Wed. June 26th and Thurs. June 27th- The WINDS of CHANGE

The past two days have been quieter than the weekend, but that quiet has allowed for some reflection. First, the most important reason that I am here, school went well again these past two days. I realize that I will probably always need to remain on the alert with my class this summer. In the past few years, I have been more than blessed with a class so on task that I had time to worry about what I wanted to eat for a snack or taking a bathroom break. This year, however, I do not even have time for those thoughts to cross my mind. The kids are great, but my mind has to remain on the alert the entire time I am with them or one of my active little boys will find a narrow window to do something none of us would ever expect. They make life interesting and never dull. It is fun and a challenge all at once. Everything went on without much chaos these past two days. All of my duties were completed and the kids accomplished quite a bit of work. That makes the days a success, right? After school was out on Wednesday, Lisa Sorley and I finished our grading for the day and then opted to go out for a late lunch. Unfortunately, every restaurant we tried was closed, so our late lunch turned into an early dinner by the time we got to CoCo Curry for our eagerly awaited meal. What a treat! After lunch it was time for some planning and work at school and a little nap at home. Personally, I'm extremely grateful that these days have been quieter because I think I have been fighting a bit of a cold; the rest was greatly appreciated. (I am actually writing this on Thursday and I can say that for the first time in a week, I awoke feeling healthy and well. I'm hopeful that means that it wasn't allergies and it was a bit of a cold I was struggling against. I'm praising God for feeling "genki" or healthy as we would say. I was feeling wiped out.) After the rest, the "WINDS of CHANGE" came into play. Thursday was time to say good-bye to some long-time friends and role models here at OCSI. Randy and Suellen Hadley left this morning. The entire school gathered outside and lined the driveway as they passed by. We waved and cheered, and cried a bit. They were like the "mom and dad" figures for many of us as we lived here. Suellen organized and hosted all of the holiday events and made sure we all were included in some way. She did so much for the school and for each of us personally. She was our resident nurse for so many years and worked to keep us healthy. Randy, on the other hand, was my role model academically, spiritually, and professionally. He was my principal for all the years I worked in the secondary here and he has a background as a math teacher, so he was a coworker for me as well. These last years when I have returned for summer missions, Randy has been my superintendent. I have grown to love and appreciate this couple and I have a hard time picturing OCSI without them. I stopped by their apartment last night to spend a moment or two saying good-bye to them. I know that our paths will cross in the States, but it will be a huge change for OCSI. Beyond Hadley's leaving, OCSI actually will have many changes in the coming year. The business manager is in the transitioning phase, the current high school principal is moving up to interim superintendent, almost the entire secondary staff is switching out, and many new elementary teachers are coming in as well. Top that off with the fact that OCSI is living on borrowed time with their current (well - loved) elementary administrator and even the interim superintendent. I know it is God's school, but it will sure be a different place next year. He always provides. Today, I went to take care of some business in the office,, however, and our current business manager had left a "contract" for me to sign. On a yellow post-it note he had written "I hereby agree to serve as elementary principal for the year of 2014 - 2015." Then he had drawn a line and written my name, AMY JOHNSON, underneath. I was supposedly supposed to sign this before I could pick up something else. With a twinkle in my eye, I signed Janice Skillman's name, with my right hand, to the paper. I'm sure she may be surprised by her new committment. HA! Yes, folks, I am getting the pressure to consider returning in that position. Apparently they are willing to try just about anything. Yesterday, they wanted my passport as collateral, yeah, right! Lisa Coscia (my friend who talked me into doing the Great Wall Marathon - and current high school principal) also left today along with the Hadleys, and her two children. As she goes, she leaves her husband, Jody, behind as he recovers from major surgery. The departing Coscias will return to island 4 days after I leave, but I was saying good-bye to them last night too. It is reassuring to have Jody here to entertain and keep us laughing - he may be recovering, but he still keeps us on our toes. We promised to keep him fed and cared for in his family's absence. There are also many other changes here at the school. The faculty lounge is rearranged each time I come, some changes are always made to the grounds, but more noticable than anything are the changes in the sugar cane fields above the school. Actually, I cannot just call them sugar cane fields any more. There are traffic lights,,, many new roads, a farmers market, many new apartment complexes, and. . . well, let's just say I could easily get lost up there now. It is very different from when I lived here and even quite different from last summer alone. Things change, time flies . . As I type, I am sitting in my apartment listening to the wind howl. That hasn't changed. I recall doing that when I lived here, but alas. . . it has been windy every day since I have arrived. The crazy winds along with very high humidity has done some very unkind things to my hair! I would work to dry it and try to make it somewhat presentable, but the moment I stepped out the door, I would have it stuck to my face, neck, or turning into some very frizzy ringlettes. Those are petty after thoughts for you though, however, that is why I used the phrase "winds" of change for today. It marks a new chapter for OCSI. Let's fasten our seatbelts and see where God takes the school. We learned in chapel today that He is big enough to help all of us face our "giants" in the promised land He has for us. Same is true for OCSI. As for photos? Well, I cannot seem to get them from my camera to any computer. Either my card, or card reader, is damaged. So, you get a very poor paragraph to weed through. I really do type this with breaks and paragraphs. The website gets rid of them... The rest of my Thursday (as it is only 2:00 PM) will be spent with school work and who knows what else. I do know that at 4:00 we are going to get some fancy Okinawan treat, kind of like Hawaiian Shave Ice. We'll see what comes next.

Tuesday, June 25th

This has been a very busy day, but successful I think. School went SO MUCH better today. The boys were very well behaved and eager to comply. They listened about 90% better than yesterday and I only had to talk to ONE student about using Japanese in the classroom. One young man still had a hard time sitting correctly in his desk and we had a little screaming episode (and yes, it was 4th grade BOYS screaming for fun - no girls), but it all in all I feel the day was a success. I also feel that chapel was a success. I hope the Spiritual Truths, which at this point were a little weak (I admit that), but we are setting the stage for things to come, still came through and that someone was touched by what we did today. The teachers acted out AND SANG a skit for the kids. It was amazing! I was proud of them and I know the kids loved it. After school, I worked with some of my students during lunch to prepare for tomorrow's chapel. Then, after all my grading was done, I grabbed a bike and took off to explore the Yomitan Pottery Village. Upon returning home I took Lisa Coscia, the gal who talked me into doing the Great Wall Marathon this past spring, and a new missionary, Ruth Jerome, on a training run that I found this past weekend. We apparently went over 7 miles and returned rather sweaty. Now, I have spent the past hour trying to upload even one picture and I give up. This may be a picture-less summer, unless I can figure something else out. Now. . . off to bed. I am co-administrating tommorow, leading devotions, teaching my class, and leading chapel. I think it shall be a rather full day! Oh, and I have lunch duty too!

First Day of Summer School

I am camera-less at the moment, but I can give you a little update of my time on Okinawa. I landed on Wednesday morning, well truly it was almost noon by the time we were out of the airport. Lisa Sorley picked me up at the airport and we were able to run to Jusco (AEON now) to change some money to yen and grab a quick bite to eat (and a Quickly Bubble Tea - Boba Tea, whatever you call it). We then rushed our way back to OCSI where I got settled, some, into apartment 404. We had to immediately get ready for Lisa Metz and Daniel Kennedy's wedding. They were both former students of mine, but I had Lisa as a 3rd grader, middle school student and more. I have pictures of her seeing me off at the airport when I left Okinawa the first time. It was a real treasure to see the two of them commit their lives to each other and to the Lord. I was blessed to reconnect with many of my former students and some special OCSI friends at the wedding itself. What a way to start my time on Okinawa! I was, however, ready to go to bed by the time the wedding was over. Thursday, my first full day on island, I spent my morning settling in and having a planning meeting with Lisa Sorley (maybe there are about to be too many Lisa's in this post). We will be team teaching 4th and 5th grade this summer. My job is to be the "Math" expert and Lisa will be the "Language Arts" expert. We will also use our classes to help lead the chapels each morning. I am also in charge of that program, but I have some WONDERFUL assistance with it this year. I hope the kids will grow through it and love it, but I digress. After our planning meeting, Lisa and I went our separate ways. I decided there was too much day left to stay home wondering what to do, so I went for a 5 hour exploration walk/hike/shopping trip. Occasionally, the tropical cyclone/storm that had settled in would downpour rain and I would have to shop longer at a certain store, but for the most part I stayed dry. My main goal was to hit a 100 yen store and just see the treasures there. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, 100 yen stores put our dollar stores to shame! They are great places to spend HOURS of time just looking at the treasures, and believe me . . .it is more treasure than junk there. By the time I wandered home, however, I was too tired for dinner and just went to bed. Friday, was a full (and then some) day at school. I worked until almost 9 PM trying to get things ready.

Saturday, was a fun day. One of my friends over here, Gail Anderson, asked me what the "Social Director" was planning for the day. Little did I know that I was the social director. Well, I decided I had better live up to my title, so I managed to connect with some people by around 11 AM and we drove North on the island to go Kayaking through a Mangrove. It was beautiful that day and we had a great time. I will try to find some pictures of that event. I strongly recommend it for anyone who lives on island... Once done, however, we had to rush back to OCSI so I could meet up with some former students in Mihama (the hang-out capitol of Okinawa). Lisa Metz Kennedy and her husband Daniel met up with Erika Horikiri Doggert and her husband. I felt so overwhelmed by God's greatness as I listened to these young adults talk about the ways they serve the Lord and continue to keep Him important in their lives. I loved the evening and I love those students! They also introduced me to a truly Okinawan treat, zenzai. Zenzai is Okinawan shaved ice with azuki beans and mochi. The kind they encouraged me to order then had sweetened condensed milk poured over the top. YUMMY! Sunday, was another day of reunions. I was able to drive myself down to Central Baptist Church, but I had to duck out a little early to meet up with some friends from my chapel 2 praise team. Randy and Kathy Fagan, and Kathy's sister Geni, met up with me at church. We hit a 100 yen store, did a little shopping (I cannot say where or what for because somebody will learn their Christmas Presents that way), and then I made Yaki Soba for everyone back at my apartment! It was a relaxing and reunion filled day. Finally, today. Today was the first day of summer school. All together, in the 4th and 5th grade combined class, we have 13 students. It feels larger because we have about 6 very active boys! I still need to learn names, but believe me . . . a few stick out immediately. Discipline will be a bigger issue this summer than it has in the past. They are good natured, happy children - which pleases me - but it is rather difficult to keep them on task and their listening skills really need improvement. Add to that the fact that Lisa and I have never worked together. We don't want to hurt the other's feelings, so there are some situations of balance that we will all need to figure out. It started well, but as with everything I know things can get better. Chapel was okay this morning, however, I will always covet your prayers for that. This year we are using a musical called "I Witness News - Live from Jericho" as our theme. I wrote out some daily lessons and used skits from the musical to teach the kids about God's promises, His faithfulness, and our hard-headedness . . . to put it in a nutshell. I pray they kids can enjoy themselves, but grow more and more in their faith and love for God. I have been going out for a walk each morning that I have been here. Before church on Sunday I took a long walk (one that SHOULD have been my training route if I would have been training for the Great Wall Marathon! It was a crazy hard walk, but I didn't know it even existed until I stumbled upon it in my exploring that morning.) Well, as I was walking back to school, I was going up a VERY VERY long hill. I was starting to feel it in my legs and I was sweating pretty well, when a thought came into my head. That hill that I was climbing is one that used to be on our long walk-a-thon route. When I would walk that, I never once even noticed the hill. It was easy going DOWN it. That struck me. How like our walks of faith that is. It is so easy to coast - to slide downhill - to go with the flow. It is NOT easy to grow, press on, or maintain good discipline at all times (that is like going uphill.) The view from the top is amazing, but there is a lot of work involved in getting there. I just finished reading the book "Safely Home". While reading that, I realized how relaxed in my faith I become as an American. I am very encouraged to grow, grow, grow. I need to climb that hill - every day. The view from the top will all be worth it in the end! I think that is the message of chapels this summer too. It is too easy to forget what God has done. I don't want to wander in the desert for 40 years . . . I want to enter his promised land. I pray the kids we will work with this summer will want that too. Now, it is 6:00 PM. After lunch I came to school briefly (or so I thought) to do some planning and then go for a bike ride. I am still here and I am getting ready to go out to eat with Cruzados. I will work for pictures tomorrow. Thank you all for your patience in reading this. The next posts will be shorter and more entertaining, I hope!