Parent Teacher Conferences, Evangelism Meetings

Hello once again. I believe in my last e-mail I said we would be going to a waterfall that afternoon. My plans slightly changed. I went up and changed for the waterfall, but I went with a group to pass out fliers for our upcoming evangelism meetings. We walked from store to store and even went to some of the residential areas. We would walk up and ask if we could put up a flyer on the their doors, windows, etc. As opposed to America (where one would get more no's than yes's), we were only refused at one place. And when we passed out fliers, most people said thank you. Some even said, "I'll be there." Wow...an actual commitment was made. We were so excited about inviting people to come to the evangelism meetings that we decided to stay back (we being Melissa, Tiffany, and I) from the waterfall trip to invite more people. We really enjoyed meeting the community members. I even ended up at some of my student's homes. The evangelism meetings start tomorrow. Mr. Van Arsdale (one of the SM's fathers) is now here to give the series. It lasts for 2 weeks and occurs every night. I will be helping with music. I'm playing my mandolin for song service. Jonathan is playing the base, Joey is playing the guitar, and Tiffany will be singing...as soon as she is over her laryngitis and pharyngitis. Yes, she has both. Poor girl. We had originally planned to go to ANT (an outer island about 2 hours away) for the weekend because it's a holiday weekend. But after some thinking and talking about it, the Sm's decided to stay back to support the meetings. We hope to go to ANT sometime soon. But I know the pastor is very grateful that the SM's are wanting to be involved.
Right now I'm in classroom 2 waiting for parents to come in for questions about their students 1st Quarter grades. Yes, parent teacher conferences. If I recall correctly, my sister said about 1 parent would come. We'll see.
I started teaching my new classes. I teach the same things in the morning (Earth Science and Social Studies). In the afternoon I teach PE for 5th period. And I then have 6th period for a prep period. And I teach English to all the English challenged students for 7th period. Most of them can read. But about 2 or 3 of them HARDLY speak english. So it's been challenging, but it is so much more rewarding than teaching geography. So I'm very grateful for the change. The students are nice, but maybe it's that 2 week grace period of having a new teacher. I'll keep a positive attitude for now. :) It's been really nice to not have the 8th grade for 6th and 7th period. Now I can enjoy them in the morning when they are still good and not deal with them when they're bad.
In the mornings I have been praying for my students. They have started to open up even more for prayer requests during worship. I'm excited that they have started to participate in worship.
The other night I had a really good conversation with a friend about giving everything to God and the challenges that went along with it. I believe God has been working on my heart and attitude since I've been here. Sometimes when I feel like saying something rude I will pray and do something opposite, like give a hug instead. It has really helped. I let God handle it and try to make the best of every situation. One of my good friends asked me if I could feel the way God was changing me. I told her no. But I'm glad she asked me, because I began searching. She told me that she hadn't felt it at first either, but just believe that God was doing it. You know who you are...thank you for talking with me. I began to think about it and believe it. And God has been working.
I just talked with a parent. Yay! But it was not a parent of a problem student. So I just smiled and said her kids were doing well. She already knew that by seeing the report card. Calvin came in and said "These are the teachers that gave me A's." Heh heh....Calvin. Have I talked about Calvin? He's a self appointed teacher's pet and is completely adorable. He tries his best to be a gentleman. The student on my pictures page that is singing as he erases Erin Acosta's chalk board is Calvin. All of the teachers love him. Well, Erin Acosta is reading a book to me and I'm having a hard time multitasking (writing and listening). Talk to you all later. Love you and thank you for your prayers.

God Bless,
Erin