another school week.....

greetings from the still-75 degree dominican republic!!

actually, to be perfectly honest, i've really been enjoying the warm weather here, and the mountains, i think the dominican may be one of the most beautiful places in the world. : ) this past week has been a busy one, as we had mail day tuesday, the monthly North American Missionaries(NAM) meeting wednesday, and the director's retreat thursday-saturday. aside from that, i am taking on more and more responsibility in the sponsorship department at ANIJA, and eventually jonathan would like me to be head of the whole ANIJA sponsorship program, so this month i'll be working myself into that position. it's a fun job, it basically involves recieving, recording, and distributing letters the kids recieve from their sponsors, and then getting the kids into my office to write responses. aside from that, we do large projects quarterly, where every child sends an update to their sponsor, usually involving something about what they've been learning in school and so on. right now we've begun the christmas project, in hopes of having it finished in time for the holidays. great projects, it really helps me get involved with the kids and stuff. going to start filing the history records of the kids - which includes their backgrounds, stories, and why they're at ANIJA - i'll spend mondays typing those up and getting them out of the stacks of notebooks that are sitting in the office right now. what else? i've decided to take part of my wednesday afternoons to go out to palo blanco with anna, to help her with the nursing duties there......more de-licing and bandaging of children, doing what i love! i figured the experience would be good for me, as i've definitely decided i would like to be a nurse. please pray for me, once again, in doing my applications, they are feeling a little bit like an extra weight, and doing things from a different country isn't always easy. but overall, it's going quite well. after i go to palo on wednesdays, i'm gonna hop over to tracy and leona's house to help them with their evening english lessons that they're giving for free to the neighborhood. so, my weeks have really been filling up! it feels good though, to be making a difference. another prayer request: i'm having a little trouble with one of the english teachers i work with. becuase his own english isn't very good, he many times (almost every day) comes into the classroom with this book he has, opens it to the next page, hands it to me, and expects me to teach a lesson from whatever is there. even though i'm glad to help in the class, the truth is, i'm not teacher, and i'm far too busy to be planning his lesson plans. it's quite frustrating at times, especially because ultimately the kid's education is going to suffer from my inability to know where to go with the lessons. thankfully, God answered part of this prayer through my aunt mary, who sent me a set of workbooks and curriculum for ESL, something the school does not have; but, nevertheless, i don't have time to be planning this curriculum, because i have a lot of other responsibilities aside from teaching. please pray taht i will have a patient, willing heart, the time to work with this teacher and help him along, and that i would have a gracious attitude in it. patience has never been my special gift, but i'm hoping to be understanding in this no matter what. well, that's about what's going on with me.....sorry this entry was so hodge-podge! i am actually awaiting the pictures from the director's retreat that i babysat for, so when they come i will post again with details on this weekend. God bless all of you, and know that i am thankful every morning when i wake to know that my brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for me; God is really working through you all, more than i can tell you. thanks for all your encouragement! have a great week!
in Him, allison


<-- here's a picture of some of my seventh graders, and a picture they drew of me. yes, it's very flattering. you can tell they just love me. : ) hahaha