Week One!

I have officially been in Hawaii for a whole week! It has been such a busy week full of teaching training, getting my classroom ready and meeting lots new people. I am quite exhausted but I am so excited about where God has me right now and how He has a plan for me here!

             Tuesday I celebrated my 22^nd birthday! Never thought I would have spent my birthday in Hawaii. It started off with a full day of teacher training and work in the classroom. Then the fun began Tuesday night when some of the girls; Laura, Laurie (my other roommate), and Emily (another teacher at Trinity) all took me out to dinner. We had a fabulous dinner and dessert and I felt very blessed with all the birthday messages and calls from everyone! But I definitely missed being able to spend the day with my family.

                During the rest of the week my mornings have been full of teacher training meetings and my afternoons filled with preparing my classroom (organizing, arranging, cleaning) and try to plan lessons and my daily schedule of my students. It has been a little overwhelming at times thinking about all I have to do before school starts but I know I will get it all done and God never gives us more than we can handle.

                Since my arrival last week I have been amazed at how welcoming and hospitable everyone has been! We have already been invited over to several peoples house and had many more offers for help getting everything we need for our condo. We got invited to Ben’s (another Trinity teacher) pastor’s house who we had never met, but they heard we were new to the island and it ends up that they live right across the street from us! It was a fun night spent getting to know new people. Then Friday night we were invited to the pastor of Trinity’s house for dinner. There we got another opportunity to meet new people who go to Trinity. I am very excited about all the new friends we are making.

                Today was a parent work day at the school so I didn’t get to spend my Saturday sleeping in but instead woke up bright and early and headed into school to get some more work done (after getting my Starbucks of course). As I was driving through Kialua on the way to school, I looked around and was in awe of how beautiful it is here!  God’s creation is so amazing and I can’t believe I am actually living here and get to experience His beauty on Oahu all the time, it is breath taking!

 When we finished working at the school the pastor’s wife took us into Honolulu so that we could learn our way around, go to China town and find the Costco. That is where I got to experience my first grocery shopping trip as an adult! And I must say that I miss my Mother’s kitchen that has all the dishes, pots and pans, and food I would ever need (Mom I will never again say we have nothing to eat at home). J  When you are starting a kitchen from scratch there is so many things to think of and buy, it was a little overwhelming! But we made it in and out alive with some nourishment to last us, at least for a little bit.

                Tomorrow is Sunday and I am looking forward to a day of rest! I may even hit the beach to relax in the sun.

~Jessica