Be back soon

It's weird. I leave in about an hour to go to the airport and fly to Honolulu. It's about a 10 hour flight, and we get in around 3:30 AM. Then I sit around the airport until around 9am and I take a little plane out to Kauai. From there a taxi to our hotel and I wait for my brother, sister in law, and two nephews Jack and Ridley to arrive!! I will be on diaper duty for a week. Soaking up the sun and the cooler temperatures. My hotel is across the street from starbucks, safeway, taco bell, and a million other American comforts. It's going to be crazy. Only an hour to go and my heart is pumping - boom, boom, boom. When you go to an Island, it's so isolating. It's all you know. We took a trip around the whole island once - it took about an hour. The food here is all from the philipines, and there is no dairy products that are worth eating for the price (except for cheap scoops of ice cream!). A small square of cheese here costs about $7-10. When you only get a stipend of about $250 a month that's a lot of money to spend on crappy cheese!

The people too. I have been surrounded by 22 of the same people every single day for five months. I interact with my kids, and the locals, but most of my time is spent hanging out with them. We go eat, watch movies, go swim in a waterfall, play UNO, monopoly, etc. My mind is about to be blown. People - different- people! I am trying to imagine the feeling in my stomach as my plane will lift off! My island. My home. I'm actually leaving it! I think this will be a little tiny taste of what it will be like when I leave for good, in May. I remember landing here in Pohnpei. Honestly, it felt like I was landing on a new planet. I was transformed into "pohnpei Kelsey" or as I should more accurately call her, "Pohnpei Kdub" (I am not called Kelsey here, David coined this weird nickname which I respond to more quickly than my own name). It's like

In a blink of an eye this amazing, wonderful, exciting trip will be over and I will be back here - attempting to tackle 20 more weeks of teaching, struggling, and quiet peacefulness in Paradise.

But now I'm just in heart-pounding- nervous stomach - anticipation!!! Thank you God for all of your blessings. I really don't know how to thank Him OR my parents :) How about a phone call when I land in Hawaii? fair trade? :)

warm breeze

If I could be anyone
these days I'd be someone different

-Winter, Noah Gundersen




Yuck. You know that song, I don't have the energy to figure out what song it is, but the one that says "all these things I do for You?" It goes something like that. That song is like a dream. Some unattainable feeling we want to have but just can't possible have. In all things I do for me. Everything I do I think of myself. A book I was reading recently talked about how one of the reasons he knew God must exist, is because people want to do good. They know something is wrong about this world, they feel it in their bones. I'm not supposed to be this selfish. I'm not supposed to think like this. Something's wrong.

I'm choleric. Or, sanguine. Well, I'm something (it's always changing). Whatever I am, I like recognition. I am a very confident person, extremely assertive and independent. In other words, the world often sees me as arrogant. Complimenting someone like me is weird, it feels like it's not necessary. A lot of times when I get complimented I don't know how to respond. I know how people see me, I don't want to respond with too much thankfulness - somehow this will increase the perception that I am arrogant. But I need it. I deeply long for the reassurance that what I do is important, and is valued. That all my efforts in life, especially in my friendships, are noticed. Moments when a friend tells me "you mean so much to me, how you always listen to me, ask me how I'm doing" I tuck them away in my heart. I know this is confusing. A big jumbled bunch of mess of messiness. But it's my mess.

Sometimes when I don't get this validation I get tired. Tired of being nice, doing good things for others, lifting others up. Why bother? They don't seem to notice, they don't seem to reciprocate. I just did the dishes. I just listened to my friend talk to me for an hour and she didn't even bother to ask me how my day went. What's the point? I feel like this all the time. So then I get bitter. Bitterness is like a slow cancer. (I've seen my grandma live most of her life with this disease, she died bitter. She had all of the right intentions, and most of the time she was right! But she was so bitter. Being right really isn't ever that important. Its almost never that important). So instead of feeling validated, feeling good about myself and getting joy from lifting others up - I set up camp inside myself. Judging others inside my bitter-tent. It's pretty lame in there. Instead of caring and encouraging a student to go to class, I just get annoyed. Start saying things to myself like, "they are so lazy. They'll never go anywhere, and they'll never become anything." (teachers aren't supposed to ever think that, whoops!)

I hate that. I hate when other people do that. Tiny things start irritating you so much when you're in this mode. Someone sitting in your chair, not picking up a tiny piece of trash, or just standing in your way. Little things pile up around your bitter tent. It gets harder and harder to get out. You can't see the sun, you can't truly enjoy others, and you can't even enjoy yourself.

It's so much better when you have a free heart. A heart that asks for nothing in return. Life is less stressful, and less bothersome, when you realize nothing can ever, ever, validate or reward you in this world. So stop trying. Stop seeking approval from a world that can't give it. Your friends, even if they love you, can never give you want you need. But God sees me. He sees me doing the dishes, smiling at the student that has been cutting class for days, endlessly listening with open ears to the friend who needs you. Working, struggling, trying to do good in my life, asking for nothing in return. Remember when you gave money to that person who needed it? Remember when you gave a gift, a card, a note, for absolutely no reason expecting nothing in return? I remember once I left flowers at the dorm for a friend who was going through a rough time. I vowed never to tell her. Hopefully she won't read this because that will defeat the whole purpose I'm trying to make! ;) I was giddy for days. I gave away joy for free.

Don't look for something that's not there. I've been looking for years to find something to make me feel better about myself. I was just looking in the wrong place. I still am, but I'm trying. Always trying. I don't want to be stone cold - I want to be a warm breeze.

I am the World?

Before I lived in community, I thought faith was something a person did alone

The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me.

No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction. We, as representatives of the grace and love of God, our communication should be seasoned with love and compassion.

(excerpts from Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller)

I came here as a student missionary. I kind of came with the idea that I was out on this big adventure. I am going to share God's love. I mean, I knew that a lot of this year wouldn't be me doing all the good work or whatever, but that I would change and some of that good work would be on me, and my heart.

But I kind of forgot about the other 20 people who would be right next to me. All setting out on their own journey. All going to spread God's love. Do His work. I didn't realize I was moving into a community. A small group of about 20 young adults, all from different parts of the states, all with completely different personalities that don't necessarily blend and twist together perfectly. Somehow over time I figured out that we were all dependent on each other. We got passed the introduction, honeymoon stage of being fascinated by all the different people, new stories, and new cliches. Then things started happening. Dramatic things. Things that only our group really knows about. Family problems at home, relationship problems at home, general discouragement about anything. The opinions and encouragement of others started not being fun, but a necessity to keep breathing, keep working. For a while I forgot that. I kept thinking that I was on this special journey - me, my students, God, my family. That's all true but it's about so much more than that! This story, this play, does not star me. I'm not the featured artist here. I'm not going to be the only one remembered. Everyone who has come to this island has left a little piece of themselves here. I'm just a tiny piece.

The moments when I feel most peaceful, content, and strong, occur when I forget about myself and give everything to something else. I don't really find any joy when I look inside myself. I find joy when I see someone else lifted up because of me.

That picture is at our thanksgiving feast. Our principle unexpectedly called me up to tell all the other teachers (including the locals) about the real story of the first thanksgiving. I felt completely self conscious. I'm pretty weird. I don't want to know what others see when the look at me, but I know it's confusing. I am a nerd, I get passionate about whatever I'm talking about - pleading with others to join me. "You have to love this movie as much as me!" "Please listen to my commentary on Roman Republic historical parallels!!" My attempts 99% of the time are met with glazed eyes. I'm okay with it (most of the time). So I was so scared to give all my friends a history lesson I know they'll probably be bored of.

Now I look back. HELLO! This has nothing to do with you!!!! Let the story and the message share itself. If only one person was fascinated, only one person got the significance, it doesn't matter. Live outside your fears. Live outside yourself.

In all things I want to be a vessel for God. For others. I think God likes me best when he sees me spreading joy, not desiring or seeking joy for myself.

I don't know if any of this made sense :)

masamawhu

I never knew how big the sky was. Yes, I've been to Montana. But you haven't seen anything like Ant. Standing at the edge of the island. With a wrap around view of the ocean, and a sky with nothing blocking it's horizon. On and on and on and on and .... Every two seconds the entire sky changed colors. It was almost like an emotional roller coaster. Saturday night we had a closing vespers put on my all the boys. It was kind of impromptu (boys are experts at this) but watching them all standing in front of the sun, each minute getting darker and darker silhouettes. Beauty. Masamawhu. Masamawhu. It's the kind of thing you want to take 1,000 pictures and videos of, record the image in your mind. But you can't. I don't think you're meant to! I wish I saw that kind of beauty every day. I know I do, but I'm not aware of it. I'm too distracted.

What a weekend. Sleeping in my hammock like a baby. Savagely going to the bathroom in the jungle (ha). Swimming in the salty water for hours and hours with Danielle like I was 10 years old again in my Grandma's pool. Singing songs for church on the beach with Nicki. Forgetting most of the words. The guys making traps like the Swiss-Family Robinson for all the SMs who were unfortunate enough to fall for the camouflage. Walking on the beach by myself in the morning. Cutting coconuts and drinking them for a morning snack with Zach. Feeling like the moon couldn't get bigger if it wanted too.

I'm going to stop talking about it. I can't describe it to you. I'll stop trying. I had a crappy day. But that's a good thing. When I have a crappy day I always end up in a good mood. I force myself. Today I had parents get upset at me for things I can't control. Student's getting kicked out of school. Teacher's getting sick. Hurt. Everyone getting discouraged. But I'm sitting in our Christmas decorated (as much as we could manage) apartment, listening to my roommates babble about random things. Making cookies. Bickering. Normal stuff on a weekday :) Life is good. Thinking about Ant makes me feel better too.

I want you more than I want to live another day

There's distance in the air and I cannot make it leave
I wave my arms' round about me and blow with all my might
I cannot sense you close, though I know you're always here
But the comfort of you near is what i long for


When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
And i want you more than i want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful

All the folly of the past, though I know it is undone
I still feel the guilty one, still trying to make it right
So I whisper soft your name, let it roll around my tounge,
knowing you're the only one who knows me
You know me


Show me how I should live this
Show me where I should walk
I count this world as loss to me
You are all I want


When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
And i want you more than i want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful


Faithful by Brooke Fraser

My Kids

I want you to meet some of my favorite people in Pohnpei. One class at a time...because I have lots of students :)

This is my first class, world history. I have three sections of world history. On a normal day I crawl out of bed around 7am, and sometimes manage to take a shower before quickly grabbing something to eat and going to staff worship. Sometimes I don't make it to staff worship. .. It's always nice though, we sing a few songs and us teachers take turn giving a little talk or devotional for the day. Then we have announcements and go our separate ways. On Mondays we have flag-raising. We all gather around the flag and sing the Micronesian anthem (read about it- it's very interesting). Then after singing the song, which always starts off to high no one can sing it, we do the Micronesian pledge. Guess what! You all know this already. Give you a hint...it starts off..."I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the (Federated States of Micronesia), and to the republic.... etc." My kids in US History didn't even know that it's really our National anthem, haha. I always sneak in "United States of America" under my breath. Don't want to be traitorous or anything. After all this I head off to my classroom.


Meet my first class. In this picture you can see Latrisha and Bill up front, Then Risa and Abraham, Darney and Jayme in the back. On the left there's Jade and Yuta.

Risa and Latrisha are my smarty pants girls. They study together, compete for the best grades. I always get nervous grading their work, because I know they religiously scan every mistake and compare each others papers :) They are so sweet and always "seem" interested in everything I say, haha. I'm very proud of them. Jade is so funny. He's the kind of student who walks in talking about how he never studies, never does any of the work...but he secretly studies and completes every assignment on time. But I won't reveal his secret! Bill is such a class clown too. He always tells me riddles, gives me puzzles to solve, makes me laugh every day. I love these guys. They tolerate long history lectures at 8 in the morning! They never (almost never) fall asleep! They're the ones who get my devotional talk in the morning. Last Thursday Jade got up and asked me if he could read the devotional. At first he was joking but I convinced him to go ahead and do it! Jade was suspended last week for the usual pohnpei offense...(beetle nut!) but he's such a nice kid. He read this short devotional about resisting temptation, and then asked if he could give prayer. He always gives such nice short sweet prayers. Jade is a special kid.

You thought Oneonta was hard...

Sabbath Mwahu! I'm sitting in my apartment at our table, which is actually some piece of lawn furniture, but it's one of the nicest pieces of furniture we have. We love plastic things here, they are easy to clean, don't rust or get all moldy as fast as other things. It also isn't infested with termites! We have a problem currently in our apartment with termites. Our termites come out in holes at night and sprout their wings. They are attracted to anything bright - computer screens, blinking oven lights, light bulbs, anything. We have started trying to trap from coming out, but since I ran out of duct tape we've been using band-aids. It looks like our kitchen has a lot of owies. This is a problem. Cockroaches don't seem to be much of a problem right now, I traded 3 cups of chocolate chips to get 10 cockroach traps from Carl that he got in the mail. They seem to be working! I keep finding cockroach wings on the floor and little shriveled up legs in the corners....victory? I don't want to speak too soon. They might hear me and get inspired.

I feel as though it is necessary to backtrack my records. Before all that hospital stuff, sickness, and general yuckiness, we went on one adventure that I am sure never to forgot (actually, I probably will forget - so obviously that's why I'm writing this down).


Most of the other teachers got smart and decided not to go on this adventure, because they would be too physically and mentally exhausted to be effective teachers the next day. True. But...whatever. I wanted to go! We woke up early, and it was raining. We met a few other people from around the world (Lebanon, Sweden, Australia, and us - America!), and we jumped in the back of the truck and departed from Wall-Mart (yes that's right, Wall Mart). It was a long windy bumpy drive into Kitti (pronounced, Kitchie). We all got out and after a quick bathroom break in the jungle (Carley and Kelsey's first time! Haha) we started our trek on the ...6 WATERFALL HIKE..... Now, I knew it was going to be muddy and exhausting, but I didn't realize it would be mainly due to all the balancing maneuvers. Walking on slippery mud and rocks down huge cliffs and then up again demands a lot of your cerebellum. It's like walking next to a river, on all those tiny little rocks, for miles and miles. But it's all worth it. Every mile or so or sometimes all at once you'll see huge, amazing waterfalls. As you may have guessed, six waterfalls. To get to the sixth watefall, you literally have to swim there. I also almost slipped and died at one point on this hike, I lost my grip and almost fell off this tiny cliff with lots of nice sharp rocks perfect for slicing my head open. David heard me yelping and grabbed my arms and just pulled me up. I took a wrong turn, haha. On this hike you don't want to get badly injured- Think how long it would take to actually get help. You'd be so dead.


David fell, hurt his knee with a bad cut. Carley, otherwise known as "mud-butt," fell, and then fell, and fell again. I only had one particularly embarrassing fall. Because I fell two feet and then into a big pool of water. One waterfall had a cave behind it, the other had a shoe covered in moss. Each was breathtaking. Trekking through that jungle it really feels like you're some kind of world-explorer, Indiana Jones type adventurer, about to see something in the wild that no one has ever seen before. Well, except this is a pretty popular hike for Micronesian tourists. But that's the thing, there's not that many Micronesian tourists- ha.

Our group made it back first, of course. We waited around at the truck for hours (...15 minutes?) for the rest of the group to get there. What an exhausting, ridiculous, insane hike. Even though it's was humid, hot, and covered in tropical plants, the hike reminded me so much of home. I'm a world class-northwest-waterfall hiker. Columbia-Gorge is my specialty. Being surrounded by green, looking up at these huge beautiful cascading waterfalls. I could close my eyes and almost pretend I was looking up at Horsetail, Ramona, or even Multnomah, with my Dad right next to me eating some trail mix.

I'm so insanely blessed to have seen so much beauty in my life. I just want to see more and more.

Also, I also might have gotten the virus that landed me in the hospital while on this hike. Maybe I should have stayed home ;)

The Kelsey Disease

Dear God, my little boat and I
are on your open sea.
Please guide us safely through the waves
my little boat and me.

Starting Tuesday, I was feeling odd. I lost my appetite and had a slight headache all day while teaching. Wednesday was the same. Thursday I decided to sleep it off and called in sick while another SM taught my classes. I felt better that night, and even made lesson plans for the next day. But that night I developed a fever that wouldn't go away until Monday. I slept horribly, woke up and felt worse. My fever got up to 103.5 F that night and my head was on fire. I hadn't eaten much, and could only handle graham crackers or saltine crackers. So, Saturday morning our SM Coordinator, Joy, took me to Genesis hospital (right next to Pohnpei State Hospital). It's a huge pink hospital that is semi-clean with air conditioning and nice rooms. The medical care, in comparison to the states, leaves muuuuchhh to be desired :) The doctor examined me, took a blood test and UA and decided I had a Kidney Infection. She gave me cotrimoxazole antibiotic and sent me home.

Well, on Friday night when I was up around 3am talking to my brother on Skype my roommate Kelsey Hebard came out of her bedroom telling me her body ached and she had the chills. Oh no. What is going on!? I took my antibiotics and fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up I wanted to die. The left side of my back (assuming my left kidney) was so sore I couldn't move. My fever was hovering around 103 F the whole time, and I was throwing up everything. Even a small sip of water sent me to the toilet. I couldn't keep any of my medication down and I was in terrible pain. I knew I was in trouble. I was dehydrated, with barely any food in me for the past four days, with a kidney infection. That was when I was checked into the hospital. The first day was miserable, my fever spiking and the pain increasing. They put me on IV fluids, and pain medication but didn't put me on IV antibiotics immediately. I got worse. The only nice thing was that my big pink room had a tiny TV that was playing The Fugitive when I walked in - one of my favorite sunday "watch with dad" movies. Silly, I know, but it made me feel closer to home. People came in and checked on me and stayed with me, including Maureen - the Principal's wife. She slept next to me in the bench and when my fever spiked and my body was flailing around from severe chills she rubbed me down with cold towels (including her daughters dress) trying to help me stop. She held my hair back as I threw up more water, and made sure the nurses were paying attention to me. Finally they put me on IV antibiotics, and I think that's when I started to feel better. Carley came to visit and brought her laptop full of Friends episodes.. She laid next to me as we watched five episodes. I don't really remember this, but I'm so glad she was there.

Just as I woke up, Johnson, the school's accountant, walked in to tell us that Kelsey Hebard was downstairs getting admitted. She also had a Kidney infection and was dehydrated/couldn't keep her medication down. We were both moved into a big room so we could suffer then next two days together. What an experience we had in that funny pink room.

The first night, both of our fevers slowly went down. We were so out of it, we didn't say a word to each other. I just remember nurses coming in and fixing us up, taking our temp, "102...101....100....99" finally our fever was 99 F and we both slept through the night...mostly.

The next day I woke up with a hand swollen up two times its normal size, thanks to bad IV management. They poked several more holes trying to find a good vein. It was so sketchy.



But we were starting to feel better. Drinking so much water, going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Cold towels all over our head and neck. Making sure the nurses were helping us, checking on us, trying to keep our family informed even though we had no internet, no phone, and sometimes no way of getting a message home,



People like Carley, Joy, Maureen, Stacey, all helped us during our stay. Slept the night with us, helped us wobble around, got things from the nurses, filled our water bottles. Held our hand as they poked us many, many times!


My view. I wish she'd never gotten sick of course but It was so funny and comforting having someone else going through the same hurts and worries.

The second day there we had so many funny moments throughout the painful ones. Wheeling our IV hangers around, hers was awful and she basically had to carry it everywhere. Watching our IV's fill with blood, complaining about our nurses and complimenting the ones we liked. Making jokes about how much we had to pee, or agonizing over annoying wet towels or changing our shirts with the IV. Our heads hurt, we were so hot, so worried about what we actually had and whether or not it would get worse. But we worried and laughed together :)

Sometimes the nurses didn't do anything, sometimes they were very good. Sometimes I had to fill up our waters, take Kelsey's temperature, and put cold towels on her head, when they wouldn't do anything for us. Haha, but most of the time we had lovely helpers!

Marcus came by and gave me an origami Tie-Fighter!! As you notice, we had to supply our own sheet/towels/blankets,etc. I used all my sheets up during the stay, so I had to use Carley's extra sheets, and that's not even my blanket - that's Lisa's! Haha.

The second day we felt better, but the Doctor was still concerned and we needed to make sure the antibiotics were actually working and our fevers would stay down. Also, we needed to make sure our nausea/vomiting was better otherwise we wouldn't be able to keep any medication down and would just have to be re-admitted.

Tuesday I was discharged in the morning with a temp of 99.4 F, but Kelsey had a temp of 100 F, so she had to stay until 3pm haha. I just stayed with her and we watched Sherlock Holmes on my laptop. It was a funny. The Doctor finally said we could both go, and we were picked up by Mr. V in the yellow dump truck. At home these past couple days my head has been burning, and I have absolutely no energy. That first night Kelsey and I just slept and slept like logs. I think our Kidney infection is getting better, and everything else has gotten better. I had more energy today, as did Kelsey. It's just scary, not really knowing what we had. Leptospirosis has been going around, and that's what many think we had. (Get it from water next to pig farms, which is basically every water area here in Pohnpei). I'm not sure, it's possible. We are both on Penicillin and today my lip swelled up - I'm hoping it's just a funky reaction and not a bad allergy. Oh gosh it never ends does it!

I just pray with my whole heart that no one else gets sick like that, and we don't have to go back to the hospital. It was just too stressful for everyone here, for us, and especially our families back home. It's when you're shaking, scared, and sick in a strange hospital that you realize..."what have I gotten myself into?!" But God was with us the whole time, and He'll help us out even if we need to go back. But please- I'm DONE being sick!!!

Please pray for us. For continued -whole body- healing.

Gen sent me this shirt. When I got back from the hospital I had literally gone through every single shirt I have except this new one in her package. Thanks for the shirt Gen :) Even though I get completely destroyed with teasing when I put it on.

Also. To Louisa, Nana Joan, Auntie Jean and Uncle Ken, and letters from Drea and Julie and Kayla and everyone else - oh my! I got so much mail this past week at the absolute most perfect time. Julie and Kindra, I got your letter from another teacher when I was laying in my hospital bed and read it with such joy. You all sent exactly perfect things. I am incredibly grateful and I feels like I don't need to go grocery shopping until I get back from Hawaii - haha. You are a blessing! I am SO blessed! To have so many people loving and supporting me all around the world. Know you are needed, and loved so much by this girl.

sick

Right now i'm sick. Sicker than i've been my whole life. Nausea, throbbing head ache, fever from 100-102.5, and now a kidney infection. I'm a baby. I admit it. I want to go home, and my brother can fix me up in his emergency department. I just threw up my ibuprofen, and I just hope I can keep the antibiotics down. I want to be home.

Please God protect me (and Kelsey Hebard, as she is sick as well), and keep my spirits up. I know I'm not alone out here, it just feels like it. Wrap me up in your arms and make me well again. Please.

Bug bites.

Spent the day at home. Slept until 12 and had a substitute teacher teach my classes today. I've had an awful headache and stomach problems for a couple days. When I woke up I started feeling a little better so I planned tomorrow's lessons. I got sidetracked on my way to my classroom. I played out in the grass with two of my favorite middle school girls. We started watching Hunchback of Notre Dame (I told them I sang there and they refused to believe me!! They called me a liar! Haha). The sun went down, all the bugs came out and the frogs were bouncing around us. I have so many bug bites and a rash from the scratchy grass.

It's okay to be sidetracked sometimes.


13 weeks down. 30 to go.

pohnpei night life

It was dark last night. I heard a noise outside my window that startled me awake. Flip the switch to the light, no power. It was so utterly dark and I had been asleep for three hours. My eyes were all splotchy. Stumbling around my room I finally found a flashlight. Walk out into the living room area, and see around forty cockroaches running around the floor, walls, and counter tops. Great. I went to the bathroom, scanning the toilet for bugs, and found my way back to my bed. It was so noisy outside. Dogs barking, pigs screeching, and creaking noises of cockroaches in the kitchen. Such a bustling night life here in Kolonia.

One night I was sipping hot chocolate while reading a book in my room, (I am addicted to hot chocolate and it's not too expensive here, so I indulge once a night or so) I reached for my cup and took a gulp without looking carefully enough. It tasted funky. Look in my cup: ants. Lots of tiny ants swimming in liquid chocolate. Yum! I gagged, ran to the bathroom and started spitting out as much as I could. That of course did nothing since I had already swallowed everything.
Its really not that bad though. Most of the time everything is fairly clean and bug free. But you know, some days you just walk through the front door and a gazillion ants are feeding on the three dead cockroaches right next to your feet, but it's all kind of just..." oh well."

My nails get grimy here so fast, I have no idea why. My feet are always scratchy, dirty, bruised. I scratch the bug bites on my feet with my shoes, so all the muddiness spreads. I can't get the mud out of my toes from this 6 hour-6 waterfall hike we took last weekend. I wonder why bother anyways. Tonight I went to an evangelistic meeting out in Sokehs. It was in this concrete "noss," the grass-covered, sometimes concrete hut that everyone here hangs out or lives in. It was all in Pohnpeian, so I couldn't understand a word. We drove there in the back of the old red firetruck with a bunch of other locals. I sat in the back with a fellow SM, Katie, and we tried to entertain these two little girls. I gave her a pen and some paper so she was completely absorbed in her "art" :) I can't really explain it but it was so relaxing. After we said our "pwong mawhu's" we loaded back into the truck. I sat on the top of the truck and leaned back to stare up at the stars. I'm not used to being able to look straight ahead and see so many stars. They're all around you. Layers upon layers of stars.

When I stand before the Lord,
I’ll be standing alone
This journey is my own
Still I want man’s advice,
and I need man’s approval
This journey is my own

And why would I want to live for man,
and pay the highest price
And what does it mean to gain a whole world, only to lose my life

And I have never felt relief like I feel it right now
This journey is my own
'cause trying to please the world, it was breaking me down

And now I live and I breathe for an audience of one

This Journey is my Own (Sara Groves)

We'll never have to say goodbye again

Lord I've been traveling, so long, so long
Seems I'm always saying so long, so long
My pockets all are empty I've got nothing more to lose
Take me home to glory land and take away my blues

Lord I'm so far away from home
and I'm awful tired of singing all alone
Take me home to the glory, I know it's only then
that I'll never have to say goodbye again

I've don't really mind leaving town after town
Everyplace I go it's just the same all around
it's friends i leave behind me
just touching as we pass
that make me long for heaven where we'll meet again at last

Lord I'm so far away from home
and I'm awful tired of singing all alone
Take me home to the glory, I know it's only then
that I'll never have to say goodbye again

My pockets all are empty I've got nothing more to lose
Take me home to glory land and take away my blues

Say Goodbye

pampered prince?

So. I have a short interesting story to tell you about. It ends with the Prince of Pohnpei being arrested right next to me.

Today for our sunday adventure we traveled to the eastern side of Pohnpei to the city-ruins of Nan Madol. Nan Madol was basically the first place of human activity on Pohnpei, from around the early 1-2 century AD to about 1500 AD. It was the center of a large dynasty, and was the home for the leader, or chief. Funny thing is...Pohnpei still has a chief!! Well, Pohnpei actually has Kings. Five Kings, to be exact. One King for each municipality (Sokehs, Kitti, Nett, Uh, Kolonia, and Madolenihmw). To get to the Nan Madol ruins, you must ask permission and pay a fee to the King of Madolenihmw, who happens to be one of the most influential Kings on Pohnpei. Of course, Pohnpei is not a "monarchy" by any means. They have a "normal" legislative government, with a governor of pohnpei, a supreme court, and senate, etc. But the Kings do have some power in government. I guess once they wanted to build a casino here on Pohnpei, and the King's or one of them stopped that from happening.

Well, we traveled to Nan Madol and we were getting close when a man lounging in his nice black car honked at our two trucks full of American teachers. He then proceeded to talk to us, told us to give him three dollars each, all while clearly being totally wasted. We all figured out cash, but we were very hesitant to give this drunk man our money! Well, he for some reason drove off. Then we were talking to some of the locals, but no one really knew what was going on. He drove back, totally acting strange. Then he let one of the trucks pass, but not ours. So, he was talking to one of the teachers here, and then some guy came up, or rather, some cop (apparently...? he didn't look like one). The cop took out handcuffs and cuffed him, so we just drove off. Of course, this just happened to be the King's SON! We really have no idea what was actually going on. It was all crazy.

Then trying to get to the ruins was just a complex mess of people trying to take more of our money. Haha. Finally we were there! I'm glad we made it somehow, and also glad none of the SMs got punched in the face.

Both pictures by Stacey :)

After that we went to Keproi waterfall again, the huge, gorgeous, beautiful one. Ahh. Sitting inside that waterfall is definitely one of my top five favorite places on this earth. I could sit there all day. We just got back from a wonderful birthday part in a crammed apartment. It was a Filipino dinner for one of the lovely teachers here, Mrs. V :) Tomorrow begins the last week of the quarter! Finals week anyone? Good luck students. (they'll need it ;D)

Week 10

Snorkeling for treasures at Palikir Pass (read about it here)

Sunday some of us went out to Kitti Waterfall (pronounced: Kitchie) It is a beautiful waterfall, but the cost is a very, very muddy hike. Ankle deep in mud for about 1 mile after a bumpy drive in the truck that felt more like the disney Indiana Jones ride. Once we got there though we got a spectacular award: a beautiful pool of water with a 35+ foot waterfall on one end. Right next to waterfall was a spot perfect for jumping off into the deep deep water below.

Watch my jump

Several of the SM's were brave enough to jump, some of them being totally freaked out and others brave enough to do flips! I wasn't scared, but knew I was in for something crazy. I've never jumped off anything that high - it's so awesome!



Then on MONDAY everything was "back to normal"...we thought. After staff meeting it started to pour. Of course, that's not anything spectacular. It rains pretty much every day here, and by rain I mean a total downpour. But that usually only lasts for a little while and then the skies clear up. This rain, however, definitely did not clear up. Before I could even grab my stuff from the office I was ankle deep in water. The water was flooding into the workroom, gushing off of the steps, and even caused EELS to swim away from the gutter and run around the parking lot. The biology teacher attempted to catch the eel for dissection. Kids screaming, rain pouring, everyone running around trying to protect/save things from water damage. Some of us worked out back trying to clear the drainage system because it was clogged with so many branches. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. They say there hasn't been a storm like that for several years. (Picture: I am standing on the PNI SDA sign, while everyone runs around trying to get the eel)

Click to watch the flood!

Kelsey H and I attempting to dodge the flood.

Other than those crazy string of events...everything is pretty normal here in Pohnpei. Today I gave out a test on Ancient Greek society, and also managed to start the Revolutionary War. Every student in my geography class presented a map they had designed illustrating the various climate types in America, and next week they will have memorized all the states and capitals. All in all, a pretty normal week. I am getting SO anxious for every new thing. The next hike, the next snorkeling, the next camping trip! I also am constantly counting down to Christmas. My trip to Kauai - such a blessing to know that in 11 weeks I get to see my brother, sister in law, and two nephews!








Kelsey H. captured this snapshot.
Sometimes this is what happens on my 40 minutes break.








Also: Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! Today I got your package. I love every single thing and cannot wait to devour it all :) It means SO much to me!!! All my love, Kelsey.

Reflecting back

Almost 9 weeks ago. I think I'll always remember that moment when I had to say goodbye to my mom and dad, and kept waving in the security line for as long as I could. It was such a hard thing to do. It's ironic that I was entering "security" - because it felt more like I was leaving everything secure and safe in my life.

"Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go"

"Sing to the Lord a new song, and his praise from the ends of the earth"

I'm at the 20% mark, almost 1/4 the way done with my journey here. I know it's weird to count down like that but it helps me stay in the right perspective. I'm reading a book written by Worsley on Shackleton's journey in Antarctica, and right before (spoiler alert!) they are forced to abandon their ship due to ice, Worsley says this:

"Remembering this in that dim cold twilight, surrounded by a world of snow and ice, I silently breathed a prayer of thankfulness that I had gone to Burlington Street that morning so long ago (the place where he met Shackleton), for whatever befell, I was living a great adventure, working side by side with a great man"

Worlsey was with Shackleton throughout his most dangerous and treacherous adventures, even up until Shackleton's death. He never regretted adventuring, or taking such great risks with his friend. He knew he was in the company of a great man, no matter what happened he was thankful.

I want to have that attitude in my life. I get to go on amazing adventures all around the world with my friend, the great and almighty God, and He is holding my hand through it all. No matter what happens, I won't regret my decision to follow Him, or to go where He has called me. Because I am just happy to be on a wild and crazy adventure with my friend. Even if my ship falls apart and leaves me stranded on the ice. Or, in this case, falls apart due to fungus and mold.

What happens...if I don't grade anything...ever

Very, very sleepy during Saturday Potluck. I was out. Cold.

Well, it's Wednesday - or rather Thursday now seeing as it's past midnight. I spent 5 hours today grading getting ready to finish midterm reports which go out tomorrow. So. Many. Papers. It's nauseating. If I became a teacher, as a profession, I would probably hire 100 graders. I wish I didn't have to assign any homework, ever. If I ever teach College courses I'm going to be one of those horrible teachers who has the entire grade based upon 4 exams. It's easier that way - yeah, it sucks for you, but I don't care. Haha. But no, because I'm merciful, I assign dinky little assignments due every single day! It's so tedious. I know, all you teachers are rolling your eyes. But I don't have any graders, and I have over 80 students in three different subjects. Grading is probably the worst thing in the entire world!!! The second worst thing would be getting up at 6:30AM in the morning.

You see, I have a confession. I'm a chronic class skipper. Throughout my 5 years of College, I skipped a lot of classes. Many, many classes in fact. Last Spring Quarter at Walla Walla I was taking a general 200 level Microbiology Class. Not that it's an easy class, by any means, but...I'm a science major, and this was definitely..."below me", especially considering I took it my senior year. Monday was quiz day. So guess what! Monday was the one day I actually went to class. So, for a 10-11 week quarter...I'm pretty sure I attended class about 15 times. It worked out wonderful. Yes, I got an A. I know I'm generalizing, but ... in general I think it's a homeschooler thing. Sure, there are those crazy overachieving homeschoolers that do everything perfect and make us lazy homeschoolers look really bad. But - I'm just not used to going to class every day for hours and hours! I've never, ever done that. I've never sat in a desk at school for more than 1 hour. I can't fathom it. It's disgusting. Teaching has exposed me to this horror. And, above all of this - it isn't any better if you're the teacher!!! It's actually worse. You can't zone out, 1/2 nap, or doodle on your pages. You have to be 100% (okay, sometimes 70%) engaged and focused on everything going on in your classroom - and with every single student. It's a new thing for me. So, getting up in the morning for "school" and being there until 4pm...yeah, that's weird. I can't believe you guys did that all through your childhood. That... sucks. I could barely attend 1 hour lectures every day throughout college. Oh- and a reminder - yes, I am still fairly smart and intelligent. Somehow I managed.


This is a picture of Stacey and I. Post-Grocery shopping. You see, going out into town in the back of a truck is always kind of a gamble. If it rains, too bad. Also, I'm wearing a typical Pohnpeian skirt in this photo. By typical I mean - the type of skirt worn by almost every single female on this island the majority of the time. I'm trying to fit in. The whole, blond white girl doesn't help much though.



This past week has actually been quite fun. World History is covering Ancient Greece, and American History is about to get into the Revolutionary War. Geography is still stuck talking about climates, pressures, and landforms...I like it, but they're all bored. My students are hilarious though. I am falling in love with some of them so much - the more you get to know them the more enjoyable it is to teach them! Ever since one day I asked my kids to get me food from the caf since I missed lunch, they all have been trying to bargain with me. "Miss, I will get you a juice!! How many extra credit points?", and I usually respond..."Get me one, and I'll decide later!" These past three weeks of sub work for Computer III has been so fun. I taught the kids how to play Mafia during days when the power was out. They all love it so much - they ask for it all the time. I feel bad for the new teacher...hah. They walk in every day and ask "Miss- Mafia today? Mafia? I want to be murderer this time Miss!!" We played this week once, and one of the students was the Doctor. I told him to "wake up" and he did, but because I wasn't looking at him at the time, he exclaimed "Miss, I'm over here" (which, in doing so, exposed his role to all the other 'sleeping' players) and once he realized what he did the entire class erupted in laughter and he took forever to realize his mistake. Today, my computer students all took a typing test. I told them, if they beat my typing score I'd give them ONE MILLION extra credit points. The highest score was 56 WPM. So, after wards they all pestered me to let them watch me take a test. I, being excellently skilled in so many things, scored a 98 WPM. They all gasped and ran out of the lab exclaiming how crazy I was.

Tomorrow is my first day back on my normal schedule. It's going to be so weird. Also, a challenge. I haven't taught them for a while...and I don't know where they are at, or what level of understanding they're at. It will be a bit of a struggle, but I am glad to be back teaching them one of my favorite subjects.


Today. After grading in my dungeon, aka, Room 3, for about 4 hours. I went home to a delicious meal of pasta with tomato sauce. I was home for about an hour. My roommates, never told me that I had gotten a package and it was waiting for me in my room!!! Today was such a long day....and I have been waiting for a few packages for weeks now...so when I walked into my room and saw that box on my bed I nearly cried tears of joy. It was so comforting to finally have something, something packaged from home with love sent thousands of miles especially for me. Mom sent me chocolate (which had melted, and then cooled...but still tasted so amazing), brown pasta (healthiness!), maple syrup, and some other goodies. Although the bag of advil spilled throughout the box and I spent 10 minutes sorting pills from packing material....it was still the best thing to happen all day. If you've ever been away, completely isolated from all things familiar....then you now how absolutely amazing it is to get something from home.

(and yes, this is an emotional plea for you to send me stuff)

I promise, you will get something in return!

Are you the girl that got hit by the branch?

Two weekends ago, I had an unfortunate accident. While driving back from the most beautiful waterfall I've seen yet on Pohnpei ... (insert picture)

Visiting Kehproi waterfall (photo by Stacey) I am bottom left

After this LOVELY Friday afternoon venture, we got back into the truck and headed back. Unfortunately, since we only have one truck for over 20 of us, many have to stand in the back and hold on. Well, unfortunately the roads in Pohnpei are ridiculously overgrown and have low branches - demanding frequent ducks to avoid being whacked in the face. But since the truck was so crowded it was hard to duck...so while traveling 30-40mph a low solid branch hit me diagonal between my eyes. Ow. Immediately I keeled over in tears as the pain was excruciating. Mostly, however, I was afraid I had maybe lost or damaged my vision in my left eye. We stopped and I went into the cab - my poor roommate Carley was freaked out because my tears were bloody. My vision seemed okay, and although my head was on fire and my eye was very painful I knew I would be fine. Lots of of alcohol, cleaning, and antibiotic ointment has helped and two weeks later you can hardly tell it's there! But...for about a week I looked very creepy....

Carley and I in church the next day. Church, and teaching for the entire week became a long series of "your face! Oh goodness - did someone hit you?" type questions. :)

The week dragged on but was fueled by our excitement - Friday was departure day for a weekend at Black Coral (Kehpara) - "E bon cola Kehpara" (I'm going to Black Coral, according to some of my students). We left Friday for a short trip to our launching point. The boat is owned by the school, and the first trip was taken by the principal, Mr. Edwards, all our luggage, and a couple SM's (including me). The boat ride was absolutely breathtaking. It's so amazing being in Pohnpei. Knowing you are only 6 degrees north of the Equator - the place with the most solar energy in the entire earth. Being here we are at the same latitude as Uganda, Ecuador, Singapore, and more! It's goofy, but somehow being near the equator seems like some unifying force the connects places that are on the opposite side of the globe. Knowing that here at this latitude, we all experience the same kind of weather patterns, pressure patterns, etc. It's fascinating. I wish my geography students found it fascinating...

Well, we got there after about 20 minutes and started exploring the small beautiful island that gives you a perfect view of Pohnpei! We found the "best" hammock spots and set up camp.

Photo stolen from David. View of Pohnpei from Black Coral plus a view of our transportation.

We spent the weekend enjoying "chill" time. Monday was Liberation Day so we did not have to worry about rushing back to prepare for classes. We hung out hammocks on palm trees, cut down coconuts and struggled to make fire in this wet jungle. We ate too many ramen noodles, scarfed down coconut candy made by our principle, and cherished Carl's package of smores ingredients. We stayed a total of friday, saturday, and sunday morning there. The coolest thing to do was definitely snorkeling. The water was so ridiculously clear and blue, crisp waves crashing against the coral beaches, full of sea life to discover.

Some of the wildlife I found included seeing THREE Black-Tipped Reef Sharks!! It was so amazing. We knew there were many out there, so we just went exploring, waiting, and hoping to see one. While swimming out with David I saw one just swim by about 10 feet from me on my left. My eyes expanded so fast I forgot to breathe through my snorkel. Later we saw two more, each time was just as exciting as the first. I can't wait to snorkel and hopefully eventually scuba dive some more. I've never been in water so amazing, so pure and untainted.

Yes, we got rained out of our hammocks one night. 3am rolled around and we all climbed out of our "SWIMMING POOLS" aka, hammocks. We all tried so hard to ignore being wet and fall asleep...but soon enough My headlamp turned on, then David climbed out of his tall hammock, and Marcus and Carl's headlamps turned on, lastly I woke up Carley and told her she was drowning- ha! We all cuddled up in the grass-roof hut next to our hammocks and tried to make ourselves somewhat comfortable. The next night we totally maxed out on rain protection. My hammock has a tarp attached to it, so I was secured tightly to the ground by huge coral rocks and I stayed completely dry and comfortable. All of us slept dry even though the rain poured on top of us.




We got in the boat and said goodbye to Black Coral. Home of the beautiful channel full of sharks and the entire cast of Finding Nemo. Although, after two days of salty hair and wearing slightly damp coconut stained clothes, it was nice to take a shower. Next time I'm bringing a sweater - (I used my wet, salt water towel as a blanket one night....I was so cold).

This weekend has been fairly uneventful. After a short week of being stuffy, sick, and so tired - Friday met us with open arms. Today was Sabbath, and it was fairly uneventful. We had a Potluck here at the school, and I took an enormous nap from 5-7. We just finished a THRILLING game of Monopoly. Somehow I survived for quite a while even though I managed to not get ANY properties!?? Thanks to my nap I'm wired even though it's almost 2am. I've been reading so much here, currently I'm reading "Into Thin Air" - making me feel all the more adventurous and excited about traveling, even though it's about a tragedy, err. My new goal: traveling to every continent. Antarctica cruise here I come :) Someday. For now I will just relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the constant slightly damp and moldy-infused smell of my new home.








I'll finish this post with a couple pictures from Freshman Welcome Back Bash last Thursday Night. (TOP) - A Few of the upper class students showing off their amazing SKILLS! Well, shortly after this the branches got hot and they all dropped them, so Mr. Edwards had to quickly pick them up and take them out of the gym, hahaha. (Bottom) - some of my favorite students and I outside after the party.

Six Weeks

It's been six weeks since I said goodbye to my mom and dad at the PDX airport and started this crazy adventure. Right now I am sitting in my apartment as Carley, one of my apartment roommates chops up potatoes for our curry tonight. Most locals aren't huge fans of curry, they prefer things that aren't heavily seasoned or spicy (from my limited surveying). We love curry in this apartment - it's so good. We cook it up with rice, curry powder, potatoes, and some of our frozen vegetables (since it's impossible to get a variety of fresh vegetables here). It's so wonderful to lounge in our apartment after a long day of teaching and see Carley energetically start dinner. We all pay her back by doing all dishes, but it's nothing compared to how homey her cooking makes us feel each night!

We finished our fourth week of teaching last week. Let me tell you - it has been a blur. My schedule is as follows...roughly (with some changes as of this week).

8am - World History A
9am- World History B
Free Period
11am- American History A
Lunch
1pm- American History B
2pm - World Geography
then my last class is World History C. We stay in our classroom from 3-4 to answer questions from any students, and then we are free to go :)

I remember my first day of teaching - it was only a half day. I think most of us here were freaking out at the fact that this was only a half day, and that we would have to work this had for another 10 months, 5 days a week. Then the first full day came, and then before we knew it Friday had come and week one was over. Overall, each day seems a little less exhausting. We are molding into our roles as teachers and getting into the routine. In basically all my classes, I assign homework each day, with most of it due on Friday. Quiz day is always Friday, and last Friday all my classes had their first big test. Overall I was pleased! My averages were all great! (70-80) -except for geography, which is my main struggle.

About a week into teaching, I had started to mold into my new role as Ms. Kellar, a very strict and weird teacher. I was also kind of getting bored. Preparing all those lessons, talking and lecturing for so long and disciplining so many rebellious teenagers. During one of my classes that day, at the end of lecture when I was saying something about the assignments, I somehow got off topic and started talking about how I am fairly ambidextrous. They wanted to see, so I showed them how I can write on the board with both hands at the same time. One of my ridiculous students then exclaimed "that's why you're so sexy Ms. Kellar!" It was of course, very inappropriate, and I haven't tolerated anything like that since...but It was so random and funny that it somehow lifted my spirits. The next day in Geography class I was attempting to demonstrate what a "satellite" is. In general, a "satellite" is just something small, orbiting around something larger. So, the moon is a satellite for earth, the earth is a satellite of the sun...etc. So, I had one of my favorite students in the front row come up (he is fairly small) and I told him to orbit around me. So, he is "my" satellite. I didn't allow him to sit down, when he asked I exclaimed: "The moon never sits down, the earth doesn't stop rotating around the sun!." So I made him orbit around me for about 10 more minutes of lecture. The students were laughing so hard, and it was the highlight of my day.

Moments like that, when the "wall" breaks between me and my kids are like my daily multivitamin. It's good for me, builds me up, but don't take too many of you'll overdose.


Another moment close to my heart this month was when I was having a horrible day. There has been a lot of crap that has happened in the past couple weeks in our SM group. One day on a particularly stressful and dramatic day I went to start my first classes lecture, and my computer wouldn't turn on. BLUE SCREEN of death. It was too much. I didn't have my lectures for the entire day, I was worried about losing all my grading, and sad that I had lost my way of communicating with home. I couldn't get it to load into safe mode, command prompt, nothing. No restore options, nothing. I was supposed to do a devotional in my first class (I've been reading a devotion book by Karl Haffner) and I started tearing up. It had been one of the worst weeks of my life, and this was just too much. I started to cry. A student in the front row grabbed my bible from me and read the verse. After reading it she offered to pray, and told God to look after "teacher." It filled my heart with so much joy. Later, my computer was somehow magically restored (alright, Mr. Bryson fixed it) and I "had my life back" so to speak. :)


This week, I've had to start teaching Computers III. So I've basically been managing 8 periods worth of classes, which includes managing the substitute teaching as well. It's stressful, and I don't know how much longer I'll have to be doing this. Let's hope not long!

Just finished a weekend camping on an outer island, swimming with sharks, sleeping in a hammock and eating coconut candy :) I will write about all that later. For now I am going to eat delicious curry and be thankful for every day here on my island home.

Away

It's a weird feeling, being away. You are voluntarily placing yourself in year long isolation from everything familiar. Friends, family, food, even your standard of living. Old expectations are abandoned and new ones are formed on the basis of totally difference standards. It used to be that I measured a good nights sleep by the comfort of my pillows, the arrangement of my comforter, or how often my dog started barking in the middle of the night. The constant presence of home often became claustrophobic. "I need to get out of the house!" or "let's go out and do something!", purely because sitting in the same two story building with only 4 people becomes pretty much unbearable after four hours.

Today I am thinking about all the people I know that chose this year to be "away." My best friend left this year to live 12 hours away from the place she has lived her entire life, just to "get away" and be on her own. The group that I was inseparable with for an entire year is now stretched across Alaska, Costa Rica, California, and Micronesia. We are all sitting away from each other. Oceans and several time zones apart. Today I miss them, but more than that I pray for them. We are all alone now.

These last two years my family has gone through more separation and distance than we have for my entire life. It's like someone grabbed my home, shook a couple people out of it and through them across the country unwillingly. Those rare, precious moments when we could be together can be counted on one hand. We take so many pictures in those moments, as if those pictures will help the moment last longer when we are all torn apart again. I have one of those pictures as the background on my laptop, but I think staring at is makes it worse.

But I chose to leave, I chose to leave complete and total comfort and familiarity. I left school - my addiction for the past five years. I left my baby nephews, missing out on a year of sweetness and smiles. I left my home, my dogs, and most of all I left my mom and dad. But, my reason for leaving was 100% unrelated to a desire to "get away." I want an adventure, I want a story, I want a live lived with unceasing passion.

Lord I lay me down
Bring me to my knees
I belong to you

Scattered across the world are people that are "away." Away from home, away from friends, and comfort. But what brings me comfort is that no one is ever really alone. I have heard it before, "God is always with you Kelsey!", but it hasn't been tangible for me. I like to think of it like this: God is all around. God shows himself to you in others. God can be revealed in the hearts of strangers, church members, and even little kids that barely know their ABC's or rebellious high school students that can't identify North America on a map. God is also in me. Every time I stand in front of my 85+ students and read a bible verse or pray for them on a quiz, I think He is with me. He knows that I want an adventure, a story, but He wants more for me than I could ever imagine.

Stephanie and I after she placed flowers in my hair.

Kaselehlia Mango? Kdub?

This weekend was stuffed full of ADVENTURE! All starting off with a ridiculously awkward Friday vespers service at Kolonia SDA (the largest church here on the Island, the pastor is also the chair of the school board here). The asked me to play piano, then kept requesting songs that I have never heard of, and when I turned to the number in the hymnal I was wonderfully surprised to find out that I had a complete different hymnal!! Then during another song, everyone started off key, so accompanying them became impossible. It was a very fun experience, one I hope to never repeat but most likely will quite often.

Saturday we split up. Those who had "Island families" in Kitti Church went to Kitti (a town on the opposite side of the Island) and those with family Kolonia just went there (it's about 5 min away). Unfortunately, it's been raining so much lately and everyone got soaked on the way to both churches. But that is sort of a common theme here in Pohnpei, and honestly getting soaked feels so nice in contrast to the sticky humidity. The church service was nice, and I am most likely going to be helping out with the Kolonia youth sabbath school. The youth room needs so much work though because of the SMELL. You see, the whole Church is in front of a huge pig pen, and at certain times of the day the stench is just revolting. The room also needs to be cleaned very badly, and hopefully we can help out with that. It's one thing to be hot and sticky without any fans, but then to have the smell of pigs wafting through the breeze...ugh

That afternoon we were invited to visit a couple here on the Island who are both American/Brazilian. Each year the sort of open up their home to the SMs and try to offer us a kind of, "home away from home." Their home is located up a crazy muddy road in Kitti, and unfortunately one of our trucks got stuck so a couple guy/girls including myself had to push the truck out of the mud.

This is their backyard - jealous? Although, it is surrounded in mud haha.




Marcus stuck the truck in the mud. Whoops.


She made soup for us.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm SOUP

Once we made the trip back we arrived at campus just in time for family gym night, which because of my swollen ankle I did not partake in. But my family wasn't there anyways... in the mean time some of us decided to have frog races. Since the ground is literally COVERED in frogs at night.




Sunday morning, though it was pouring, we embarked on our trip to Nahlap! A beautiful island which is about a 20min boat ride that leaves from Kitti. Unfortunately we have all been eating a little too much rice, so the guys and a couple girls (including myself) had to push the boat forever. Finally we cleared the muck and were able to make it to Nahlap. It probably only took me 5 minutes to run to the other dock and get my snorkel gear on to start exploring! It was breathtaking. Clown fish, parrot fish, needle fish, blue starfish, pink starfish, sooooo beautiful. The water was so clear and warm, covered in funny sea cucumbers :) Nahlap is such a beautiful island, full of little tin huts that you can camp at or hang up your hammock. The boat ride cost 4 bucks (even though we had to push the boat...) and we all managed to enjoy ourselves.


Pushing the boat. I got out and pushed for a while but of course fell in the mud on my way back into the boat haha.





That's Pohnpei mainland on the right - the area of Kitti.


Marcus, me and Carl. Hanging out after snorkeling like pros.


The ride back was accompanied by a stop in the lake to wash off the salt water. Then after taking a shower we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner at "Cliff Rainbow." Salad, french fries, vegetables, iced coffee! So delicious. But I unfortunately took an asprin right before downing a cup of iced coffee, and the result was unpleasant. I became crazy, shaky, and anxious!! Remind me not to down caffeine after going off of it for 2 months while also taking a blood thinner. Hahaha.

Tomorrow is our first day, but it is only a half day in which we will just be discussing syllabus and class procedures. Wish me luck and please pray for all of us as we start getting into our routine. Many of us are nervous and overwhelmed at this new responsibility. I will be teaching three sections of World History, two of US History, and one World Geography. I have over 85 students total, and will be up and at the school from 7:30-4pm. I am just anxious to get into the swing of things - I think it will actually help the slight "achey" homesick feelings throughout these first couple weeks as the shock of being completely away from family and home starts hitting me, and the other teachers here.


I am also attempting to fix the digital piano in the chapel. I need to take it apart and see if the hammers are broken first, and then hopefully order new parts. It is a good digital piano, but had about five keys that are not functioning. I'm hoping that this will fix it and I won't destroy the piano in the process ;)

Love you all, please pray for me as I start my first week as Ms. Kellar in Room 3.