Highs and lows

A lot has been on my mind lately, especially these last couple days because of things that happened here and also at home. This post might be a bit lengthy, but I'll try to keep it concise. :)

Lows

• Difficulties with some of the children while Nata's are gone.
• Beatriz needing to miss school, because her father has started drinking again. The family went away for awhile until he calms down a bit.

Highs

• Making better-than-usual progress with my students, especially the youngest one, Jairo.
• Being around the Ramos family every day. They agreed to stay here three weeks as houseparents while the Nata Aguilar family is in Mexico. 
• Texting with my mom(!) after convincing, or conniving :), my dad into getting  her an iPhone so she can iMessage me since I'm using an iPhone down here.

Now you might think, "Wow, you have twice as many 'highs' as 'lows'. Isn't that good?" Actually, it is and I would like to praise God for all the blessings He has so generously bestowed on me, but you know how sometimes a few problems seem to somehow engulf and make you forget about all the blessings? However, to make sure I'm not misunderstood, this is not a post meant to complain, whine, or blame God for anything. But, sometimes we need to be honest with ourselves, because, let's face it, life is not all sunshine and roses. The purpose of this post IS to inform you what's going on in my life down here in El Salvador, whether it be good or bad, and to enable you to join me in petitioning God for the 'lows' and enthusiastically praising Him for the 'highs'. Ultimately, we know God will triumph, and problems won't last forever. God can and will use everything for good. Satan will not prevail. I especially had to think of Jeremiah 29:11 these past couple days. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future'".

It's been over a week since we sent Silvia home. Ever since Nata's left for Mexico, Silvia started acting up like you wouldn't believe. Throwing things. Ignoring people trying to talk to her. Hitting and punching. Crying and refusing to co-operate. This all took a toll on Andrea, Melody, Pauline, and all of us, but especially them. Weekends when she went home seemed far and few between. Nothing seemed to help Silvia's behavior and it was obvious something needed to be done. After the first week was over, they had a good talk with Silvia's mom. Her mom is a HUGE blessing to us. She supports any punishment given to Silvia, and sometimes even thinks we're being too easy on her. Anyway, her mom told the ladies that if Silvia gave any more problems, she would come and bring her home where she would stay until Nata's come back from Mexico. And Silvia was told all of this as an extra incentive to behave. Monday started out well. She was cheerful and a pretty good student. But sometime in the afternoon she changed back again. She was taken home and she won't come again at least until Nata's come back.

On Sunday, we found out that Beatriz's dad has started drinking again. If you remember, her dad had been a drunkard before, but had stopped drinking for over half a year. But on Friday, he had been drinking and the family didn't feel safe at home with him, so this weekend everyone packed up and went to be with some relatives. They still didn't feel safe coming back on Sunday, so Beatriz wasn't able to come to school today. Her coming to school tomorrow will most likely depend on her father bringing her, and who knows if that will happen.

On the bright side, school has been going exceptionally well this week, for which I am very grateful. Jairo normally struggles a lot with math, but this week, with the help of some new techniques I've been trying, he has been noticeable improving. I think he was bored with the same old practice, so I decided to spice it up for him by teaching him in different ways. And it's worked!

Teresa, Ana, and Paola trying to see how fast they can maneuver through
the maze of numbers that I created to teach Jairo number sequences. 

Having the Ramos family around here all the time has been a lot of fun already. Talking, playing games, hanging out--you name it! I'm gonna be sad when they leave this weekend. During the week Kendrick sometimes visits my classroom and helps me teach which is a great help. In the afternoons we have unicycle races (yes, I can ride unicycle--can you believe it?!) and sometimes he goes with me to town. The rest of the family sometimes comes down to play games or talk in the evenings and weekends. Lot's of visits to the local coffee shop as well. And Jumbi (is that how it's spelled?), Susanna's parrot constantly keeps up a stream of squawks, just so we know he/she is there. However, this is their last week here, and I'm sure they're about ready to go back to their own home. I probably would be! It's been a real blessing having them here.

BREAKING NEWS: Linda Stoltzfus, a formerly Amish lady from the Lancaster County area in Pennsylvania, has gotten an iPhone, witnesses say. It is uncertain how this was possible, but apparently a son, living in El Salvador, had something to do with it. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but I just had to say something. Still can't believe my mom actually has an iPhone. But, in all seriousness, I now have text conversations with my mom and dad (and my sister if manages to borrow an iPhone) during the day which is so cool! 

Some other highlights include Skypeing with some of my friends and family and getting snail mail and emails. I am blessed by the support and prayers of y'all. I know I keep saying that, but I don't know how else to say it. May God bless you! 

So, yeah, there you have it. My last couple days in, I guess sort of, a nutshell. And, since I more or less have my prayer requests at the beginning, I won't repeat them here. Thanks a lot for praying!

No that's not right... 

THAT on my hand?! Joel is a little skeptical about
what he's about to do. On this day we had an art class
in Melody's classroom with her students.

Puzzle time! Left to right: Melody, Miguel,
Joel, Eduardo, Jairo, Cecilia.

Joel, Jairo, Eduardo, and Miguel proudly display their finished puzzle.

It's moments like that these that make me wonder how
this guy is going to turn out. :)

Meet a student: Miguel

Name:      Miguel Angel Hernandez Acosto

Age:         6 years old

Arrival:    First started coming to CICS in May of 2013

Teacher:  Melody Eash

Miguel is a typical very mischievous little 6 year old with seemingly boundless energy. He is one of those kids that you need to watch constantly or he'll get in trouble. However, his broad smile and sly grin, combined with his obvious need for someone to give him love and attention, makes it all worth it! Sure he can be bad and cause many problems, but if we can be of help to guide him towards a relationship with  Jesus Christ, what does it matter the costs here on earth?

We don't know much about Miguel's early life, but we do know he was born into a family that rejected him. His mother left him when he was young, upon which his aunt took upon herself the responsibility to care for him. His aunt had another child by birth, who is essentially a younger brother to Miguel, although not by blood. This is pretty much the extent of his family--his birth mom, as far as we know, has no contact with him whatsoever. He probably wouldn't even recognize her on sight. The place where Miguel lives with his aunt isn't what you would call an ideal home. The house is next door to a little comedor (restaurant) where lots of men come to eat and drink beer. Somehow Miguel developed a taste for the vile stuff and he has told us already that it's his favorite! He has come to school already acting a bit woozy, most likely from an alcohol hangover. With a childhood like this, it is no wonder Miguel sometimes struggles respecting authority and getting along with the other children!

Miguel started school here at CICS in May of 2013. A (then) 5 year old little boy, he had been coming to CICS barely two weeks before he had to have a punishment. The following story about that incident was written by Matthias Beachy for his blog: matheyeus.wordpress.com. Used by permission.

It was right after devotions. Kevin told me that Miguel had flipped him off. I told Miguel to come. He knew I wanted him to come. So he nicely kept his distance. I didn't want to chase him, but… 

He walked right into Wesley. Got him. We went to my room. Think he was already screaming at this point. I told him that flipping people off was illegal. A no no. I decided for his punishment I would hit his hand twice with a stick I had. When he saw the stick he yelled and yelled. I made him stand in one little square in my room. He wanted to move around. He cried. Yelled. 

Refused to give his hand. Clasped it tightly behind him. I made the signs numerous times that flipping people off, illegal, a no no. Asked for his hand. Told him two whacks. Nothing doing. 

I gave him a whack on the behind. Telling him to give me his hand. He yelled. Cried. But refused. He knew what I wanted. He kept trying to back up against the wall. I pulled him back to his square. He was trying to see what he could get away with. 

He even tried saying he was sorry. That bout got me. But he really wasn't sorry cause he refused to let me whack his hand. 

Several more, giving him the option of giving me his hand. Not happening. Whacks on the behind. More yelling. Refusal. Repeat. Repeat. He yelled and yelled. He was furious.
I decided I had spanked him enough. Now I would wait. Waited. Made sure he stayed in his square. We are talking like a half hour or so by now. I needed to go meet Flavio in town, but decided it was more important to finish this and explain to Flavio that I had to take care of some things before coming. 

Miguel was getting tired. He was still yelling and crying. I kept asking for his hand. He tried to sit down. Tried to go lie down on his bed. I held him for a bit. He wanted to leave. I put him in his square. He flopped to the floor. I was about at the end. What do you do? Then, he quit. He held out his hand. Was pretty amazing. He let me whack it twice. 

He told me sorry. I gave him a hug and went with him to tell Kevin sorry. Then I left to meet Flavio.

You would think the kid would hate me after that. So mean. Me spanking him. Forcing him to come to the decision to let me whack his hand. But no, when I got back, he liked me more than ever. Felt like the structure and discipline given him was what he needed. Like he respected me cause I didn't allow him to control me. 

Fast forward another day. So Miguel comes into my room and sees the stick I used to punish him. He looks at it. Picks it up. Whacks his hand with it. Looks at me and says, "don't flip people off".

Miguel has learned a lot since that incident, however, he still needs frequent reminders about different conduct issues. But when he is in a good mood, he is a joy to be around. He likes to show off make other people laugh. He achieves his goal quite often with his outlandish facial expressions and toothless grin. :) We try not to laugh at him too much, but sometimes it's a little hard to restrain our laughter.

Since he lives so far away, Miguel stays here at CICS all week, until the weekend, when he goes home to be with his aunt. He is fairly young yet, so he doesn't have a lot of responsibilities, but he helps feed the various animals and helps with dishes fairly frequently. Doing the dishes with him, means you'll probably have some water splashed around at some point. He also helps Elmer, his dorm dad, with any other work that he can do. Miguel likes to tag along after anyone who will let him. In the afternoon, one of his favorite pastimes is riding bike. It's quite amusing to see this small, skinny kid, with pants not reaching down to his ankles, riding this bicycle about as tall as he is. :)

Pray for Miguel this week as you think about him. Pray that he could grow up to know Jesus as his personal Savior. Pray that he could be an example to others who look up to him when he grows up. Pray for his teacher, Melody, and his dorm dad, Elmer, as they try to teach him practical things and also about God. Pray that he could use his difficult early life as a platform to demonstrate God's power of healing and restoration. Pray for Miguel...

I hope you enjoyed this special blog post! I would be interested to know if you would like to hear about the rest of the students in this way. My contact information is on the right if you would like to correspond. God bless y'all for your support to this ministry!

Miguel "helps" pick some juicy mangoes from the many
huge mango trees we have out back in our meadow.

Miguel, along with Silvia, prepare to pray at the close of a school day.

Miguel is the delighted recipient of a ride on Susanna Ramos's bicycle.

Competencia, and the Ramos family joins us

 Just wanted to put a small note here in honor of my mom for Mother's Day. It might be late, but no less meaningful. My mom never hesitated to clean up after me or to help me when I was down. She spent an unknown amount of sleepless nights worrying and/or crying about me. For all this, and for everything I don't even know about, thank you mom! God bless you for your efforts and I love you!

So this last Friday's competencia, our version of a spelling bee, was the culmination of the first third of the school year spent studying and learning new words. Students were required to know how to write a word when given a sign, how to fingerspell a word when given a sign, and the correct sign for a word being fingerspelled to them. Each group of students, grouped together by talent-level, competed for a small prize awarded to the person with the highest cumulative score.

It was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience for me at first. For starters, a student from my class behaving poorly would be a failure in my mind. Although I tried convincing myself that I did my best, my mind refused to co-operate. Don't you hate when it does that?! Also, on the day before the competition, when I had set aside a lot of time for practicing the final list of words, Jairo was sick! But ya know, as it always is, it went much better than expected. Jairo actually did better than Joel, which was a very pleasant surprise (on Jairo's part, that is).

As for Joel, well... Let's just say, he has a bit of a problem with overconfidence. It's a bit comical to watch sometimes. He will confidently boast that he knows ALL the words before a test, declare himself the predestined winner and then totally and completely bomb it. But hey, at least he has the I-think-I-can attitude, right? :) He's a really intelligent individual--he just needs to learn to slow down and make sure sometimes.

Jairo digs into his brain for correct sign for P-E-R-R-O (dog).

The winner from my class! Eduardo studied hard and deserved
to win. He wasn't perfect, though. Next time he'll do even better! :)

On Saturday, some of guys went to a public pool place just down the road. It's a bit overgrown and small, but at least it's water! They do have these really cool water slides with a pool at the bottom. They have a red slide that's about 50 feet high with an near vertical drop. And of course, once the rush wears off just sliding down normally, you can go down backwards, or jump out at the top and get a 1 second free fall before you hit the slide again. :)

Much fun to be had!

Starting the past Monday, the Ramos family is now living here to take the place of Nata and Becky while they are in Mexico to help start up a new deaf school there. I, for one, was and still am very excited about them being here. I think they'll make excellent house-parents! I'm sure it's quite a change for them, but they're doing a swell job as far as I can tell.

Not to say that this doesn't present it's challenges. The biggest one is the change in authority for the children. I'm sure I was bad for the substitute teacher, as well, but why do children think a change in authority merits misbehaving just to be sure that the substitute really is capable? You tell me... Anyway, that kinda leads me into the prayer requests:

• Pray HARD for these weeks while Nata and Becky are gone that the children would respect authority, just they are expected to do at other times. 
• Pray especially for Silvia, one of the girls that stays here during the week, and a member of Melody's class. She is usually a bit of a handful, even with Nata's here, but ever since Monday, she has been out of control.
• Pray for Andrea, Silvia's dorm mom, and Melody, her teacher. Pray for wisdom and patience.
• Pray for the school in general, that God would protect this school and not let Satan divide, or in any other way, harm the ministry here.

Pilgrims and strangers

As I'm sure some of you know, getting all the paperwork done for a long stay in a foreign country can sometimes be a long and arduous process--especially if your paperwork isn't exactly right. My paperwork was all in order, praise God, and it still took 5 trips to various locations in El Salvador until I had my NIT and my carné (see below). Plus, before I even got to El Salvador, I needed to acquire a certified copy of my birth certificate with an apostille attached and a criminal record sheet with an apostille attached. All told, I made 2 trips to Harrisburg at home and 5 trips down here in order to get the two plastic cards below. Also, my wallet was about $160 lighter. Yikes!!

My carné, a residency card that serves as identification.

My NIT, an identification number that you need to get your license
 and also for other various reasons.

All this stuff about immigration made me think of what my high school science teacher, Mr. Harrison, used to say when we would talk about citizenship, traveling, passports and such. [This is my best Mr. Harrison voice] "Brother, Mr. Stoltzfus, did you forget that other country you are a citizen of?" :) And he's right. If we are Christians, we are part of the Heavenly Kingdom of God. It's free (money-wise), anyone can be a part of it, and there is no paperwork required! Only heart-work. Praise God for salvation and His blood that he shed on the cross to pay for our "immigration"! I hope this thought blesses you as much as it did me.

In other news since last time...

The week after vacation started off with a bang! On Tuesday night, a group came to visit Melody. They are staying until this coming Thursday morning. They brought along a bunch of things for school and otherwise that us staff had order online and shipped to Melody's house. They also helped to butcher 87 chickens on Thursday. Now we have plenty of meat for a while!

Chickens meeting their doom. Left to right: José, Nata, Mauricio, Manuel,
Matthias, Melody, Rose, Andrea, Kendra, and Elmer.

On Wednesday was Joel's eighth birthday! In the last period of school, we made ice cream and ate it with some cake. I also gave him some Legos for his birthday. He and the rest of the class have had lots of fun playing with them already!

What would I do without Eduardo, Joel, and Jairo! They all
tremendously enjoy playing with the new Legos. Joel appears a bit
frustrated, however, in his search for the Lego piece he desires. 

On the weekend, we had a conferencia at church Saturday evening and all day Sunday. Arturo (Arthur) Nisly talked about some key things that makes us different as Anabaptists. He introduced the acronym BISNES to help us remember the key points.

B = Biblia (Bible -how we interpret the Bible and our emphasis on the New Testament)

I  = Iglesia (Church - how we worship)

S = Salvacion (Salvation - our doctrine of salvation)

N = No-Resistencia (Nonresistance - how we treat our enemies)

E = Evangelismo (Evangelism - how we evangelize others)

S = Separacion (Separation - our doctrine of Noncomformity)

Between the power-point that he used and his clear Spanish, I understood most of what he said, which was a blessing! I really enjoyed the weekend and it was well worth the extra church time.

Another major thing (for me). I got more mail! We hadn't gone to the guest house in San Salvador (where all the mail goes) for a while, so there was a bit of a backlog. I got 4 envelopes, a new record! I about couldn't wait to open them all. :) Thanks so much to all you kind people who took the time to write. It is much appreciated! I also want to thank all of you that are praying and supporting me in other various ways. I can't thank you enough and God bless y'all richly!

I hope y'all enjoyed reading! I'll wrap it up with some prayer requests:

• Thank God that the first third (!) of the year went well and pray that He would continue to bless the work here at CICS
• Pray for all of us here that God would give us patience and wisdom as we work with students. Pray that we could plant the Word of God in their hearts and that it would bear fruit in their lives
• Pray for Carlos. He is a student here and he has asked for prayer several times that he could draw closer in his relationship to God. Pray that God would work mightily in his life.
• Pray for safety for our visitors in their travels
• Pray that I could continue to learn the languages. I'm not nearly there yet! I now need to have story (for devotions for the deaf children) 6 times a month, so that'll be a real challenge. I will also start translating for the deaf at church soon.

God bless y'all once again for your support! If you'd like to contact me, please see my contact information on the top right. Until next time...

¡Vacaciones! feat. the Ramos family

This past week was Semana Santa, which is Holy Week for Catholics throughout Central America, and a week-long holiday for everyone else. Most stores are closed and few people stay home. It is said that during Semana Santa, all of El Salvador goes to the beach, and if they are too poor, they find a river somewhere. :)

We opted instead to go to Apaneca, a quaint town in western El Salvador about 15 miles from the Guatemala border, from Tuesday to Thursday. The Loncho Ramos family also vacationed with us and provided us with transportation and helped us fulfill all our touristic needs. :) We were all very blessed that they were able to go along and save us the headache of trying to decide and plan our own trip, plus they were a lot of fun to be with! After our Apaneca trip ended on Thursday, I went home with the Ramos' and stayed at their place for the weekend.

Some highlights:

• Walking/shopping in the beautiful towns of Ataco and Guayua at dusk. There were painted walls everywhere and the late-evening light made all the tourist merchandise glisten and sparkle in the sun. Pretty much everywhere we traveled was at a higher elevation so the air was cool and fresh.
• Zip-lining in the mountains of Apaneca. Some of the cables were strung above canyons probably 500 feet below. Flying over them with nothing supporting you but a 3/4 inch cable is a feeling like no other.
• Talking and playing games until late at night and not needing to stand up (that's how I say it) until...well whenever you felt like it!
• Spending 4 days at the Ramos residence. The whole weekend I was worrying I wasn't doing enough to warrant a bed and food, and the Ramos' were worried I was bored! Whatever the case, spending the weekend at someone from my own church and being able to just let it all hang out was very rejuvenating. I adopted Kendrick as my little brother and made him behave the whole weekend. It wasn't an easy job. :) 
• Texting (via iMessage) and Skypeing with my family. My little sister is starting to talk now and I can't wait to see her and everyone else face to face again!

Below are some pictures of our vacation. I posted many more on our photo stream. There's also a link in the right sidebar of this blog.

Where we stayed for a couple days during our
vacation. A beautiful place to stay!

Pretty merchandise just waiting for a tourist to snatch up.

The zip-lining adventurers! Left to Right: Verónica, Mary Eva, Andrea,
Melody, Matthias, Kendrick, Samuel (me), and Elmer.

You can't see it, but's there's a lot of air beneath me!

Elmer, Matthias, and I. Some of my favorite people! 

¡Qué chistoso! A somewhat drunk individual paid us a visit at the park and
made himself look pretty stupid. Elmer kept fingering at the man's clothing
and eventually convinced the man that he was crazy. :) 

My little bro. Hey there, Kendrick!

After the week of vacation was over it was hard to get back in to the rhythm again, despite the fact that I missed my students. For one, I was short on sleep (isn't it ironic that people always seem to be tired after vacation?!) and doing some actual work again seemed a bit tiring, but I'm definitely not complaining!

School this week has been going well. I'm focusing on really hammering new words into my students. The first of three spelling competitions (more on this later on) is coming up in the beginning of May and we need to be ready. Jairo has been missing the last two days for unknown reasons. Let's hope he comes tomorrow ready to learn!

The rest of this week is going to be a bit different for several reasons:

• Melody's visitors are coming tonight and staying the rest of the week.
• Joel turns 8 tomorrow, so I won't have the class the last period. Instead I will give him his gift and we'll make ice cream to celebrate. I found some Lego's at a mall down here for really cheap and I know he'll like them. I about can't wait to give them to him!
• Also tomorrow, Nata's (the family that's in charge here) are going to San Salvador to get Visas for when they go to Mexico later on this summer. Matthias and Andrea are going along to work on their immigration papers (Melody and I are already done, praise the Lord!)
• On Thursday, we are planning on butchering chickens when the visitors are here. This means we won't have any school that day--instead everyone helps with the chickens, or tries to help as is usually the case for the little ones. :)

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the rest of this week and this year. God will help me if I have problems--nothing is too big for Him! He is the one that strengthens me!

Some prayer requests:

• Thank God that vacation went well and that He could help all of us teachers and students as we "get back into the grind"
• Jairo, that he could come back to school soon
• Joel, that he could have many more happy birthdays and that he could grow up to be a soldier for Christ
• Safety for our visitors as they travel

Many thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read! If there's is something more you'd like to know, or you would like to respond for any reason, feel free to contact me! My contact information is on the right sidebar. God bless you all for your support and prayers! Good-bye for now.

Meet the staff at CICS

I thought I'd dedicate this blog post to introducing the people I work with on a daily basis. I'll refrain from giving too many boring details, but hopefully you'll know everyone a little bit better by the time you finished reading. :)

The amazing people I have the privilege of working with here at the deaf school. This is at El Boqueron, a volcanic tourist attraction where we stopped to eat pupusas. Left to Right: Andrea Hershberger, Maria Eva Pacheco, Melody Eash, Verónica Rosales, Matthias Beachy, Elmermontano Adalberto, and Samuel Stoltzfus (that's me!)

Andrea is the dorm mom for Beatriz and Silvia, the two girls that sleep here during the week, and is responsible to give work for them to do. She also helps with the cooking, does most of the cleaning, and washes all the clothes (and scrubs them when we wear, say, a white shirt for a very dirty activity). We try not to let that happen. :) Taking care of the girls (in her first year, no less) takes quite a bit of wisdom and patience, but she does a swell job.

Maria Eva teaches the oldest group of girls in school. Her students are Ana, Beatriz, Paola, and Teresa. After school here at CICS is finished, she eats a quick meal and walks over to the local hearing school where she teaches again until about 5:30. In spite of her busy schedule, she is usually quite amiable--which is more than could be said of me, I am sure! She is often mistaken to be the daughter of Nata and Becky, the family that is in charge here, but she is actually Becky's younger sister.

Melody is the teacher of Miguel and Silvia, in what you might call a "special-ed" type of class. Probably the most important requirements for a teacher in this class are patience and creativity, of which she has plenty. The children are cute and all, but sometimes they can get on your nerves--you constantly need to keep changing things to keep them from getting bored. She also assists Andrea with dorm mom responsibilities, when needed. Also, her boyfriend got killed by a thoughtless person's sandal. It was quite traumatic for us all when that mouse died!

Verónica is our main source of grub around here. She is deaf, but she doesn't let that get in the way! Besides all the standard El Salvadoran food, she also makes great peanut butter pie, soft pretzels, pizza, and the like. She uses an English cookbook for some recipes, and all the others she has memorized. She is the sister to Ana and Teresa, two students that attend CICS. She is almost never mad, and has an unforgettable laugh that is frequently initiated by Elmer, the clown of the bunch. (see below)

Matthias is the guy in charge around here, besides being a teacher for the oldest boys--Carlos, José, Kevin, and Mauricio. He is also the person I go to for advice and or answers to questions. This is his third year here at CICS, so he has plenty of experience with Spanish, ASL, and various cultural nuances. He has the distinguished honor of being baby Dwight's favorite grown-up, except maybe for his mother Becky. Another fascinating tidbit which earns him quite a bit of teasing from the rest of us: he doesn't like any food that is green or grows on a plant (except Coke and Oreos). Oh, wait...

Elmermontano (Elmer for short) takes care of the boys that sleep here (Carlos, José, Kevin, and Miguel) and makes sure they help with the work--lots of patience and wisdom required! He is also deaf. His main responsibility is making sure everything works as expected around here. This includes such unpleasant work as unclogging the sewer system when it goes kaput and the water comes back up Andrea's shower drain. His other "responsibility" that he fulfills quite well is keeping us all entertained. If he is not telling a funny story or telling a joke, he is pranking some unsuspecting victim and making everyone else laugh in the process. He has (almost) no shame and will often be the first to volunteer for daring or downright crazy ideas. The other night we did the thing where we told him we'd give him $20 if we cracked two eggs on his head. We had a good laugh over that!

And I'm the newbie of the bunch trying to find my place. :) I teach the middle class, Eduardo, Joel, and Jairo. Even though I have the title "teacher", I'm probably learning close to the amount that I'm teaching. Just today, I had to ask my student what a sign was for a certain animal in their books. I often hang around Elmer and Matthias, partly to learn new things, and partly because they're just fun to be around. I'm the only one here from Pennsylvania, so my accent gets mocked frequently. *sniff* Also, I have yet to win any game here at CICS. But there's always hope...

Of course, there is another thing that is the responsibility of ALL of us here that I didn't mention above for repetitiveness' sake, and that is to reflect Jesus Christ in the way we relate to the children. Both by loving them at all times, and also by encouraging them to walk on the straight and narrow way. Sometimes the children need correction, and it is up to us to perform that unpleasant, albeit necessary, task. A lot of these children have grown up in less than ideal homes and they need LOTS of love and encouragement. They very rarely refuse attention, and it is that bright-eyed response, that eager smile, that teasing laugh which helps us to look at the big picture and realize that indeed, as Jesus said in His very own words: "Let the little children come to me... for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." Helping a child respond to the things of God is a privilege unrivaled by anything on this earth! However, doing the above requires a close relationship with the Father. I can't speak for the others, but I really need your prayers in this area. There are so many distractions that Satan would have us observe, but with God's help and your prayers he can be defeated!

And now for some prayer requests:

• All of the students here at CICS: Ana, Beatriz, Carlos, Eduardo, Jairo, Joel, José, Kevin, Mauricio, Miguel, Paola, Silvia, and Teresa
• Especially for Carlos and Ana. They have asked for prayer concerning their spiritual lives. Pray that God would reveal Himself to them.
• Us staff as we try to fulfill our ultimate responsibility: exposing our students to the way of Jesus

Thanks a lot for reading and God bless you for your support and prayers! I couldn't do it without you all! If you would like to contact me, look for my contact information on the right sidebar of my blog. Until next time...

Time's fun when you're havin' flies!

...or as the saying really goes "Time flies when you're havin' fun". You know I never thought I'd be saying this so soon, but I've already been in El Salvador for over a month now! It seems like only a couple days ago that I was in plane headed away from home. God has been really good to me in helping me to feel at home here!

I had a couple of stretching experiences the last couple days. It was my turn to lead songs in sign language for our regular noon devotions here at CICS and a week after, tell a Bible story in sign language. The songs were relatively easy since we sing some of them every day and they can be memorized. But the story! I had to figure out how I was going to present it. What I did is write the story out basically how I would sign it and then I studied it a little. I messed up some, but it went pretty well. The sign for "coffee" and "to make" is almost the same, so I was saying that the people were "coffee-ing" the Tower of Babel. That mind picture just doesn't work! :) I have a lot of practicing to do yet, but I am making progress at least!

Another thing that I did for the first time, was go to collect all the deaf children for church, by myself! Matthias and I are taking turns each Sunday from now on to be the motorista. There are about 16 people in all by the time the van is filled--and no it's not a 15 passenger van--it comfortably holds about 10-12, you know typical packing-it in style. :) I had been going along for the last couple times to memorize where everyone lives. It went well and I don't think I forgot anyone!

School has been going much better since last week--no small thanks to all your prayers! I feel like God is really at work down here. I also introduced a behavior chart, of which you can see a picture below. They start the day on green, and if they misbehave, they move down a color on the chart. If they're extra good, they move up. At the end of the day, if they are on the green, they get a small prize, and if they're on the blue, they get a bigger one. If they ever land on black or if one offense is serious enough, they get a castigo (punishment).

For teaching number sequences, I made an odometer-like device with two dials containing the numbers 0-9. I write a number, say "26" on the board and tell them to advance only the right (one's place) dial to find the number that comes next. I had tried explaining this without an illustration, but they didn't really get it. Now they understand well enough, that they can almost tell me what the next number is without the odometer! Progress, even the littlest bit, is a feeling like no other. Seeing a light-bulb moment is what keeps me going!

And...I got mail! Talk about a day-brightener! I still open it and look at it sometimes. God bless you all who spent the extra time writing a physical card or letter! Now lest I be appearing to diminish all the prayers, emails and all the other ways ya'll have been blessing me--those are just as much of a blessing and all have their place. I trust you know what I mean. :)

On Monday and Wednesday evenings are "staff nights" where all the staff plays a game or does something together. I taught everyone how to play "Black 7" last week and we've been playing it pretty much every time since. And you would think the teacher would, ya know, WIN at least once?! But no, Matthias creams everyone EVERY SINGLE TIME! I even tried to switch seats, but to no avail. Needless to say, my sense of accomplishment has taken a serious hit and I now view Matthias with a combination of grudging respect and a determination to not let him win next time! *The previous paragraph may not be suitable for sarcasm-sufferers as it was manufactured in a facility that also handles sarcasm.* I guess I should mention that we frequently use sarcasm, puns, and subtle hints around here. If a bug is crawling on someone, guess what is the first thought entering each one's brain? You guessed it: "Is that bugging you?". Fun times. :)

I've also been doing a lot of reading in my spare time. Reading helps my mind to relax, gives my brain a workout, and depending on the book, helps me to think about my relationship with God and others around me. What's not to like? Since I've been here, I've read

• Flatland by Edward A. Abbott
• You've Been Tweeked by Bruce Lengeman
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
• Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
• Love Works by Joel Manby
• A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
• Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck
• With by Skye Jethani
• I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Currently I'm reading Pride & Prejudice (I know, I know) :). I also want to read War and Peace and Les Miserables in the next couple months. We'll see how that works out. If you have any books to recommend, shoot me an email, by all means!

One final thought...did you know that when Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree, she didn't do so alone? According to the NLT, it says that "she gave some [the fruit] to her husband, who was with her [emphasis mine] and he ate it too". It's even worse than we thought, men! Not only did he watch the whole thing and not intervene, but also partook afterwards! Just a random thought brought to my attention by Matthias.

Lastly, but most important, prayer requests:

• Thank God for all the answered prayer so far and that progress is being made in school
• Also pray for Silvia. Her grandfather, one of the only father figures in her life, died a few days ago.
• Pray that my relationship with God could grow stronger. It's far from where I want it to be.
• Pray for patience and wisdom for all the staff here in dealing with the children.

God bless you for praying, even if it's just a little bit! They are being answered! If you have any questions or comments, shoot me an email: samuel@mikesclan.com

My story for noon devotions. See if you can decipher the story
of the Tower of Babel.

My behavior chart. Made with construction paper
and clothes pins.

We made ice cream to celebrate Eduardo's birthday. Nothing beats that on
a hot day!

Elmer (with the iPad) surrounded by lots of fascinated children.

Dwight, Nata and Becky's son, is the little brother of
all of us staff here. We kinda have a competition
going to see who he likes the best. :)

Jairo, seeing if he can add yet another domino to his
tower, during a break in class time.

Mail! No other explanation needed.