Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties!

With the good must come the bad which means with Christmas(or just cold October weather) must come Christmas sweaters! Enjoy some really cute kids sporting some crazy attire!


Yessi(Primero) One of the best English students in her grade. She will go far.




Kenia(Kinder) Bright but has at times has an attitude problem. However, she's come a long way since the first week of school.


Isis(Prepa) Energetic, spunky, smart, and eager to make sure Amanda and I don't forget it. Very adventurous with her English/Spanglish. For example she says things like "Thank you para el water!"

Juana(Kinder) Very smart but it took a while for me to realize just how smart because she's so quiet. However, with quiet comes calm, a rare quality in my Kinder students.

Padrinos

I'm sure many of you know that the funding for Destino comes completely from donations. This funding comes from various sources including churches, individuals, other organizations. However, the Padrinos of Destino del Reino are one of the most important sources of prayer and financial support for this ministry. Basically, a padrino is a Destino student's sponser. Their $60 monthly donation goes towards 2 school uniforms, a pair of shoes, a hot lunch, vitamins, teachers salaries, school supplies, the gas for the school buses...I could go on forever about all the things the Padrinos donation pays for but it's not really necessary to make my point. Plus, being a Padrino isn't just about giving $. It's also about providing spiritual support for their student and the ministry. Rhonda Jackson, the founder and director of the ministry is a firm believer that each student needs to be prayed for by his or her name.

There are 184 students at Destino and 20 of them don't have a sponsor. If you haven't figured it out already, I think it would be grand if you decided to sponsor one of these students. If you don't have the money to donate $60 a month that's ok. You can be a partial sponsor and give whatever you can. And if you can't do that, you can still help. I've posted a picture of the unsponsered students in my classes and included some information about each. Just pick one and pray for them.

Andrea (First Grade)- Smart and sweet. She is so respectful towards her teachers and her fellow students. I think she might be a bit of a perfectionist. Whenever she wants to ask me a question in English she has to practice with a friend before asking me! Also, she loves to sing!

David (First Grade)-At the beginning of the school year we were told that David might struggle in our classes and would probably need tutoring based on his performance in kindergarten. He has really matured during the past few months and is actually one of our best students. He's also well behaved(just look at his student of the week pic!) I'm pretty sure that if he lived in the U.S. he would be a basketball player, he's so tall!

Ingrid (Kindergarten)- This is Ingrid's first year at Destino. She's six, so they decided to let her skip preschool and start with Kindergarten. Ingrid is very sweet and loving but she is not as mature as the other Kindergarteners. However, she has come a long way since the beginning of the year when she would randomly decide to jump up and run around the classroom or lay in the floor. I know she will catch up to her classmates academically and behaviorally but it will just take some time.

Joel Jafeth (First Grade) One of the top English students in 1st grade. He's very mature and can be quite serious at times. English comes easily to him and he sometimes gets bored in class so I have to make an extra effort to challenge him. His favorite animals are giraffes.

Rosa (First Grade)- Rosa has an amazing personality! I can tell she is so excited to be at school by her smile and positive attitude! She was struggling a bit during the first weeks of school but we had a few tutoring sessions with her and she's doing much better in English. Rosa loves to draw and is very creative.

If you would like to learn more about sponsering a student go to http://destinodelreino.org/ddr/school_sponsor

Thanks to all my friends and family who have already decided to sponsor a student! Again and again I am amazed by how willing the people in my life and the Pendleton County community are to help this ministry any way they can. Although you may not realize it the prayers you have said and the financial support you've sent too this ministry have enabled it to continue doing amazing things for Honduras. Amanda Bruin and I have decided to start a blog to keep the school sponsors updated on happenings at school. You can view it at http://losninosdedestino.blogspot.com/

Exam Week

Javier and Fabiola (Kindergarteners) brushing their teeth.

David-the student of the week in Primero!

Kenssi and Karla eating fried plantains and beans at lunch.


We've been in school for 2.5 months so far and so far so good! Today was the first day of exams. The students have an exam in each subject about 4 times a year and they all take place during the exam weeks. Bruin and I have divided up the Kinder(Preschool) and Prepa(Kindergarten) classes for testing and I'm going to teach Primero this week while Bruin tests them. The primero students are so fun to work with. At times, it can be difficult to communicate with the younger students because they haven't been able to learn much English yet and my Spanish skills are limited. However, the Primero students know enough English vocabulary to usually express what they want, even if its not grammatically correct. Bruin has set up a penpal exchange with a preschool in Falmouth so we're going to practice writing English phrases and make cards for their American pen pals. I think it's going to be a great week!

Scarleth-preschool One of the top English students in preschool! My friends Robert and Betsy Powell are sponsering her!

Kinder girls at lunch. From the left-Scarleth, Eyeleyn Mileydey, Michelle, Kenia(eating her arm), Astrid, and Carmen.

Primero learning the days of the week! Marvin, Eunice, Glenda, German, David, Karina Nazareth and Karina.

There's a Wendy's in Siguatepeque! My roommates, Zoe and Amanda Bruin.


Milton-Kindergarten He is sweet, smart and sometimes mischievous!