It is hard to know where to start and what to include in these newsletters at times. There has been so many moments and transitions I have yet to share ... here is my attempt to catch you all up to speed ---> Buckle up :)
Picture Day is always an adventure
Gathering close to 500 kids in one place, and attempting to get them all looking the same way and smiling is a little bit of a process.
Here is a little behind the scenes
Here is the final product.
Man they are cute even though they are stinkers :)
We celebrated 3 of my teachers who just recently had their graduation from University!
One of my teachers got married
We had some fun celebrating this joyous occasion and praying over her big day and adventures ahead. Do you like the dress we made her?
Celebration of DÃa de la Raza
Dia De La Raza celebrates the heritage, colonization, and cultural diversity of Latin America
A Medical Team Came and Visited
This allowed us to offer medical evaluations for all of our students and teachers.
Parent Teacher Conferences
More then just telling the parents or guardians of our students their grades and how they are doing in school, we see this as an opportunity to share the gospel with each family. We encourage our teachers to share the good news of Christ and pray with each parent they spend time with. Many of our students families do not have a relationship with the Lord.
Blast from the past
I rode with another missionary to do a airport run and pick up the next group joining us for the week. This church had never been to Freedom, so we didn't know anyone personally from the group... (or so I thought). As we waited and looked for the group at the airport I noticed a familiar face. For those who don't know I worked at a Christian Camp in Ohio for 8 years called Scioto Hills. The familiar face was a friend who served as a counselor a number of summers for us at camp. It threw me for a loop, but was such a blessing to catch up and have a visitor who represents a place I love so much.
Calling all other Scioto Hills friends and connections!!! I would love for you to visit!! The invite is open ;)
Thanksgiving Adventures
ON THANKSGIVING DAY I had the opportunity to hang out with our 9th graders. We went to the river, the same river that our buses cross each day to pick up each of our students. Field games, swimming, kayaking, and lunch were all a part of the fun and of course more moments of building and strengthening relationships.
More Thanksgiving Adventures
During our Thanksgiving break a group of the missionaries onsite went to a baseball game!
The Estrellas are the local team and yes they did win that evening!
MY NEW ROLE
Students ask me almost daily about camp, and although I have much peace about God's plan, it does still break my heart to tell them not this year. The past year has been a season of change and transition. In our desire to do things well that means all hands on deck to help in the school. For those of you who don't know my degree was in Education, so the Lord knew what He was doing when He brought me here. Although it is not my first love and I do struggle at times as I miss camp, I firmly believe God is in control.
So if you haven't seen in past posts or emails there is no camp this school year nor this summer. And although our hope is to open it in the future we are not sure when that will be. I have been serving as a teacher coordinator. I oversee 6 of our new teachers; two in fourth grade, two in fifth grade, and two in sixth grade. You could say I am like a coach and a supervisor ... helping them make reward systems and discipline systems, evaluating things that aren't working in their classroom, helping them organize and juggle all the responsibilities a teacher has, doing observations, giving them reminders, giving tough love, and reminding them why we are doing it all. I am learning and not doing it perfectly, but this is where the Lord has me in this season.
One perk of this new role is giving me the opportunity to get to know our fourth through sixth graders even better and to get to know and work along side of many of our Dominican staff members in the school.
Here is a sneak peak at each class. I hope to highlight each grade further in newsletters to come.
4TH GRADE -
The fourth grade teachers are Genesis and Hillary
5TH GRADE
The fifth grade teachers are Nelly and Randa
6TH GRADE
One of our sixth grade teachers is Yunesi.
Please pray with me for each of the teachers on the front lines.... that God would give them perseverance, patience and wisdom. If I am being honest with you there are a lot of difficult days and it can be easy to loose patience or forget the why. I have the opportunity to jump in their classrooms as a substitute when needed and as I walk along side of them through different aspects of teaching and classroom management. I love our kids and they need Jesus, many come with trauma which for many plays out in putting up walls and acting out at times. The ones walking along side of them day in and day out can get the brunt of some difficult moments at times. Don't get me wrong there are beautiful and break through moments too , but the fruit of the labor can feel at times few and far between.
*Would you pray specifically for our 6th grade classroom as they are in transition of getting a new teacher in their classroom.
Here is the crew
These pictures were taken before our all staff Christmas party.
With the help of a friend from the states I was able to gift my crew with some personalized clipboards for Christmas!
Christmas Celebrations
December First our teachers brought in the Christmas season greeting the students as they arrived to school with Christmas cheer and song. Take a look.
Yuleisy and Angela are pictured to the left. I get to work along side of them daily; they oversee all the coordinators in the school. To the right you will find Carley and Taylor a few of our lovely interns who taught our kids English the first half of the school year!
Christmas Program
Each of our classes had the opportunity to perform in front of the entire school. Here are my fourth, fifth and sixth graders, they sang "Qué Bueno, Llegó La Navidad". My favorite lyric from the song is "Christ is Christmas, and he who has Christ has joy".
Christmas Eve
I had the opportunity to visit one of our bateys with a few other missionary families give out some Christmas cookies and share the story of the Nativity and how Christ came into the world and why!
Christmas day I was able to visit a local church and spend time with two different missionary families here in country. I am thankful for the down time and the change of pace. It is a time to recharge the batteries before we jump back in... in 2023.
Wishing YOU and your family a HAPPY NEW YEAR from our Freedom Family!
