Joy!

     Joy. Ever since the eleventh grade, this simple word has meant a great deal to me and the reason why I know and love Jesus. I discovered that the simplicity in this word is only found in the fact that it is easy to spell, not in the complex meaning behind those three letters. For me, joy may mean something completely different than what it means for some of you. Joy is something that I have to continually ask God for everyday, it is not something that I am just naturally given, although I do believe that some are given the gift of being naturally joyful. If I forget to ask the Lord for joy in the morning, there is usually a rough day waiting ahead of me... Joy means that I find happiness through knowing that I have the Holy Spirit in me, helping me feel that joy. It's knowing that what I am doing, is for God's kingdom. It's seeing Christ in the small things.
     Living in Denver Colorado, I have discovered joy in many places. Places that I never really thought about finding joy in. I have joy at Place Bridge when one of my students finally understands the math problem that has given them so much trouble, or when they remember the sounds of all the letters in the alphabet. I have joy in dancing up and down sixteenth street mall to the music playing through my headphones with my friend hannah. I find joy in sitting and listening to the street performers at night, and getting to talk to them and know them in between songs.
     God has shown me so many things to be joyful about in just the two weeks that I have lived here. Denver is an interesting city. But I find so much joy in this city. This post is short but a little complex, so apologize if it does not make sense, but it's funny because that's how I see the word Joy.

A Whole Bunch of Stuff

    

     It has been a crazy week….I have learned so much and have done so many new and different things tin this one week than I think I have ever done or learned in one full year. It’s also been a hard week. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with my internship, people, getting enough sleep, and learning to manage my time and money. My internship at Place Bridge Academy started out pretty rough. I felt like I wash’t needed there. I’ve never worked with children in a school setting. It has always been on a basketball court, a soccer field, or a fun babysitting job where my love for children has grown. Also, I have NEVER imagined myself growing up and becoming a teacher…school just isn't my thing. So my first day at PB was interesting, trying to find the balance between fun, loving Katie and Miss Katie, the teacher. I hated it. Honestly, I left my internship in tears that day, just so fearful that it was going to be a long miserable three months of sitting in a classroom teaching for eight hours a day, three days a week. 

That next day was full of fear of getting up and having to go to my internship. But, my second day at Place Bridge was nothing like the first. Immediately after I arrived at the school, one of my co-teachers asked if I would be willing to help her teach English that day. I quickly said yes because I was longing to be apart of something, and to feel needed. So Mrs. Bouchra and I pulled to of our students to help them with English. Fatma and Abdul ar e two of the fourth graders in my joint class of fourth and fifth grade students that I help out in the mornings. Both Fatma and Abdul are from the middle east and are what the school calls “newcomers”. This means that they have just recently moved to America and have just been enrolled at the school. This also means that they have yet to learn English. Can you imagine being taken out of the comforts of your home and your surroundings, and being thrown in a completely different country with all new people, sights, smells, and languages? Imagine no one being able to understand you, and for you to not have the ability to understand anyone around you. That’s how Fatma and Abdul felt when they were thrown into a new school in a completely different country.   But these two kids have been working so hard with their English. Bouchra tells me that they both practice their alphabet flash cards every night, and that they improve more and more every day. “It’s amazing how quickly they pick up on the English language”, Bouchra said the other day, “these kids have the desire and ability to learn English as quickly as possible”. 

These children also have one of the best teachers to help them learn. Bouchra is a young, Muslim teacher from Morocco who has one of the biggest hearts known to man…Not only does she love these children so much, but she desires success for them more than anything. It’s amazing to watch her go through the flashcards with Fatma and Abdul and to see her excitement when they remember a letter and the correct sound it makes. Bouchra and I have quickly become friends. She invited me to her house after on Thursday to have tea with her. She knows that I love studying cultures and she figured it would be a great way to learn about her own. Bouchra taught molly and I all about the Moroccan Muslim culture, fed us homemade bread, tea cake, and green tea. She shared stories of growing up in Morocco, her travel experiences to America, and how she met her husband. I learned more about her culture and the Muslim faith during those couple of hours spent with Bouchra compared to anytime spent in class. 

I apologize for the super long post this week, too much just happend in the past seven days to not share. Thank you all for the prayers, texts, and phone calls! 

Feet

      I'm sitting in a Chinese restaurant in Denver Colorado. This is my first time to be alone in two weeks. All day I couldn't stop thinking about how I wanted so badly to have alone time so that I could sit and write in my journal about all of my complaints. When I got here and finally was able to sit down, breathe and think to myself, I ran into some what of an issue. I couldn't think of anything to say. I couldn't come up with the words to write for all of my complaints. This is my first time alone in two weeks, surly I should have something to say? That's when I actually realized that the first time alone in two weeks means first alone time with JESUS in two weeks. 

     

    I sat in the Chinese restaurant and prayed. I asked for forgiveness that I had been too busy to read my bible or even pray to Him recently. Romans 10:15 was immediately put on my mind. I just started reading my Bible, and I have been reading John, but I had heard something about Romans 10:15 so I wanted to look it up and felt like the Lord wanted me to. "And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”. Feet. Eww. I hate feet...I think they are nasty, dirty, and should be covered constantly. My feet are tired. They have been in stinky shoes all day. That's not at all how Christ sees these feet. These Feet are called "beautiful". Good news is brought by beautiful feet. 

     God has chosen to send these feet into a school full of children and culture. The Denver Place Bridge Academy is a K through 12th grade public school for refugee children. Over forty countries and sixty languages are represented at this school. That is a lot of feet. My feet have been chosen to work in a kindergarten class, as I will be teaching English. My prayer is that my feet will cease to be just dirty, smelly feet. My prayer is that my feet will be called beautiful. My prayer is that I will be able to preach the good news in this school that my feet and I have been sent to. 

What the Heck are we Doing

As day six roles around, it's hard to believe that our gap year has only just started. It feels as though these people have been apart of my life for years now, and i only met them a few short days ago. these first couple of weeks are spent getting to know the other students and leaders as well as taking a few classes; basically going over all the logistical crap that no one wants to talk about, but we all know we have to...We play different sports everyday and games that help us "bond". Tomorrow we're going backpacking. That will be cool cause I have never really been backpacking and I wanted to do a gap year that would force me to do things that were out of my comfort zone, so here we go.

Not gonna lie...the first couple of days, i questioned whether or not this was the right decision. "Crap. What the heck am i doing here?", i thought. I was sure that i was supposed to be at college and that i had just screwed myself over. HA. plot twist: God quickly reminded me of all of the stuff i went through the past couple of years to get to this place and of all the people i met who pointed me to gap year. Seeing pictures of friends in colleg
e and the gals in their sororities definitely made me question my decision. BUT i know for a fact my fellow gap year friends will be the friends that i keep for the rest of my life. I have definitely made the right decision.

At the end of next week, our group will split. Some of the team will go to Philadelphia while the rest of us will travel to Denver. Honestly, that kind of sucks because of how close both groups have gotten. But, it will be a really cool growing experience for everyone as we enter the real world. We all have internships that we are responsible for getting to on time on our own and in our own way. I will be working for the Denver Place Bridge Academy, assistant teaching in a kindergarten class. As we move into the "adult" part of our lives, pray for us...Please. Well, that's really all I have to say.