Hello Again & Outdoor Education - Read to find out what it is :)

Well I’m living true to my last post, that’s for sure – I am the worst blogger ever. Since it’s been three months since my last post this might be a long one.

I have a good excuse for being flaky – once January hit I have been in busy, stressed-out

mode. Not only was the yearbook due to the printers before March break (about 200 pages that we crammed into two weeks), but my life has been consumed by this thing called Outdoor Ed, which was finished mid-February, but I have been playing catch-up ever since.

Let me give you some background:

Outdoor Education is a week in second semester where the teachers at Faith and volunteers put on a week-long excursion for 180 middle school students from 3 different schools. Now, each year we rotate to a different site. This year we went to a volcano called Taal. Yes, it’s active and I stood by fumaroles and swam in a sulfur lake. There are 3 different sites the students visit, the Beach, the Reef and Taal. At each site, students experience different things to broaden their life experience and education.

It’s amazing, I wish every school had the opportunity to get out and explore the country in which they are living. It is truly the highlight of MS years at Faith. My job was to be a squad leader for 12 of my 8^th grade girls. This proved to be an exhausting task, but my kids were amazing. I really felt God work in their relationships and issues that they were working out. It was so great to get out of the classroom and get to know some of my girls on a different and deeper level.

I could go into so much detail but seriously, it would take me several pages to detail every moment of the trip but here are a few highlights. My squad killed 3 chickens, plucked and gutted them. It was disgusting and enlightening, I will never look at a chicken the same way again. Also, we were able to participate in a ministry day at a local school near the volcano. In all 3 days, 97 children accepted Christ as their Savior. It’s miraculous how God works beyond the limitations of time and language.

Another highlight was the bonfire after the Taal hike. After a long hike, a swim in a sulfur lake and a severe allergic reaction to horses and dust, I spent a couple hours chatting with several of my students. I loved talking to the about nothing specific but really enjoying the bonding time.

It was an eye-opening week that I wouldn’t trade for anything, but I will admit I was out of it the next couple of days.

It was such a blessing to be a small part of a great purpose, that MS students mark as a highlight of the years spent here.