Saturday, June 28, 2008

Financial Update

Well, my first school year is almost over (4 days left!), which means that the next school years is just around the corner! There is a 4 week break between school years, and then we start all over again! I will be spending about 2 1/2 weeks at home in the States, and I'm so looking forward to it! I'm going to be able to spend time with friends and family, something I miss a lot.

However, the main reason I'm at home is to finish raising support for my second year in Chile. I have received commitments of support for the majority of my needs. However, I'm still missing a good sized amount. It works out to be about $7000. (The absolute minimum is $6000, but this is cutting it pretty close.) And the kicker is, I have to have all of the money in or at least committed before I'm allowed to come back to Chile!! So that means, I have to raise $7000 before July 28th!

I know that God will supply the funds, because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He wants me here another year. So I have faith it will come in, I'm just not sure how and when! So I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray about supporting me. It doesn't matter if it's a one time gift or a monthly donation. I need about 70 people to support me one time for $100, or about 10 people to support me $50 a month.

Thank you all so much for your support over the past year. I can't wait to see how God works in the coming year as well!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted! It's been a busy month, that's for sure. I had to catch up from missing school while I was in Argentina, then I caught a cold and had to catch up from missing school from that. Then the whole school was turned upside down. Let me take a minute to talk about that.
Instead of having a science fair every year, the school varies between science, art, language arts, and history. This year was the Language Arts Fair, so as you can imagine, I was pretty involved. There were two parts: writing and speeches. I had been working with them all semester on their essays in writing class. For the most part I was very pleased how well the kids did. I was so proud of them! The two weeks previous to the actual fair, kids were pulled out of classes to practice their speeches. When actual performance time came, my schedule was so different. I felt like I was running around like a crazy person, trying to teach, prepare for the following week, and still see (and video) as many speeches as possible. Then we had the actual awards ceremony that Friday night. It was an excellent time of awarding the winners and hearing examples of outstanding essays, stories, poems, and speeches. At the end of the night, flowers were given to all those who had a special part in making it possible: Linda Cross for organizing the whole thing, an American girl who came down just to help them practice their performances, the guest judges who came from different parts of Chile especially for this. I was not on the list, and I was ok with that because I wasn't expecting anything. It was my job to help them write well! Just after, at the end of the evening, one of my students stood up and said, "And I just wanted to thank Miss Kelly for being our writing teacher!" And everyone applauded, including some other kids sitting by him who I could tell encouraged him to do it. I've gotta say, that one comment meant more to me than any bouquets of flowers from school board presidents!! It's good to know the kids appreciate my teaching, even if I can't always tell! :o)
After the fair life calmed down for awhile. But just for awhile. The end of the school year is always crazy busy, and it was fast approaching. I was trying to get ready for it, but I felt buried already. Luckily (and thank God for this!), there's a girl here who came just to help at the end of the year. And so I've given her so much work, and she's done it so willingly, and I've been relieved of so much stress because of it!
Last week was the banquet (their version of prom). So of course the school was all up in a riot again. Schedules were changed, kids were antsy, tension was high. But the night ended up being so much fun, albeit cold!! (I brought my slippers with me to keep my toes warm under the table!) :o) About part way through the evening the MC (a very goofy Junior guy), said that the Junior class (which consists of 5 guys) had a surprise. They pulled a chair up on stage and asked me to come up there! I had NO idea what they were planning on doing! And I've gotta say, I was a little nervous! But it ended up that they had "prepared" a song to sing to me! Aw, how sweet! However, I could tell they hadn't rehearsed it much, because even with the lyrics on the music stand in front of them, I still knew the words better than they did! It was quite comical. At any rate, I was very touched as they sang "My Girl" along with the Temptations. A few of the others joined in for parts. A few times I had to help them along and sing with them! Haha. It was very cute.
Since then my life has been consumed with preparing for finals. I'm about done. Now it'll be consumed with finishing the yearbook. Then it'll be consumed with figuring my grades. Then it'll be consumed with packing up my things and moving to an apartment! Then I'll come home and my life will be consumed (but in a relaxing way) with seeing friends and family again! I can't wait!! I'll be home in 15 days, and I'm ready for the summer! It's cooooold down here!
Well, I'm tired and I've been typing typing typing today. So, until next time...