Books and Banana Pancakes

Hello everyone! How are you all doing? 

Well first off I want to say I'm sorry if you have emailed me and I haven't gotten back to you. I so appreciate the emails, but am terrible about replying. I am going to try and respond quicker to them from now on. 

I wondering I anyone had an questions about life here or about anything. If you have them, please ask away. Email, Facebook or a comment. I will answer them in a personal email or in my next blog post. 

This week has been both busy and slow. We had a big test on Friday. So school consisted of reviewing and catching some of the kids up. Fruit to have fun with review, se played spelling games, they read stories and wrote sentences using correct uppercase letter and punctuation. We have also started a new grammar book to supplement the lifepac. I would write sentences that were missing the subject or verb and they would fill it in. I got some funny sentences :) they amuse me so much. We now have this week off as we have the team from rock harbor, Moro bay here. So I will be helping in the kitchen :) yum! 

I huge blessing this week was from a missionary couple from the south. They gave us clothes for each kid last week and while they were here decided that they would offer us the books they shipped from the states. Thursday they invited the teachers over to their house and let us loose on their second floor. It was amazing. They said we could take whatever books we wanted for school. We walked out of there with 400-500 books. From math text books to readers to dictionaries. We had to push the door to the pogs shut. Now the kids have hundreds of new books to devour. They love to read. My class has a library time way week and Irtysh got in trouble they can't go. They are so sad if they can't go. They look forward to it all week. My project after the class leaves is to go through all the books in my classroom to make room for all the new ones. 

Food time. I know I've mentioned the banana pancakes, cambo before, but we had it again this past week. If I am ever on the best thing I've ever eaten, mine would be the cambo at the Rosmarinos. It is soooo delicious! The pancake is my favorite by they also do muffins the same way. Think of the fluffiest, moist pancake you have ever eaten and cross it with the best banana bread youve had and you will get something that is a good runner up. It is probably my favorite snack they make it. A few of the girls who help in the kitchen have hinted they are making it for my birthday, delicious :)

I went to the market again on Friday. I think they are going to work me into the regular rotation. Usually Tatay, an older manang and a younger manang go. Eventually I think I will be one of the younger manangs that goes on a regular basis. I'm starting to get it. I sorta have an idea where we go and what we get where. Some of the stalls are confusing since they only speak in ilongo, but I'll get it one day. The grocery store we go to , I've go down. It's exciting when they give me a list and I can find it all. Hahah who would have though I would be excited about finding my way around a grocery store. 

It has still been pretty hot here. Clouds but no real storms. Just hot and humid. 

The team arrived here Saturday at noon. They are here to do a vbs with the kids and a mini women's retreat for the manangs. They have been sweet and troopers. Since Ive never been on a team, I'm sorta joining the team on different activities. After kids praise yesterday, we took a ride around the brgy on tricycles. That was so much fun. It's a little motor bike with a metal frame attached so up to 7 ppl can hop a ride. I throughly enjoyed it!

This week I have been thinking about Jeremiah 29:11 "for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope". Just that he has taken care of everything for me. My life has been drawn up and all I had to do I say yes Lord. I used to not like this, I wanted the control of my life. I wanted to be the author of my life. But he ha shown me that life is enjoyed so much more when we give the authorship back to him. His plans for me are so much better than my own. I am so thankful that I realize this. It's a daily struggle, but through his grace I'm becoming humbled. 

Please pray for the team, that they are strengthened and rested and stay healthy while they are here.

Till next time,

Kelsey