My last week of school

Wow, this past week has been one stressful week. Please pray for the unity of our school there is a lot of division right now. We have 3 and a half days of school left and it is going to be a busy one. My week starts tomorrow with our last Sunday of this year at Pram Pram. Then the high schoolers are coming over for lunch. Christy's parents come in today so it will be nice to be able to hang out with them and meet them. Then on Monday my students will be watching CHarlotte's Web and playing yahtzee with the second graders. THen on Tuesday is my class party. FOr my class party we are going to one of the students house who has a pool and we are going to spend the whole day at the pool. Wednesday we are going to be cleaning the classroom. Thursday is the last day where we are going to just celebrate the year we have had. This year I am giving each student a book that I will write a memory verse and note in. In class we are going to be working on memory books where I am going to be sharing a verse also.

This past week I have more than one opportunity just to pray for students in my class one on one with them. Its amazing how much these kids just need someone to listen to them. With all the drama and stress that goes on at school the reason I am here is not for the school it is for these students and to share Christ with them. The last couple of weeks I have been focused on how much drama there is at our school and yesterday I realized that these students are the reason and they are the ones that see Christ through us.

Today I realized how much I care about my friends here. I was supposed to go play volleyball this morning and I got up to go and got ready and actually got a taxi and was on my way. I called the person I was supposed to be meeting and nothing phone is off. This never happeneds. So I get to the place not where we met before and they were still not answering their phone so I came home. 17 cedis and an hour later I was back home still trying to get ahold of my friend. Here in Ghana travel is not always the safest and is not always reliable. So knowing that they traveled home late at night on trotros got me really worried. I just kept calling finally they called me back like 5 hours later with their phone which shut off last night and then was feeling sick, but I was so relieved that they were okay. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to some really good friends that I have made this semester.

PRayer Request

1. finishing up the school year strong

2. the see ya laters (instead of goodbyes) to some great friends

3. my traveling home on Friday night, Saturday morning.

4. getting everything ready for the first four days of school that i will be missing next year.

I cant believe I am done with my second year of teaching. It was crazy just yesterday I was sitting in the fourth grade room with my third graders and I realized how much my third graders have grown from last year and that it was crazy that another one of my classes was going to be moving on to another grade. I can't wait to see how much these kids have grown over the summer. looking forward to seeing you all very soon!

One Amazing Saturday

I had the best day yesterday. I hung out with Christy and two of my friends from Lincoln Elrom and George. Yesterday Christy and I hung out with Elrom and George the whole day. We got the opportunity to help out with a football tournament and we were there from 8am-6:15pm. It was so much fun. It wasn't even that we were having a bunch of fun but it was the people I was with. We got to chill and talk afterwards. Christy and I got sunburn but it was totally okay with us. We came home and knocked out we were so tired.

Its funny how life changes after being here a year and a half. Its nice to know that i have some good friends that are not from my school and people that are not americans. I realized how much I need people outside of AIS. Yesterday I got a chance to just be part of something that didn't have the stress of school. It was nice to help out some people who got to see Christ in us and make a difference to some kids and these two teachers at a different school. It was so much fun.

I am glad I have another year to hang out and become better friends with George and Elrom.

Prayer:

1. three weeks of school left

2. saying goodbye to friends for two months

3. finishing up strong.

Its been a while

Wow, its been a while since I have written. Not to much has happened here. We had spring break and I got to enjoy a nice relaxing break in Germany hanging out with some really good friends of mine. I got to lay in a blanket and read a book and eat american food. It was awesome. After spring break it was in the swing of things again. Now we are closing down the school year. I am kinda of excited I am ready to be relaxing. We had our spring musical last Saturday it was the Sound of Music so the students just sang songs from the musical. Life here has been pretty normal playing lots of volleyball with my friend Elrom and just chilling at home playing games and trying to lay out at the pool if it is not raining.

Praise the Lord we are in Rainy season!!!!

the funny thing about being a teacher

isn't really funny. Something I realized is that being a teacher is not your only job. As a teacher you are sometimes the steadiness in a child's life. You are their counselor when they have no one else. You teach them not only subject matter you teach them life.

Sometimes life is just to hard. You may say what does a third grader know about life being hard. Being here has really made me thankful for how I grew up. Some of my students don't see their parents for weeks sometimes months on end. Some of them have in more schools then they are old. Some of them have been let down time and time again and they are only 8 and 9. Plus some of them, most of them in a culture that is not their own. So I am OKAY being that steadiness and a counselor and teacher of life because if I am not then who else is going to be.

I thank God for every single one of my students no matter how trying they may be. They all have something they bring to our class. Please Pray for my class as some of them are going through a really hard time.

PRayer

1. for a little boy in my class who was in tears for like 15 minutes today. He has a lot going on and I dont know the details but God does.

2. Pray for the details of my trip to Germany to come together. Plane tickets bought.

3. SAT testing that is going on in school this week.

in the fast past of life...

The past two weeks have been kind of crazy. Last week I went to two soccer games against the other American school. It was a blast but super busy. I am amazed at how God just stops us and shows us His greatness. I saw this on Monday night.

So wanting to get home after a long day Christy and I were waiting for the students to leave and there was one left. An 11th grader that I believe is new to the school this year. We were sitting out on the front steps of the school waiting for his mom and we started talking about the stars and the moon. I said something like I don't understand how people can look at the moon and the stars and all the details in nature and not believe in God and he was like ya. Well we kept talking and he said but how did God get here. I was like the Bible just says He was there. Other than that I don't know that is something you will have to ask Him when you get to Heaven. At that point I wish I would have planned that when I said that but I wasn't even thinking that this kid might not be saved. Its great how God uses things we say to spark great conversation. At that he said well I pray and go to church and worship him and sometimes I read my bible so hopefully I will get to Heaven. At that I was like that is not how you get to Heaven. You can't get to Heaven by doing certain things we don't get there by reading our Bible or praying the only way is to accept the gift God gave us. He then went to ask what that gift was and I got to tell him about Jesus and how he came to save us and that if you accept that gift everything we have done or will do is already paid for and that if we accept that gift you will spend eternity with Jesus. Now did he accept Christ I don't know but he is searching. His mom finally came and gave us a ride home. As I was getting out of the car he simply said thanks for the advice Miss Meitzler. I said any time just stop by my room if there is anything. He stops by and says hi but no more questions but my job is to plant the seed and all we can do now is pray that the Holy Spirit works in him.

So we have a school in Japan in the southern part but they are definitely seeing the impact of the tsunami and the earthquake. We took a moment to stop and have a moment of silence. I explained that this was a serious thing because a lot of people lost their lives and everything that they owned. So at 2:46pm we stopped and we all stood up and just was silent however my class broke out into prayer for these people and they just asked God to comfort them and put His arms around them. It was an amazing time just to hear these 7-12 years just pray out in front of the rest of the class praying for a nation that is closed to the gospel for the most part and for people they don't know. They have some reference to the school because we have two teachers that were at AIS go to Japan and the director was in our class when the directors came so they love the director there. When we are to have faith like a child this is what he means. Hearing them pray was a great reminder of how we are to pray. Pray for people we don't know and just believe that God is already taking care of it all.

Lets get our praise on

1. the opportunity to share the gospel with these kids

2. the relationship I have with this students that they feel free to open up and talk to me

3. our electricity has been pretty good.

4. I am now 24 years old for another year to serve God

5. Amazing friends that I have all over the world that encourage me.

Prayer request

1. This 11th grade student and that the holy spirit will work in his life

2. the students that are at AIS that God would just open up their hearts and ears to him especially the Muslim families

3. hiring of teachers

4. plans for my spring break trip to Germany April 22nd- May 1.

5. Standford Achievement Test next week

6. Japan and the school that we have there that they can share CHrist with this lost country.

4 day weekend

Praise the Lord for 4 day weekends. This past weekend was Ghana's Independence so we got Friday off and Monday. I just thank God that I am in a peaceful country, and that the government is civilized and supports democracy. I especially am thankful because there are so many countries in Africa that are not and there are so many countries just in general that are not in peace right not.

This weekend I was planing to just sit and relax however it was a time a time of adventure and fellowship. It started bright and early on Friday. My friend fro

m the other american school invited me to come play volleyball and I was excited it was going to be on a hard surface more like a gym, even though it was not a gym. I am so used to playing on dirt/ sand at AIS . It was real, organized volleyball like serving, passing, setting, and spiking which I have not played in a while. It was great. We played like 3 hours straight. It was awesome.

After I played volleyball my friends and I went to the beach which was an adventure. We will close to the station that we needed to be to, to get a tro tro, which is like a 15 passenger van but with a lot more people in it. Finding the right tro tro was easy with my friends help he set it all up so that the guy would tell us when to get off. Which is just a praise because we had written directions and none of us had been there before. Ghanaians are really friendly people that will help you out even if they don't know the answer. So we found a taxi then to take us to the beach from where we were left off a tro tro which another ghanian helped us get. Then we finally made it to the beach and it was beautiful. Seeing the ocean and ho

w it seems to go on forever and just looking at the water and how it all seems to flow together. I just think how can you see things like that and not know their is a God. I mean I was sitting there and was just in awe of God's marvelous works and how amazing his creation is. I encourage you one day to go look at the sunrise or the sunset and just be taken away in God's amazing creation. I could have spent forever just sitting marveling at God's creation. I am so glad that I will be with the Lord marveling and praising Him forever one day.

Well it was about time to go home which took us 3 1/2 hours which was about double the time it took us to get there. It was great and even though y

ou were not there here are some pictures to remind you of how great our God really is!

Kim, Me, and Christy after we were out on the beach
Christy and Me before the waves smashed into us

Me and Kim getting pounded by a wave.

Me and Kim again

Get your praise on

1. good friends to fellowship with

2. a peaceful country to live in

3. be surrounded by friendly people who help even though they don't know you.

4. A God who made and amazing creation.

Prayer Request

1. Safe travels as my dad comes to visit me on March 18- 24

2. Continually showing love to some students in my class even when it is hard

3. figuring out everything for next year as I will be coming to school 5 days late. I know this is a while away but knowing I am missing the first week of school is stressing me out already.

4. hiring of new teachers and our land

5. relationships in our school between each other

"Seussification"

This is my class on the stairs right outside my

classroom wearing our Dr. Seuss hats.
Dr. Seuss hats on my class.
After we read Horton Hears a Who we

made Horton mask out of paper plates and paper.


THis is my white board all decorated.
Each cubby got a Dr. Seuss Hat

This is my awesome door that I decorated

it is Dr. Seuss and then all of my students names

are on the hats all around. As well as information

on Dr. Seuss and who he is was.

This is a word that my third graders made up today as we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday. I wanted to share some pictures with you from our day today and let you join in our "Seussification"