dear Mis angei...

Hello Friends and Supporters~

WOW, God is good!

Nicaragua has been great, and I'm having a great experience. Today is my official 4 week mark, and yet in some ways it feels like I left the States yesterday, and in other ways I feel like I've been here forever! Things have been going really well, and I feel like my transition has been smooth. There are always bumps im the road, but I suppose those are to be expected.

NCA has been doing well! I am spending my mornings in the first grade classroom with my 20 kiddos whom have gained much of my affection...well, most of them anyways! We have a few who are TOUGH kids from TOUGH homes and they decide if they're going to have a great day or a not so great day. So, that's been fun. I wake up every morning not really knowing what I'm going to get with a few of them. However, today the kids were learning how to write a letter and they all wrote them to Ms. Franklin, except one little sweeite who wrote to me. I'll give you a snipet of his letter to me (spelling of course done by him;-)

dear Miss angei-you are my Favorite teacher. I love you! miss Angei, can i come to your house? will you read books with me? You are butifool and I love you! Your friend, Oscar


AAHHH...makes all the bad days worth it in a small moment of sweet time!

2 mornings a week I'm meeting with 2 students in the 5th grade classroom on the counseling side of things. This week was my first week, but both kids really opened up to me, in fact I had to kick them out of the office :-) Both kids have trouble making and keeping friends, and I have a feeling I'll discover some pretty tough home lives once our relationships grow. Both are sweeties, just need a little good adult attention. Plus, considering I'm the "adult" we just have fun together :-) Both of these kids could use prayers, just in their own lives and in helping me to effectively help them.

OH, to my ESL days! My boys are great...but so frustrating! I feel like the blind leading the blind. It's been a tough thing to take on, but I know we must just keep going. The boys are great, but they are so done by 1:30 in the afternoon, and honestly so am I. So, motivation to get anything done has not been real easy. On a positive note, I have seem some progress with each of the boys and for that I am grateful. I just hope that whatever it is that we are doing that it does benefit them in some way!

So, that's a typical day in my life. Of course, there are some fun things too...

On Saturday, my roomate and a fellow co-worker at NCA are heading to San Juan del Sur. For those of you who don't know what that is...it's paradise :-) It's a great beach town on the Pacific Ocean, and also where they are currently filming SURVIVOR. So, pray for safety and RELAXATION this weekend, I know we are all looking forward to it! We have a teacher inservice day on Monday, so no kiddos but we have meetings all day. I have spent every Labor Day in Kanawha with my grandparents for my entire life, so it will be a little bit tough to not be there, but I know I'll have fun too.

Next week at school we also have an Independance Day festival. The kids do presentations on Nicaragua and the festival includes dances by all the classes...and the teachers! We have dance practice 2 days a week and it's been really fun so far. I get a traditional Nica dress and I have to wear bright red lipstick. I'll be sure to post pictures on my blog (www.adewaard.blogspot.com) after the festival. I have attended one year when I was here to visit and I KNOW it will be a good time.

Sorry this got so wordy, I need to update more often so it doesn't have to be so long. A few more things...

Today at lunch some of the teachers were talking about a girl named Rachel who came to Nicaragua this week Monday and is REALLY wanting to go back to the States already. So, I got her number and called her and she's coming over tomorrow night. Please pray for Rachel, the first few days and weeks are such a whirlwind of emotions and I just pray that she would do what is best for her. Pray that I may help her in any way I can. I know I haven't been here too long, but I wanted to reach out to her. Movie and pizza night at our house, fun times!!

Another thing I wanted to share. I have been reading the book Crazy Love which I would highly recommend to anyone. One quote from the book that is really standing out to me is this:

God knew who He was creating, and He designed me for a specific work.

My prayer is that this statement is true for all of us...may we all find that specific work that we are designed to do.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement. I'm so sorry if I don't keep up well with e-mail. I've been getting quite a few (which I LOVE) but I just can't respond as quickly as I would like. Please keep in touch, it's so good for me to hear from home!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Blessings and Love~

Angie