Dear Friends and Family
Greetings from Arizona! It has been a while since I last sent an update out. So I’ll give a quick summary. My first year of teaching ended well. All of my first graders passed on to second grade thankfully. Even now it is difficult to hear them call out ‘teacher, teacher’ and realize that they are no longer talking to me. I had a wonderful summer vacation. I spent a couple weeks at home with my dad—always refreshing, but never enough time. I also spent a couple weeks at grandparents’ homes—something that I’m so thankful that I get the chance to do every summer. I also spent six weeks at Kansas Bible Camp. I got to see a new aspect of camp life this summer as I spent one week as a speaker for the girls’ grade school camp. I enjoyed it greatly, but my favorite part of camp remains counseling—which I got to do the other five weeks.
For two of the weeks at camp I got to work with Jr. Highers. This was a blessing from the Lord in the fact that He graduated me from teaching first grade to teaching Jr. High! This year I am teaching 7th and 8th math, English, Bible, and world geography. In the afternoons I am also the school librarian. Totally new work for me, but the Lord is faithful to provide where there is a need. We had a desperate need for teachers at the close of last school year and He has provided exactly what we needed!
I am very excited about teaching Jr. High. I am enjoying it and still getting used to it as well. Part of it involves a re-organization of my thinking as I am used to little people who need help every step of the way. I also sometimes make the mistake of assuming that my students know more than they do because I overestimate the knowledge gap between first and seventh grade. My students and I are also still getting comfortable with one another. I am still waiting to see them relax enough to joke around with me in the classroom. I am still trying to find the perfect relationship with them that it takes to motivate them to work their hardest for me. I would greatly appreciate your prayers in this respect and also that I would find a way to love them that they can hear.
Another new part of my life involves a new house and a new roommate. Because of the influx of new teachers this year, we needed to provide more housing. So Melissa Meinzinger (the kindergarten teacher) and I moved into a three-bedroom house together to free up our two apartments for two of the new teachers. We love the house that we now live in. The couple that occupied it before we did were very bold in their choice of wall colors and we get tor reap the benefits of a wonderfully painted house. I am mostly settled with only a few little details to take care of. I even have pictures up on the wall—which is the fastest they’ve been up in the last several moves!
During the summer I was able to share with a few of my campers that I find no greater joy than knowing that I am completely in the will of my God. Change is always scary—and I often avoid it, but with all the changes in my life in the last few months, I can still say—there is nothing better than know that I am exactly where the Lord wants me. I don’t know exactly what He has in mind yet, but I hope that I will continue to trust His guiding hand.
In His Arms,
Kelli Wilson