Friday, July 8, 2011

Goodbyes and Hellos


Today, started with one of my students saying, “Maestra, I won’t see you any more after today.” As the year has ended, I have six days until I return to the States. My heart is full of emotions. The comforting thing is after I spend the week saying goodbyes, I get to end it with hellos.

I have such peace and joy in knowing that though I’m leaving precious friends and lovable students, God is leading me for right now to the States. There is no where I’d rather be than in the middle of where God wants me to do. Whatever the future holds, it will be an amazing, not always easy but worth it, journey because I have such a faithful Lord. I cannot begin to even tell you everything He has taught me in my time in Mexico. I have shared some on past blogs, but He has stretched, grown, and molded me, and He is continuing to do that as He draws me closer to Himself, for He knows that I still have a far way to go.

As I said, this week is going to be a time of goodbyes. The teachers and students through me a surprise pizza party to say thanks and goodbye, and the youth group last night threw me a surprise goodbye party as well. I am leaving behind people whom I have grown to love, like Melissa and Montse, who are twins that come over at least once a week, the Guzmans, who have treated me like family, Gloria and Lili, some of the most wonderful co-workers I’ve had the privilege to not only work with but also become friends with. The list goes on….I leave though not empty because even if I can never come to even visit again, the cool part is we are still part of the family of God, and it’s such a sweet reminder that no matter where I am, not only can I pray for them but one day will get to see each other not for a little bit but for eternity. Leaving this time, reminds me of my first mission trip ever to Honduras, and when we were at the airport, our friend we made there, Alex, was dropping us off, and as he said bye, he told us, “See you in Heaven.” We of course were like, that’s so sad we probably won’t see you until then, but it’s bittersweet because though it might be true it’s still the hope we have in God. So as I say goodbye to amazing people who have impacted my life, I leave confidently knowing that the Lord is leading me.

And in six days, I get to see my fantastic family who have supported me with each step I have taken even if it leads me to a different country or not=) Not to mention, I will be able to see friends who have also supported, encouraged, and prayed for me. So for some it’s goodbye and for some it’s hello.

Because of Christ,
Rhonda

Monday, July 4, 2011

Memorable Quotes and a Time for Celebration


I don't know if I was as excited for July 4th as I was today-my guess is because when you are in a different country, you are simply more patriotic. So how does one celebrate independence day when not in one's country-well, I decided to celebrate with my students. I made them hamburgers, potato salad, and ice cream sundaes (they liked the sundaes the best). It was so much fun=)

Since this is the last week of school-which is so hard to believe that a whole school year has past- I decided to share some of the things my students have said over the year. They have been such a joy to teach, and I'm going to miss them a lot! Enjoy the quotes=)
~Can we play one(uno) teacher?-all my kids
~Teacher, it's going to be sad in Heaven because you'll be speaking English.-Martha
~May I check water please?-Cristian (he wanted to say, May I drink water)
~Maestra, tu puedes hablar espanol perfectamente- Martha and Helly (Teacher, you can speak Spanish perfectly-they're exaggerating quite a bit...lol)
~Do you have a stick that you can hit people with like a pinata?-Helly asking my brother-in-law, David, who's a cop when they where interviewing him about his job
~Maestra, why do your eyes always change from green to brown to green again?-Helly
~Man, teacherman.-Danny, who used to think every profession ended with man like firemant
~Maestra, in the US, do you drink water from the sink? Yes. You drink dirty water!-Naomi and Cristian
~Maestra, it's difficult to teach you Spanish, and it's difficult to teach us English, right?-Danny
~Maestra, why do you have green eyes, and we just have brown eyes?-Helly
~Maestra, you're more Mexican than American now. Why? Because your skin is darker!-Helly
~Teach, teach, I need help!-Danny ("Teach" is short for teacher b/c here people can shorten most words-so Danny decided to apply that to English as well!)

God has blessed me and taught me so much-it has been such an adventure and privilege to teach my kids this year!

Because of Christ,
Rhonda