September Newsletter
September was a very interesting month. I had a lot of first experiences. I experienced my first dust storm. It is amazing how the dust can coat everything. In Kansas when it rains and blows, a widow that isn't facing the rain can still be open and the rain won't get it. But in Arizona, a window that isn't facing the wind in a dust storm will still let tons of dust in. I helped to clean out a building that had all the windows open during the dust storm. I filled the dustpan with just the dust from a closet-sized bathroom. Another first for me was one of many power outages. Because of the remote location, any wind or bad weather can cause us to lose power for a couple of hours. When I arrived here in August, I was told that I would need candles—but the note didn't mention exactly why. Now I know. We lost electricity for about 2 hours one Sunday afternoon. A few other times, the electricity has gone off, but it was back on in less than two minutes.
I am slowly getting settled in my home. I finally hung up a few pictures in my bed room, but I am still working on my living room. This last weekend, I scrubbed and cleaned everything in sight. Sometimes I just get in a cleaning mode—I love it when that happens. My classroom is doing well. We are building our bank of words that we can read. I did some testing at the beginning of September and at the beginning of October. It is neat to see the improvement. We still have a long ways to go, but we take joy in the little accomplishments. First graders are always a joy and a bundle of fun. They love to tease me and each other. The most common phrase out of their mouth is "I'm just kiddin'." They also notice every single detail. I have one particular student who, when she notices something, she announces it. One day, about the second week of school, I had just come in for breakfast and she announced to the whole cafeteria and gym, "FINALLY, she's wearing pants!" The first couple weeks of school it was so hot, that I wore skirts as often as possible. Well my lovely first graders definitely noticed.
Thank you so much for your prayers and please continue to pray. Pray for me as I help my students to learn the difference between right and wrong, how to treat friends, and mostly helping them to learn about God's love, our sin, and His forgiveness. We will be putting out a mission wide newsletter hopefully in the next week, if it is not already done.
In Christ,
Kelli