Work

I had been teaching English at the orphanage for a few days and was really enjoying it. There were about 5 girls who were coming regularly, and they are all really sweet. They are from 11 to 23 years old. I am cautious to ask too many personal questions because I don't want them to feel uncomfortable, but I am curious as to their stories. I hope as we get to know one another better that they will open up to me.

Sierra is enjoying being with the kids, too, and is a natural teacher (which is no surprise!!). She tends to take the younger ones and they play vocabulary games while I tutor the older ones with their homework. We're having a lot of fun coming up with lesson plans and putting together ideas for games to teach them. We are finding that we usually run over by at least 30-45 minutes and I think the nuns are annoyed, but they haven't said anything!

We also started to help out at the school for disabled kids. The first day we were in a class with children of various disabilities, and they are all quite profoundly disabled. They have the abilities of about 2 year olds, but are ages 9 to 20. We helped them with cutting, coloring, matching and that sort of thing. Since they have the ability and mind of 2 year olds, we are also often keeping them from hitting one another and that sort of thing...the thing is, these kids are STRONG!! Mostly, they are really sweet and it's so heartwarming to be with them. I really believe God has a special place for them in heaven. One boy, Martin, is just as sweet as can be...unfortunately, he seems to be somewhat of a target for the other kids and they will just randomly go up and hit him. Sierra has taken him under her wing a bit and that seems to help.

We were scheduled to start at the pre-school the next week.