Oct 3

have reached kind of a turning point in school for myself. I have become more comfortable about being a teacher and understanding why I am here. a few incidents inthe last few days have shown me the need for myself to become more agressive about what I am doing. for those who know Kesmy, I think my relationship with him previously had actually been a hindrance. I was trying to be his friend instead of his teacher. I tried to like the kids instead of being a teacher. I will still be friendly, but I realize I am here towards a purpose. Kesmy and Myberson seek to go to college and frankly neither are ready. so to at least one of the purposes I am here, after a discussion with Gary, I decided today to get hard with the kids. or at least harder than I have been. they know they have standards to live up to, and I won't accept less. I feel better about school now. I want these kids to succeed and I have to do what I have to do to achieve this. on another front, during the Bible teaching today with the younger kids, I had a chance to pray for healing for Gladimir, one of the cutest kids you would ever see. He has been at school the last two days with a fever. I prayed for him before the teaching and after I checked his forehead and he did seem noticeably cooler. Praise God for that! I just seem more focused now for whatever reason and I am more at peace because of it. I realize that these kids have come from Haitian schools where they teach, literally, shortcuts and doing the least possible just to pass the test. yes, that is how Haitian schools are operated, that is the philosophy of education here. they are so handicapped in their thinking skills it is amazing. word problems are like Sanskrit to them, an unknown language. breaking thru this to get reasoning skills going is difficult at best. so I will push them. I guess I always wanted to be an Army drill seargant...w/o having to join the Army!! :)

have been considering coming home at Christmas, having problems getting flights to fit together at a decent price. something else to put into God's hands. I know things work out for reasons so I will not fret about it. We are all hoping it works out for Jessica to return after the first of the year. she is such a help with the younger kids as she can speak Creole to them when they don't understand. (I am just afraid they will give me that class!) so here's praying Jessica comes back. everyday, it seems I understand a little more about the culture and the people. it is difficult at times to accept what you hear. one of the superstitions is that a woman can be pregnant for 2-4 years. the baby is in her but it has a "hold" on it. this is a voodoo superstition. and I find out that there are staff here who believe it! There is so much downright lack of knowledge about things here that it is easy for superstitions like this to take hold. anything that could be explained in a way that would give someone power over someone else is fair game. it is difficult at times to distinguish between respect for people and culture and the need to just say that things are just WRONG! these superstitions cause such problems, especially about health matters. people get sick die because they believe toothpaste has miracle powers, or going to a real doctor before you see the witch doctor is very back luck. those are the types of things that you run into..... focus.... do the job in front of you and leave the rest to God. oh well, another day. pray everyone is well at home. bye for now