Create in me a pure heart, O God: Our God is greater

Yesterday, a mission group was working on the wifi and so we didn't have enough internet for me to be able to update my blog, so I'm sorry!! It has been working a lot faster though so hopefully it'll be easier as these two weeks pass by. This week has definitely flown by and I am trying to make it slow down as much as possible. I know that on July 20th I will not be ready to leave. I don't even want to think about what that day will be like.

The kids and I thought of a fun way to start and end the day. It's kind of cheesy and weird, but they are obsessed with it. We get in one circle and put our hands in the middle and then we count 1, 2, 3 and after we say whatever they want us to say together. Yesterday was "God is love" and today was "God is good" So we will see what tomorrow is! My class has been incredible. I am so amazed by how well they listen to me and want to learn. It is definitely a different experience to see kids wanting to learn. For example, one of their favorite parts of the day is library time, where we go to the library and they pick 3 books and we go outside on a bench and they read their books to themselves. I just sit there and smile at how well they can read and how much they enjoy it. Of course, their absolute favorite part of the day is recess.. Are you surprised? I am not one bit. They ask me after every activity, "we go to recess now?" and every time I say, "nooo, after our library time we will have recess, but only if you're good!" I laugh just because I know when they come up to me exactly what they are about to ask me.

Yesterday we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I had a puppet with the foods the caterpillar ate, and the kids were able to come up and pick out which food the caterpillar ate next. One of the girls, Lourna, was the caterpillar puppet, and the kids thought it was hilarious that she had a sock thing on her hand. After we did that activity, they each got a caterpillar paper and picked any 3 foods they would eat if they were a hungry caterpillar. It was funny seeing that they didn't stray from the foods in the book. Almost all of them chose watermelon, so it was funny when they got their lunch and each had a piece of watermelon on their plate. During this week, the kids have VBS and Crafts with two different mission teams that are here for the week. So I don't have the whole 3 hours of school to teach them, but they love going to VBS and Crafts. So far this week they've made butterflies, a 10 commandments sign, and a drawing of how they can serve others. It's been fun seeing their imaginations being shown through their artworks and activities.

Today, we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and I was really excited to read this book to them. This was one of my favorites as a kid, and so I was excited to see if they would enjoy it as much as I did growing up. And they absolutely loved the animals in the book. They thought it was so funny and weird that a horse was blue and the cat was purple. I got one kid at a time to come up and read what each animal saw and then all together we would say what color the next animal would be. They asked me to read the book one more time so they would guess what came next, so that was exciting and funny to watch. After we read, they made books of the different animals and colored what color each animal in the book was. After a couple more activities we went to VBS and Crafts where they did a serving others activity and using stickers to make a story book. This week, I've also done a book club with my class after lunch, and so we've been reading the Magic Tree House: Afternoon in the Amazon. Today, they wanted to each read one at a time, so we got in a circle and each kid was able to read a page. They loved reading in front of the class and hearing the other kids read out loud.

As most of yall know, a tropical storm hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic today. As school got out, the wind was picking up and it was starting to sprinkle. I could tell the kids were worried and not use to this kind of weather. I wish I could have walked each of them home to make sure they got there okay, but I wasn't able to. I just ask for all of you to keep the teams at Christian Light, the school kids, and the people living in the ravine in your prayers. I am not sure how bad the storm is supposed to be, but I just pray everyone here stays safe. I know God will protect all of us, and so I am just putting all of my trust in Him. Throughout the week, I have began to grow closer and closer to the kids, and so I am not looking forward to having to say goodbye to them in the near future. These kids all have a special place in my heart already, and I just hope I am able to see them each time I come to Haiti. The Lord has definitely shown me multiple things I need to work on throughout this trip. I pray that He continues to use me in a way that uplifts Him.

Here are some extra pictures I wanted to share with yall!