A random fiesta

It had been a long time since we (my class and I) had done something special for school. Perhaps you could say we were in the "winter doldrums". Except without the snow and the cold. But that same lingering feeling of "let's do something crazy!".

So we did...

I had originally planned to have my three whipper-snappers here with me for an entire weekend (what was I thinking, right!), but that didn't work out. So I planned to have them for an entire Thursday, instead.

We would have no school, do whatever we feel like, and eat like kings! Don't know about the "eating like kings" part, since I did the cooking, but I like to think I did alright in spite of Maria Eva's skepticism: "Samuel, haha, are you going to haha cook tomorrow?" :) At least my kids didn't die; that's a good thing, right?

Anyway, so the day started out with our normal singing/devotions. We decided to sing at our campsite (a secluded corner a short distance away from the house). After that the day was pretty much planned like this:

"Miguel, Jairo, Joel, what do you want to do?"

And then we did that. We went from pushing each other around on an old lawnmower converted into a motor-less go-cart, to riding bikes, to looking at pictures, to playing with the others at recess time. Usually an activity terminated and another was begun when they were bored and started bickering or when Mr. Not-Enough-Exercise (that would be me) was too tired.

Lunchtime!

So I made a fire, and we had steak with chirmol (diced tomatoes and onions with cilantro, lemon, and salt) finished off with some ice-cream. 

After devotions with the rest of the school were finished the rest of the school children went home and mine stayed for the afternoon.

Of course at that time of the day (2:00PM) it was just way too hot to walk around with dry clothes, so we decided to have a water fight! Matthias and Nata's children also got in the action of filling buckets and dousing each other until we couldn't possibly be any wetter. We also made good use of our trampoline by taking turns jumping and spraying water onto each other with the hose.

As a means of drying off, then, we played running games and later, blew up rocket balloons. Elmer was hired as our ballon-blower-up'er since he was the one with the air-hose. Some of the other children that stay here doing the week and even some bigger "children" helped us with this activity.

Once the balloons were all gone it was time for supper which consisted of hotdogs roasted with sticks, french fries fried in a frying pan (try saying that ten times fast) over the fire, and ice cream. Because if you aren't good at making cake, cookies, or pastries, ice cream is the way to go! :)

And that was all for the day! After taking Joel and Jairo home (Miguel sleeps here) I finished cleaning up and got ready for school for the next day. By the time it was bedtime I was pretty tired!

I have an app on my phone that counts the footsteps I take. That day I had over 15,000 and I didn't even play soccer like we usually do on Thursdays. Compare that to my average which is probably about 7,000 during the week. So yea I was tired...

But also satisfied. I won't be with these boys forever and even if I stay here for years they will continue growing up. I pray that I can put the time God gives me with them to good use! That God would use me in whatever way to help them learn about Him so that later when they are ready they would be able to have a relationship with Him. He is the whole point of our work here in El Salvador, after all!

Would you join me in prayer? 

The bike brigade.

Just cannot wait until lunch.

Somehow Miguel thought a bent spoon
would be more efficient.

Supper time!

The boys are back!

Note: Can I just congratulate myself for writing two posts...in one weeks time! Ok. Thank you, thank you. You may sit down now. Or get up from the floor if the surprise was that bad. :) 

For the first time in a really long time, I have my whole class of locos back together again this week! It's been five weeks since I had all three of my students for a whole week.

Left to right: Jairo, me, Miguel, Joel

Miguel had been absent for the last five weeks, some of those weeks due to recovery from an operation he had. He came briefly two weeks ago, but only stayed three days, because he became sick again. And Joel stayed at home the whole last week, which is a rarity in itself. Joel is a very tough kid, and he hardly misses two days of school in a row.

But praise God for answered prayers and healthy bodies! I'm very thankful that I can have all my boys back again!

Of course, due to missing so much time, I figured I would have to back waaaaay up in schoolwork for Miguel, since he usually forgets pretty easily. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when he showed up ready and willing to learn! And I haven't had to review much. He is about where he was in math (he can count from 0 to 20 pretty much by himself) and he did much better learning his words this week. He remembered today how to spell a word I taught him yesterday without a prompt! I know that may not seem very earth-shaking, but sit with Miguel for a day in class and you'll understand why it's so amazing that he remembered. :) He still needs a bit more practice in paying attention, but still! 

This week on Thursday I'm planning on having a fiesta day for my class. Just a random day I planned where we won't have school and we'll do all kinds of fun stuff all day. I told them that we'll have hotdogs and meat to make, that we'll eat ice-cream, and play games. Poor Miguel, who can really only pay attention at one thing at a time if that, can hardly think of anything else except "16 (July 16)!, fire!, meat!, play!, eat!". He signs it like that, too. :) I hope to let y'all know how that went.

Another thing that we can all praise God for is what seems to be a change for the better in Carlos, one of the oldest students, whom I had written about earlier. (If you didn't read that, you can if you click here.) He has always caused many headaches and prayers sent to the Father these last couple of years due to disrespecting authority, stealing, and other things. However some of us have noticed a better attitude toward authority and a will to try to do better. We're hoping and praying that Carlos is maybe at last allowing God to work in heart and lowering his natural defenses towards Him.

So praise God with us and pray that God could continue to work with him, 'cause we can't! Also, especially pray for Matthias, his teacher, and Elmer, his dorm dad, that God would give them lots of patience and wisdom as they relate to Carlos in the classroom and afternoons.

Thanks a lot for reading! I appreciate your support and prayers very much!

Additional prayer requests:

• Nata's family (the director) and the board. They will be making quite a few weighty decisions in the next few weeks. Please pray that God could give them wisdom in making those decisions.
• Also pray for safety for Nata's. They will be traveling to Mexico and staying for about three weeks at another deaf school there that needs help starting up.
• Continue to pray for Silvia. We don't know how she is or what she is doing since being sent home, but pray that God would work in her heart.

Poor Elmer! Too much work in the afternoon, I guess.

Jairo is under the desk. I have been practicing
prepositions with my students recently. They had to
roll the dice with different ones and then illustrate
the preposition that was rolled. Abajo = under

Dwight with his favorite companion, Matthias.

Jairo showing off his "Amish" suspenders. (He didn't
have a belt, so I fixed the problem like this.)

Waiting in line to deposit dirty plates on the counter. Why they didn't stack
 all their plates on one pile is beyond me. :)

An old tractor lawn mower put to good use.

Enjoying the rain! We haven't had much these last couple days.

And I baptize you...

Showing off the hops...

Cook in training. Today Beatriz was making bread. And
it was good too!

Miguels favorite game these last couple days
has been UNO.

Román putting a tad too much salt on his watermelon
has Eduardo laughing.

Elmer making (from scratch, mind you) a hutch for some newly
acquired bunnies.

A day with Román

It was Monday morning. I was tired. But nonetheless, I was ready to begin another week at CICS teaching my little ones.

I had heard Sunday that Miguel, because of being sick yet again, poor guy, would not be coming so I was planning on only having two kids.

A little later I found out from Matthias that Jairo wouldn't be coming either because he was sick as well! He, along with Beatriz, had gotten picked up in Las Delicias where he had stayed for the weekend and had traveled with Nata for that part of the Monday morning school route.

Great! Only having Joel would really enable me to focus on brushing up some concepts that he had been struggling with. Plus it would make for a slightly less frazzling Monday morning.

Only to have the van pull in with none of my yippies inside! Turned out Joel was sick too! I wasn't sure what to do. This had never happened to me ever.

I'm sure you think you know the next part of this story. "He went and slept the whole forenoon", you're probably thinking. Not quite...

Since I had been hanging around Román that morning I decided to sing with him just for the morning devotions. I enjoy being with Román, even though his constant disobedience can be very trying.

This morning he was in a particularly weird mood, as he followed me around constantly hugging me. He refused to acknowledge his normal teachers, Mary and Paty.

"¿Me amás a mí, Román?", asked Mary. ["Do you love me?"]

"¡No!", he replied curtly. ["No!"]

"¿A Samuel?", she prodded. ["Do you love Samuel?"]

"¡Chí!", he stated emphatically. ["Yes!"]

"¿Querés ir con él para la escuela?" ["Do you want to go with him for school?"]

"¡Chí!" ["Yes!"]

"¿Seguro?" ["Sure?"]

"¡Chí!" ["Yes!"]

Even though Román can say very few words, besides "sí" (he pronounces it "chí") and "no", he made it very clear that he only wanted to be with me, all the while with a huge, goofy grin on his face. I'm sure he didn't actually think that, since he loves being with his teachers normally, but this morning, for whatever reason, he decided to be ornery.

We decided to give him his wish...

And so I was his teacher for the rest of the day, since I had no one to teach anyway. Then Mary could go and teach Zulma how to sew. Worked out great!

The first hour was a lot of fun with Róman. We sang. We practiced animal signs. We looked at books. We colored. We practiced writing even though he didn't want to. We practiced obeying. We finger painted. We kneaded play-dough. We tossed a ball. But then I started running out of ideas of things to do...

By the time school was over, I was exhausted! I enjoyed the new experience, but let's just say I now have an even greater respect for Mary, Paty, and all of you out there who teach little ones! With my little-ish kids I can at least catch a little break sometimes while they're working, but not so with smaller ones. You might not have much class preparation beforehand, but then you have a lot of work in class!

Take a moment to thank the people who teach your children, big or little. They do a lot of work that probably even you don't know about!

Some prayer requests for all of you prayer warriors and supporters! I appreciate y'all and I'd like to thank each of you personally, but this big, huge "THANKS!!" is pretty much the best I can do I'm afraid.

• Joel, Jairo, Miguel, and others that have been feeling sick these last couple days. Pray for health for them and for all of us.
• Silvia. Long story short, she got expelled and won't come back until some decisions get made about her future here at CICS. For more details, read the last couple posts on Melody's blog. Pray that God would work a miracle in Silvia's heart. 
• Us staff. We constantly have issues to work through and we plead for God's wisdom and grace to help us through each day, all the while glorifying and working for Him.

Here come the yippies!

Ok, I'll admit that title is a tad strange, but it's interesting, right? :)

And by yippies, I mean my younger siblings: Elmer, Matthew, Martha, Joshua, and Martha. It was so much fun tussling with them again! Except this time it was fighting over a hammock in El Salvador instead of over a couch on a Sunday afternoon at home.

"yippies?" you ask?

yippies [yī-peez] - a collection of human beings who are very easily excited and can, without warning, erupt into a storm of giggles. Commonly suffer from acute heebie-jeebies. 

heebie-jeebies [hee-bee-jee-beez] - ... ok, I'll stop. We don't want to be at this all day! 

So yea, long story short, my family came to visit, due to some very cheap, answer-to-prayer tickets ($286!). Dad had promised me if I find some under $300, he would bring the family. I looked pretty much everyday until I found some. Still can't quite believe it!

We had a lot of fun from the very beginning, when all of my siblings got to meet Elmer and the other deaf. We had Skyped with Elmer and Verónica before, but nothing quite like meeting them in person. When we got back from the airport, all the deaf were waiting to be taken home, so I spent some time introducing each of my family to most of the children. I say most, because Román was having nothing of this! He stayed hidden behind the house until it was time to leave. My family is a bit scary, I know... :)

Alas, the seven days they were here passed all too quickly. During their time here, we did some traveling. We went to Suchitoto where we had a tour by boat. We went to the coffee shop and Strong Tower Children's Home. We also visited El Boquerón (a volcano), where we ate some delicious, but expensive, pupusas.

During school I had to teach so most of my family usually hung around my class, or roamed around other classrooms. Martha enjoyed sitting with Melody and her class of girls (and Eduardo). And Katelyn followed Paty all over--even when school wasn't in session. The first couple days Katelyn was here, I had to remind Katelyn how to say Paty's name in Spanish so that it doesn't sound like "potty". It's pronounced exactly the same, just with a harder "t".

The rest of their time here was spent just hanging out and having fun. Which is not hard with my family, as you can probably tell just by how I started this post. Another little tidbit I should mention is that in the time my family was here at CICS, they drank 34 bottles of glass-bottle drinks! It probably would have been a lot more if my Dad hadn't imposed a daily limit of a bottle per person.

And when the time came, it wasn't fun leaving them at the airport again, but nothing good here on this earth can last forever, I suppose. It was great while it lasted!

The day after my family left, we got another visitor. Wesley, a former worker here, stayed here until just yesterday. It was great having him here and hanging out with him! I was also able to receive a lot of good advice and encouragement from him, since he worked here for four years and has considerably more experience than I do.

School these last three weeks have been a bit duller (or easier, depending how you look at it), due to a missing student. Miguel had surgery, so he staying with his mom until he is fully recovered. I'll readily admit, school is easier without his distracting antics and lack of paying attention, but I miss his giggle and cheerfulness! It's about time you come back, Miguel! We hope for him to come back this next week.

I started something new for this week of school. As does almost any classroom, I have some things that are unacceptable for the students to do in class. This list of things is usually called "the rules" and contains items such as "be quiet",  "don't talk unless asked", "be honest", etc. My students know what to do, but for some unknown reason, those guidelines continuously slip out of their minds (unless they see the other doing it, then it's terrible!). 

So I decided we should "practice" our rules. Every Monday, one of the students draws a slip of paper out of a container containing all our rules. We read the rule and write it on the whiteboard. Then we practice it. For this week it was "tell the truth" (they always like to blame others for their mistakes). I became a "student" (albeit, a giant one) and punched Joel. Then I blamed it on Joel. I mean, duh, if I punch someone, it's his fault because he deserved it! Then Jairo was told to arbitrate. He told me that I was wrong to punch, and that it was my fault. He said I should accept the blame because it was an action I did. Well done, Jairo! 

Hopefully these practice sessions help them practice not just small things like classroom rules, but also how to act out there in the big scary world, where each one is responsible for their own actions, where respecting others is a part of life, and where things aren't always fair.

We also had something very exciting happen for Paola, one of the girls in Melody's class. She declared that she wanted God to "clean her heart". It's so exhilarating, and at the same time humbling, to see the children make any step towards Christ and hopefully this is the first of many for Paola! But I'll let Melody tell you that story. Please visit her blog to read all about that and many other stories about CICS. For those of you that don't have internet, I'll include the relevant paragraph here:

...And then God gives us special gifts. Paola is one of my students that I have been watching very closely this year. It was clear to me there was a major struggle going on inside her tender heart. I knew God was talking to her, but like someone else I know quite well, she was sure she could do this on her own. And she kept trying. And my heart kept hurting for her. But Tuesday, the minute she arrived at school she told me she wanted to talk to me. And she confessed that she had not been honest with me. And she told me that she wants to pray and ask Jesus to "clean her heart." (Sometimes sign language just says it so much better.) So we prayed together. And I cried. And she looked at me funny, because she was smiling. And I felt so humbled. What do I know about discipling a child? Because the first step that Paola took is important and we are always emotional when a child takes that step, but what happens afterward is the whole story. The Decision is only the step out the front door to begin a journey that will last a lifetime. Pray for Paola, she has no one in her life, besides us here at school, who will help her or who will even appreciate the decision she made. Pray for me. I need wisdom!

This afternoon, we have a youth gathering that lasts until Saturday. Youth come from all over El Salvador to listen to sermons and interact with each other. Susanna and Cecilia Ramos are here in El Salvador and are planning on being here for that as well. Looking forward to having them here at CICS again!

Not much more to say, but wanted to leave y'all with some prayer requests. We here at CICS covet your prayers! They really do help! We are quite literally in a spiritual battle for the souls of all these dear children. Satan does his best to sow miscommunication and discord among us in the hopes of us giving up, or worse, reacting and making things worse.

• Pray that God would give wisdom to us staff. I was reading Proverbs one day, where it says "wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" That has been my prayer a lot recently!
• Pray for Paola. Life isn't easy here, especially for the deaf. Pray for her that she would be willing and humble enough to receive advice from others on her spiritual journey. Pray that the Father would near to her in a tangible way. Pray for her teacher, Melody, and the rest of us staff that we could encourage Paola and be godly mentors and examples for her.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers! A million thanks... Here are some pictures for y'all to enjoy:

Mom helped out on art day, when I had everyone paint
whatever they wanted.

Katelyn got some help playing her favorite game, much to her delight.

Everyone got in on the mango-eating action!

Katelyn loved tagging along with Paty.
She followed her around everywhere!

Elmer and Matthew drawing a machine of their dreams. 5,000 mph, really?!

A new mom and dad!

Our Monday morning tradition: talking about what we did on the weekend
and practicing paying attention to what others are saying.

The yippies also worked sometimes, believe it or not!

Dad's techy, phone-fixing skills were put to use at replacing
 a swelled battery in my phone.