(Pretend that you are reading this Sunday, December 14-----because if not, you might get confused!)
This past week has really brought the Holiday Spirit as I have been able to attend a few different Island Celebrations. The first one was on Tuesday night at our church building with all of the people from our ESL (English as a Second Language) Classes. We had an end of the semester Christmas party and it ended up being so much fun. Natalynn started out by welcoming everyone and showing a short video on Christ's birth which was a great start. Kellie then told the story of Frosty the Snow Man (after explaining what a snow man was) with awesome detail and expressions! (Kell, have you ever considered story telling as a career?) Next we sang a few different Christmas songs which I tried to play by ear on the keyboard. I could have done a better job, but I was surprised at how much I actually got! Everyone loved singing and they kept saying "Again! Let's do it again!" We sang until the end of the party (everyone even tried to do the actions to "Up on the House Top!") and then had refreshments. It was a lot of fun and I was sad to say good bye to everyone for the next month & 1/2 until classes start up again. We were able to get some pictures and video though, hopefully it'll spread a little Island Christmas Spirit to everyone else!
The next event was on Thursday at the Elementary Prep School on Ross Campus were I work. The kids sang songs and performed A Christmas Carol (or Scrooge as the kids called it). They did a great job and the whole production was really cute. At the end, some workers from the day care did a little song and dance that was pretty fun.
Lastly, we had our Christmas program today at church along with a linger-longer and it was all really nice. A lot of people (a lot meaning about 30 of the 60) from our small branch are leaving the island for next semester either because they've "served their time" or they are going to the new campus in the Bahamas that opens the Jan. semester. We will miss everyone so much and we're just praying that we get a big group in next semester!
Anyway, I hope this finds everyone in good spirits and we can't wait to see everyone at the end of the week!
Above: Most of the branch that is left as of now. (not all are staying though!)Below: The students from our branch.
Ok, I have a lot more pictures and some more video to upload but since I've been working on this post over the past 3 days (started on Sunday) I'm just posting it and I'll add everything else when we get home this weekend. Yes, HOME! As in, home to Idaho!
