Growing...

The past few weeks we've been studying cycles in science. We've studied the human life cycle, the life cycle of salmon, and finally the flowering bean plant life cycle. I had no idea lima beans and kidney beans could be so exciting! Our Lord and Creator truly is amazing!

The first day we soaked beans in water and then dissected them to learn the different parts of a bean. Did you know that when you eat beans you're eating a bean coat, young roots, and young leaves?

The students each got to put 3 beans in a baggie with a wet paper towel to 

watch the bean plants go through the first few stages of the bean cycle. 

The students loved naming their beans and talking as if they were their children growing up right before their eyes :) Every morning the students rushed in to see who's bean had emerging roots... 

And leaves, and eventually they became strong enough to stand up inside the baggies.

I think the most memorable bean names may have been Gaby's, Peter, James, and John. 

They were so proud of their sprouting bean plants! 

Exams and more...

Update & Prayer Request:

I just wanted to write a quick update and ask for your prayers as we wrap up the first quarter of the school year! It's hard to believe we are in our 9th week of school and there is only 2 weeks till a break :) The next few weeks will be a little crazier than usual with tests, grades, and report cards. Also the need has come up for me to teach in the 2nd grade classroom a few hours a day until another teacher arrives in a few weeks. Please be praying that I will rely on God when I feel weak and the He will strengthen me and help be a blessing to not only my 5th graders, but also to the 2nd graders :)

Thank You!
natalie

ps. I hope each of you had a wonderful weekend Celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord & Savior!!!!

¡Exposición!

Mrs. Charo and I with our 5th graders. Mrs. Charo teachers 5th & 6th grade Comunicación & Historia del Perú, and she's my Spanish tutor :) 

Last Friday the class had an exposition with the students to wrap up their Peruvian history unit learning about Peru's plants and animals. It was an exciting afternoon, the students loved their hats, flags, and of course we all enjoyed the many Peruvian dishes made by the students and their families. Yum!

Ann, Camila & I enjoying some Peruvian cuisine!

Two of our wonderful mothers were
a huge help during the exposition.

Natalia took great notes on the whole event!
We may have a famous journalist on our hands :)

Trials & Blessings

Update:

The past three weeks have presented both blessings and trials, the trials have reminded me to pray and ask God for strength, and the blessings have reminded me to praise Him for his goodness and faithfulness! 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

One of the trials has been a challenging issue that came up with my class about 2 weeks ago. I won't share any details, but it has really brought me to a state of continually prayer for wisdom as a teachers and praying for the hearts of my students! It has been a great learning and growing experience as I have gained knowledge and wisdom from other teachers and especially from our principal, Nancy! She has been very encouraging and also a great example of diligence in prayer! 

God is using these trials to remind me to pray more often, and more specifically. I think I'm getting better at in because on Friday, when I asked for a volunteer to pray towards the end of the day, one of my students said, "Miss Carroll do we have to pray again? We've prayed so much today." I laughed and said, "Good! The Bible says to pray without stopping!" 

"pray continually" I Thessalonians 5:17 

In the midst of this, I got sick which brought on a little bit of homesickness :( Thankfully God answered the prayer as my fever only lasted 24 hours over the weekend, and I didn't have to miss any school! The homesickness was remedied by a large dose of skype chats with my family and a few friends, what a blessing it is to be able to see familiar faces, and hear familiar voices! I LOVE hearing from friends & family back home, e-mail, skype, facebook, letters! It's such an encouragement :)

Although there have been some trials, there have also been many blessings! One of those blessings is that Kari & I have started going to a women's Bible study with some of the moms from school. We're going through the book Experiencing God.  Both the women in the group and the book have been a blessing over the past 2 weeks.

Pray for: 

- Peruvian Presidential Elections today

- Diligence in the Bible study

- God to work in the hearts of my 5th graders! 

Thanks for your continued prayers & support!
~Love, natalie

Teachers and staff takes turns speaking at chapel, this week was my turn. I shared from Matthew 13:24-30, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. Are you a good plant producing fruit, or are you being choked out but the weeds that the enemy has planted? 

There are three chapel sessions each week, one for P3-1st grade, another for 2nd-6th, and 7th-8th have their own. I got to share with the 2nd-6th graders, who were excited to look up the verses and read for the group.

Swing into the Jungle of 5th Grade!

Update:

The time is flying by! Today we finished the 3rd week of school. First English test and first reading prizes were given out today. There's so much excitement in the classroom. I'm loving my students and teaching all together! I've truly been blessed with a good class, which I'm especially thankful for my first year teaching. While they're generally very well behaved, today they were bickering a lot, so we took a time out from science and had a really great learning moment! We talked about working as a team, and that we are a family because we are brothers & sisters in Christ! Then I read I John 4:7- 21. Then Sebastian prayed for our class, that God would help us to show each other grace and love each other with our words and actions. What a blessing it has been to work in a Christian school!

Pray for:

- Quality time with God daily

- Continued Love & Patience with my students

- Guidance as I visit churches and pick one

Thanks for your continued prayers & support!
~Love, natalie

Swing into the Jungle of 5th grade! These students were hard at work today!

"Bananas for Books!"
Ann's monkey was the first to the top!

Happy Birthday to Priscila! She brought ice cream treats to share :) 

Volleyball during recess... I think I might even enjoy recess more 
than the students! I start coaching volleyball in about 2 weeks :)

I'm also thankful for friends to 
hang out with on the weekends!!

School is here!!!

Update:

... and Yes, we did eat it!

Cuy is a Peruvian delicacy

The past week has flown by! Last week was filled with training sessions, planning, organizing and decorating classrooms! It was a good week and I'm getting pretty familiar with the school and all the wonderful people who work there! I've loved connecting with the fellow missionary teachers and many of the Peruvian staff. They love to help me practice "Castellano" (Spanish), and asking me about all the Peruvian food that I have tried :) Speaking of which, on Saturday, while the school was being fumigated, Kari & I pulled ourselves away from the class work and went to Lunahuana to go white water rafting, four wheeling, and even got to eat Cuy, pronounced "koo-ee," which is guinea pig!

Then with a little more than 12 hours till school started, our books and some desks got through customs and to the school, PRAISE the LORD! So Monday night was a little bit like Christmas... on a time crunch! We were unpacking hundreds of books, taking inventory, and putting them in the right classroom. Thankfully everything was in order for the first day of school yesterday! 

1st day of school for
Miss Shirk & Miss Carroll

Thank you all for your prayers for my very first day of teaching! I was surprisingly relaxed the majority of the day, granted I have much to learn and many areas to improve in, the first day went pretty well! It was GREAT meeting my students and putting faces with their names, I'm excited to see how all of us learn and grow this year!

Pray for:

- "Meet the Parents" night on Friday

- that I will see every student through God's eyes

- that I continue to LEARN & become a better teacher

~ Love, natalie

una semana buena / a good week...

Update:
Wow, what a great second week I've had! There is so much to tell... here's a list of some of the awesome things from this week:

• Meeting my roommate Kari! Great roommate, teacher, and running partner :)
• Almost got to go paragliding...the wind wasn't strong enough, but were going to try again!
• Going to Lima's incredible water fountain park
• Staying at school till 5pm 3 days this week... count down to first day of school... 8 Days. Although today is our first Teacher in-service day. Praise the Lord we still have a week to get ready! 
• Surfing!! Got up 5 or 6 times in an hour or so, I'm hoping I can go at least a few more times while I only live 30 minutes from the beach :)
• Got to help a Peruvian Chef in the kitchen, learned a few things, and am excited to learn more!
• Tried a new church today, I liked it! I'm going to try out a few before I decide were to go, but this one will be in the running! (ps. I teared up a little during worship, because I thought of my church back home, love & miss you guys, you're not easily replaced!)



I got to make the Aji Cream
sauce for this potato dish :


• Met about 8 other missionary teachers from another Christian school close by, and we had some great fellowship (in English) today! 

Pray for:
- Teacher training that starts tomorrow! 
- Getting used to the new "teacher routine"
- That I would be bold in sharing my faith and look for opportunities to do so
~natalie