ESL (Elephante Systemic Launch)

So we are currently getting owned by a tropical storm. It is
raining so hard, and all the time. But our house is no longer flooding because
we fixed the problem!

So this week we got to do one of the things that I was most
excited about, ESL (English as a Second Language). I have been looking forward
to it since I found out that that was something that we were going to be doing.
Me and three other girls went into the school Collegio San Antonio on Monday
and Tuesday. We were told we were going to be teaching 9^th graders.
We were slightly nervous before we even started. When we got there that
nervousness increased 10 fold. There was one class room at the end of the hall
with a very large amount of very loud children. I could hear my leader quietly
praying for us. When we got into the class room we quickly split the children
into four groups and began. My group had 8 children. It turns out that these
children were between the ages of 11 and 13. We had no books and no supervisor
from the school. I had so much fun getting to know my children through teaching
them. We started with the alphabet and then numbers and simple sentences. I
think that God had blessed this group because no one freaked out or got stage
fright. We remained calm and focused on what we were there to do. I had a
blast. I cannot wait to go back on Monday and Tuesday to continue to teach the
children and get to know them more. I will have the same group of children in
the same classroom until Christmas and I may get the option to continue with ESL
even beyond Christmas.

We celebrated our one month anniversary with cake on the 8^th.
One month ago on that day we all showed up to training camp. Can you believe
it?!

Another amazing experience we had this week happened on
Friday. We were going to go and do a ministry at Sisters of Charity orphanage.
We were told they were doing a day care and a feeding program and we were going
to go and play with kids and help our where ever they needed help. When we
showed up they were doing day care. There was 45 children, between the ages of
2-8, running around the tiny playground they had on their property. As soon as
we came all the children rushed us and instantly started with the flying
squirrel hugs. It was amazing. We spent the next hour just playing and running
around and hugging them and just showing them love. The boys in our group
entertained the entire orphanage with their dance skills. They had a
model/dance off. The whole place was in an uproar. After that we went and fed
them lunch. All the children were so well behaved, even with all the strangers
running around they still quickly washed their hands, and sat down at the
tables and prayed. We helped them with their lunch and sent them off for nap
time, a huge mat on the floor that they all shared. About that time we realized
that it was time to go, for we were tired and could also use naps.

I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for the rest
of my time here in Nicaragua.
Everyday is an amazing opportunity to bond and build relationships with the
people and communities around us, ourselves and the Lord included. I cannot
wait to hear from you, have a Happy October!