those who don't know, Kerry is one of my best friends from Alma College and teaches 1st grade at KICS right next door to my classroom :) ). As soon as we came through baggage claim, they were there to greet us with hugs and ice cream! What a great welcome to Rwanda. :)
We then went to our new house. I am living in a house that is literally a 2 minute walk from the school. I live with two other girls who are also new teachers at the school; Jodi who teaches high school math and Katharina who is our school librarian. We are all really enjoying our new home and finding it adventurous to discover the little "quirks" about our house. For example, when you want to take a shower upstairs, you must, an hour ahead of time, plug in the hot water heater. Also, right before you shower you have to flip a switch downstairs to turn on the water pressure. Just something that is going to be different, but we're thankful for the hot water and the pressure!
This week we have been doing orientation at school. This has been incredibly helpful for our transition in to this year of living in Africa. Today we all shared our stories of how we found KICS and came to Rwanda. It was so neat to hear how God worked in everyone's lives through different situations and brought us all here. God works in some crazy ways!
Well I am currently at school using the internet and sitting in my very own Kindergarten classroom- SO exciting! I have not finished setting it up, but I promise when I'm done I will take and post pictures. :)
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