tyler

2011-12-08T15:14:00.002-06:00

This was done for a school group project, but this version is without words...

Chrysalis from Alex Houseknecht on Vimeo.

2011-12-06T00:32:00.000-06:00

The Lord be with you.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
In the name of goodness and love and broken community
In the name of meaning and feeling and I hope you don’t screw me
In the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight
In the name of meal times and sharing and caring by firelight
In the name of action and peace and human redemption
In the name of eating and drinking and table confession
In the name of sadness, regret, and holy obsession
The holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression
In the name of forgive and forget and I hope I get over this
In the name of Father and Son and the Holy Spirit
In the name of beauty and beaten and broken down daily
In the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe
We gather here, a table of strangers
And speak of our hope land and talk of our danger
To make sense of our thinking, to authenticate lives
To humanize feeling and stop telling lies
In the name of philosophy, theology, and who gives a damn
In the name of employment and study and finding new family
In the name of our passion, our loving, and indecent obsessions
In the name of prayer and of worship and of demon possession
In the name of solitude and quiet and holy reflection
In the name of the lost and the lonely and the without direction
In the name of efficiency, stupidity, and the holy ineffectual
In the name of the straight, the queer, transgendered, and bisexual
In the name of boot clogs and boob jobs and erectile disfunction
Schizophrenia, hysteria, and obsessive compulsion
In the name of Jesus and Mary and the mostly silent Joseph
In the name of speaking to ourselves saying this is more than I can cope with
In the name of touch up and break up and break down and weeping
In the name of therapy and Prozac and full hearted breathing
In the name of sadness and madness and years since I’ve smiled
In the name of the unknown, the alien, and the holy in exile
In the name of goodness and kindness and intentionality
In the name of harbor and shelter and family

Peter Rollins

First day of school!

2011-09-07T13:50:00.003-05:00

I'm a student again! I started my master's this last week.

This is my friend Katie and I holding our lunch, before we walked to school for our very first day.

2011-02-06T23:28:00.007-06:00

I realized the other day that I easily and quickly place my desire for my own holiness above my desire to know God. I have this want to be more desirable in my own eyes, I suppose. It's distracting me from what I want to be most important--knowing God.

2011-02-02T15:12:00.003-06:00

This is where I work:

The School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts (SANCA) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the mental and physical health of children of all ages by engaging them in the joyous creativity of acrobatics and circus arts.

Because of where I work, I was on the NW Cable news. Here's the link:

http://www.nwcn.com/video/featured-videos/NW-Postcard-Circus-School-114832789.html

Thoughts

2010-10-19T16:45:00.007-05:00

I have this long list in my head of all the things I really want for my house. My house is important to me. Aesthetics are important to me. Possibly too important, I don't know.

There's this song by Jill Phillips called, God and Money, that if I had fancy computer skills would be playing while you read this. It goes something like this:

No one serves both God and money
We all know because we've tried
We've dressed up nice and poured on lots of perfume
To cover up the death on the inside

No one serves both God and money
'Cause they're both wanting the same things
Only one can have your full attention
And the heart and mind and soul that you will bring...

For the first time in my life, I have an income, and I can afford some things. Not a lot of things, mind you, but some things. Never before have I wanted so many things as I do right now. I'm a bit preoccupied with "getting". I covet a higher standard of living. I don't like it.

I've read scholarly journal articles about money and how every household feels that if they made "such and such" more money, they'd be happier. Even the richest of the richest still want more, and think that just a bit more would make life better.

I didn't think I was greedy, but I do have a lot of selfish want for things. Since moving into the "real world" of work and life, I have this gnawing inside of me to accumulate. This is very much against the type of life I desire to have.

For some reason I feel like having these things will make life better than it already is.

I find it so easy to fall into this type of thinking. I live in the richest neighborhood in Seattle. When I walk around I see the most beautiful homes I've ever seen. Something inside of me wants the same: A big beautiful house that's really well designed on the inside.

Not that I can blame Seattle for my heart-issue, but living in the city puts the immediate availability of any possession at my fingertips, and the best of any "thing" at that.

I want an attitude of Jesus being enough to satisfy my life. I don't want my identity to be rooted in my own abilities and achievements.

Steep yourself in God: what is real, what His desires are, what He wants to give. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. God wants good things for you. Luke 12:30-32

Camping

2010-08-01T22:17:00.004-05:00

I've gone camping the last couple weekends. It was wonderful. Here's two pictures.

Warning: It's disturbing

2010-06-22T11:49:00.003-05:00

Find out more at Meat.org.

This is very gruesome, but it's real. I might become a vegetarian.

Some pics of home. It's changed a bit since these, but...

2010-06-11T17:22:00.004-05:00

2010-05-05T17:52:00.001-05:00

This is where I now reside. I moved to Queen Anne in Seattle last week. There are a lot of beautiful parks just blocks away from my place. Here's the view of the park one block over.

Pictures of my house to come.

2010-04-27T19:11:00.001-05:00

This is raccoon. That's his name, and what he is. He liked me. I'm a bit of an animal whisperer (for real, I really think I am).

2010-04-15T19:08:00.003-05:00

I've been reading Matthew today. Mainly the end of Jesus' life. Pilate washes his hands clean of Jesus blood, because he finds no fault in Him. He tells the crowd, "I am innocent of this man's blood. It is your responsibility." It's ironic, the crowd says, "Let his blood be on us and our children!" How true that was. That was the whole point. It's sad, and beautiful.

2010-04-13T01:04:00.002-05:00

If we knew each other's secrets, what comforts we should find.

-John Churton Collins

Thursday

2010-03-25T16:04:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I just don't know how I can continue. I'll explain.

Today I opened my Majuro box to try and find something I thought might be in there. I ended up going through everything (which is something I usually try to avoid too often). I read a bunch of their journals: about funny things that happened in class, short stories they wrote, 'fessing up to things, funny little pictures about me and my then significant other, pictures the second graders would draw or color for me. It breaks my heart. I still feel everything so deeply. I can't go through that box, even now, almost two years later, without sobbing.

I watched a little video clip I took walking to campus the last day of school, and it's hard to believe that that was me, and that I made that walk every day for almost a year. It still feels dreamy, and not real. I know I took that video, but it feels like I couldn't have, being so far removed now.

I just don't know if this is how it will always be. I wonder if I'll always have to avoid looking at too many of my pictures of my time there, and.....i don't know. Thinking about Majuro makes me fragile. I miss my students more than I thought I possibly could.

Tele

2010-03-16T16:21:00.003-05:00

I've been watching a lot of TV lately. I feel dumb for it. I don't even really like TV, and I don't even own a TV, but I'm living at home now and TV is a bit of a staple in this household. I should (and would like to) be spending my time doing things I need to do, or things I love to do. Time is too precious to be spent on anything less. I'm going to spend time on more fulfilling things again, and turn the tele off.

Lessons and Simplicity

2010-03-10T17:08:00.001-06:00

And this is what I watched today. As well as this.

Wisdom

2010-03-09T20:38:00.001-06:00

I watched this today. It was really good. You should check it out.

2010-03-03T23:58:00.000-06:00

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

-Emily Dickinson

2010-03-02T15:36:00.004-06:00

Five things I'm thankful for today:

-My adorable nephews

-Good, close friends that care about me, and the ability to talk to them being so far away.

-Fuji apples and spinach

-Two working legs that can take me anywhere

-Late night movies at a friends house

2010-02-03T18:32:00.005-06:00

Last week I interviewed for the aerial and dance company that offered me a position this week. It was a very humbling experience. They had all kinds of things to correct me on: my toes, suck in my stomach, relax neck, smile.....the list goes on. I wasn't used to being told to fix so many things. Usually, I'm the coach with all the suggestions of things to fix. To be honest, I didn't really like it, but even while it was happening, I knew that it would be good for me to be the one being corrected.

2010-02-03T13:16:00.005-06:00

I'm in Portland now, and have been for the last week. I was officially offered a position for a dance and aerial company here in Portland. It's a one year agreement, if I choose to take it. A year seems like a long time, and such a big decision. What if Portland isn't the best place for me? I keep asking myself if Portland is God's "plan A." I'm just not sure. I have another interview today, so we'll see how that goes.

Fashion for Food

2009-12-10T10:44:00.003-06:00

Last weekend I was a model in a benefit fashion show featuring designers and boutiques from Nebraska, called Fashion for Food. The proceeds of the show went to fund Lincoln's Backpack Program, which distributes over 2,000 backpacks to students so they dont have to go hungry on the weekends because they rely on school meal programs during the week.

I was in the local Lincoln paper here

I think it's kinda funny! And fun. It says "Model Tyler Henry..." haha.

2.12.09

2009-12-02T16:43:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks ago I found an unlocked hatch in a sidewalk here at Union. I went back late at night in the cover of darkness. I opened it to reveal underground tunnels that snaked around to every building on campus! It was really cool! In the picture above I'm sqeezing through a tight space past a locked door meant to keep me out (how silly of them to think that would stop me!).

2009-10-27T17:59:00.006-05:00

I get so confused sometimes. Just when I start to think I have something maybe figured out, my heart yells out and I pull back, deciding I need to further think about it. The longings I have to do something purposeful and selfless are strong. Yet I'm so self focused, and I know the remedy to this...giving of myself, id est, not living for me.

I like to look good. I like to have nice things --clothes, watches, cologne, art --but I feel a lot of guilt for having said nice things, when they aren't things I need to live.

I feel the need to be closer to home, and to have a dog, but at the same time to go overseas again.

I don't yet know how I can balance these two things.

I want to be this guy, helping the kid. He's a part of Tiny Hands International, check it out.

But I don't know if my heart can take any more. I start tearing up anytime I think about my kids in Majuro. I can't read the letters they wrote to me before I left without crying. Part of my heart is still there, and I don't know how I could do it again.

I have money sitting in a bank account, and I can't bring myself to spend it on things I like, because they aren't necessity, and yet I want to have money for the future so I can be a provider, and still it bothers me to no end that it just sits there, not being used, when I could be donating it to help stop trafficking of women and children, and feeding people that don't have anything. I need to create balance. I know I can have both. I can have peace.

10.18.09

2009-10-18T14:09:00.004-05:00

I feel SPLIT. I feel restless.

One self wants to go overseas again, when I finish in December.

The other self wants to put down some roots in the Northwest, closer to family.

When I was overseas a couple years ago I remember wanting to wait until I was married to go again, but with time one forgets the reasons you felt so strongly about some things.

I feel both selves so strongly.

In both I'm seeking community, God, adventure, relationship.

I need to pray about it.

I bought a coat last week. I feel guilty about it. I don't need it. I have coats, a couple of them. I'll probably take it back.

I'm tired of how self-focused school is. My fervor is waning.

I sound down-in-the-dumps, I'm not. Just contemplative.

Here's a nice picture to brighten the page:

9.28.09

2009-10-03T16:23:00.003-05:00

I went to bed at six-thirty last night. It was so good. I woke up at 1:00 am wide awake, thinking about what to do next.

So, my goal this week was to turn orange, or yellow, rather. I decided that for five days I was going to eat carrots, oranges, orange juice, and sweet potatoes, just to see how yellow my skin would turn. A friend thought it also a great idea, and we set out to embark on a beautiful journey together. After two days of being hungry non-stop, I decided it wasn't so beautiful after all.

I learned something about myself this week that I already kinda knew, but wasn't so overly aware of: I lack self-discipline. I'm not very good at completing things I don't like doing.

Oh, Prosperous Night

2009-09-28T18:36:00.011-05:00

It was a prosperous night. Every Monday night, after I'm done with gymnastics, I go for a bike ride. Why Monday? Well, you see, Monday is trash day in the surrounding Lincoln area. Why at night? Well, I need the cover of darkness to go through people's trash. It's as simple as that. I'm really keen on going through people's things and uncovering interesting tchotchkes in the trash. It's completely invigorating and exhilarating to me.

Tonight I found a wrought iron coffee table stand, two silk ferns, a glass dish and an old letter.

The letter was written to Jack, from Gram (Grandma). Not my grandma, but Jack's. When I read it I felt like I was the recipient, like Gram just wrote the wrong name at the top and in the address line. She told me I was a good young man, to forgive myself for the mistakes made and move on. She advised me to do the best I can and make good choices, and to say my prayers before I go to sleep.

It was a hearty letter, with sound advice: forgive yourself, move on, start again, and make God a priority.

other finds: new headboard and little table

09.27.09

2009-09-27T15:17:00.004-05:00

I have a new bike. It's hard to believe what people throw away. I can't believe how wasteful people are, but in this case I'm kinda excited:

05.20.09

2009-05-20T16:45:00.007-05:00

Another year finished. It feels good to be done and I'm really excited to be working at camp this summer. I just got back from spending 10 days in Canada with a family that I've become good friends with this year. I went up in the CN tower, took the subway, and de-stressed from school.

I'm still in Lincoln, and just enjoying my free time. I've been having picnics, playing outside, riding my bike around town, reading, and playing rook. The other day, while exploring downtown, I found an unlocked door in a cool building that led to a hatch on the top of the building.

Tonight I'm going to go to a Kindergarten graduation! It'll be fun!

04.05.09

2009-04-05T12:19:00.010-05:00

Time goes by so quickly. The year is almost over. I only have four or five weeks of school left. It's snowing outside today, and I'm inside making licorice root tea. Two weeks and a couple days ago I was sitting at the beach in the Bahamas. I got to swim with sharks, live for a week without carrying around a cellphone, I got play at the beach, do gymnastics, and be with people 24/7. I was miserably sick with the flu, but it was wonderful. I've come to realize just how much I like being around people. I would rather be around people all the time than anything else. I don't know why I ever went through with the bright idea to have an apartment to myself! Next year I'll have a roommate or two, that's for sure! Speaking of my apartment, here's a picture of it. And I uploaded more pictures to my Flickr account, so click on one of the pictures down on the right and take a look!

01.28.09

2009-03-02T08:26:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I'm easily distracted. Some things take me a long time to get done, and sometimes it takes me a long time to figure something out in life.

The last 9 months of my life have been the hardest I've ever experienced. I've struggled with deep loneliness and had a hard time finding joy, happiness and contentment. After talking to a good friend I realized that I've been trying to make life how it used to be and trying to not accept how it is different now and that I'm different now. I wanted life to be how it was my junior year in college when I was never lonely and was always surrounded by fun and close-knit people, and when I never struggled with joy or happiness.

I'm beginning to accept how hard things have been for me this year and accept that things can't be the exact same as they used to be, and learning that I wouldn't even want it to be the same anymore. A good friend and mentor told me, "You'll find new joys and new sources of happiness as life changes."

I feel like I'm in a better place than I have been in a long time. For so long I've been distracted by the sin that enters my life, all the darts that the devil throws at me, but I'm changing my focus now. I'm trying to not let anything distract me from my God.

It took me a while to figure this out, but I'm learning and I'm growing, and that's what it's all about. We're all on a journey. There is joy in the journey, sometimes it's just harder to find.

I haven't blogged in a long time, and I feel a bit too vulnerable, but honesty is what it's all about, right?

2/2/09

2009-02-02T01:06:00.002-06:00

It's been several months, but I'm back to a place where I feel I can start blogging again.

2008-11-18T13:34:00.002-06:00

yes, it's been a while. yesterday as I was sitting in counseling theories class while we talked about grief I realized I'm in the grieving process. I miss majuro so much. I wish I was still there living the kind of life I had last year.

2008-09-06T14:06:00.002-05:00

hello. well, i've been thinking a lot. as i've said before, it's been hard for me adjusting to "normal life." When I left for Majuro I had the impression that I would have ample time to "figure things out." I did have ample time, I had tons of time on that small island, but I didn't really figure anything out. I came back more confused about life and myself than I've ever been. It's a good thing, I guess, to be thinking about things, but it doesn't feel good. It's painful.

School is hard for me. Not because because i'm a dummy, but because I just don't feel very fulfilled. I was more fulfilled teaching last year in Majuro than I am right now.

I was expecting Union to be some sort of saviour to me--having friends, being in community with other people my age again--but it's not doing it for me. I don't have a community anymore. I don't really have any friends here anymore, besides a couple, I guess. I thought being here would be good for me. Maybe this is good for me, I don't know. But I'm not really enjoying it.

Sorry to all of you expecting to read some exciting story of how great I'm doing, but that just wouldn't be true. I'm not doing that great right now. And that is okay, because I know it won't be like this forever.

Homiletics Changed My Life!!

2008-08-19T23:16:00.009-05:00

It's true. Never before has a class so profoundly impacted me . You may be asking, "How can it be? Didn't school just start today?" Well, you're right, school did just start today. Since I just love telling stories, let me tell you one now:

Ok, scratch the story thing. I don't like telling stories ( I was being facetious when I said I love telling stories) . I'm not gifted with speech, so I just don't like telling stories. Which is interesting because today, while sitting in Homiletics, I was asked by my teacher if I like telling stories, to which I replied, "no, not at all." He then said how the best preacher is one that tells stories. That really got me thinking. Why am I doing Religion? I don't like telling stories, so I probably wouldn't make that great a preacher, plus I don't want to be a preacher. And I don't even like religion. I like God, and spirituality, but not all this unpractical mumbo jumbo information about religion and how to run an effective board meeting. I may be over exaggerating a bit, sometimes I do that, but really, I don't want to be a Religion Major. I'm not even sure I want to be here at Union, but that's a completely diferent topic, of which I may bring up later.

So, to summarize, Homiletics changed my life!!! (partly because it was horrible). Tomorrow I'm going to change my Major. To what? Yeah.....about that.....

new update

2008-08-18T14:42:00.002-05:00

this is how it really looks now

apartment Update

2008-08-17T12:18:00.007-05:00

This is what it looks like

my (new to me) bike

2008-08-15T18:35:00.007-05:00

This is my new bike (new to me). I LOVE it (it was free, besides the tire I had to replace. I found it abandoned, in a patch of ominous weeds). I ride it everywhere. It's amazing, to say the least. My bike has not only carried this young bloke around these last few days, but also my large treasures (id est furniture) I've been finding around town in the trash! (people are very wasteful). I crashed (gracefully) once; my bike skills are in the process of growing.

2008-08-14T16:03:00.002-05:00

This day was one of the best days I've had since being back in the states. I saw some of best people in the world (of course they're from camp). These kids are just a few of them.

2008-08-13T21:10:00.002-05:00

my chairs

2008-08-13T20:58:00.007-05:00

I might spray paint the yellow one....

2008-08-12T19:09:00.003-05:00

My New Address is:

5020 Bancroft Ave. Apt. D

Lincoln, NE 68506

Please feel free to send me things....really, anytime. I like mail a lot.

Apartment Video

2008-08-11T22:47:00.003-05:00

apartment

2008-08-11T22:25:00.005-05:00

This is the only thing I don't like about my apartment: the carpet....

07/21/08

2008-07-21T02:19:00.004-05:00

I'm home now. It's been about a month and a half, and things just seem to get harder and harder. Normally I try to say things eloquently and thoughtfully, but right now I just want to say it straight up, and in short, choppy sentences. Adjusting has been hard for me. It's gotten harder the longer I've been back. I've always considered myself to be a positive person, one that finds happiness easily in life and in most circumstances. That's not how I feel right now. I'm not that happy. I don't know why I'm having a hard time, but I am. It's not as if I had unrealistic idea's or expectations of America.

This is hard and I'm not really enjoying it. I don't want to just stuff it all and pretend like everything is fine when it isn't.

I talked to two people on the phone today that were really encouraging. They helped me refocus. They both prayed for me. They both loved me up a bit, in a good way.

I realized today that I've kinda unintentionally been avoiding talking to the people that might actually be of help to me because they might ask good questions that I just don't know the answer to.

6 days left.....

2008-05-21T19:51:00.004-05:00

Wow. I'm done with school. Today was the last day of school, and it was a half day at that. I certainly feel ready to be done with teaching, but I don't feel like I'm ready to leave. I leave in 6 days. Today, one of my girls, Isabella, asked if I was going to be their teacher next year in eighth grade. I told her I was going home, that I only had a one year contract.

I've just started to get to know them better, and it's just too bad that it's only recently that I've gotten closer to them, and now school is over and I have to go.

It still hasn't hit me that I'll be leaving. I know I leave in 6 days, but it doesn't feel like it. It seems like I'll do my grades, turn them in, and start the next quarter shortly thereafter.

The other night my class had a Yokwe party (yokwe means hello, goodbye, and love. In this case it was "goodbye"). They sang to me in Marshallese (I have no idea what they were saying, but it was still sweet), then they came up to me one by one and presented their gifts to meand either shook my hand or hugged me. Next it was my turn to make a little speech: I told them I won't forget them, that I love them, that I've been blessed to be able to teach them......I got the littlest bit choked up, but I don't think anyone knew.

Today I was in my classroom when the second grade teacher came up to my door crying. I asked what was wrong and she told me that all her students were crying, so I went over to her classroom. I opened the door and every kid was wailing. It sounded like someone had just died. I told her I'd take care of it (not yet knowing what I was going to do). She left, and I told all the kids to come sit with me in the middle of the classroom. They came out from the corners and out from under their desks to come sit next to me, or on me. I started talking to them, and told them that they'd get to see Ms. Kriss in heaven, that it's okay to miss their teacher and that she'd miss them too, and blahblah.....sorry, I'm a little lazy at the moment, and I have a graduation to get to. So, in the end they were all fine, and I prayed with them, and then they went outside to play and have fun the rest of the day with their teacher.

more later...

4/21/08

2008-04-20T22:49:00.002-05:00

Last night the internet was surprisingly fast, which allowed me to look at pictures on my friends MySpace spreads. It made me a bit depressed actually. People have been having SO much fun, while I've been here. I've had fun too, but not seemingly as much as they.
I feel a little bit crazy for signing up for this. I'm glad I'm here. I have to keep telling myself this. BUt I kinda feel like God owes me, owes me a bunch of fun for all this labor. I realize that's quite an egocentric and ungrateful feeling, but that's how I feel.
I'm really, ready to go home, so much so that I'm having to think in days now. Just get through today. I used to think in months and weeks, and getting through months or weeks was no problem, but now I'm having to focus on smaller chunks of time. Eight weeks ago, 13 weeks seemed like nothing, nada, zilch. Now, five weeks seems like perpetuity. I know I'm dramatic.
Last night I thought to myself that were I given the choice to leave without further ado, I would.
But now I don't think I would. I know I'm going to enjoy these last 5 weeks.
Heck, I know myself well enough to know that shortly after I get back to the States, I'll wish I was back here.

4/19/08

2008-04-19T02:06:00.002-05:00

Hello. It has been a while.
Well, for those of you that have tried calling me with no avail, fret no further - my phone now works. I, an alleged technological guru, forgot to see if my phone sported a speaker phone, which it does, so please call and I'll actually be able to hear you now.
I now have only 4 and a half weeks of school, and boy am I excited! Though I like teaching more than I used to, I'm still ready to be done. Teaching academics isn't my favorite. I expect that if I thought more of academics myself, perhaps I might see more value in me being a teacher, but I don't. I do think education and scholastic instruction is important, but I don't think I'm the one to do it. It's just not for me, not for now.
I was pondering several weeks ago about how it's unlike what I thought it would be here. I expected the students to appreciate the Student Missionaries, and show more interest in us. I suppose that because they get a new lot of teachers each year, the students have begun to take us for granted. I imagine it's easier for them if they don't get close to us because, inevitably, we'll all leave, and how much less painful it will be at the end of each year when they've never allowed themselves to get close to us. I wish it wasn't this way, but it is. As much as I desire friendship with my students, I don't sense that happening.

2008-03-26T23:23:00.007-05:00

So, this picture is where I thought I was going to be going, but didn't. The family that offered me the buddy pass flaked out on me :( So, instead I stayed here and was sick with the stomach flu :( I haven't blogged in a long time because I haven't really felt like it. I'll try to catch you up in as few words as possible: I have 7 more weeks of school, and will be flying home in about 8 and one half weeks. The odd thing is that I'm really looking forward to it. It's only odd because I usually don't miss things very much,. I really enjoy teaching now. I didn't much care for break - mostly because I was bored and sick, and not it Hawaii - but, I would rather have been teaching. If you've tried calling me, I'm sorry. My phone isn't working well so I can't hear a thing anyone is saying. I can't think of anything else at the moment.

3/16/08

2008-03-15T20:18:00.004-05:00

I found a way for anyone to send me free text messages to my cellphone. Go to: www.ntamar.net and click "SEND TXT MESSAGE TO MOBILE" in the middle of the page. Then type in any email address (it doesn't even have to be a real email, it just requires that you enter one), then enter my number: 455-6258, then type me a message. It's free to you and free to me.

From my journal:
2/21/08
"Something cool just happened in the computer lab. The internet was down again when I went in to use it while my kids were at PE. I sat, waiting awhile for the internet to miraculously start working. It still wouldn't work. So I laid down on the bench I was sitting on and waited. I didn't have much else to do, or possibly more truthfully, anything else I wanted to do. Finally, it connected for a couple seconds, just long enough to open the Gmail homepage, then stopped working again. I prayed, 'God, am I just wasting time? If there's an email that is important enough, make the internet work." Just then, my email loaded faster than it ever had before. There wasn't anything very important in my mailbox, but it really made me think about just how much God likes to answer our prayers, and make us happy.....even in something as small as opening email."

2008-02-27T03:28:00.005-06:00

Not having a camera has made it hard to show you pictures, so I got a few from some other people. You can click them to make them bigger...

Taradactle, this is for you.

2008-02-23T16:34:00.002-06:00

Tara, I thought I might as well answer your question here.

Yes, I do think I'll be at Mivoden this summer. Are you going to be there too?

Background: I just found out last week that I will most likely be working at camp!! Gymnastics and Lifeguarding!! Yahoo. Two of my favorites. (I think any job at Camp Mivoden would be a favorite, it's that great of a place!)

2008-02-20T00:58:00.003-06:00

I got another package today, this one from my Grandma Henry!! (thank you).
Here are some darn interesting facts for ya:

Whenever I get a package, I take everything out spread it all out on my bed to get a really good look at it all--to take it all in. Then I wish I could take a picture of it.
I've made my bed everyday* since lived here (*I'm sure there were a few days...)

For those of you that think 4 four sentences isn't sufficient, this is for you (and everybody else, to be fair)

2008-02-17T18:57:00.003-06:00

For an update: My sister called me on Sunday and set up a time for today (Tues.) so that we could talk. I was buying groceries when she called, so we didn't get to talk too much or get too deep, but it was still really nice. I got a really big box today, from my uncle bubba and aunt dawn-marie. All kinds of amazing things. A lot of healthy snacks and cereal(!), and nuts, and all kinds of stuff (all of which I REALLY like. I just don't know how they be so good! THANKYOU bubba and dawn!). Two of my grandmas called me in the last week, which, even though the conversations were short, was really nice.
Friday: Today was so much fun! Today, while we were reading The Hummingbird King, a short story in our Literature book, there was a part in the story that was very, very tense. Seriously every student was paying attention, and was very interested in this story! It was amazing. I was reading out loud as I sometimes do to help them understand stories, when the perfect opportunity arose. Right at the climax of the story, I yelled (quite loud), scaring every single student! It was the funniest thing ever. They all started laughing because I had gotten them so good! Today, we went to the library for our scheduled time on Friday, and they were so good. They actually followed directions. It surprised and amazed me. I made sure to note this (I wrote it down so I couldn't forget) and then told them how good they had done.
Sunday: I had a really nice weekend. After school on Friday, after attending funeral stuff for our secretarys dad, myself and 5 other guys went to the bridge ("the bridge" because there's only one bridge) to go fishing. I used a little piece of string tied to my hand, and caught 3 fish! A blue one, and bright red one, and a boring one (boring in color).
Sabbath I wasn't feeling very good, so I slept through most of church, then got up and read till later in the afternoon. In the afternoon we again went to Sylvias for more funeral stuff, then us guys left to go for a walk. We walked downtown which is maybe 4 miles away. On the way back, it was dark and a bit late, so I said we should hitch, which I very much like to do. you never know who's gonna pick you up! So exciting! Anyways, a policeman gave us a ride in the back of his pickup, and took us home. All weekend the internet has been down in Delap, so Sunday night Korrisa (2nd grade teacher) and I walked 5 or 6 miles to Rita where the only other internet place is. Then we hitched back!
Moday: I've found and decided that I prefer to read only one book at a time rather than 5 or 6 at a time, which is how I used to read. When I read one book at a time, I finish a book much quicker (imagine that!). You see, I really like finishing books. I feel a sense of accomplishment: as if I'm a warrior that has just conquered a city. Maybe even to the same extent! When I finish a book, I move it to the other side of the shelf where all the other "conquered" books lie on top of another. Maybe that conquered pile of books could more accurately be called a "stack of pride," but I don't know. I like to see at a glance what I've accomplished.
Something to remember: "sharing is caring."
Tuesday: Last Friday I started something new. I invited a student over for lunch, which I now plan on doing every week. It is by invitation only, but everyone will get a turn. I just want to get to know my students better and build a better friendship with them. On Friday, I pray that God will direct me to invite the right srudent over for lunch. We'll see how it goes.
When Myciefer came over on Friday, I made him lunch and told him we could sit on a bed, if he wanted, or on the couch. He plopped down right on the floor, perfectly content. It was a little thing, but a pretty big example to me of contentment.
Here's something new, and down right interesting........I now like pecans. (thank you bubba and dawn. without that bag of pecans you sent me, i never would have started to like pecans!)

2008-02-14T00:27:00.001-06:00

It's Thursday. I really enjoyed today. I had fun. I enjoyed teaching for the first time in a while.

Toga Party

2008-02-02T16:25:00.001-06:00

Two Sabbaths ago, while sitting in church, David and I decided that we wanted to put together a party, so I suggested it be a Toga Party. It was supposed to start at 7pm, but it ended up starting at 9! Everything here starts late. We ate, played music, danced around (of course), and took pictures. It was pretty fun! We thought that in a couple weeks we'd organize another party.

This last week, I have:
-watched the basketball and volleyball championships
-found out I can live off-campus next year for sure! yahoo!
- that's pretty much it (actually I just wanted to fill the space next to the pictures, and now I've done that, so I'm done)

2008-01-30T03:04:00.000-06:00

If you wanted to send me the perfect thing, you could send me printed-off PICTURES! and a letter in the mail to:

Tyler Henry
PO Box I (SDA Mission)
Majuro, MH 96960

Just in case you wanted to know!

happy struggles....

2008-01-29T20:29:00.000-06:00

A kinda cool thing happened the other day.
A student, one of the girls that avoids me and has an attitude, asked to get a drink for which I told her she had 3 minutes to get back from. She walked in six minutes later with an attitude of "so whatcha gonna do about it?" So, I asked her what she thought would be a fair consequence. She wouldn't answer me, so I told her that we could talk about it after school. Once school had commenced and everybody had left (this after she had tried to slither out unnoticed minutes before), she now was sitting in the far back corner and wouldn't respond to any of my questions as to what might be a fair consequence. I explained to her that it wasn't her lack of punctuality that didn't sit well with me as much as her attitude and rudeness. Still no answer. More silence.
I told her that I'd be there whenever she was ready to talk. I mentioned that "I'd be there for a long time grading papers, and she was more than welcome to join me" (Ha ha! I thought that part was funny).
I glanced down to my hand where I had earlier drawn a little symbol as a reminder to "die to myself." I wanted to tell her how rude she had been and point out all the unkindliness I had noticed, but I knew that was the devil talking, so I prayed and asked for wisdom in how I could make a positive move in this situation (if you could call it a move).
I felt that she should be apologizing to me for her rudeness. But, I tried to think of the least self-centered thing possible, and the only thing that surfaced was, "I should be the one apologizing." What! That's crazy. She should apologize, I thought. I didn't want to apologize. She wronged ME! But, I decided it was the right thing to do (leading/teaching by example?).
I tried to apologize.
I couldn't do it.
The words wouldn't come out. Pride was controlling me.
I tried again. And then again. Finally, I got out that I was sorry for not being as kind to her as I could have been, and that I was really sorry.
She started crying. She tried to hide it from me by laying her head down and putting her hands up to her face, but I saw.
Today, two days later, she has the least attitude I have ever seen. She's even on the verge of quite pleasant, nearing jovial (!). Today she even chatted with me and said my name several times (which is something she hadn't done for a while). I prayed I would see a change in her and I have!
I certainly don't have "dying to myself" figured out, but my question to you is how can you "die to yourself" today?
I will continue to struggle with "dying to myself" as I hope you do too. I think struggle means we are growing, working, striving for something better. (Note: After a quick check, I found in Rogets 21st Century Thesaurus, that "struggle" does in fact suggest such things as "fight to win, strain, strive, grapple, effort, and work")
So....happy struggles....(Because we have something to look forward to, right?!)

1/21/08

2008-01-20T20:31:00.000-06:00

Today is Monday and school isn't quite out yet. My students are at P.E. with Mr. Emerson (We used to teach PE, but when he came, he started teaching it for all the classes), so at the moment I have a little break.
Last night, I watched a really good movie called The Ultimate Gift. Ok, confession: I actually watched two movies. I wasn't planning on watching any movies here, but I wanted to see what affect a movie would have on me after not seeing one for about 5 months (and I just really wanted to watch one). The first one I saw was The Bourne Ultimatum. I watched the movies on a friends Ipod, which has close to a two inch screen! When I first started it, I had to turn the sound way down because it was so overwhelming to my auditory and visual senses. Even on a two inch screen, my heart was pounding the whole time. It was sort of stressful. When the movie was finished, it had made me desire to be stronger and more muscular (maybe silly, but true), so I can only assume that this movie sent me that message.
The second one I watched, made me want to love people better (it made me cry too! maybe I'm a softy. no, I just feel deeply). That's more the kind of movie I want to watch: one that is uplifting, and does not send messages I don't need to hear.
Anyways, it was fun. I do like a bit of action: bing, bang, boom.

1/20/08

2008-01-19T17:28:00.000-06:00

Thursday, after school, the girls in my class had a volleyball game at ECC (the only large gym here). I was still sick, so I wasn't much into the idea of walking there, as I usually do, so I was planning to ride with the team in the van. Two of my other girls asked me if I was going to the game, and asked if I would walk with them, because they "needed an adult." I knew that wasn't true because kids here have almost no supervision (On New Years eve, I was downtown at the festival, and on the walk back at 3am I saw tons of kids (little kids) still out and wandering around by themselves or with their friends).
I said I would walk with them, and off we went. We stopped at a store and they asked me what drink I wanted (people here are very giving. they share everything. seriously, it's amazing how giving they are). I said that I wanted guava juice (it's rude to not accept gifts here) so they went inside and came back out soon after telling me to come in and choose which guava juice. While we stood in the checkout line, Isabella noticed the stand of cigarettes and asked if I smoked. I sort of chuckled and said no. I almost said, "NO, that's bad." I'm so glad I didn't.
Later I thought, "What in the world might that statement translate into if one day she decided to smoke cigarettes, or drink a beer?" She might likely think that I thought she was bad, maybe even not as valuable, because I said, one day long ago, that "smoking is bad."

Smoking is a poor choice because of it's affects on your lungs. Because you may smoke does not make you "bad", but only a person who cannot honestly say that they are currently making the best choices.

I think we often translate our bad choices into beliefs such as, "I am bad."
And I don't like that.

Today I'm going to write the lesson plans that should have been done Friday and do the laundry that I needed to do weeks ago but didn't have money to do it with until now. It doesn't sound too exciting to me, but I usually find the exciting in the ordinary (or try to make the ordinary somehow exciting), so I'm sure it will be better than I am anticipating.

1/19/08

2008-01-18T19:57:00.000-06:00

" 1/15/08 - Today I made an observation about two of my girls in class. I have only two girls who give me attitude and are snotty and rude, at times. Both of them, out of all the others, avoid all physical contact by me. They'll dodge me if I reach out to put my hand on their shoulder. All my other students are touchy and brush against me and put their hand on my shoulder, but these two don't, and avoid it at all costs. I don't know how it's related, but I find it interesting that they are the only two who have bad attitudes and are also the only two who won't allow me to touch them."

Well, I killed more than 20 ticks in my apartment this morning. Rats are the newest addition to the plethora of "pets" living in our apartment (previously we only had cockroaches, ants, and geckos). The rats don't bite me in my sleep or anything, and I rarely see them, so I guess I don't mind too much. As long as they stay out of my food.

1/15/08

2008-01-15T01:39:00.000-06:00

This is the first blog of the new year! What a momentous occasion.

Well, to start out, not much has been going on. School. Play. The like.
Really not too much.

1/10/08

I had parent-teacher conferences tonight. At first I was really nervous. I was thinking, what if they yell at me cause their kid is failing a class, or four. But I decided it was not me, it was each students decision to have done their homework or not. So, at first I didn't really want any parents to come, but by the end of the conferences, I was wishing all of the parents (or uncles, g-ma,sisters, aunties) had come so I could meet them. I thought it was interesting that the most fashionable parent that came in, also the only one of which to sport dyed hair, is the mother of the boy in my class that thinks I should have a six pack, and he thinks it should be important to me to have a six pack. He's told me this several times, and continues to ask me at least twice a month whyI don't have a six pack. I told him that I don't "Because it's not that important to me. Having more muscles doesn't bring you the happiness you think that it will." I hope he understands, or at leastwill believe me by the end of the year.
One grandma came in and talked to me the whole time in Marshallese. I thought, "Is this really happening? Is it just my imagination? She isn't speaking English, I know that. But why would she talk to me in Marshallese? Does she not know I don't understand a thing she's saying? I don't even understand the big gestures she's making. Just smile and nod, Tyler, just smile and nod." It was amusing. When she finished talking minutes later, I said "Komol Tata,"which means thank you!!

(Heather, I hope you don't mind, I copied this out of an email I wrote you, because I didn't want to type it again. How's that for lazy!)

I can't wait to go back to college!! I miss it so much. I'm going to appreciate it so much more when I get back.

Well, at the moment I'm sick, and I've lost my voice. I really like when I lose my voice. I just think it's so funny.

That't all for now.

The Bigger Adventure

2007-12-29T02:12:00.000-06:00

"I wanted to go somewhere else to find God. He was there all along, but I wasn't. I thought it'd be easier to find God somewhere else, which may in part be true, but really, it turns out that I was just easier to find somewhere else. I guess I needed to get away to be able to 'come back.' God didn't need so much to be found as much as I do." --my journal

Pictures

2007-12-26T18:00:00.000-06:00

There are a few new pictures on Flickr.

माय लेटेस्ट अद्वेंतुरे - My Latest Adventure

2007-12-25T21:18:00.000-06:00

I don't really feel like blogging at the moment, but I'm going to anyways. A short one at least. Two days ago, Jeff and I decided that we wanted to go island hopping to as many outer-islands as possible. You see, when the tide goes out, you can pretty much wade across the huge gaps of ocean that normally go between the islands. When the tide is very low, the only thing you really need to look out for are small reef sharks and eels.
We had heard that it was only possible to get out 6 islands from Majuro, so, of course, we decided to try and get as many as we could over 6. Some of the islands were huge (maybe a half mile long) and some were only a couple thousand feet wide. Well, when we got around island number 7, we found that someone lived there, and they weren't too happy with us being there. A crazy looking, long-haired man with a machete came after Jeff and I (seriously) so we quickly kept on going. When we got to island number 9, 10, or 11 (we lost count after while), we soon discovered that the tide was quickly rising, and it was no longer safe to cross to anymore Islands. We were planning to get another 4 islands down, because we knew someone there that would be making a trip back to Majuro in their boat around 4 or 5 o'clock. But there was no way we could safely get there. When the tide comes in, the water rushes through the large channels and has a very strong current and tends to be the time when sharks are around.
So, we were stuck. We decided that we would spend the night on the deserted island, and wait till the next time the tide was low (a day or so). Even though we were on a deserted island, we could still see Majuro, and fortunately, even had cellphone service. We called the principal and he found out that it would cost 200 dollars to get a boat out there to pick us up, so we declined and decided, even though we had no food or water, we'd spend the night. It had been raining all day, and so we were very wet and already cold. We found a deserted shack and started to make home.
Later we saw a boat and tried to flag it down, but it wouldn't stop. Then we saw another a while later, and being more desperate, waded into the ocean (now unafraid of sharks), waved our shirts above our heads and yelled "help!" At first they just waved, but after a few minutes we could see their boat change course, straight towards us! A small Japanese tourist boat pulled us in, gave us rain coats, and took us back to Majuro. They all wanted pictures with us, which I thought was amusing. We walked back from where they had dropped us off and when we got home, made up a huge meal. I think because we thought we wouldn't be eating for a while, we were extra hungry, and we had walked about 15 miles that day.

So that turned out to be not as short as I was planning. More to come later.

12/17/07

2007-12-17T01:50:00.000-06:00

Last Friday I had my class picnic. I rented the saltwater pool at the Marshall Islands Resort for us, and we went there and played all day!! It was amazing. I put some more pictures on my Flickr (the link is on the last post). I had all my students get a picture with my sunglasses on....yeah, it was fun!

Sometimes I feel like a gangsta. Not for any reason, but I just do. I don't shoot people, I'm not very ghetto (not most of the time), I don't wear baggy clothes, I don't talk the part, act the part, or listen to rap, but still.....see for yourself.

Krystal and I at the class picnic

Yes, I'm narcissistic: a picture of myself.

Flickr

2007-12-09T01:06:00.000-06:00

I just put a few more pictures up on my Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21049136@N02

Sad Story: I borrowed someones camera that last week to take pictures, and somehow, they were ALL deleted. :( I'll keep on trying to get more for you.

The last several weeks...

2007-12-08T22:55:00.000-06:00

I realize I haven't written much other than funeral stuff, so I'm getting out my journal right now, and I'll share a bit.

"
11/16/07 - today I saw little kids, maybe 2 and 4 yrs. old, laying flat on the ground, drinking from a dirty puddle.

11/18/07 - I've started reading the Bible from front to back. I've read most of the New Testament and very little of the Old Testament, so I'm going to go all the way through it again. My goal is to read through the Bible, even what I've already read, at least once while I'm here.
I'm at te Good Earth laundromat right now. I've found my favorite laundromat. It has a sort of covered garden right out the back door. It's nice and it's a good distance from the school so I feel like I can get away for a while.
I've been reading in the first couple chapters of Genesis how the men of the Bible were so old when they became fathers. For as long as they lived, they weren't that old, but in comparison to us, they were old. Noah became a father when he was 500 yrs. old, and the rest of them around 100 yrs. old. Most had already lived and 1/8th of their lives before ever having kids. Thing is, their 1/8th is more than 4 times the age that guys now have kids. It makes me want to wait many more years so I'll be a better dad.

11/25/07 - Did you know that corn in a conductor (of electricity)? Well, it is. I was cooking corn on the cob tonight, when my stove electricuted me! Everytime I use it, it gets me. Usually it's just a little tingle, but tonight, it was a good sized jolt! (usually such a little tingle that it took me this many months just to figure out that it wasn't my body making the tingling sensation, but that it was actually little shocks)!!
Tonight I took a taxi back from getting groceries. I was suprised when the taxi driver pulled right in on campus, then proceeded around the maze on campus to drop us off on our door step, without me even telling him were to go beyond, "Delap SDA." He knew where we lived, and I didn't have to tell him. I'm beginning to realize just how much us "SMs" really are watched. It made me think about what I do.

12/06/07 - Today is Calebs' second Birthday (my nephew). I tried calling, but only was able to leave a message.
Today, for Bible, I had my students write about what they would take with them if they were exiled to Siberia (we're talking about the exile to Babylon, so that's where I came up with this). I told them that they could only take ten things, besides bedding and clothes. They had to tell me why they were bringing it, 5 ways their life might be different, and what they could learn about their life now from doing this little project. They wrote some funny things down. Some sad things too, like, 'jewelries, because they're very important to me.' -- a girl in my class
I made a list too, while they made theirs. It was hard for me to do. I couldn't think of more than a few things that I would want to bring, most of them being practical things. Here's my list:
-Bible -journal -pens -knife -family -food -fishing line and hooks -first-aid kit -lamp -old letters
That's all of them.
A few minutes ago, Wilfred (one of my students) wrote 'Holy Water' on his water bottle, and showed it to me proudly. It really made me laugh. He really gets a kick out of himself, a lot like I do.

11/08/0 - This morning when I woke up, I told Jeff we should hitchhike to Laura, which is on the other end of the island, 25 miles away. The first vehicle to pick up up, after at least 30 had turned up down, was a trash man. He pulled over, he looked at each other, and jumped on top of the bags of trash. I was hoping that he wasn't going to go far, even though I did want to get to Laura. It was just that I really didn't want to have to ride in a truck of trash the whole way there!
I've been focusing too much on teaching and not enough on loving. When I was at camp, each week I would try to learn as many names as I possibly could. I'm going to be here for almost a year, and I haven't even started doing that yet. I know how much kids like it when you know their names. The other day, I got a circle of kids together so we could volley. I said something to one kid, and called him by name. He smiled, and said, "You know my name?" After that, he came and stood by me in the circle. I could tell he liked that I knew his name.
I like how there is no media here. The other day, I opened the internet at the school computer lab, and yahoo.com opened up as the homepage. There were a couple pictures of famous people on it. I closed it quickly. I was bothered that they were even on it. I was somewhat disgusted just seeing their faces.
I got to 'talk' (chat) to my very good friend and old roommate, Nat, for a couple hours night before last. He's an SM in the Ukraine this year. Then the next morning I got to talk, really talk, to him and two other friends that are in Prague all at the same time in a Skype conference call!! It was so good to talk about things that matter with people I love.
"

So, it's now Sunday. I just finished with staff meeting, which, though good, helpful, and informative, was long and drawn out, wasting a lot of time. I only have 2 more weeks of school till Christmas Break! I'm going to try to leave the island for a couple days to go to Arno, which is an outer island I can barely see on the horizon. Here's a question for you. How many miles away is the horizon (or an island that I can see barely on the horizon), if I am at sea level?

Some other random thoughts:
I really like walking everywhere I go. When I get back to Union, I want to take my car off insurance, buy a bike, and either ride or walk everywhere.
I like being independant, and living on the little money I get each month. I can't imagine ever living in a dorm again, without a kitchen and my own space.
I like never even seeing magazines here. I've honestly only seen one since I got here, and it wasn't even American.
I like cooking for myself, even though I do look forward to the occasional meal at the Union College cafeteria!
I've only seen two TVs since arriving here. I won't buy a tv when I get back.

12/03/07

2007-12-02T23:16:00.000-06:00

Today, school was cancelled last minute. We had staff worship and we were told everything was going to go on as scheduled, but before it was over, they decided to cancel school so we could show our support at the funeral. We all loaded into the pickup and van, and headed for Laura, which is on the other end of the island, 30 miles away. We got there at about 10am and waited until 12 - 1pm for the funeral to start. The funeral was long and hot, and as I think all funerals here are, it was also open casket. We had no idea what was going on the whole time. The Marshallese have traditions for funerals, but no one seemed too interested in letting us in on them so we would know what to do at the appropriate time. The grandmother and grandfather of the baby took turns talking for a long time. When the church part was over, we all went over to the grave site for the burial. We stood around again not really knowing why we were just standing there, and why no one was doing anything. Next, they talked more, then took turns talking again, and talked some more (all in Marshallese). I almost threw up once from the smell. I was somewhat used to seeing dead bodies, since arriving here, but I wasn't used to the smell of death (maybe it was all in my head, I don't know). We stood gathered around while watching as they nailed the casket shut and then took turns covering the grave back up with dirt.
I was surprised, and at first, appalled, by the number of people who took pictures of the baby. One person even walked up, holding their camera phone feet away from the babies face, and snapped a picture. It didn't seem to bother the parents a bit, who were sitting on either side of the casket keeping the flies from landing on and crawling into the babies open mouth. It all sounds kind of grim and unpleasant, because it was. I never imagined I would see what I've seen since I got here.
More to come later.

12/02/07

2007-12-02T00:25:00.000-06:00

It's Sunday. Quite a bit has been going on. One of our teachers just had a baby day before yesterday. The thing is, though, that no body even knew she was pregnant. She's one of our Marshallese teachers, and before yesterday no one, not even her dad, who's the pastor of our church, knew that she would be having a baby. The baby was born 3 1/2 months premature and it didn't make it through the second night. I went to visit to her on Sabbath, but she was asleep, so I only saw her baby in one of those glass boxes for babies that are premature (icu for babies?).
Today, we got word that the baby had died. We went again to visit her when we found out.
When we walked into the room, everyone was gathered around, silent, besides the sound of those mourning. The first thing I saw was the lifeless baby being held by a family friend. They gently handed it around one side of the room to be held by those that wanted to hold it.
I don't know exactly when the baby died, but I don't think it happened too long before our arrival, because the babies head and skin still moved as those who held it stroked it.

I can't even imagine how hard this all must be for her. I feel so helpless to do anything. Please pray for her. Her name is Lala.

In some ways, I don't feel like the same Tyler here. I've always considered myself someone who's quite consistent and not very up and down, but here I'm more up and down than I think I've ever been before. I'm just not the same Tyler here.

11/29/07

2007-11-29T01:15:00.000-06:00

Today wasn't that great. I have never had such a hard time with my students as I did today. They were disrespectful to no end. After asking them not to do something, they would look me in the eyes, and do it just one last time. It was so frustrating. After school, the tide was out, so I walked a long ways down from the school while I looked for odds and ends. It was a nice relaxing end to the day. I think today was the first day in weeks that it hasn't rained. I was happy about that. I was getting tired of the pool that accumulates in my room when it rains!
I'm tired, and I'm going to bed, after I read for a while. Goodnight.

11/27/07

2007-11-27T00:10:00.001-06:00

Correction to the last blog entry: My new students name is Gracielle (pronounced "gray-shil"). It's a bit of a funny story. You see, Gracielle is new to our school, and was originally put in 6th grade, but was too smart, so she was bumped up to 7th (she actually may end up moving to 8th even though she's only 11). Her 6th grade teacher has a think Spanish accent, so when she told me her name, I understood it as "Rachel." She joined my class yesterday, and I introduced her as "Rachel," but because she is shy, and quiet, she didn't correct me. Later, I asked her to write her to write her full name on a piece of paper so I could put her into my grade book. She returned it to me with "Gracielle Louise A. Bernabe" scrawled on it. I asked her if "Rachel" was just a nickname, and how she got the nickname "Rachel" from the name "Gracielle." She looked at me with a puzzled face, but didn't say a thing. Finally, someone from the back said, "I think her name is Gracielle." "Is that right?" I asked. She nodded. Problem solved (I don't have any great finishing statement to end this great story, so that's it. The end).
Alright, so the electricity was only out for 20 or so hours. Not anywhere near a month (but it wouldn't have surprised me if it was a month!). Last night I got to build a fire and cook over it for supper. I really like doing that. I wish I had to (got to!) to that more often! I love it when the power goes out. It seems like that only thing that brings the student missionaries together, is a night of no electricity. Goodnight.

11.26.07

2007-11-26T00:20:00.000-06:00

The day is over. It always seems like on Monday, my kids are more tired than usual, and a bit more difficult. I think that over the weekend they forget all the rules, in fact, I'm sure of it.
My name is now "Mr. En-RI-uh," it's official. The Marshallese add an "a" to anything ending with an "i" or "y" sound. At first, I told them "My name is Mr. Henry, not Mr. En-RI-uh," but I found they mean no disrespect; that's just how they say things.
I often wear my bright red Crocs. I get a lot of funny glances at my feet. I think they think they're funny looking, in part because they've told me so. But, what is even funnier than my bright red Crocs, is my very big nose. They poke it to remind me that they think it's funny-looking. Good thing I got ever the whole, punch-anyone-who-says-my-nose-is-big stage a couple years ago!
Surprise, surprise, the electricity and internet are down again at school. Right now I'm at NTA, which for the moment, is running on generator. Someone said that the power is going to be out for a month! I don't really know if that's true, but it would be pretty exciting if it was! Annoying at times, sure, but exciting for sure. I'm going to have to build a fire tonight just so I can cook supper (it's not that big a deal, I've had to do it a couple times already).
So, I've not sure when I will be back on this to blog, or email. It could be a day, four days, or a month. It's pretty unreliable here. Goodbye.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T17:03:00.000-06:00

Some new things…..(this is from several days ago)

-I’ve now had pink-eye three times (yes, it’s true. And it’s not enjoyable). I think I’ve heard that, untreated, it can make you go blind. It’d be really nice to not go blind.

-I think I may have head lice. I’m not too sure. I’m getting my head checked tomorrow. (I don't, I got it checked.)

-My kids didn’t believe me when I told them that there were other people in the world eating lunch at the same time as us, but that it was a different day. I explained it, and they then believed me, I think.

-The internet has been down for several days, so I haven’t been able to blog, or email, but don’t fret, I will again once the internet is running and reliable. (I'm back now, and hopefully the internet will stay for a while.)

11/23/07 Now, this is all current stuff.

The power was out all yesterday, and internet was out most of last week. It would come on for a minute, then turn back off for hours. I want to tell you about some amazing food that I made the other night. I made it up myself, so it truly is amazing. I boiled potatoes, then squished them up (up? I squished them down, or something). Put fresh corn in the mashed potatoes, along with chopped onion (I'll have you know, this is the first time I've ever cut up onions and put them in my food on my own will), seasonings, a couple eggs, and some flour (everybody knows flour holds things together!). Then I turned the mixture into little pancakes by frying them. I shared them (I like to share my food, most of the time. Maybe more accurately, I like to share my creations). Anyways, I shared them, and they were a hit. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. No one threw them up, so in my head that says, "Tyler, that is the best thing I've ever eaten." But someone did say that the corn was a good addition, saying, "It adds nice crunch." I made enough that I fried them up for the next couple days.

Even though yesterday was Thanksgiving here, we're considering it today (Fri.), going along with the day of Thanksgiving in the US. We're going to have a big Thanksgiving meal together tomorrow after church. By the way, I have today off. The principal gave us today off, even though Thanksgiving isn't a Marhallese holiday.

I'm getting another student on Monday. Her name is Rachel. I don't know anything beyond that. My new total is 18.

I got a BIG box today!! It was from my parents. It had another phone in it, so my phone is now IN-SERVICE!! You can now call me on it (please do. the # is a few posts back). I'll try to keep it on all the time. My box is a Thanksgiving kit. Complete with the makings for pumpkin pies, stuffing, a bunch of other stuff, and even a little pumpkin. I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't gone through it entirely yet.

I can't think of anything else. Bye

11/20/07

2007-11-20T03:21:00.000-06:00

I have a Flickr account now. It's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21049136@N02/
There aren't many pictures because my camera is broken. But I'll try to get more.

2007-11-11T03:48:00.000-06:00

Oh, and about Friday night: they hated my soup. One threw it away, one gave it to my suitemate, and the other offered it back to me, after picking at it. I couldn't let it go to waste. I ate it. Afterwards, they had the audacity to ask for cookies. Maybe this Friday I'll save 6 dollars and buy cookies. Ahhh...

2007-11-10T22:49:00.001-06:00

I went to a funeral yesterday. It was for a grandfather of one of the high school students here. It's the first funeral I've been to, I think, or at least, the only one I can remember going to. Though this being the first one I remember, I know funerals are very different here. The funeral is held in the families home. I walked in, and there was the open casket sitting in the middle of the floor. It had a glass top on it (thank goodness) because he had been dead for over a week. Everyone sat on the ground around the casket, crowded and hot. After the "talker" was done talking (I don't really know what you'd call him)(we couldn't understand anything because it was all in Marshallese), we all walked by the casket, put a dollar bill on the glass top, then shook the hands of the family members. I had decided beforehand that I wasn't going to look in the casket, but as I walked by I glanced over and away quickly. (Sorry this is kind of morbid) The body looked so weird I had to take a second look. It was so decomposed that he looked like a well preserved mummy (minus the cloth covering mummies have), or what I think of mummies looking like in my head (it's been a while since I've seen a mummy). It was sort of gross, but I tried to not be bothered by it. I'm not sure what significance the dollar has, or if it's just to help out with the cost of all the food they gave to everyone afterwards. I forgot to ask. Overall, it was..........not something I was greatly fond of, but an interesting experience.
The next two weeks I have Friday off. I'm really looking forward to two long week-ends!

11/09/07

2007-11-08T23:15:00.001-06:00

Last night it rained so hard that not only did it drench Jeff's bed and our entire floor, but also my bed. I got in at about 10pm, after spending some time in my classroom. I now go to my classroom for quiet. At night, when no one is there, it's very peaceful. So I go there to write letters, read, or listen to music. So, when I got to my apartment, it had been raining for hours. My bed was sopping wet, but I was too tired to care, so I just crawled in. It wasn't the nicest thing ever, but certainly not the worst either. I woke up still wet, but there's just no reason to get mad at something like that, so this afternoon, we're going to move our beds so they don't ever get wet again!
Tonight, after vespers, I'm going to make soup for some of the boys in my class. When I mentioned that maybe they could bring something, they just looked at me like, "Are you kidding? I can't afford that." So maybe that wasn't the greatest suggestion I've ever made, but it was worth a try, I think.
Oh, yes, I also wanted to mention that, though I have a phone now, my charger doesn't work, so until I can either borrow someone else's charger who has the same phone as me, or have one sent here, there isn't much point in trying to call me. My student said he had one he thought I could use, but he still hasn't brought it, so I don't know if I'll get it at all or if it will even fit my phone. I'll let you know when it's back in use. Happy Sabbath.

11/08/07

2007-11-07T22:27:00.001-06:00

Today is Thursday. For some reason I always feel the need for you to know the day. I'm not sure why. Maybe because you can be more "here" with me if I think you know the day. Continuing, last night "the guys", as I've now starting referring to them as, who consist of 2 of my seventh graders and 1 eighth grader, asked to come over after prayer meeting. I said sure, but that I had to grade papers, so they just played cards. I loved having the company. I can get a little lonely sometimes in the evenings. Here's a little something about me most of you probably don't know. I don't like eating by myself. I always get lonely at mealtimes. Anyways, it was really nice to have company even though I had to grade papers. It made grading a lot more fun to be able to hear laughing in the background.
I don't hear much laughing from people my age anymore. Not here, I mean. The other SMs don't laugh enough, I think. I'll have to see what I can do about that. I feel a little torn between feeling like I should try to become better friends with the SMs, and focusing more on the kids. I think I already have made my decision though. It's the kids for sure.
I got two packages today. One from good ol' Union College, and the other from a friend back in Washington, Emily Wilkens. Union sent me the student picture book, "the peanut gallery," (which, sadly, I'm not in), along with a Project Impact shirt (size Large, haha), chapstick (you can never have enough chapstick), and some other little things. Emily sent me a homemade t-shirt, which, at some time, I will post a picture of. Mail is just so much fun! Thank you Union and Emily.

11/07/07

2007-11-06T21:44:00.000-06:00

Alright. First, I have an assignment for you. I need more ideas for hands-on activities, maybe even games, and good topics to journal on. I've had them journal about themselves, family, role models-good and bad, what they would want to be when they grow up if no obstacle could stand in their way, the best teacher they've ever had (I'm going to try to send these journals to whoever they are about), how they can be better students and how I, "Mr. Henry," can be a better teacher. I still have more ideas. I'm not out of ideas, but I think I should pull from as many good resources as possible. For part of worship yesterday, I had them get in a circle and throw a shell to each other, while at the same time saying an affirmation or appreciation to the person they were tossing the shell to (after I explained what an affirmation is and gave examples). This was really hard for them. They aren't used to thinking of, and sharing, nice things with others. I actually had to have someone step out because of saying a very rude thing as their affirmation. But, I need more ideas like that. If you have any, please tell them to me. Anything with a good message.
Since you aren't here, I'd like to tell you about my students.
I have 17. I'll tell you about each of them:
Saulson: likes his previous teacher a lot, a lot. nice. polite. talks quietly.
Alma:she doesn't hear well. for real. no one knows except me. she's never even told her friends. she's great at volleyball and is on the elementary team. she's way better than me.
Dusten: he's smiley. always says hello. extremely pigeon toed, but doesn't let it stop him from anything. he's happy, seemingly.
Annrose: can have an attitude. is funny. best cursive in the class.
Marymae: good student. best friends with kimberly and isabella. smiley.
Wilfred: goofy. never says yes, only raises his eyebrows. (raising eyebrows=yes)
Isabella: everything sweet. even a sweet, full face. talks quietly.
Paul: has a sort of rat tail. hard to understand writing. respectful, at least I think.
Kimberly: polite. projects when she reads. sits in the back because she is a good student.
Krystal: i take her jewelry. good at volleyball. quiet.
Veronica: silly. good-natured. nice writing. sticks her tongue out when she reads.
Fredrick: writes well. shares his phone charger with me. is embarrassed about his ears.
Jamie-Li: good english and writing. from papua new guinea.
Kenny: i've already told you about him.
Patricia: wants to be a flight attendant. left school sick today. writes big, but with good grammar.
Dickson: doesn't like to talk loud. actually, he covers his mouth so no one but me can see, then mouths everything. he does this most of the time. i'm going to move him closer to the front.
Myciefer: pronounced "mah-kie-ver." everyone laughed when i slaughtered his name on day 1.

Today, wee talked about the life of King Solomon, and how he strayed from God. Idols and wives distracted him from God. They thought of lots of things that could be "idols" in their lives, after I explained that an idol can be anything you devote a lot of time and attention to. It was the first time I really taught. Somehow it was just different. I could see them begin to understand and apply Solomons story to their lives.

11/05/07

2007-11-04T23:18:00.000-06:00

I've been finding out what kind of homes my kids come from, from the journals I have them write. They talk about being hit by their parents, living with grandparents, never wanting to work, being given away to other families as babies. It's sad. I give so many journaling assignments, and I can't help but read every single one, even though 17 two page journals everyday add up quickly. It's the only assignment that's about heart and not about knowledge. That's why I have to read them. I wish I could just look it over, and give them points for doing it, but I can't. It takes a long time, but I have to read them.
Today, I had to apologize to one of my students after school. It seems that on Monday, no one understands a word I say. Maybe because they've all been speaking Marshallese all week-end, I don't know, but they were all asking me hundreds of times to explain everything, and I let my frustration show for a second, and I hurt someones feelings.
What I should have said was, "When I finish explaining, I'll be happy to help you, but please wait till I'm done." But what I did say was, "Stop saying 'what?' over and over. You're taking up everyone else's time by not listening the first time. Wait until I'm done, then you can raise your hand and I'll help you." I had to explain that I was frustrated, but that it wasn't ok for me to respond to her that way, and I was sorry.
Today after school, Kenny hung around in the classroom while I graded and entered homework. He asked again about a sleep-over. I asked the principal and he said all I need are parents signatures. They also told me that they have Bible movies I can use on Friday nights with the guys, if I want. I had decided that I wasn't going to watch one movie this year, or any tv, but i think Bible movies are different. I still haven't decided what I think yet. I think if they want to watch one some Friday night, I'd watch too.

11/01 - 11/04

2007-11-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

These are bits and pieces from my journal this week-end.

"11/01 Some of my new favorites: guava nectar, and hitch-hiking (don't worry, it's safe).
Today I asked my students to write a Psalm to God, and I read them examples from the Bible. This is what Saulson wrote. It's just about one of the coolest things ever. (I cut it out, and put it in my journal. Normally I return papers, but not this one. I'm not going to edit his Psalm, I'll type it just how he wrote it). 'The Lord is the reason I'm strong, the Lord is the water flows inside me. the Lord is the strenght that I have, when I'm weak. The Lord is like a sword that I go to war with. When I am sleeping on the ground and putting my head on a rock, he gently carry me to a bed and place my head to a pillow and say good nite Little one. When I am crying because I'm alone, he is their wiping the tears of my face and say gently hush little one.'
11/02 There is no Moses without a desert, no Joseph without a prison. I started thinking today, I'm not doing as much as I can, giving as much as I think I have to give.
11/03 Right after I wrote that (the above statement), one of my seventh graders, while following me to my apartment after vespers, asked if I had an ipod and if we could listen to it. I had been looking forward to a nice, relaxing, quiet Friday evening to myself, so at first, the thought of giving that up didn't sound appealing. So I said, 'I do have an ipod, but it might not be charged.' Right after I said that I thought 'What in the world am I saying, that's not completely honest.' I quickly continued to say 'But if it's not charged, we can probably use my roommates charger.' I felt better.
We got there, and my ipod was charged at least some, but the fact that I tried to bend the truth really bothered me. I brought the speakers out of my room and put on some Christian music. Within a couple minutes, 4 other guys, two of which are in my class, were in my apartment talking and listening to music. Then I knew how I could give more. I had gotten my moms recipe for Taco Soup earlier that day, so I told them that if they wanted to come over on Friday nights after vespers, I'd make them soup. They quickly said 'yes'.
Kenny, the one who asked about the ipod, is in my class. When I go there two weeks ago, his teacher told me that 'if you do end up taking 7th grade, you should know that Kenny is trouble' (trouble wasn't the exact word, but it was something like it). She continued, 'If he doesn't get 100% on any test, I make him stay after school in detention.' I heard her tell him 'but it's not good enough.' (Somehow I knew right then that he would be one of my favorites, but not that I have favorites) To me, hearts are more important than grades. Always. I won't ever put someone in detention. I think there are better ways to get results.
Last week, I explained to [my class] that I don't punish behavior, I will only try to give fair consequences. In class, they made our class rules. I think that if they make the rules and come up with fair consequences themselves (of course approved by me), they'll actually start to follow rules. Punishment doesn't encourage obedience, at least I don't think.
At the moment, Kenny is an okay student, lazy a lot of the time, and can have a bit of an attitude. But I have faith in him. I know he'll step up. Last night he came and sat next to me in vespers, followed me home, then after inviting him over again, asked if the 7th grade boys could have a sleep over at my house. I have faith.
It's Sabbath morning. I'm sitting here in church waiting for church to start. It's always late. I sang my first up-front (1/2) solo this morning in Sabbath school (1/2, because someone played guitar and did harmony in part of the chorus). I sing all the time up front in my classroom (my kids really love my voice. No, just kidding. My kids really love to sing and learn new songs. That was more to make me laugh, than to make you laugh. I think I'm pretty funny)
Oh, which reminds me, has anyone else ever been looking at themselves in the mirror or window and either tripped or bumped into something? I did it this morning in my room, on a rug. I don't do it often, but when I do, I laugh so hard (I try to make it a habit to not look at myself all the time). To trip or bump something because I'm looking at myself is really ridiculous.
But, back to subject. I sing solos all the time in my classroom to teach them new songs, but it's not the same. I liked it though. I sang 'Your Grace Still Amazes Me.' We hit it out of town with the harmony.
11/03 It's funny the things you start to miss. Right now, it's physical contact; hugs. I haven't had a hug in weeks. And handsoap. I'm tired of using thick dishwasher soap to wash my hands." -from my journal

Not from my journal-
11/04 Today is Heathers 20th Birthday. When I woke up, the power was out everywhere. I had planned on going to the computer lab so I could talk to her, but because of the power outage, I was worried I might miss her. At around 3pm the power came back on, and a few minutes later, I got online, and got to "talk" (type) to her for about 40 or 50 minutes. The connection was bad for her, so I don't even know if she got all the messages, but that's ok. It was so good to talk to someone who understands and thinks and feels some of the same things I do. She had scheduled a time to talk to her parents, so she had to go quickly, but it was just to good to hear from her.

It poured today. And when it pours, it pours in our room, and in the front door. But only above Jeffs bed. We filled up two one gallon jugs before noon. It's not a very nice apartment, but it's really not that bad.
No one has emailed me about my number, so in hopes of making it easier for someone to call me, here it is: +011 (692) 455-6258. Call me on it. Please. For real.

Well, I think there's a lot that I've not yet explained, for instance, where exactly I live and such. I live on the school grounds, in an apartment with 1 suite-mate, Stephen, and 1 roommate, Jeff. I knew Jeff from Camp Mivoden. We worked there together two summers ago. It's nice to have someone here that I already know, but at the same time, he's often doing his own thing, so I still find myself alone quite a bit. I forgot, there's someone else I already knew. The Kindergarten SM is a girl that I went to highschool with, so that's fun. We weren't close friends or anything, she was a few years behind me, but we still know a lot of the same people, and that brings some level of comfort.
Let me tell you about Majuro. Majuro is an atoll. It is about 30 miles long. The highest point is a bridge that is about 17 feet above sea level. There are a lot of mini-stores that are family run and pretty much part of their house. Walking around a neighborhood (not what you think of as a neighborhood), you'll see at least 2 or 4 little shops.
The women here wear guam guams (mumus) or skirts. The guys wear whatever they want. There are a couple grocery/everything you could want stores. Most things are expensive. Bananas and mumus aren't. A mumu costs about 3 to 6 dollars. I bought a small can of black olives last night, and it cost $1.45. Nuts of any kind are at least 6 or 7 dollars and up. Most everything is expired too. It's just how it is. I can find tofu and soymilk, though, so that really makes me happy.
It's always warm and muggy. It's usually around 80 to 84 degrees when I go to bed. I usually go to bed around 9 to 9:45, sometimes earlier. There's staff meeting every morning at 7:30, so I usually get up around 6 or 6:30. I get up, take a shower, eat, and read for a while.
On Sunday, I do internet, sometimes grocery shop, and grade and enter. We have a meeting at 5:30pm every Sunday (I just found this out. It's now 5:30pm on Sunday, and I need to go)
I'm having trouble thinking of more to write about the life here and what it's like, so if you have questions, ask me. Goodbye

Yahoo

2007-11-02T00:15:00.000-05:00

It's Friday. I'm done with school for the week (besides my lesson plans and all the assignments I need to grade and enter). It has been a good week. I'm really liking teaching. I know I'm talking very general here, but I'm too tired to write about it right now (but I will later).

Moving on, this island doesn't have much technology (or maybe more accurately, I don't live with much technology here), and internet is expensive. But, I now have a phone. A cellphone. The only cheap technology on the island is having a local cell number. I had my dad send me an old phone from home (I'll take this time to thank him.... "Thanks Dad, I appreciate you (not just for the phone"), and a couple dollars later, I had a local number. It's really a great thing because the school only has one phone line that the SMs can use, and harder still, the phone is in the air-conditioned staff room (the only air-conditioned room here, aside from the computer lab. So you can only imagine how people just seem to hang around). The nice thing is that on Majuro, you don't have to buy a monthly phone plan, it's always pay-as-you-go, so you can't run up a bill by accident. Nicer yet, is that incoming calls are free, no matter where the call is originating (US or local). You can email me if you'd like my number. I'm 19 hours ahead of Washington, so keep that in mind (count forward 7 hours, add a day, and switch the am to pm or pm to am, OR, count back 5 hours, and add a day) Simple as that.

More to come.

A Few More Pictures

2007-11-01T01:12:00.000-05:00

My backyard.
My coconut tree
My Lesson Plans: I was quite proud of them.

My Room: it's messy right now. Yesterday, it rained, and when it rains, our roof leaks all over Jeffs bed and the floor!

2007-11-01T00:44:00.001-05:00

Here's one picture. It's right outside my window. The ocean is about 30 feet from me. Not nice sandy beach, but still ocean.

I think I've left a few things out.

2007-10-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

11/1/07 "It's November now. I've been here two weeks, and I'm starting to settle in. In these two short weeks, I've failed to mention the 'not-so-fun stuff.'
I had pink eye last week, for about 24 hours. I went to the hospital, well, actually the ER (they don't have doctors offices here). If happened the night of parent-teacher conferences, so unfortunately (maybe fortunately?) I missed out on those. The whole trip, including two prescriptions, cost 17 dollars. There's not too much need for insurance here with prices like that.
But wait, it gets even better. But not really.
All Monday and Tuesday morning I was throwing up. I still don't know why, but it wasn't too fun. I must have had some "super" 24 hour stomach flu or something. I had a bit of a fever, but it wasn't too high (the fever explains the crazy dreams I had. I always know when I've had a fever in the night, because my dreams are of a certain type). I've never felt so weak. My legs ached just laying in bed. I was so extremely drained of energy, I didn't teach until after lunch (which turned out to be a not so great idea. I should have just stayed home). All morning I just slept, tried to get both warm and cool off (at the same time), and tried to not throw up the water I had drank. Mr. Spiva, the principal, came over to our apartment at about 8:30am to get my lesson plan book from me, so someone else could teach. I brought it out from my room into the kitchen and, with my weight resting on the table, showed him exactly where we were. I had to catch my breath a few times just talking to him during that couple minutes. As soon as he was out the door, I collapsed onto the table. I couldn't get back to my room. So I crawled onto the table and slept there (somewhat uncomfortably) for about an hour or so. It sounds pretty pathetic, I know, but it's a true story. After I woke up from the table, I had enough energy to get to my bed and sleep more. When I woke up, I was so hot I could barely think (honestly). I wanted to get in the shower, but I was too tired to stand there for more than a minute or two, so I grabbed one of the plastic lawn chairs from our living room and put it in the shower (it was a tight squeeze between me, the chair, and my coconut tree. By the way, I have a coconut tree in my shower, just cause I wanted one. It's not very big). So, I don't really remember if I fell asleep of not, but after about 30 or 45 minutes I felt a bit better.
I slept till lunch and then decided that I should go try to teach. It was a bad choice. I wasn't even sure if I could make the walk to my classroom. I told my kids to journal about anything (not something I like to do) and I just laid my head on my desk (which isn't a teaching approach I like at all, but it was all I could do) I hadn't eaten in a day and a half, so I was really shaky and tired. After school, I slept till the next day (and was even able to eat two small bananas for breakfast). I felt mostly all better when I woke up that next morning. "
So, for the most part, that's all I've left out.
I have other thoughts, some about the other (maybe not so favorite) student missionaries, but those aren't really necessary to share, so I won't.
Other thoughts:
I eat a lot more top ramen than I would like. why is the honeydew melon here white? does a box of plain cereal cost 6 or 7 dollars in the states too? I really hope I can take my coconut tree home with me when I leave here. Could I sneak it through customs successfully? Will my kids ever stop lying (they lie about absolutely everything. they're very dishonest)?
I think that's enough for now.
Wait, please email recipes. goodbye.

The Joys of Teaching

2007-10-26T00:39:00.000-05:00

It's Friday. School is over. Today completes my first week of school. It actually wasn't a full week though. I was asked to start on Wednesday with one days notice. They had state testing on Wednesday, so I was told I'd have the morning off (besides worship). But, after worship, the second grade teacher got very sick, so I taught second grade on Wednesday. Thursday was a half day because of parent/teacher conferences, so I had another easy day. And today, Friday, got out at 2. I'm about to run out of internet time, so I must go now. 2 mins left......more to come.

I'm here continued....

2007-10-23T01:19:00.000-05:00

This is some of what I have written in my journal since Thursday when I arrived.

"10/18 I'm here. It's so much different than I imagined. I even saw pictures before I came, and it's still way different. I'm rooming with Jeff, a friend from camp. It's good. We get along and have fun together. Well, I'll just start at the beginning. When we were landing in Majuro, it looked like we were going striaght into the water, even though I knew we wouldn't. I, apparently, was the only person on the plane who thought this sight was really neat! I sort of let myself pretend that we were actually going to land in the water, just so it would be all the more exciting. It was muggy and rainy right off the plane. I've never seen such a ghetto airport as the Majuro Airport, if you could even call it one. It's all open air and the baggage claim is just an oversized produce display. Pretty fun. When I thought "island" I guess I thought along the lines of comfortable, and maybe even fancy. But that's not the case. It's third world here. The people here live in shacks and huts. I actually saw someone killing a huge sea turtle and about to put it over the fire. I don't think this is going to be easy. The apartment I live in is hot (five days later...I'm used to it now) and kind of run down. The roof leaks right onto Jeffs bed and all over the floor, even though we're on the bottom floor. Ants rule our house. They are everywhere (I might be exaggerating a bit, but there are a lot of them). I don't mind them or the geckos or all the other bugs much, if at all. The water isn't okay to drink, so we have to go to the water filtration tank by the school. (I live on the school property, so it's not far)
I'm excited to be here and at the same time wonder if I'm a little crazy to have signed up for something like teaching. I'm sure I'll settle in. I'm sure everyone felt like this at the beginning.
Last night (last thursday) Jeff and I went out and he taught me how to blow fire. It was fun. Now my lips are burning, not from the fire, from the lamp oil. I hope I don't get mouth cancer.
10/19 Today I woke up at 2:30 am wide awake. I forced myself back to sleep for fear of messing up the whole jet lag thing. During school I visited/taught the lower grades. My name is now Mr. Henry, not Tyler. (I haven't heard my name in a while). More accurately it is 'Mista En-REE.' It's very odd to hear people call me Mr. Henry. That's my dads name. I know almost every other person in the world has felt the same oddity, but it's still wierd.
At recess I usually play with the kids. The youngers kids here at the school are so happy and giggly. I love it. They kinda make me all happy and giggly too. They hang all over me.
I found something interesting out today. To say 'yes,' people here raise their eyebrows without saying anything or nodding their head. (I'm already starting to do it). And making a clicking sound with your mouth is a very bad word. I've already done it a few times on accident. After school, Jeff, Korissa, her dad (he came to visit her on the same flight I came in on) and I went out to the drop off by the 'airport' to go spearfishing and snorkeling (the drop off is kind of like the one on Finding Nemo, but not as big.) I kept expecting to run into a shark, but I didn't. ( I secretly hoped I would get bitten by one---not bad enough to make me bleed a lot, but enough to have a cool scar from and a good story). From what I hear, one of the teachers at the non-sda school next door got bitten by a shark last week.
Every Friday night we have vespers. I sang up front at the beginning--barefoot, sitting down, and with a dog laying at my feet. It's very laid-back here. Things go by 'island time' or 'marshallese time,' which is anywhere from 15-30 minutes late.
10/20 SAB. This morning, at 5:30am! Jeff and I walked to Rita, which is on the other side of the island, about 7 miles away. (I get up very early here, because the sun shines in my window) (Majuro is about 30 miles in length, but at most 1/2 mile wide.) Pooty and Oreo went with us
(our dogs. pooty likes jeff, and oreo likes me) , so we had to protect them from all the dogs on the island that wanted to rip them apart. It was exhausting, but fun.
10/21 This morning Jeff and I got up 6:30 (on a SUNDAY!) and went out to fish and give our dogs a bath in the ocean. At noon, all us SMs went out to an outer island on the other sideo of the lagoon. We caught a ride with a guy who visits family there every sunday and is willing to give us a free boatride. Right before we reached the other side, Jeff and I saw a huge sea turtle. Once we got there, we went out to the reef to go spearfishing. A few minutes after I told Jeff 'This is the type of area sharks like to be in,' we were side by side with our spears in front of us when Jeff starting yelling 'shark! shark!shark! shark!' underwater. It was a four-foot black tip fin shark. I turned just in time to see it's tail as it swam away. We tried to get out of there as soon as we could. We got back to back and moved as a unit with our spears scanning the open water around us until we crossed the two reefs and got back to shore. Our hearts were pounding. After that, someone on the island told us about a plane wreckage about 100ft of shore. We went and were expecting to see more sharks, but didn't. Then we went out to spear fish in a different area from where the shark was. About 30 minutes into it, I saw a HUGE stingray about 15 feet away from me, so I called Jeff (we pound our hands together to get each thers attention underwater) over to see it. It had a wingspan of at least 6 ft and an abdomen that was as thick as me. Jeff told me later that all he was thinking was 'that's what killed the crocodile hunter, let's get out of here.' And we saw hundreds of jellyfish and one flying fish. It was so cool. The only other thing we could have seen was a whale. We finished the trip with some fresh cooked fish and some coconut I got down from a tree.
10/23 Today I opened my Bible to Genesis 12:1, 'leave your country, your people and your fathers household and go to the land I will show you.' This is where I'm supposed to be. Yesterday was a crazy day. It was Monday and I observed 7th and 8th grade all day. After staff worship, Jim told me that I was most likely going to be teaching 7th grade. I said 'okay' but in my heart, was really disappointed. They told me when I got here that 3rd grade needed me, so I spent last week with them. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself and kind of fuming on the inside, I decided I needed to change my attitude. I came to not be comfortable, that's what I'm getting. I don't have anything to complain about either. I'm alive. I have family and friends. I have food to eat. I had to talk myself out of frustration. I'm lucky, no matter if things are going the way I want them or not."

That's what's been going on. Well not all of it, but I'll save some more for later.

My address, assuming you all will send me a letter, is

PO Box I (upper case i, not 1) (SDA Mission)
Majuro, Marshall Islands 96960

BYE

I'm HERE!!

2007-10-21T23:52:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone, or maybe more accurately, Anyone, who reads this!
I'm here in Majuro. Teaching at Delap SDA. This is going to be a short one because I'm at an internet cafe that is somewhat expensive. I will go back home and type up everything and transfer it so I don't have to use internet time!

In short though, I have a GREAT roomate, I still haven't been told exactly what I'll be teaching, and that's okay with me, and I already have a lot of stories to tell. I'm now an early-to-rise boy (I just wake up on my own at 5:30 or 6am!! it's wierd), and.....more to come later.

ttyler

2007-09-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

Hi. Well, I'm starting to like the idea of blogging a little more, so here's a list of all (a lot, not all of) the things I like. It's pretty dang good.

So here's what I think you, the reader, should do. Take some time write down all the things you can think of that you like. Then you can share it with me and anyone else you want to. I assume that if you are reading mine, then you should share yours in return. It's the rule.

2007-09-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

This is my letter I just sent out. That's all.

2007-09-26T15:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this yet, but I'll give it a try.

I'm going to be a Student Missionary next year, teaching in the Marshall Islands. A lot of details aren't known at the moment, and I'm not even sure when I may know. I'm very adventurous and things don't usually get to me. But lately, stress and fear have gotten to me. The thing is, fear doesn't lie. I thought I believed whole heartedly that God would take care of me--that I trusted...that I had faith. Truth is, you live out your beliefs. I was living what I actually believed.