Time flies when you are having fun!!
And boy what fun I have had!!! I cannot believe the time has come for me to say goodbye! It was with such a heavy heart I completed my final week of teaching last week. It has been such a privilege and honour to watch these children grow in their learning. It is only when you get to the end and look back and realise how much you have achieved. To think when I first arrived the kids spoke a small amount of English, cried everytime we had school and seemed to look at me as if I had 2 heads! Now, they not only speak fluent English but also read and write in English too! They started also in the last month to do addition and subtraction, not an easy concept let alone when English is your second language! As for me occasionally they think I still have 2 heads but they have grown to love me as much as I love them, which is a lot!!!!
I wanted to spend the last week at Ruel having fun with the kids and doing lots of fun things! We have planned for this week a trip to a waterfall and a ride on a Karabaw (water buffalo), trip to the beach and Jollibee (Filipino version of McDonalds), face painting, swimming, movies.... trying to cram a lot into just one week but these kids really deserve it! I still don't know how I am going to face it on Saturday when I have to say goodbye and answer them when they ask "how long you go for?" (which they do everytime we go anywhere). Already I have been preparing them (and myself) by explaining that I will be going and it breaks my heart everytime when they tell me how much they love me and want me to stay. I am clinging to the fact that I serve an awesome God who has a plan for me and for them and He will be my strength when the time comes.
It is not only the kids whom I will miss dearly but the amazing and wonderful friends I have made here. Theresa, Jason, Maiya, Ayda, Hannah and new baby Eheler have been an inspiration to my life and taught me so many wonderful things. God truly blessed me with their friendship and I know it will not end here! They have shown me the true heart of community and how we should love and serve one another. You are my heroes! I only hope I can be and do half of the things you have shown me that I too will love and serve in my new community! I will miss you very much!
Well...thats all from Ruel! All I can say it what an honour and a privilege it has been. I am so very thankful to all who have made this journey possible. I am coming home a very different person, having learnt so many new and wonderful things although sometimes painful they have shaped me and moulded me into the person God wants me to be. It has been the most fulfilling and rewarding time in my life and I have never been more happy! Just now excited for the future and what is in store...it is nice for the first time to not have a 'plan' for my life so who knows what might happens next! Looking forward to seeing you and sharing with you when I return in August.
