United Nations Day

For everyone who follows my blog every week I apologize for not being able to post last week. This week has been extremely busy and hectic. We have had so much going on and I have been so busy with school and activities. Last Wednesday we had our United Nations day at the school. It is the biggest celebration of the year and the school and the students go all out for it. Each class takes a country or continent and they spend the month learning about them. On United Nations day we have the whole school go in a parade around the streets of Boracay. Me and another teacher carried the flags in the front of the parade right behind the drummers. We had a whole band of drummers leading the parade and we were right behind them. My ears have never hurt so bad I think in my entire life. The flags definitely weren't light either, but it was still fun to be part of the parade. It's probably about a mile of walking in the parade and we end up at the church. Each class then performs their dance for the country they are representing. It is an awesome performance and the dances are so amazing for all of the classes. The craziest part of the whole thing is the costumes that the kids come up with. It is a huge huge celebration and the parents go all out for it. Some of the kids costumes were just unbelievable. I was really puzzled by it before because I was wondering how they were affording these costumes but apparently the parents usually make them all themselves. I asked one of the Filipino teachers how much most of the costumes cost people and most of them were about $3. So that was surprising because some of their costumes were insane. Here are some pictures of the whole thing from the parade to the performances. I really wish I could figure out how to post my videos on here so you could see my kids' awesome dances.

This is Nickel, Evita, Shane, and Michael all dressed up before the parade.

The parade heading out of the school.

Some of team Indonesia.

Angel and Marc Angelo from my 2nd grade class representing Thailand.

Karryl Angel went a little extreme on her costume, definitely the biggest costume in the school. Also ni the picture Ralph Jay, Rjon, and Heshen.

Team New Zealand.

Team Ethiopia.

Team South America.

Joe Cedrick, Hazel, and my partner teacher Hya.

Team South America

James showing off his suit.

Team Ethiopia

Representing North America and the US, even if he might have taped his flag on upside down.

Team Australia representing the Aboriginal flag.

Team Hawaii.

Me and Russ carrying the flags right behind the band. This was at the end of the parade after about a mile of carrying those flags and losing the hearing in our ears, which would explain why we don't look too thrilled.

Finally at the church, the kids were exhausted which actually wasn't that bad of a thing because they were sitting still and being quiet for the performances.

Jared and Marc Angelo.

Rjon, Heshen, and Karryl Angel

John Lester and Hazel

Evita, Nickel, Toby, and Reynald

Nickel, James, and Michael

Shane and Evita

Nicole, Nickel, James, and Kimberly

Joe Cedrick, Mikaella, and Jules

Team Japan about to perform.

My 2nd graders about to perform.

Team South America ready to perform.

My fifth graders ready to waltz.

Hazel

Kristian

The next pictures are from my Cagban feeding site. I've actually taken a new role at the site which I think will be a lot of fun. There are a lot of middle school or high school aged kids who are around the feeding sites who don't participate because they are "too cool" and basically it's just viewed as something for kids and then for the adults to have Bible study afterwards. But we really wanted to reach out to the teens because they just aren't being reached. So while the Bible lessons and coloring and singing is going on with the kids I've started going and talking to the teens that are around. They're English isn't great but the best way to communicate in life is through sports. They have a basketball hoop in the village so I brought a basketball and we played and talked a little bit. I think I have an awesome opportunity to befriend them and slowly start working in more and more outreach to them so that it's not just basketball but that they are starting to hear some of the message that we are bringing. It's something that just isn't being done for their age and so it's just going to take a while and I'm going to have to ease into it but I'm excited to be able to work with them.

On Friday we had our Fun Friday for October and it was a great success again. I was solely in charge of the whole thing this time which was one of the many reasons I was so busy this week but it was fun and it was good to be able organize and put something together and have it turn out so well. We went down to the jungle barn again and had perfect weather this time which was really nice. We started with a mini PE lesson of stretches and exercises and a run down the beach, followed by a few fun games and relays that they played and competed in. We then split the boys and girls up and we had the Red Cross there to give the kids some lessons, while the other group played soccer. Afterwards we let the kids swim and play in the water which was nice because we didn't have nice enough water to really do that last time but it was perfect this week. The kids had a blast and everyone was safe which was also key.

Nicole and Shane

Toby doing his best Baywatch impersonation.

Michael giving it a shot too

Shane, Kimberly, and Evita

I'm sorry for the delay this week. Lack of time and lack of wifi have been making it tough. Thank you for your continued support and for all of the prayer that goes out for me and for what I'm doing.
Some prayer requests:
Please pray for good weather the next 2 days. We have our end of the semester testing and then a week off. There is a big storm that's supposed to hit and if we have to cancel school it will make it really hard on the kids to have to wait until we come back to school to finish their tests after we just reviewed for them. These tests are really important for the school and we really need the kids to be able to do their best on them.
Please pray for our kids that they would put in the time to study and that they would be able to remember the information they learned. Pray that they would be able to concentrate on the tests and not be too anxious or too stressed to be able to do well.
Please pray for my living situation. There is another missionary here who I am looking to move in with and we are looking for a house. He works with a group called Younglife and is trying to be able to start the program up here on Boracay. We are looking for a house that has a big living room to be able to have high schoolers over. Younglife is an outreach for high schoolers and we want to be able to start some programs with them and the first step is getting to know them and getting them to come over and hang out. We are looking at a couple places that might work out really nice but there are just some minor details we are trying to figure out and we are also trying to find a place we can still afford. I really think this is an amazing opportunity to outreach to the teens here that just don't get reached out to much and I'm excited to see what happens with it. But first we need to find a house.

The biggest reason I felt like this is where God wanted me to go is that there are so many things to do here. I felt like there were so many opportunites for me here, and I am now starting to see them really come out. I am so blessed to be here and to be given so many ways to impact everyone around me. I think God is starting to do so many different things with me and there honestly isn't a better feeling in the world than that. I am so excited for everything that's going on and I have been absolutely exhausted and so jam packed with things at times but yet so happy with everything I'm able to do. I came here to work and that's what I am able to do. It's almost 3 in the morning here as I'm finishing this up so I can finally get it out to you, and this has been a normal night a lot of the time, but God has constantly given me the energy I need to get through the day. If there is one gift God has given me it's the ability to not sleep and I've been able to use that gift often.

Just because I like to end with funny stories I'll share a couple. Yesterday in my 5th grade class we were reviewing for the tests and we were going over writing letters. We were going through the parts and we got to the end and I asked what do we put next at the very end of the letter. I was looking for an answer something like "sincerely" or "your signature" or something like that. One of my students raised there hand and was so eager to answer. I called on them and they said loudly and proudly "amen". Everyone in the class started laughing (with the student) as well as my partner teacher and I. It was just one of those great moments that brightens your day.
Today as I was with my 2nd graders at lunch some of the kids came up to me tattleing on Kristian for not washing his hands. I told him he needed to go wash his hands, and he told me he didn't want to wash his hands. Just some background, Kristian is a great kid and isn't responding out of rebellion or disrespect, but is just being honest. So I told him he couldn't eat his lunch until he washed his hands. So he let out a sigh and as he started to walk out says to me "yes, mother". I started cracking up. It totally wasn't a disrespectful response or anything, I was just so surprised he would say something like that. It definitely made my day. Kids are always making me laugh with some of the things they say. I really wish I were able to remember all of them.

Teacher Day

This week was pretty calm for the most part. I got to try some new things, meet some new people and experience a new holiday.We had a team here this last week of 16 people. They did a lot of construction on the school to get it ready for the building of another classroom. They were a huge help in getting that going financially and also doing a lot of the hard labor involved in it. They also were able to spend a lot of time in the school helping tutor a lot of the kids. They were a huge help in being able to take a few of my kids and spend some one on one time with them to be able to work on their English. They also went to the feeding sites in the afternoons and did a lot of work for them.
We just had a family from Taiwan come a few days ago to work in the school a little bit and help with some things in the organization.
We also had one of the missionaries that was here last year come back this week. He was here last year but went back home to raise some more support for this year. He is working in the school but he also does a lot of work with high schoolers on the island in a program called younglife. It has been great having another guy on the team and we may be living together soon if we can find a place that works so that we can save some money.
This week I also got to go to my first Filipino birthday party. It was pretty interesting I guess would be a good word for it. One of my 2nd graders had a birthday and the class as well as her teachers were invited to the party after school. So I went with the class over there after school. The first thing I noticed when I got there was that we weren't going to be able to all fit in the small room that they had for the party. There were about 25 kids there and 10-15 adults. There was no way we were all going to fit. Well somehow we did. Not very comfortably, but we fit. The second thing I noticed was the pig sitting on the table. I'm used to it as it's very common to see a whole pig just ready to be eaten right off the body at a lot of places. Still a little weird though. The third thing I noticed was the extremely creepy clown they had to provide the entertainment. He had like three teeth, he had a smile painted on his face but never actually smiled, and his outfit was dirty and weird and just made him all together look really creepy. After everyone got in and settled into the party I was asked to pray. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to pray for exactly, if I was praying for the party, or Heshen, or for the food, so I just kinda prayed for everything. I was obviously a little nervous at first because I didn't know most of the people there and I wasn't sure what I was doing exactly, but it was really neat to be asked and that they saw me as someone who could pray for the party and that prayer was even important enough to include so that was awesome.
After my prayer the clown took over and did some games with the kids which were kind of weird. They played some games for a while and then we started the food. The food consisted of the pig on the table which you just kind of stuck your fork in and took what you wanted, fried pig fat on a stick (which is a favorite here), a hot dog and 2 marshmallows on a stick (which I thought was kind of a random combination), other foods that I'm not totally sure what they were, and a chocolate cake (which was apparently just for looks because we didn't actually eat it, it just sat there on the table). Being a special guest of course everyone wants to pile food on my plate even though I didn't really want any of it. Part of being a missionary is learning how to eat gross foods without gagging and learning how to sneak food onto other peoples' plates without them noticing, unfortunately I'm a lot better at the latter.
After we ate the clown took over again and started his "magic" tricks, which were absolutely terrible I thought. His first trick was to put a piece of tape on the bottom of a 2 liter bottle full of water so that when he took his fingers off it wouldn't pour off. Well he lost a quarter of the water trying to do it and it took about 5 minutes before he actually got it to work, not the best way to start a magic show. is second trick went much worse actually. He had a cup of yellow liquid and a cup of clear liquid. He said that he was going to put the clear liquid into the yellow liquid and it would change color. So I figured there would be a chemical reaction of the two liquids and it would turn dark or something, well he poured the cups together and after a minute of waiting for it to change color and it not changing color, he said "look, now it's light yellow!" Yeah, the kids didn't buy it either. His third trick involved a cup and a spoon. He had the spoon in the middle of the cup and claimed he could hold the cup up with just the spoon. It was impressive for a second, until you saw his back two fingers holding the back of cup. One of the kids noticed to and stood up to point it out to everyone and the clown shooed him away. His next trick he called a volunteer, I did a good job of ducking and he called my partner teacher Hya up. I was so glad it wasn't me because I was seriously creeped out by the guy, I did feel a little bad for Hya though. His next trick he pulled up another woman to be a volunteer. He had a bag that he showed everyone was empty. He had the woman turn around and stuck the bag up to her back he then pulled a bra out of the bag. I was first off shocked because really? This is a 7 year old's birthday party and you're doing that as a trick, but I was also shocked because I legitimately wasn't sure how he did it. I was actually impressed. All the kids laughed and all of the teachers had the same kind of shocked look on their face.
After the magic show they brought out what I call the Filipino pinata. Its really nothing like a pinata but it's a square medal grid that has a bunch of bags full of candy hanging from it. You hold it up over the kids and its a wild and crazy free for all as the kids grab the bags of candy. Surprisingly, blindfolding a kid, giving them a big stick, spinning them around until they're dizzy and telling them to swing wildly as hard as they can is way safer than what they do here. It was such a crazy experience to see a birthday party here and see how things are celebrated and what people do. I was so glad I got to go and see it and experience it with everyone.
Here are some pictures of some of my kids at the party.

Yes, I had to wear that hat the whole time haha.

Hya doing the magic trick with the clown.

This week I also got to experience Teacher Day. I usually get bombarded with a huge group hug as soon as I walk into my class in the morning, but last Wednesday I got bombarded and they were saying happy teacher day Mr. Schmidt. I wasn't sure what they were talking about because I had never heard of a Teacher Day before, but apparently in the Philippines there is a day that is for teachers. Each one of them had made a card for me that drew pictures on and wrote things like "thank you for teaching us" and "we love you". It was really awesome. I think there needs to be a couple of these teacher days instead of just once a year, but one is a start. It was a really cool experience and it was awesome to go through all of the cards that they made me. I'm definitely keeping those. Here are some of the cards that they made for me.

A song that was sung in church on Sunday really hit me and later that afternoon I decided to draw a picture about it. The lyrics say my life is in You Lord, my strength is in You Lord, my Hope is in You Lord, in You, it's in You. I think one of the reasons it really hit me was that there seems to be a lot going on back home that I'm missing. Things are happening but I'm over here doing something totally different. I went all in for this opportunity and I don't regret it at all, but I'm depending on God for everything. my life is in His hands over here, I gave up a lot of my own desires and trusted that He would lead me to what's best. My strength is in Him. There are things that I am good at that are easy for me to do here, there are also things that are very difficult and I know I wouldn't be able to handle it all if it wasn't for God being my strength through everything that I deal with here. My hope is in Him. I put my trust entirely in God that this was where he wanted me to be and I went knowing that my hope in all situations was completely dependent on Him. My everything is in Him and I'm all in here on the island of Boracay to do whatever it is he wants me to do. That's what this picture represented to me.

Here are some pictures of my 2nd graders. My partner teacher Hya took these pictures and I got them off of her facebook.

From left to right the girls are Jecel, Arah, Hazel, Karryl Angel, and Mikaella. The boys from left to right are Jules, Rjon, John Lester, and Marc Angelo.

From left to right Jecel, Hazel, Karryl Angel, Mikaella, and Arah

The boys from left to right John Lester, Jules, Rjon, Marc Angelo, and Jared.

These kids are wild and crazy and completely full of energy and joy. I love them like crazy but they are definitely a handful. The other day they were totally crazy and so I had them get up and do jumping jacks and Hya joked to me to have them do 100, and they actually probably got pretty close.They were jumping around for about 5 minutes straight. And to end with a little bit of a funny story I was walking around as the kids were writing their answers in their workbooks, and I stopped at one of the girls desks and her answers were right but she was putting question marks at the end of them. So I told her "your answers are good, but what goes at the end of the sentence, a period right, because these aren't questions. Her response was " I don't really like those, I like question marks a lot better".