Through the week...

Tuesday, March 16 was a Hindu holiday, which all of Indonesia recognizes, so we had a day off from school! It was wonderful to sleep in all the way to 8:00am and relax in the morning. The great thing about being around in the morning meant we could catch up with people back home! I had a skype date with my family while they were at church, and it just so happened that the Dordt College Concert Choir was eating a potluck meal there! I was able to see and say hi to a handful of my fellow Dordt colleagues...but boy was it strange to see them with my family in my church when I was on the other side of the world! I wish I could have been there to show them around! Indeed it was a wonderful video chat with my parents and Monika (as Ryan and Tyler are in Mexico, and Nathan is in Kentucky!) After the call, I met up with one of the first grade teachers to buy...get this...my very first cell phone! Yes, that’s right...to all of my friends who said I’ve been out of the loop, I’ve caved in with society and purchased a cell phone! The phones are cheap and apparently I can text to people in the United States, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet! After the cell phone purchase, I went out for coffee (at Starbucks!) with my new this teacher and we discussed the importance of Christian education. She grew up in the Anglican church and we interpreted our faith differences and how these thoughts might be reflected in our teaching. The reformed perspective has such an influence here in the SPH school and I can see more following this worldview of glorifying God to further his coming Kingdom.
The afternoon was filled with some teacher duties: cutting and gluing together a bulletin board on sound and putting together a portfolio for application proposals. Got to love it!
Wednesday and Thursday have been school-focused days. The weather has been cloudy and rainy, but the muggyness remains, which makes it easier to concentrate on school work in our dorm room. I am leading English lessons and loving it! This morning (Thursday) I was observed by the principal during my lesson and it went really well. The kids were energetic and engaged on our Helen Keller discussion. I love my routine of walking home after the long day at school, chatting with Kristin about the days work, then lay on my bed, and dip a piece of dark chocolate into peanut butter and relax for a good twenty minutes before doing anything else. Not a bad habit :P
Wednesdays classes end at 12 and the teachers have professional development sessions with a staff-chapel. The staff chapel was so encouraging! We gathered together (maybe 60 people?) where we worshiped and listened to a speaker(which I'm going to write about in a separate post) Listening to the hearts of different nations coming together in song gives a little taste of what heaven will be like. You can’t help but smile.
I am daily encouraged by e-mails and messages which I try my best to respond to! With this comment, don't think you shouldn't e-mail me because I'm too busy, I love hearing about how God is working with you too!

Love always.