love letter

So this week was valentines day. Coming into this week I was really excited because I love Valentines Day. I don't know why I just think it is a really fun holiday that you get to show someone you care about them even more than usual. It was a lot of fun I gave one of my friends a valentine and it was his first one (of course it was a kiddy one) He loved it and was excited to get one.

Well an assignment we had from our care group members was to write a love note to God. We are so quick to write love notes to our significant others and whoever else but do we really stop and write a love note to the one who loves us more than anyone else. It took me a long time to do this because I didn't know what to write. How do you express all you have to say to someone who has greater love than you ever known. I finally wrote it.I have read it many times this week when I have felt overwhelmed and stressed or just plain down to remind me of who this God is I serve. I thought I would share it to encourage you to write one to God as am offering and an encouragement or reminder of who God is.

Dear God,

So I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be in love. The last couple of days I have come to find the funny thing about it is that it has nothing to do with me but has everything to do with you. Your love is undeserving especially to me a failure on so many levels. Your love is sacrificial. I mean you loved me so much you sent your son for me to take my place. This love I can never return. So many times I have stood you up, forgotten you, ran to someone else, and made you cry. I have disappointed you and yet you have never left my side, given up on me, or disowned me. You have stayed by my side, given me encouragement, you have seen all my tears and collected each one. I can never repay you for all you have done. You have brought people whom I have come to love into my life, you have taught me forgiveness. I can't put it all into words of how much I need you and depend on you even if I don't say it. God I am so grateful that you know me for me. God thanks for never changing. Thanks for loving me even though I have hurt you and you take all my pain. Truly bring me back to who you are and help me to continue to fall deeply in love with you.

Your princess,

Faith

Praise the Lord for all He has done in your life and all He is going to do. Thank Him for the special people in your life.

Love all of you.

Pray for my class this week as we talk about salvation and what it really means to be born again.

An Amazing week of Just what I needs...

This past week has been a blast here in Accra. It started on Sunday and has been going ever since. I have some pictures of some of things I did this week.

I love when I get opportunities just to make people feel loved. So my friend Nana has been really stressed on the past couple of weeks. So my college friends would appreciate this I decided that I was going to treat him to what I did with my friends Jo Lyn and Amie in college and bring him some junk food and then we could watch the game. So he agreed so on Sunday after church I set out on a baking spree of brownies and popcorn. Then I grabbed pizza on the way to his house. He had some friends over and so it was fun to not only show him some encouragement but also just to show his friends some encouragement also. It was a lot of fun.

Monday was my first day as a member at the gym and the gym has been great. I look forward to going every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is a great way to just distress and meet people from outside the AIS family. I have found this more and more important to my ministry here. I love that I get the opportunity to share Christ with my students but also to the outside community that they are involved in also.

On Tuesday we had our staff meeting. Our principal (Mrs. Hailey) started this award this year called the bottle cap award. Each week this reward goes to someone who has worked hard, done something out of the ordinary, or has encouraged someone. This week I got it from my prayer partner. It was definitely a surprise. THen I get home Tuesday night and nothing seemed to be going right, the kitchen was a mess, i kept stepping in something, there were ants, the electricity went off it was just going rough so I was making dinner and I was texting my friend and its great when God just puts people in your life right at the right moment and He puts them to be open to when you are just fraustrated. W

ell Tuesday night was one of those nights and my friend just saw that I was not having a great night so He was in my area running errands and came and hung out for a while.

Wednesday we had chapel and my kids did amazing. God definitely used third grade to encourage the elementary staff and students. Throughout the rest of the week people came up to me and the class and told us how blessed they were.

Friday we had no school so I just got to go and do somethings that I needed to do and just be really independent. It was fun just getting to do things by myself. Knowing that I could do without help from anyone else. Then I went to the gym which was great. Then Friday night I went out with my friend Nana. We went to Chez Afrique which is an african restaurant that has live music. So it was fun going there and just ge

tting some alvario (a fruit like drink) and listen to the music. There were lots of people there dancing and having fun. It was nice to just chill and relax.

Please pray for opportunities to share Christ with people. Today I felt like I needed to invite my friend Nana to church with me because we had been talking about the church he went to in Canada and so I texted him to see if he wanted to go. Unfortunately he couldn't go this morning because he already had plans but he said maybe another time. Just pray that his heart would be opened to coming next week. Pray for more opportunities to share Christ with people outside of school. Pray that Christ continues to open up the hearts of the students in my class and the students at AIS.

My Students singing in Third Grade Chapel.

See their skit below-

"Don't Laugh at Me"

Nana and Me at a soccer game this is where he taught

me the term indirect free kick. (football language) I am really

trying to learn football since it is so influential here.

Nana and Me on Sunday night watching the Ghana football

match and eating lots of brownies and pizza.

Some of my third graders and me after

International Day.

Nichole and Me.

A Random story week...

Wow this week has been interesting not in a bad way. On Sunday I got back from church and I went to the store and on my way to the store my friend Nana called and he was in the area. I have not seen Nana since I had been back so I was very excited to see him. Well I ended up spending most of my Sunday afternoon just talking with Nana which was great.

Monday I got a new student and the class really took him in which I knew they would. This was great because we started putting our chapel together to and so he got dropped into that to. I am really excited about this chapel. I think because what we are doing effects everyone even at my age and especially here in Ghana. So the outline for our chapel this week is all about God's love. We are starting off with three songs that just each have a different aspect of who God is. Our first song is Hold me by Jamie Grace and Toby Mac. They absolutely love this song an it pretty much talks about how God can turn around a bad day and how much we love that He holds us in His arms. Then we are singing a song call A God Like You and it is by Kirk Franklin and it talks about all the awesome things God does and that so many times we try to take over and there is really no one like our God. Then we are singing about how being with God is a great adventure. Then we are doing our skit from the song Don't Laugh at Me by Mark Wills. We will end with Matthew 5:44. I know God will work through this chapel because it has already impacted my life.

Okay so my friend George told me that I can't just go home from school and watch a movie and go to sleep everyday because I get sad so he told me I needed to get a hobby so this week I have been working on going out and not just sitting at home. So on Monday I came home worked out and then really wanted a salad so I asked my friend Fran if she wanted to go to dinner so she came with me and we went to dinner. So I come home and I am sitting outside my gate playing with one of the little boys and I was sitting on the ground (first mistake). So then I was playing with the dogs and talking and all of a sudden this thing comes flying out from under the door at our gate runs into my leg and then the dog starts chasing it. I just sat there for a moment and then I asked Daniel (our guard) what that was and he said a mouse. I was kind of in shock until I realized that a rat just ran into me I kind of went into panic. That is what I get for going out.

Tuesday I went out after school with my friend Shari. I love how God just puts opportunities in our lives to be an encouragement to others. This is how this came about I saw earlier in the day that something happened because she didn't seem herself and God just laid it on my heart to write her a little note and just encourage her. It was nice to just go get cheesecake and talk.

Then on Wednesday my mentor here Nichole asked me to go to a cardio Kick boxing class at Pippas (a really nice gym here in East Legon). I got a free three day pass and so I went with her and loved it. So I found out about this special where if you get one membership a guest gets to go for free for three months. So one of the other teachers Fran went with me on a free pass on Friday so she said she would go in with me on this three months so I am really excited. Now I can go to Cardio Kickboxing every Monday Wednesday and Friday. Which is good.

I am so thankful that God is one who never fails or lets us down. I really saw that this week that when I was feeling really alone and really down God put people to give me a hug or a text that made me smile. Even just going out almost every night this week even if it is for a little bit made it fun.

Prayer Request:

- Building for new school still going through all the workings of that

- 3rd grade chapel this Wednesday

- teaching Sunday school tomorrow on the word to little preschoolers.

- opportunities to encourage others

What is true love?

This week in class we have been talking about what true love is . I asked my kids what love was and of course they started saying how it was yucky and automatically went into a typical third grade response when anyone mentions anything about love. Then we read Matthew 5:44 and we looked at an example of true love. Matthew 5:44 talks about loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you. We talked about how true love is having a right attitude about doing things too. We read I Corinthians 13 and we looked at how love always or love never but it never says love sometimes. I believe you either have true love or you don't there is no in between. On Wednesday we were sitting in an all school anti bullying chapel and there was a skit and after the skit when they were talking about it one of my students leaned over to me and said that was not showing true love. That student really got what true love is. This next week in class we are going to start preparing for chapel and our chapel is going to be on true love how God sees us and that He is the ultimate example of true love.

So I am excited I am getting a new student this coming Monday. So I am back up to 15. I know my class will be awesome at welcoming him.

Where is the love?

But I say unto you, Love your enemies bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

Matthew 5:44

God is working at AIS. Last week was spiritual Emphasis Week at school. We had two twins named Mick and Rick come and present to the high schoolers. I was sad I didn't get to participate in the high school portion of SEW but they had a part of it where the high schoolers gave their testimony whether they believed in Christ or not and as a staff we got a list of all the high school students and what they professed so that as a staff we now have the privilege and duty to pray for each of these students and disciple them. At least two students got saved this past week and many more seeds were planted.

This week we have anti bullying week at school. This is where we as a staff are focusing on how to deal with bullying and that there are things in the Bible that speak to praying and loving those who we don't necessarily get along with. This week in my class we are talking about love and what love is. I wasn't even thinking about anti bullying week when I came up with my memory verse or Bible lessons and it happened that this week was about love and our memory verse is Matthew 5:44. I love how God works things out like this. There is a song that has a chorus that I absolutely love and I will probably make my kids listen to it but its by Mark Wills and it goes like this....

I'm a little boy with glasses the one they call the geek

A little girl who never smiles cause I got braces on my teeth

And i know how it feels to cry myself to sleep

I'm the kid on every playground the kid that's always chosen last

A single teenage mother trying to overcome my past

you don't have to be my friend is it to much to ask..

chorus

Don't laugh at me

Don't call me names

Don't get your pleasure from my pain

In Gods eyes were all the same

some day we'll all have perfect wings

Don't laugh at me.

The thing that sticks out the most to me is that we really have no right to judge or laugh at anyone because in God's eyes we are perfect and he made us just the way we are and for a reason. I can't wait to point this out to my students and just really stress the point that even if we don't get along with someone that we are still made in the image of God and we need to pray for each other and love each other even if its hard.

Please pray for our students as they are having two weeks (last week and this week) of who God is and who we are in Christ. Pray for the teachers as we share with our students.

a change of pace

I love with each new semester there is a new pace. I have changed pace at school and at home. I feel it the most at school. Each morning we have a new routine which has made the students intentionally say hello and gets them learning at the same time. This semester I have each of my students say good morning to two classmates everyday the catch is each time it is said in a different way. For instance one morning we gave hi fives and said good morning, another morning we said hello in French. Today we did it in Twee. After that we looked at events that happened on that day in history which brings up a lot of discussion depending on what the events are. Then my favorite part is having class devotion. This year I have brought a book back by Ruth Graham which read every morning and what is amazing about this is this year the Graham's are coming to Ghana for a conference and so my students are putting them together. Then we pray for our class then jump right into Bible. I love starting my morning out with Bible. For me its even a more of an encouragement because I do my devotions when I wake up and then get a reminder everyday in class with my students.

I dont know how many of you get to teach a Bible class, or sunday school, or VBS, or some kids class but I think everyone should try it. You end up learning to see the Bible through a child's eyes and the simplicity they see it with. You really do get a look at faith like a child in the true sense.

May God give you a change of pace out of your everyday routine and duties. When it happens you enjoy the little things God gives you even when you don't realize it. I encourage you to continue to be a peculiar person for Christ.

Prayer Request:

Pray for Nigeria and all the controversy there between the christians and muslims. They are are brothers and sisters in Christ.

THis week we have spiritual Emphasis Week so the students have chapel everyday.

Next week we have anti bullying week. Pray that we go about this in the right way with our students as it can be a very sensitive matter for some kids.

continue to pray for our new school and the building!

Pray for relationships that I am making and keeping ones I already have.

first week back

Well back in the swing of things here in Accra. I can't believe how much I missed these students. The love that I have for my students grows more and more everyday. I couldn't wait to get back into school and see my students. This past week has been amazing my students are awesome. I have come back to now 14 students instead of 15 . I am sad to see one of them not return but I love to see how God has influenced my class.

It goes back to Wednesday. Before we left for break we were learning about prayer. So after break we put into practice what we learned and we set out to pray for each classroom in our school. We also prayed for each other. Part of our exercise was for them to write down a couple of prayer request that I could pray for them and a bunch of them prayed that the student that wasn't coming back would come back safely. At this time they did not know he was going to be back I had just found out the day before and was not sure how to tell them. This broke my heart knowing that he was not coming back but knowing that these students were praying for him. It is amazing how these students have made the choice to pray for their classmates. After Bible on Thursday they had some specials and other classes and then after lunch we sat down as a class and I told them that their classmate was not coming back. We as a class made some encouragement cards to send to him and every morning we take time out of praying for our class to pray for this student. God is working in this classroom.