Not a baby chicken falls without His concern

So, about two weeks ago I found a baby chicken that was lost from it’s mother. I was determined to raise it. I named it Alice. She was so cute and fuzzy; probably only a few days hatched. I had her about a week and she would follow me around and would not stop peeping! It was cute but I was honestly getting really fed up with her. I think it must have been comparable to having an infant. It was terrible! Never was there a moment when she would just be quite. Always she had to ‘peep peep peep’. Sometimes they were happy peeps like when she was eating but anytime she could not see that I was right next to her they would be obnoxious loud irritating peep! Peep! Peeps! Aaaaaaahhhh!!

So, I put her outside in the chicken pen which I though she could not get out of. She had grown enough that I was sure she couldn’t squeeze out but an hour later I noticed that she stopped peeping. (I could stand the peeping when she was outside because it was far away sounding) I looked outside and two roosters were next to the pen. I thought ‘great, she’s getting to see some of her own species’. Half and hour later she still wasn’t peeping so I went don’t to see what was going on. She was gone. I spent 2 hours looking for her in the jungle… No luck. I’m not sure if she got out though. I think I would have been able to find her by her scared peeps but I couldn’t hear any. Miss Mary thinks that a rat ate her because that had happened before. My poor Alice is gone. She was getting such beautiful wing feathers. She was precious. What a terrible mother I made for her. I miss her but think maybe it was a blessing in disguise because now I can actually think and get things done.

Last night I went outside for some fresh air and heard more some peeping which was weird because it was dark. I looked around and found a poor baby chicken stuck in some tar (there are a bunch of old leaky barrels of tar around the campus, it’s terrible…). I don’t think it was Alice but I’m pretty sure it was one of her sisters. I spent the next 2 hours cleaning her off and getting her warm and trying to get some liquids into her. She was improving but then she unpredictably died in my hand. I think she was just too exhausted. Poor thing. It’s sad. I still want a pet chicken.

"No bird falls from the sky without His concern." Matthew 10:29

Canoe Festival

We didn’t have school on Friday because it was the 1st annual canoe festival. We went first thing that morning and saw some canoe races and also a traditional bamboo stick dance done by a village. All those who were in the dance had the traditional dress on. There were many booths where you could buy things and see how local things were made. Unfortunately a lot of the demonstrations were held on Saturday and we did not go in on that day. There were booths that had woven things made out of coconut leaves and also a booth that demonstrated how the outer island skirts were made out of either thread or banana tree fibers.

The Senior’s had a booth the sell refreshments to race money for the class. I think they made a thousand dollars which is amazing! The people here are very proud of their culture. It’s interesting because during one part of the festival the governor was on the stage and was explaining that Yap is one of the only places left in the world that still practices many of it’s native customs. The dances consisted of a lot of chanting and spinning and hitting bamboo sticks together. It was so fascinating to see. I wish I could post a video of a dance but it would take up a lot of money and time to load it.

DNA

We are studying DNA right now in biology. It’s so amazing because the genetic code is so precise. It’s a language in itself. What else could have made that language but God Himself. Those of you that are familiar with the binary code know that computers function by a language made up of just 1’s and 0’s put together in such a fashion:

11010010101110101001

The Genetic code is fashioned in a similar way but instead of two characters there are four and it goes something like this:

TAACGACGTGTATCATAG

When we realize that the code of 0’s and 1’s is more than nonsensical gibberish it’s obvious that someone must have written it. The same goes when looking at the genetic code. I believe that God was it’s author. I’m frustrated because I recently read a verse in Isaiah that could be applied here but I can’t seem to locate it again. Alas…

After 2nd day of resumed classes

My prayer box is a great success. The students seem to like it. I've gotten a good number of requests over that last few days. Most of them are anonymous. I'm really excited about it. Some of the requests are about grades and family and friends. Some are about personal things and sad things and worrysome things. I am looking forward to praying for them this year.


Yesterday Miss Mary found a lost baby chicken and showed it to me. I named it Alice. I have no idea if it's a girl but it's so adorable. I'm guessing its about 4 or 5 days old.


I bought a ukulele! It’s red and black and brown. I’m so excited. I’ve learned a handful of keys and can play some simple songs. I’ve attempted plucking but I don’t want to jump too far ahead without knowing the basics. I am so exited!! Olivia bought one too. I want to get really good and make sure I use it rather than let it sit in a corner and collect dust. It’s super fun to play too. Anyway, I thought I’d let everyone know about that.

Reason to praise, getting ready to start again

Kristen the first grade teacher had lost the only key for her classroom. On one day before our break started she left her class room for just a moment to get something from the office. Her students were somewhere on the playground. When she came back both doors were closed and locked. What was she going to do? Class was about to start and she couldn’t just let them have recess all day. She told the principal’s wife, Mary about it. Mary came and tried all the keys she had; none worked. She said a small prayer asking for God’s help. Kristen needed to start class. Mary inserted the next key and barely turned it to find that the door opened wide. They both were so happy and Mary gave Kristen the key to use until she found her key.

Kristen tried the key later to see if it indeed worked before she locked up her classroom. The key would not turn the lock anymore. The key was the wrong one yet it had worked during that critical time when it was needed the most. Since then Kristen has found her key and all is well.

I want to stress that the key was not meant for that door. It was not some sort of master key or even a spare key. It was a random key for who knows what lock. Yet it worked that one time and Mary barely turned it when it opened. Normally you need to turn the key all the way around in order for it to unlock. The door opened and the key would not work again later. This may sound very simple and many may pass it off as some coincidence. I can’t make you believe if you don’t want to; but it happened nonetheless. Little miracles still happen and big ones can too. Praise God for his presence here.

On Monday school will start again. I want to start a prayer box. The students will be able to put their requests in it and I will look at them every morning and pray for the students. I hope this new thing will be a success and the students will put requests in. I also want to try another new idea. During worship before class I want to have them pray in groups of two or three rather than just having me pray before class. I want to start having the students participate in worship if they are open to it. I won’t force them to do anything but will try to encourage it.

I really want to focus on becoming closer to God as that will help me to reach the students better. Just because I’m teaching them science does not mean I can’t have an influence on them to help them find God. I’m not really sure how to do that but I want to so much.

Pictures from the break

Random thoughts to make up for lack of blogging

So, ever since this three week break started, the epitome of lazy has somehow overcome me. It’s been hard to find motivation to do anything. I’m so ready for school to start again. I miss the routine so much. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to start lesson planning again on Monday.

I’ve started noticing how beautiful it really is here. Is that weird? I’ve been here for more than two months and now it hits me. I realized it before but now it’s different… better.

I’m sorry I’ve neglected the blog for a while but there hasn’t been too much to say. Nothing profound has happened. Right before the break I assigned a project in biology for the sophomores to make cell models. One group made a model out of jello.

I started making bookmarks for my students. I’ve got 12 finished out of 66. I hope I have them done in time for Christmas break. We’ll see how that goes. We went snorkeling again and I got some more great pictures.

I found a gecko egg and hatched it and then let it go. Olivia named it Soren. He was really cute. Today a lizard egg fell from the hut ceiling right between Kristen and I. It broke open. I picked at it with a stick and the lizard was still alive. It was so cool to see though the others thought it was pretty disgusting.

I saw a flyer for a free spay and neuter clinic at the agriculture department last week. I brought our cat in to get spayed and watched for a while. Apparently this was the first time the island had something like this. The vet used to have a clinic in Guam for 17 years and now travels around the world doing things like this.

We’ve been cleaning up some overgrown parts of campus and it’s looking really nice now. I found some passion fruit and it smells just like those Fruitopia bottles. It’s so tart though.

I woke up one day to find that a giant spider decided to molt his skin right on top of my toothpaste bottle… gross.

We’re really missing fall right now. We decorated our living room wall with a fall panorama of sorts. It makes it so homey.

My thoughts are pretty broken but I’m just trying to sum up what’s happened in the last two weeks. I felt a sore throat coming on two days ago but it’s gone now. Just for future reference, gargling scouring hot salt water works.

It’s so true that God will do everything He can to lead a person to him but even so, some will still chose themselves over Him. It seems to come down to whether a person prefers to honor self or realize that they are imperfect and need help. It’s sad but no one can say God didn’t give them the chance. It baffles me, but it still happens. This thought probably sounds totally unrelated but that’s all I’ll say. We have salvation when we have faith and believe. Christ healed the centurion’s daughter the moment he believed. That’s all it takes. God does not say, “If you see proof first that I can save you, then I’ll save you” He says, “who ever believes will have ever lasting life.” It’s that simple, even still many will decide that they can’t believe for whatever reason whether it be fear or selfishness or not enough evidence or what. God can’t force them because he truly loves them. I don’t know very much about other religions but I know that Christianity is the only one that says all you have to do is believe. No list of do’s and don’ts and such. A religion like that may seem like it could work but it’s impossible to follow. Christianity is just a call to admit that we need help and then to accept the help that is offered. Trying to make sure you’ve thought of every possibility of anything else with our faulty reasoning skills will only wind you up with a tangle mess of confusion and an almost guaranteed something that you’ve left out.

Anyway, I realized in the last two weeks that I need to drink more water. Seriously though, or I’m going to affect my health. I have to force myself to get at least a certain amount each day. I usually end up forgetting to drink but I have to change this.

Today we hiked the Tamilyog trail and I made vegetarian sushi with quinoa instead of rice. One more week of break, then back to school.

Not feeling so well

I'm not feeling so well, I'd appreciate any prayers

Thank you