First Week, Complete!

Well we made it through our first week of classes! EK is teaching Old Testament History and Personal Evangelism I and II. I am working in the preschool Monday through Friday in the mornings and teaching English I.  During the week there were several times I thought... I don't think I would have believed it if someone told me a year ago that I would be living in another country and teaching an English class to all Haitian students, (some which are not completely fluent) and working with 3-year-olds in a preschool.  My thoughts were I would graduate with my Master's of Social Work and get a "social work" job somewhere in Columbia, MO or maybe in another state.  EK was working at State Farm and planned to continue working there and advance in his career.  However, God had different plans for us.


I am reminded of the verses "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.  While we may not always know what God's plans are for us or understand everything, we are thankful we have leaned on His understandings and not our own.  We do know that God is using our gifts here and that He is allowing us daily opportunities to grow closer to Him and  build relationships.  We have really enjoyed spending time with the students and getting to know them.  Here are some pictures of the staff and students below.



Here is all of the WISE staff

Here are the students at orientation
 

We continue to ask for prayers for our transition to a new country and culture. Please pray for both of us to make an impact on the students and community.  Please pray for EK and myself and that we can continue to support one another and confide in each other.

Getting to Know You

Wow, it has been a great couple of weeks as we have transitions to SVG! We feel so blessed to have everyone praying for us, we have definitely felt all of them so thank you.

We are still adjusting to a new culture and getting into a routine. We are learning as missionaries you have to be very flexible and whatever we may have had planned for that day may not get done.  The school needed all of its electrical wiring updated so over the past week there have been several times when we did not have electricity, which puts a damper on your plans when you are preparing for classes and need a computer. However, we are thankful the school is getting what it needs and that we wont have electrical problems in the future.

We have nine new students coming on Thursday, eight are from Haiti and one is from SVG. We are excited that our student population will double this term and to have new faces on campus. Please be praying that they have safe travels and pray as they adjust to a new culture and new chapter of their life.

We have had a wonderful time getting to know the 2nd year students that are already on campus. EK and I are considered the "campus coordinators" since we live on campus and we are more or less in charge of student life. We enjoying eating lunch with them everyday, which almost always consists of rice. The students were shocked when we told them we are not use to eating rice everyday and that back at home we might only eat it once a month :).  They are pros at cooking rice though and it always tastes delicious.

I (Maddie) have been preparing for the preschool that opens on September 3rd, which is the same day classes start at the college. I am very excited to be working with Amanda Wurdeman, she has awesome ideas for all the kids and really has a heart to make sure they are learning about Jesus and also getting prepared for school. I think I will enjoy working with the students at the college and also working with the 3 and 4-year-olds at the preschool, I will have a great variety! 

 

I will also start teaching dance classes to girls in the community on September 6th.  I am so excited to do this because I love teaching dance!  I think God is so Great to allow us to use our gifts everywhere to serve Him and others. It seems like the girls are very excited about the dance classes because they don't offer anything like that here so hopefully it will be a hit!

I would like to end by saying EK and I continue to be blown away by God's goodness and grace He continues to show to us, we are so thankful for His provision.  We are thankful for all the relationships we are building with the students and faculty.  We are thankful for the Wurdeman family, they have been so helpful with our transition and we are thankful to have friends in a new place. We continue to be thankful for all of our supporters who made all of this possible.

 

This neighborhood is where a lot of the preschool kids will be coming from.

We were able to meet a lot of people in this area with great hearts and loving smiles.

Here are all the 2nd year students. We were celebrating one of their birthdays, Sis Alertha.

They had lots of fun and loved having cake!

We ask for prayers again for the current and incoming students and that they are successful this school year and that we will be able to continue to build relationships with them.  Pray as we continue to adjust to a new culture. We ask for prayers for WISE and all the staff that God will continue to provide for the school and to give all of us discernment when making decisions. Please pray for the preschool children and their families.  Many of the preschoolers will be coming from extreme poverty, please pray that we can be a light in their life. Please pray as we prepare for classes. EK and three classes he is teaching this semester which demands a lot of preparation.  Thanks everyone, we love you!

Meeting with the Ministry

Yesterday morning we were able to see the preschool that I (Maddie) will be working at with Amanda Wurdeman and a local woman named Ms. Matthews. The preschool will be available for children in the community ages 3 to 5, Monday through Friday, from 8:30a to 11:30a.  The goal of the preschool is to be able to help children in the community get a head start on their education and to teach them about Jesus. The preschool looks great, sorry I forgot to take my camera yesterday but I will post some pictures later. There are lots of toys and books for the children and we have curriculum books as well so they will be able to do art, math and science activities daily. The preschool plans to open on September 3rd and there are 19 children "enrolled."  I say "enrolled" because Amanda Wurdeman ran an open house a couple weeks ago and only 3 of there parents were able to fill out registration forms because many of the parents did not know how to read or write very well. Many of these children are coming from a very poor area of the island and the parents are poorly educated.

The main reason I went to the preschool yesterday was because the Minister of Education was visiting to do an inspection of the preschool so it can be certified to open. Lets just say it was an interesting experience. She did not really have anything positive to say about the preschool. She did not complete the inspection because she felt there were many more things we needed to complete such as: getting more blocks, making a math area, creating a schedule board, creating a parent information board, and more. She ended the visit by instructing us to call her after September 10th because she would be out of the office until then. However, she said we could open as planned on September 3rd.  She said when she is back in her office and we call her she will come again to complete the inspection and to observe us with the children to see how we interact with them. You could tell she took her job seriously and she was very formal and professional.  After she left I think we all felt somewhat surprised and overwhelmed by her responses. To us it seemed like the preschool was very well set up for the children and easily allowed for a variety of activities and learning to take place. It was an interesting day to observe two different cultures interacting.  We feel that we can get the things accomplished that she asked and look forward to her second visit so we can be officially certified! We feel that God will bless the preschool because it will be a great service to the community.

We Made It!

Sorry we have not posted anything for several weeks we have been traveling and preparing for our move so this will be a lengthy post to catch everyone up. We said goodbye to my family (Maddie's) in Columbia, MO on August 6th and then went to Chicago to visit EK's family for a week before we flew to St. Vincent (SVG). It was difficult saying goodbye to our families and to our dog Rufio who will be staying with my mom. We had a great time with EK's family. His sister, brother-in-law and their daughter came to visit that week as well so we were able to see the whole family. EK's younger brother also left for college that week so there were a lot of big changes going on in the Keller's house.


Here is our dog, Rufio, we found him on the kitchen table pouting
as we pack all of our stuff

EK's Family

EK and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary while we were in Chicago which was a lot of fun. We rode the train into downtown Chicago and ate at a nice restaurant and took some Bollywood (Indian) dance lessons in Grant Park...but it started lightning and pouring down rain so we headed back to Union Station, luckily EK brought an umbrella so we werent totally soaked.



Here is the view from our bedroom and balcony! You can see
the ocean and the island Bequia, the largest of the Grenadines
islands

We flew out of Chicago to SVG on Monday the 13th at 5:30am! It was really early but we were able to stay awake on excitement! We had to check 7 bags and we had 2 carry-on bags, a laptop case and backpack. Lets say it was interesting wheeling all our stuff through the line. We flew to Barbados and had to pick up all of our checked bags there, go through customs and then re-check them with the airline LIAT, which is the only airline that flies to SVG. There was a Bajan (a Barbados native) who assisted us with our luggage which was very helpful, however we felt bad because we couldn't understand him at all...we will have to get use to the different accents. However, we noticed Bajans speak differently than the people from SVG. Locals have told us you can tell which island someone is from based on their accent, we will have to see if we can acquire that skill before we leave :).

Here is a picture of WISE. Our apartment is on the right on the
2nd floor, you can see our balcony above the van.

The grocery store, there is another one close by as well.

After we checked our bags in Barbados we had a 5 hour layover. Our flight was delayed for about an hour, which I guess is fairly common for LIAT flights. When we got on the last plane for the day it was a surreal feeling. The flight from Barbados to SVG was only 30 minutes. When we arrived in SVG the airport was very small and we had no problems getting through customs. We were so pleased we received all of our luggage and none of it was delayed. We went to our apartment after leaving the airport which is less than a minute away, we can actually see the airport runway from our bedroom window and hear the planes too! Our apartment is on campus which is nice and convenient. Oh, and we can see the ocean from our window!
Our first full day in SVG we were able to get a tour of the school and meet some of the students. Brice Wurdeman, the Director of WISE, showed us around the island which is breathtaking everywhere you look. The roads are extremely hilly, curvy and narrow which makes driving interesting/very different from the U.S. They drive on the left-hand side of the road. EK will most likely get a SVG drivers license. I don't know if I will because I may be too chicken to drive, its intense :). We went to the grocery store, which looks very similar to a grocery store in the USA just smaller, but it was comforting to see familiar foods! We are excited to see all the fruit trees around us and there is an avocado tree right outside our apartment and we LOVE avocados! We had dinner at the Wurdeman's house and enjoyed fellowship with their family and some of their friends. We cannot express how excited we are to work with the students and staff this year at WISE. We feel blessed to be able to partner with WISE and help in many ways. We are thankful that the Wurdeman family is here so we have familiar faces, and thankful for their hearts of service. We can see God working everyday and how He has orchestrated everything for us to be here.

Support Update

EK and I were so excited last week when we found out we had reached our goal, actually exceeded our goal. As of last week we have raised 26,960! Words cannot describe how thankful we are for everyones support. We have been blown away by God's power and grace throughout this experience. We spoke with Brice and Amanda Wurdeman this weekend and they are working hard to get our apartment ready for us when we arrive in two weeks. We did find out that they have to furnish a lot of our apartment, such as a bed, refrigerator, etc.  Repairs need to be made as well with our air conditioner, doors, and plumbing.  All of these things were not included in our budget so we are thankful we are continuing to receive support so those things can be covered through our raised support rather than it being taken out of WISE's budget and away from the students. It was important for us to let our supporters know we have reached our goal, but if you feel lead to continue giving the money will go towards our apartment repairs and other necessities.  We were informed that the school needs a lot of repairs as well with plumbing in both of the boys and girls dorms so all support will be put to good use!  We are reminded daily how good our God is.  This experience has helped EK and I trust even more in the Lord and live by faith, we are looking forward to getting to St. Vincent to see what else God has planned for us! Love you all and THANK YOU again for all of the prayers and support!

Garage Sale Mania!

Well we were truly blessed this past weekend! We decided to have a garage sale to get rid of some items before we left which turned into a way bigger project than we anticipated. We decided to make our garage sale into a fundraiser. We spread the word to our friends, family and fellow church members and oh my did people deliver! We were overwhelmed (in a good way) by the amount of donations we received. Our garage sale was a HUGE success and we raised approximately $2500!!! We give a big thank you to all who donated their items and time.

Getting ready to organize and price everthing...

Not only were we amazed by the amount we raised, we were amazed at how great our God is and how he sends special people into our lives...even at a garage sale. We met so many wonderful people who stopped by to shop. So many were interested in what we were going to be doing in St. Vincent and provided encouraging words.  Here are a few stories of some people we met.

A young woman from our neighborhood stopped by and purchased some items after talking to her she shared with me that her church takes a yearly mission trip to Mexico and they take tennis shoes to donate to the people. We had a TON of clothing and shoes so we gladly packed up all the tennis shoes we had left to donate to another good cause, it was cool to think that shoes from our mission garage sale would go to help missions in other parts of the world.

Another man stopped by looking for clown socks because he has a clown ministry and he was preforming that weekend but he forgot his suitcase. What is so cool about this is that my mom and my little sister have just started preforming as clowns as a ministry as well. This was such a blessing for my mom because he was able to give her a lot of resources that she has been trying to locate but had been unsuccessful until then. Again God is so good how he connects us to people :)

A young man in our neighborhood stopped by looking for some clothes because one of his close friend's house just burnt down and he lost everything so he wanted to send him a care package. Luckily EK and him were the same size and EK put some of his clothes in the sale so we were happy to help by donating those clothes to someone in need.

And one of my favorite stories is about a 12-year-old boy named Gregory who lives in our neighborhood. I have seen Gregory around the neighborhood before, he rides his bike with a red basket on the back and is a friendly boy.  I am not for certain by my guess it that Gregory has Autism. Gregory was curious what we were doing and came and shopped at our sale. We told him he could take a few items from the 25 cent and 50 cent tables which he was excited to do, he even picked out something for his mom. He took a few items went home and returned about 15 minutes later. It is important to note that we had a few donation buckets with signs explaining what the fundraiser was for. Very few people had donated anything extra that day, maybe a dollar here or a quarter there.  However, Gregory came back on his blue bicycle and pulled a zip lock bag out of his red basket. There were several $1 bills and quarters in his bag and he dumped all of it in our donation bucket, Gregory gave us $10 as a donation, our biggest donation of the day :). I proceeded to tell him he did not have to give us all his money which he replied "oh its just my allowance money I will get more."  To be honest I had to take his donation inside because he generosity brought tears to my eyes.  I think Gregory humbled us all that day to see what blessings can come from one child.

Counting our profit!

We again want to say thank you to all who helped us pull this garage sale together, to everyone who donated items we thank you! We want to give a special thanks to my mom who allowed all of this to happen at her house and that she had to park outside of her garage for a month because we packed it full of stuff :) and she worked hard all weekend. Thank you to my dad who helped move several items and was there during the garage sale to lend a helping hand wherever he was needed we could not have done it without him, he also got some great items from his job (shooting supplies) which were a great hit and made a lot of money for us! Thank you to my stepmom, Cheryl, my grandma, Gwynette, and our dear family friend Echo who helped set things up; your help made the process much less stressful and overwhelming.  My husband did a wonderful job as well working hard moving things and willing to do whatever was asked of him, what a great guy!  And thank you to all of our family and friends who stopped by to say hello it helped make this event memorable and special. We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends to surround us during this time to offer love and support. 

In exactly four weeks from today we will be flying to St. Vincent!




The garage sale beginnings on Friday morning!



We put an "everthing free" sign out on Saturday evening around 7pm...This is all that was left on Sunday morning :)

Our Future Apartment

So we got some pictures of our apartment in St. Vincent! We are thankful that a visiting group painted the apartment for us so it will be ready when we arrive.  The apartment is on campus and has two balconies, one in front and one in back. There is also a small guest room and there is  a guest room at the school as well that is air conditioned so visitors come on down! We are also thankful that our apartment will have AC in the living room and our bedroom.  We are very grateful to the Wurdeman family who are getting furniture and appliances for us so we do not have to worry about shipping any big things to St. Vincent which can be very expensive. Here are some of our pictures below, we will post more when we are down there and settled in :)!

We are continuing to raise support and we are overwhelmed by all of the prayers and support we have received. Thank you to all of you and your encouragement!