Wednesday, June 29, 2011

My first week . . . and a half

Well how time has flied since I last updated this.  Lots of things have happened.  Hopefully I remember them all.

I started my week with my 3rd graders.  They are precious and sweet and have been a blessing to work with.  There are 9 kids in the class for right now and the last 2 weeks I am here are full of around 20-25 kids.  It will be a big change, but hopefully the ones who have been here will be able to be shining examples of how things work in Fiji.

This is one of the bulletin boards in my classroom :)

The first week of camp kinda flew by. We were busy getting our schedule correct and making sure everything fit into the right spot.  We have the schedule pretty much in place and the kids are starting to know what to expect from the day.  Last week we worked on 2 different Bible stories.  We did creation and then the fall of Adam and Eve.  The way we are telling the stories is very interesting and I'm excited to know if the students actually retain the information.  This week we have started talking about God's Covenant with Abraham.  We are going to talk about Isaac starting tomorrow.  On Fridays we talk about different Jewish holidays.  Last week was the Feast of the Trumpets.  I can't remember what this week is, but I'm sure something.  Part of the  celebration of the Feast of the Trumpets is that we got a guy to come in and play a Shofar, or rams horn.  Some of the counselors are pretty good at it.  I didn't try but doubt I would have done very well because playing one is very similar to playing a trumpet or trombone, which I have never played either.  

Me, Elyse, Amanda, Kristina, Kelsy, Caitlyn

Friday night brought fun adventures.  It is our only time off completely from work and project.This week I loaded my car with 5 other girls and headed towards Estes Park.  We jammed to some Disney songs and had a blast.  I think my favorite part of the entire drive was rounding a corner and hearing them all freak out and lean out one side of the car all trying to take pictures.  It happened just about every turn.  It was a blast and I love all the girls dearly.  

Kristina, Christine, Sarah, Lauren, Kelsy, Amanda, Jessica, Elyse, Caitlyn, Me!

As we got into Estes Park we met another carload of girls.  We drove for a bit and then stopped at a dog park and asked where the best place to go hiking and see the sunset would be.  The ladies sent us on a wild goose chase trying to find this sign.  We finally decided to turn around and head back towards town.  We actually found the sign the were talking about and got some pretty sweet pictures by the Estes Park sign. After that we stopped at a place that said hiking, but it turns out that they didn't let people hike at the time we went.  So we asked the park ranger were to go.  He told us to go to Rocky Mountain National Park because they stop charging at 7 and by the time we got there they would be done.  Well we went but guess who was still charging?? So we decided not to go up in the park.  We saw a huge hotel on our way towards the park so we decided to go bouldering there cause they had a huge pile of rocks.  We made our way back to the Stanley Hotel, which side note is where the Shining was filmed.  We went and bouldered our way up the rocks and took some amazing photos and watched the sun go behind the mountains.  

All of us on the boulder.
The view we saw. Bad picture of Christine but I didn't want to crop it.

After we got down we decided we were starving and went to eat at a cute little place in Estes Park called Poppys.  After dinner we drove back home. 

Saturday morning we learned how to use Perspective Cards and Solarium.  We took our new knowledge to Old Town and tried to start conversations with people.  I went with a girl named Hannah.  We decided to just lay the Solarium cards on the ground by a corner and asked people to come over.  As we were setting them out a gentleman came over and asked what we were doing.  We talked to him for a little bit.  He was a Native American from Wyoming.  He was looking at the pictures for the artistic value.  He said he was an artist and they appealed to him.  We talked for a bit and then he left.  We had another group walk over and we tried to ask them some questions and there answers were about the here and now.  They did not think very deep into the questions.  After they left we left to meet our group for lunch and to regroup.  After we ate Hannah and I decided to try Perspective cards.  We just walked down the sidewalk and asked people if they wanted to take a card game survey.  A lot of people said they were too busy and we didn't  get to talk to anybody.  We met our group and headed back to the house.  That afternoon I baked over 15 dozen cookies with some friends.  We were having a "guys" night to honor the 8 men who deal with the 55 girls on project.  We decorated the eating area and had Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sugar Cookies, and Ice Cream.  After eating we decided to play games and watch a movie.  The guys got to choose between Top Gun, Gladiator, and Braveheart.  They choose to watch Gladiator.  It was a fun end to a great night.

Sunday morning I went to a church called Timberline, again.  It is a great church and I really enjoy it, although it is a little big for my normal liking.  Nothing really compares to the church family I have back home where there are 50 of us.  Which speaking of them, I miss them dearly and can't wait to see them all in a few weeks.  After church we went to lunch and then out thrifting. We are trying to find amazing outfits for July 4.  We went to a place called Arc and Once upon a Thrift.  They were both awesome stores.  After thrifting we were having a Sunday Funday social.  We were playing games on the CSU campus and tried to involve people from the community, however the only people that showed up were project people.  After Sunday Funday we had a night of Prayer and Praise.  We formed a group on campus and sang different songs and prayed through the ACTS model of prayer.  For those of you who might not know what ACTS stands for its Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  It was a great night of conversation.  

Monday morning came super fast.  We started the week out very good.  All 9 kids came back.  We talked about Abraham.  The kids seemed a bit more interested than normal.  Monday night was bible study.  We are still in Ephesians.  I love my bible study girls.  We are so open with each other and its been a great match.

Lauren, Amanda, Kristina, Elyse, Me, Kelsy and Judy
This picture is the first we we ever took as a group!!
On Tuesday we had our natural evangelism night. But before dinner and evangelism I got to talk to Chelsea Dock.  I love her to death and am soooooooo happy we were able to talk!! Kelsy and I went back to the guys house we met last week.  He told us it was too hot to paint.  So we are probably going to try back one more week and then switch to something else if he keeps saying no.  Please pray that he is open to us painting, or that God puts something else on our heart to do.  Since we didn't get to paint we decided to go to an ab class at the rec center.  That is definitely not my forte.  After the class we made our way back to the house and hung out and played Skip-Bo.  But before playing cards I got to skype with Hannah Gurley, Kayla Oldham, Jessica Hall, Alyssa Major, and Lisa Bricker!! It was so amazing to see my girls!! And so encouraging to hear from them!! 

Today was Wednesday and the kids were a bit crazy at work.  It was the hottest day of the week.  Rumor had it that is was supposed to be close to 100 by the end of the day.  It was definitely hot enough to be.  Today was one of the guys on projects birthday.  Garrett turned 21, but according to project rules there is no drinking.  So instead a group of us went out to play putt-putt.  

 Cydney, Me, Alek, Kristina, Elyse, Caitlyn, Danielle, Garrett, Kelsy
All before we starting playing
 Alek, Danielle, Me, Kelsy, Elyse, Kristina, Caitlyn, Cydney, Garrett
at the first hole
Me, Cydney, Caitlyn, Garrett, Alek, Elyse, Kelsy, Danielle, Kristina.
 Cute house on the course
 Elyse, Garrett, Me, Kristina, Caitlyn, Kelsy
 Me, Cydney, Elyse, Garrett, Caitlyn, Kristina, Danielle, Alek, Kelsy 
at the castle which we did not play.
Me, Elyse, and Kelsy
Well for now I think that is all.  God has truly been blessing me! I am loving project but would still love prayer.  I am missing home a lot right now.  There are quite a few things happening there this weekend and its hard for me to miss.  I want to say hello to all my family members at the Baute Fish Fry.  And then Congrats again to Mark and Cara on their wedding since they are having a reception in Indiana.  And then I'm missing July 4, however I think we will be busy enough this weekend to where I'll realize that while I am missing out on things in Indiana that God has bigger plans for me in Colorado.  We will be in Denver this Saturday and then Monday is full of activities.  I'll be sure to add pictures and let ya know what all happens after Monday, if I have enough energy to post it.  

Don't forget to write me if you have an extra minute.
Stacy Baute
412 W Laurel St
Fort Collins, CO 80521

Peace, Love, FoCo! 

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