January 2013

It has been a long a rainy month in Savaii, Samoa. I will never again complain about the rain in Washington after our experience of the rainy season in Samoa. It rains buckets all at once and rains buckets all day long and all night long. Everything is soggy and wet and the humidity is even higher than it was earlier in the year. We had to ford a river that went over the road to get home the other day. In Samoa they don't make bridges over the river beds, they just pave the dry river bed from the dry season and in the rainy season everyone just fords the river. The last one we went through went up past the wheel wells. It really wasn't as scary going into the water as it was how fast the water was moving but we had to get home so off we went with a prayer in our heart! We did make it home! The ferry ride home was also very, very rocky with 10-15 foot swells. They cancelled the ferry from Savaii to Upolu but not the one we were on. It was pretty nerve racking when they opended the life jacket boxes.

I also want to talk about my mission companion. One thing about being senior missionaries is that we get to keep the same missionary companion for our whole mission and I have the best companion in the world. He always does the dishes 3 times a day and all the laundry and bathroom cleaning. He is amazing. He is always hanging up clothes or washing dishes. He also is my hero when it comes to the war on critters. He is always using his spray "gun" attacking every ant, cockroach or gecko that tries to sneak through cracks, holes or openings into our house. I am so blessed. I think going on a mission 8 days after retirement was good for our marriage. We have had to rely only on each other just like we did as newlyweds away at school. We have grown closer together and I love him and admire his positive selfless traits so much more than I would have had we not had this experience. We spend every day together working at school or at home and I wouldn't make it so far away from home for so long if it wasn't for him.

Teacher Training week.

Teaching a BYUH class. 

Response boards- The students love using them and learning with the boards. 

We spent the month preparing for a week of teacher in-service or training. It was a wonderful week and the teachers in Vaiola are very special teachers. They have such a strong desire to teach these students to help them grow and learn but more that that they feel that their teaching is a call to save souls and to instill a strong testimony in their hearts. As we worked with them all week we truly felt of their strong spirit and love for the students. Nothing was ever mentioned about salary or hours of work, everything was about how can they best use the resources they have to give the students the very best education they can. We really felt after the week that our mission was making a difference. This last week was the first week of the new school year and as we walked around we saw so many of the engagement strategies we taught them being tried. Their goal is to improve the amount of time students are talking about what they are learning and cutting teacher talk down to 50%. ( less lecture)

 We now have a busy month ahead of us. Jim is teaching an Administrator 507 class titled "Educational Measurement and Assessment for 2 credits and Ed 330 " Classroom Management" every Tue. and Thur. and on Fridays we teach "Ed 326 "SIOP- Sheltered Instruction and Protocol" . We also have 7 teachers doing ITEP 492 " Student Teaching" 12 credits with 5 pre-conference, observation and post conferences for each teacher and 10 seminars. I am helping with the SIOP and Classroom management class.  Our daily schedule includes teaching 2 hours after school each day, prep,and taking the teachers home after each class and mentoring and modeling in classrooms.  We are very busy but it is wonderful to be involved. It will really be retirement next December as we leave the education world behind. I am ready to spend my time and love of teaching with grandchildren. Jim wants to reclaim our land at home and work in his shop. We are so thankful for John and Jamie and family for taking care of our house on the hill. We are looking forward to growing old together up on our hill in Adna.

Other happening in January.

Saying Good-bye to Elder and Sister Osborne. TVET Missionaries that went to work in Fiji. 

Serving lunch to all the Young Missionaries after a conference.