Christmas in the Tropics

This is kind of an update that I wrote about the whole year, its quite long, so have fun, sit back and see how my love was......

This is a long needed and over due update to my blog, for my faithful followers, sorry that it has taken me this long to get this caught up.  To those of you who are just finding me, I’ll fill you in on what’s happening this year.  I guess this will take the form of a “year in review.”  I guess I’ll start from about a year ago. 

 

I hailed in the new year as I usually do, sleeping right through it, I figure there is no reason to stay up that late because, there isn’t anyone to stay up with and it will come whether I want it to or not.  Everyone that was home decided to turn in at about 10:00 and I might have stayed up until 10:30, but that was it.  I was kind of savoring the “liberating” experiences of the past few months when my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. 

 

At this point in time I was in the middle of signing up to become a Student Missionary.  I had filled out the necessary paperwork and such.  I had all my money to the college, at that point I was just waiting to see where God wanted me.   Since I was enjoying this time of no serious relationships, I figured that I would extend it through my year abroad.  I thought that would be a good idea.  Union cautions against it, they don’t say you can’t go if you have a relationship, but they do say that it’s easier if you don’t have one. 

 

Sticking to that theme, I wasn’t even looking for a relationship.  Second semester started and my favorite job started, I was a teacher in the EMT program, I love that job and miss it greatly right now.  I teach with about 15 other people and we all just do what is necessary to keep the head instructors sane. 

 

At this point in life God decided to throw me a curve ball.  He decided to let me work with a girl named Beth Cook, a very able and willing EMT that had transferred in that year from Washington State.  I wasn’t sure how well we hit it off, but she seemed cool and very knowledgeable in the area we were teaching together.  The next day break started and so I worked on an email to send to her thanking for her expertise and saying it was good to work with her.  I worked for 3 days on it.  I didn’t want to make any hit of me trying to flirt or go after her or anything, just a professional email.  I’ve been known to flirt and its gotten me in trouble a few times. 

 

I finally got it sent and within hours I had a response, I thought that kind of odd, people don’t usually respond that fast, but we exchanged real email addresses and started talking on IM.  I remember the night well.  We were talking and I was listening to songs on my computer, the song came up on my playlist, “Cosmic Cowboy,” by Berry McGuire.  I thought she might like to hear it, so I sent it to her, she loved it.  I thought that kind of odd, most people can’t relate to it.

 

I told my parents about this friend of mine, they just made playful jokes that she must be a good girl, if she likes those songs.  I couldn’t really disagree.  For the next month or so we just talked as we found time, not super often, but we did spend time together.  One night I asked her what her plans were over Spring Break.  She said she was going to go to Moab for Spring Break.  I said, kind of in jest, well if it falls through you could come to my house for break.  Not thinking much of it I just left it there.  I didn’t think about it until Beth said that she was wondering if the offer still stood.  I was frantic; I hadn’t asked my parents or anything.  I told her I’d get back to her.  I called my parents and told them the situation, and that I hadn’t really intended on her saying yes when I asked her, they understood and said yes.  They were hesitant because my last ex had spent the last Spring Break with us and it wasn’t a good thing.  I assured them that Beth wasn’t anything like my ex. 

 

As the time got closer I was kind of getting excited, I still had my plan with God, but I didn’t know how Beth fit into this plan that I thought God had given me.  Usually I didn’t have anyone ride with me, so I was used to quite for 7 hours other than the occasional call from home or to home telling them where I was at.  This trip however would be different; we talked the whole 7.5 hours home nonstop.  We talked about tons of different things, likes, dislikes, family, friends, past relationships, you name it.  It was pretty cool, but as we got closer to home, Beth became quieter and quieter, she was kind of scared to meet my parents, there wasn’t anything I could do to change it either. 

 

We finally made the last right turn and were home.  There were big hugs waiting for both of us.  My parents and Beth hit it off really well.  Better than I had thought possible.  We did all sorts of stuff over the break, we walked the dogs, we went to museums, we played games, watched movies, and most of all got to know each other. 

 

I asked Beth one question important question…no not to marry me, you are jumping way to far ahead in the story….I asked her why my email had sparked that much interest, it didn’t have any spark in it, I made sure of it.  What she said scared me, she said I know, that’s what made part of it.  The other part was God was pointing her toward me for the past 3-4 months or so.  That was her last test, and I guess without knowing it I passed with flying colors.  That break to I got to meet one of Beth’s cousins, Mic.  She was about to fly out to Washington I think, and she and her boyfriend Andrew met us at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  We had a ball of a time, it was so much fun.

 

It was after that week that felt that it was Gods plan that we should persue a relationship together.  We didn’t know exactly how it was going to work, but we decided that as long as we both kept God #1 we would be ok with it. 

 

The second toughest day of the year or so I thought came about 3 months later when I said goodbye for what we knew would be quite some time.  I don’t think either of us realized how long it would be or how hard it would be.  Beth headed to North Platte to do her open water cirtification and I was heading home to spend a few days of break before heading to LE for the summer. 

 

The 2 months of LE seemed to go extremely fast, the communication between Beth and I was kind of difficult, we did our best, but our schedules didn’t mesh that well, once a week was about max, but we learned to deal with it and dare I say thrive on it.  Soon enough the summer was done.  The stories of the summer are totally amazing and need to be told, but in another place and another time. 

 

The hardest day I had ever had was when my parents dropped me off at the airport.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the next time I would see my parents, I’d be a very changed man, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  Some would have a hard time recognizing me later on.  The first leg of the trip wasn’t to bad, I sat next to a very nice older couple who go from Illinois to Texas every year, they used to drive, but got to old for that so started flying, we talked most of the way to Dallas, so it didn’t give me much of a chance to think.  The second leg of the trip did however give me time to think, we were in bound into Hawai’i and that is a longer flight.  The “fun” of the trip was still on me though, so I didn’t feel it yet.  It wasn’t until I landed and called my parents to tell them that I had a safe trip that I realized how far from home I was. 

 

WE spent the better part of 3 days in Hawai’i and most of that time was in meetings and activities that were supposed to “help” us when we got to our schools, I’m not so sure it helped, but it’s a nice thing to think.  The thing that made it seem less like half way around the world was Pastor Rich and a few of my friends that were there.  It kind of just felt like just being at some sort of Union event. 

 

I didn’t realize it during the summer, but only being able to talk to Beth once a week really worked out to our advantage, it made the transition to the school year were we only get to talk once a week also a lot easier. 

 

Soon enough the 3 days were over and we were having to wake up at 2 am just to catch our flight to the islands.  We boarding our plane and taking off.  That flight was a bit of a slap in the face by reality, I was leaving some of my friends, but I still had a few with me.

 

Our island is the first island that is stopped on, so my flight was shorter than the rest of the groups.  I’m not sure that reality was really working at that point, I was in a jet lagged state and all I wanted to do was sleep.  But like a good traveler I adjusted to the new time zone and went to bed in the new time zone.  The next morning reality hit me again when I realized that communication with the mainland would be very tough.  I talk to my parents very often normally, but here…….not so much.  I did make brief contact to say that I was here safely.  The next few days were spent in getting classroom, lesson plans, and appt set up.  I was also working on getting communications up and running better. 

 

Teachers are always told that the first day of class is the most vital day; it will tell you what the rest of the year will be.  So the first morning I walked into my classroom with an Iron Fist.  By the end of the first day I was feeling pretty good.  It wasn’t the easiest day, but it wasn’t the Hellish day that some of my esteemed collogues said they had, so I thought this is going to be pretty easy.  I’m not so sure now that easy is the right word, but for me, teaching defiantly isn’t the hard part. 

 

Having been pretty closely tied to teaching my whole life I’ve picked up skills and resources.  Having taught in many different levels has given me some experience.  This isn’t to say that I know everything about teaching, but I think I have a good grasp on it. 

 

I would learn in the later months that teaching wasn’t my hard part, it was friends here.  I don’t make friends that easily.  It takes a lot and it’s usually easier for me to make friends that are girls.   I leaned a big lesson during the summer that I had to be especially careful about how I treated girls lest they get the wrong idea.  Knowing that I made myself very distant for a long time until I felt comfortable that no one was going to “jump” me, and get me in trouble with relationships.  As I would later tell my mom, “Beth is THE priority; I won’t let anyone get in the way of that.” 

 

There are way too many stories to tell from the first 5 months of my life here in Majuro that I’ll tell as I get time. 

 

I’m writing this at the end of the first 5 months; just too kind of chronicle the first half.  I know from experience that the second half goes faster than the first, and I hope that continues to hold true.  I think most of the teachers here are ready to head home for some time of rest, but we all know that we have 5 more months.  As for me, I have 7 more months before I go home.  I fly straight to Denver for my summer LE job again.  Then I get some time at home.  But Denver is 1/10^th of the distance I am right now and certainly in the Verizon network. 

 

I guess that’s what I’ve got for now.  I’ll add more when the end of second semester comes I guess.  

Has it really been a month?

I have noticed something very frustrating; it's been a long time since I’ve been able to update my blog. This isn’t for lack of trying to, but the internet connection here isn’t the greatest and it just makes it very hard. I’ve been sending emails to some of the people I have time to do, so I think I’ll just take excerpts from them and post here. I hope all of you are doing well.

So I had just about the coolest experience that I’ve had since I got here. It happened on Friday. Every Friday there is a bake sale for one of the graduating classes. This past week it was the kindergarten class, they have to “pay” for their graduation. I let my class out a bit early so that they could go and buy; mostly it was just sugary stuff so I of course didn’t buy anything. I cam back to the appt. to change after school so that I could go run so errands before Sabbath, when I went back by one of the teachers was like come over here and buy something. I had already eaten lunch, so really wasn’t hungry, but those little kindergartners are so cute, so I was like ok, fine. They had some banana bread so I was like how much is it? They said it was $1.50 so I walked back to the appt., and I grabbed a $10 bill. I had fully intended on just buying one, but they were like if you buy 3 then you get a free drink, I don’t know why I did, I wasn’t thirsty, but I did it, I also said something else that kind of surprised me, I said keep the change, I paid with $10 and my stuff didn’t cost more than $4.50. They were stunned and I walked off. I then started to wonder what I was going to do with 3 loaves of fresh banana bread. I saw one of my fellow teachers that I don’t get along with very well and threw one to him. I then saw 3 of my students sitting in the grass and they didn’t have food, so I went over and I gave them 2 loaves to share. I left feeling really good, I walked back toward my classroom and they stopped me again and said that since I’d paid “so” much they wanted to give me one more loaf. I then told them that I hadn’t bought them to eat, I bought them because it was a good cause, I’d just given all 3 loaves away and if I was given another one I’d do the same thing again. I left them stunned again. It was pretty much the coolest thing I know.

I hope this experience blesses you as much as it blessed me when it happened to me. I know that it was God working through my actions. I didn’t want to buy, I didn’t need to buy, for sure didn’t need to leave them the change, but I did all of that, I can only say it was because of God. I don’t know of any way other than that to describe it.

So we heard someone speak from the Diabetes center here, the statistics were alarming. 35% of those that are 15 have diabetes, and once you get to 35, you have a greater chance of having diabetes than you don’t. It's pretty sad, most all the diabetes here is type 2, so as you know it's preventable, but no one cares. That’s the even sadder thing.

Yesterday I had someone from the accreditation team sit in on one of my classes, it was kind of odd, we were just working on homework, so he sat and watched us work on it, at the end he had a couple questions then he left. This, so far, is the easiest accreditation I’ve been through. They are so laid back it's not even funny, they didn’t even ask to see my lesson plans or my grade book. That is usually SOP, but hey I’m not complaining, if they would have asked, they wouldn’t have found anything to exciting, just that I’m exactly where I should be and everything is up to date and entered.

The above has been kind of an excerpt from what I’ve been doing for the last little bit. Now I’m going to add what I’ve been doing recently. Things have been going really good, I have absolutely no complaints. I was asked by one of my friends back at school if I at all regret coming here, and I have to say no I really don’t. As hard as it is being away from family and friends, I know that God has blessed me far beyond my imagination could ever say.

I was saddened as most of you were by the news that 4 young men died in a car accident. They were all students of PUC. As you know, I don’t attend PUC, but it hits us all that they died. One of the teachers here was good friends with all of them, so she is taking it pretty hard. I looked at the comments that have been left on the PUC website and it was amazing the support that everyone, not just PUC students are giving them. There were students, faculty, and divisions that were all stopping by to give condolences. It was really touching. Even though we are “rival” colleges, it's nice to know that in everyone’s time of need that the other colleges are there to give support.

Well, I should probably wrap this up; I’ll update this when I can. I hope you guys are all doing well, and I really apologize to my loyal readers for not getting this updated any sooner.

It's been a while

Well I just looked, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated my blog.  I’m sorry about that; I’ve been kind of busy.  There has been a lot going on and I haven’t been able to keep up with everything very well.  This last week was the beginning of second quarter, which meant that grades were due, most of my collogues had a hard time with it, I had been keeping up with it pretty well, so I didn’t have much trouble with it.

 

As I’ve been able to look back on the last quarter, I’ve seen myself grow a bit.  The following is a list of the things I’ve learned both from teaching and from just being over here in Majuro. 

 

1. Job descriptions are only good as long as you are doing said job, description can change as soon as you are done with that job. 
2. For every student that says that they don’t understand, there is one that doesn’t say anything that really doesn’t understand.
3. All it takes is one funny comment for the whole class to crack up in a serious moment.
4. When a teacher says that they have to wake up early to grade, they are probably telling the truth. 
5. When you want to, you can come up with one thing worse than you just went through.
6. A package from home can make the worst day seem like it was nothing.
7. Expecting a package from home and not getting it can make the best day turn into a bad day.
8. Anything that you want to come faster will arrive about the time you forget about it coming. 
9. Waves look a lot smaller and tame when you are on the beach than when you are in the water. 
10. With God you can come up with a worship talk in less than 5 minutes.
11. You need to have 3 things to look forward to, one in the near future, one a bit further off, and one a long way off.  The challenge is keeping the 3 in balance.
12. The only thing keeping you from spending more time with God is: YOU.
13. The berries are always sweeter on the other side of the mountain, but it has nothing to do with the taste.
14. When you think you have your students figured out they throw you a curve ball that you either have to adjust and hit or strike out on.  
15. One way to help keep students occupied is to throw them curve balls; you’ll find out fast what they know by doing so. 
16. Going to be early and waking up early, might not make you healthy, wealthy, or wise, but it does have other things going for it.
17. If you can’t learn from other people’s mistakes and you can’t learn from your own mistakes, you’ll probably make the mistake again.
18. In a classroom you will have a huge dichotomy, you will have the loud student that gets everything done correctly and you will have the quite student that does the same.
19. Asking yourself what your students would do might be a bit scary, but asking how Jesus would teach something gives immense amounts of insight.
20. God uses quite times to re-teach you lessons that you were to busy to hear the first time. 
21. Sermons don’t always come from a pastor or a pulpit; they can come from where ever God thinks is the right time and place.
22. Alone time is worth its weight in gold.
23. There is a difference between surviving and thriving even though they are only 2 letters different.
24. You are never to busy to pray.
25. And one of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn; “This is the Marshall Islands, it doesn’t matter how I would do it in the States, I’m not in the states.”

 

These are just a short sample of the things I’ve learned while I’ve been over here, as time goes by, I’ll continue adding to the list, and see what I have by the time my time is done here.

 

A week ago I was running and I slipped on a little puddle of water and went down.  When it was all said and done, I had a pretty badly scraped knee and a bruise about 8x5in on my left thigh.  It took about 3 days, but I finally got back the ability to move both more than about 6 inches.  Now they are doing much better.  You know how hard it is for things to scab over when they never dry out?   Here nothing dries out, it took 3.5 days for my knee to scab over, it was kind of frustrating, but hey, its life. 

 

You have to chuckle at your students occasionally.  I have one student that asks to pray every other class period.  His prayer is always; “GOD IS GREAT AND GOD IS GOOD, NOW I THANK YOU FOR THIS DAY……..AMEN.”  He nearly screams it at the top of his lungs, not exactly the way I’d like him to pray sometimes, but God is the one who is receiving the prayer not me, and I’m sure he likes it just as good as the prayers I pray. 

 

I’m sorry this has taken so long to get updated.  I’ll try and do a better job at updating it now.  I have been keeping on updating my pictures too.  Check them out too.  Have a great week and weekend.

 

Stephen Baker

Another Year Older

Well, I'm a little late with this posting, the last week has been anything but easy.  I don't know if it was the full moon, change in tides, or just the students wanting to test our patience, but they did a good job at running all the teachers up the walls.  When Friday afternoon finally came around, all any of us wanted to do was sleep.  Me personally though I couldn't.  I had to prepare for Vespers, I was the speaker.  I was going to do something amazing, but decided to show a movie instead.  It is a talk given by Louie Gigleo, he is an amateur astronomer and he mainly proves the existence of God by showing different stars.  Its pretty cool, I always like seeing it. 

Yesterday was a pretty special day, for two reasons really, first, I got to talk to my parents, that was pretty cool.  The second thing was that it was my birthday yesterday.  It was a very uneventful birthday, which is the way I like it, I'm not particularly a party person, I like to hang out in the background.  I got a movie from my parents, so I watched it before bed, and then went to bed, that was about the extent of my extracurricular activities.  I know, not to exciting, but hey, its all good, I like having nice quite days.  

It was pretty much exciting, I got two packages from my family this last week and two packages from Union College, so this week was the most packages I've gotten at once or anything.  It was really cool to get stuff from home, but equally cool to read about everything that was going on back at good old union.

Well, I need to get busy on grading and all, I hope all of you guys are doing well and keeping out of trouble, I sure try.  I'll update again the week probably.

Oh, so I posted new pictures on my picture blog, if you guys want to go check that out, the web address is:http://picasaweb.google.com/stbaker1986/BloggerPictures?authkey=sjU7ZMfxyYE#

Holidays and tests

This week has been pretty good.  Last week we had friday off because of Manit day.  I don't really know what its about, but its a day off of school, so I wasn't going to argue.  This week has been marked with tests.  Two test in one day, and then the other two were spread out over two days.  Tests are another thing teachers look forward to, it is a time when the whole classroom is silent for fear of getting a zero on a test.  Oh the manipulative powers that teachers have.  The hard part comes with grading tests.  When you have like 32 students in two classes that have the same test, it becomes a chore to actually grade them, but that's what sunday is ment for I've come to realize to catch up on grading and such.  

I was kind of frustrated today, I was in the middle of proctoring a test and the principle comes and asks me if he can have 4 of the students that are taking the test.  I immediately said no, but then he told me that it was because of a funeral here on the island of one of the students grandparents.  Its nice and frustrating at the same time that the families are so close.  The not so nice part about it is the fact that one funeral can shut down the school, and has a few times in the past, especially if it is someone affiliated with the school or a parent/grandparent.  

I got the privalige of having the talk for worship the other night.  I don't know if you have ever heard the song "cosmic cowboy" by Berry McGuire, but I told that story in first person.  It was pretty cool, we have some people in our group that it really reached out to.  For those that don't know the song, these are the lyrics:

I met a cosmic cowboy, ridin’ a starry range

He’s a supernatural cowboy, an’ He’s dressed up kinda’ strange

At first I didn’t see Him, bein’ out there on the run

But that ol’ hat that He was wearin’, shinin’ brighter than the sun

An’ when my eyes adjusted, to the flashin’ of His smile

I saw His invitation, sayin’ come on Barry we’ll go ridin’ for a while

 

We rode along together, for more than half a day

Right out through the changin’ weather, the sky was all turnin’ grey

Chilly winds were blowin’, the cold was cuttin’ deep

Then it started snowin’, an’ the trail was gettin’ steep

I was just about to turn around, head on back down the way we came

When somehow, without a sound, I heard Him call my name

 

Lookin’ up I saw we was high up on this ridge

He took me by my arm, an’ led me right over to the edge

I was so scared I couldn’t find a single word to say

I mean there’s ten thousand feet of empty air an’ it’s just about an inch away

But a million miles was out beyond the wavin’ of His hand

An’ I was lookin’ through His eyes, right into another land

 

He said, “This is my Father’s ranch, just as far as you can see

He made it out of nothin’, every branch an’ every tree

Made the stars an’ all the mountains, the rivers an’ the streams

Made the oceans an’ the fountains, an’ the valley of your dreams

That’s right, I know that place you been lookin’ for, that place you long to be

Truth is I’m the only door, you’re gonna have to pass right through me”

 

Then bendin’ back I tipped my hat to look Him in the eye

He just smiled an’ gave me confidence, sayin’ “Go ahead an’ try”

Well, it was now or never, an’ I knew I had to start

So I took my first step an’ I went fallin’ deep into His heart

First thing that I noticed comin’ out inside

Was all my fears were washed away, He’s teachin’ me I can fly

 

Yeah, there’s a cosmic cowboy, an He’s ridin’ a starry range

He’s a supernatural ploughboy, an’ He is dressed up kinda’ strange

At first I didn’t even see Him bein’ out there on the run

But that ol’ hat that He was wearin, shinin’ brighter than the sun

An’ when my eyes adjusted, to the flashin’ of His smile

I saw His invitation, sayin’,  “come on Barry, we’ll go ridin’ for a while”

 

Cowboy, of the light, shootin’ rainbows through the nigh

He’s my Cowboy, of the light, shooting His rainbows

Golden rainbows, eternal rainbows through the night

Its kind of a powerful song that I really like, It touches different people in different ways, but those that grew up in the mountains or in the country can sure feel it in a really good way.  

Well, Its about time for me to run.  I hope you all that are reading this are doing well.  I'm doing well.  I ask for your prayers and I thank you for them in advance.

Yet another fun filled, action packed week here in the Marshall Islands

Today is a holiday here on the island, I'm not exactly sure as to what its for, I asked some of my students, but none of them could give me a straight answer, just its a holiday, duh.......I knew that already, oh well, its a day I don't have to teach.  It didn't stop me from getting up very early.  I've been getting up at about 4:30 for the past 2 or so weeks.  I really don't care though, I feel fully rested and fine, so its all good.  I also go to bed around 8:30, so really its a full 8 hours of sleep.  

 

I was amazed this morning when I read an email from my dad.  I wasn't so much amazed that he sent me an email, but I was surprised at something he said.  He said that he'd see me in just 255 days.  I hadn't been thinking about how long it was until I actually come home, but that really doesn't seem like that long.  I know when I think about it in months, it does, but just 255 days, not to bad, but then at the same time, it is kind of a long time.  There is part of me that says that I've been here long enough to experience what missions is like and now I'm ready to go home, but there is another part of me that is so thrilled that God is using me to help out over here, and why would I want to go home any earlier than God has plans for me to go home.  I guess its kind of a constant struggle, especially when you know that your family and friends are having so much fun back at home.  It can get really tough, but then you just have to remember that you are doing good here too.  

 

I'm working on getting some pictures posted to picasa, so that you guys that keep up with my blog, you will be able to see some pictures as well.  

Well, I should probably get going on other things now.  I hope all of you are doing well.  

This is the link for my blog pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/stbaker1986/BloggerPictures?authkey=sjU7ZMfxyYE#

 

Priorities, you have to have priorities

Something that being a Student Missionary has taught me this far is to analyze where I put my priorities.  In the states it seems like there is more time to do things, but maybe thats just because I'm a student there, here I'm a teacher, and have to be a "responsible adult."  I'm still not quite sure what that means, but hey I'm not getting in trouble, so I guess I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  I figure as long as I do what I'm told and put my spin on it, its ok.  

Another thing this experience so far has taught me is the importance of solitude.  Right now I'm alone in the room, which is amazing.  I'm listening to Rich Mullins, and very comfortable.  I don't know what I would do if I couldn't take quite a bit of solo time.  People ask me why I'd want to, I reply why wouldn't you want to?  Its kind of interesting, they go on Marshallese time here, which is "you start when you start, not at a time."  I used to think this would be terrible for me and I'd hate it, but I've come to realize that I'm not going to change them, and they aren't going to change me, so I'll just bring a good book and be there up to 45 minutes early and just read, more alone time usually.  It has also allowed me to read more of the bible.  I'm reading so many new things, or re-reading so many "new" things.  Its amazing that God can re-teach you the same lesson multiple times through the same story, or a new lesson through the same story.  Its like how did I forget this or how did I not see this before?

Well, It think my laptop battery is about to die, so I should probably bid adu.  I hope you all are having a good weekend back stateside.

Well, its been over a week......

Ok, so its been over two almost, I've been kept so busy this past few weeks.  This week is the school Student week of prayer.  The topic has been Hero's of faith, following the chapter in Hebrews about faith.  It has been interesting watching how the students react to hearing such things.  Most of the islanders are christian, but few are really christian.  I dare to say that few SDA's are true christians, but not to get onto that tangent, it has really been cool.  

We have finally settled out for the long haul.  We as teachers finally have most of the same students every week, and mostly everyday.  Its kind of an unknown novelty that I hadn't ever thought that a teacher thought about, but I do on a regular basis.  I'm also getting to see a whole new side of students, and getting to experience it first hand.  My teachers told me when I was in grade school and high school that they had seen it all and that we weren't even scratching the surface of what students before have done to try and cheat and disobey the rules.  Well, I followed the rules, which around here makes me a teachers pet, but thats because following the rules just because they are the rules is an anomaly.  I'm sure my students think they are being very sneaky and all, but just like my teachers told me, I've seen it before and its not new.  I just can't get that through to them, they don't listen all that well to reason.  But Mr. Baker, I'm not chewing gum.........chew.......chew.......chew.......  You get the point, they try to lie to coverup the most odious things.  Oh well, every school has such things, I think its inherent to teaching and being around students.  

There is a line from a very funny movie I like.  The main character is being blamed of stealing millions of dollars from the US government, when he is asked about it he so coothfully says, "All I wanted was an honest weeks wages for an honest days work."  That seems to be the philosophy of all my students, they want the grades really bad, but don't want to dish out the work to do them, and its not like we as teachers sit and mischievously say, who can we fail today either, we do try and make it so everyone can pass.  Alas, even with our help, some don't even try.  Probably one of the most frustrating things I've learned as a teacher.  I've also come up with the top 10 things you as a teacher might say:

1. If its as good a copy as any copy machine can do, your probably looking at someone's feeble attempt to cheat.  
   
2. If you are looking out the window, you probably aren't taking to good of notes, are you?
3. Doesn't it make it hard to find the right figure when you are in the wrong chapter?
4. Just because one student does it, it doesn't make it right, they will get in trouble too!
5. Don't be sorry, just don't do it again.  (applies to anything from talking in class to chewing gum in class)
6. The key to getting a question right on a test/quiz/homework is answering the question.
7. If you don't turn your homework in, you don't have a grade for it......amazing how that works.
8. When it says, "what do you think"  I want to know what you think, not what the book says.
9. There is a 99.8% chance that if you come to class late, you have missed material, you will need it in the future.
10. And my all time favorite:  Student asks, is this important?  Would I take time to say something that's important?

For those of you who keep up with this blog that are teachers, I'm sure you can relate to this, especially if you teach in the islands.  I know I'm not the first teacher to say these, and won't be the last, so I dedicate this list to all you, my fellow teachers who have towed the rope, who are towing the rope, and who will tow the rope of teaching.  

So this last sunday, we went to a private island and spent the whole day there.  The one really cool attraction was a sunken WWII airplane.  At low tide, you could easily swim down to it, it was about 10ft under the water.  At high tide however, it was like 20 ft down.  I went during low tide, and had a great time exploring the wreck, I wish I had SCUBA stuff to aid in my explorations.  We all got pretty sunburned, but now mine is pretty much gone, I can still feel it when I take a hot shower, but hey, it was worth every minute of it.  

Oh, for those of you who aren't from UC, I have some news.  My team of IRR students were deployed to do Search and Rescue stuff in texas in leu of the hurricane that just went through.  They left 7p Sabbath the 13 I believe and they will be back the following weekend.  Please keep them in your prayers as they are down there.  Not only is it the team that I have trained with my whole college career, its my girlfriend as well.  

Well, I should wrap this up and get it posted, so you guys can know what I'm doing.  I hope to talk to all of you guys soon.  Take care.

SB

  

Another week, now one month plus

Well, it doesn't quite seem possible that it has really been a month since I left the states.  Its not like it seems like its been less, but its kind of hard to imagine that I'm 1/10 of the way done with my missionary experience in Majuro.  Things have been really going well.  Just like any classroom, there are problems, but that comes with the territory alas.  I guess I still live under the LE motto "Do your best, God will do the rest, and you will be blessed"  I've spent a month doing my best, God has been doing the rest, and not only I, but others have been blessed.  

Yesterday night we went to our first funeral. I didn't know the man personally, but around here, that really doesn't matter much.  If you know people who know them you are pretty much required to go.  It was a beautiful service I'm sure, but it was all in marshallese.  I'm not to fluent yet in marshallese, so it was just alot of sitting on the floor and listening to alot of people talk.  Thats another thing, everyone who knew the person talks, if your important and you didn't know him you talk, you get the hang of what I'm saying.  You pay a $1 and get free food though, its kind of different, it can go for weeks to.  They seal the coffin and watch it for weeks sometimes........I don't quite understand it, but its not mine to understand.  

Its kind of sad, its been a few days since I've been able to swim, and right now is the best time.  2 times a month, we get really high and really low tides.  They are fun to swim in, you get out past the breakers and you are riding waves, which is a really fun thing, then you get to see what its like not on the reef.  I haven't been out because I'm still trying to get well, for the most part I feel really good, but my nose is still clogged occasionally, which is kind of frustrating.  

So this sunday the church is having a get-together on one of the islands that you have to take a boat to get to, I'm pretty excited about going.  I'm hoping that we get to have some swimming time on a nice sandy beach, at the school we have coral, not sand, which coral is nice, but not nice to run on.  

This week I had two classes that had tests, its amazing how some students that you think are going to do really well don't, and ones that you don't think are listening to you are actually doing well.  I know I shouldn't be surprised at this anymore, but it sure amazes me still.  So for now, the internet doesn't work at the school, we have to go to a resort and buy some food to use the internet, which I guess it is a small price to pay for having some communication with family and friends.  Well, I should probably get working on other things now. 

The end of another week

This week was really awesome. We were challenged at the start of the week to look for the small things and see how they touched us. Well this week I did see the small things. Monday was really cool. When was the last time you got in front of 60 yelling 1-2nd graders and telling a kids story. If that doesn't start your engine, you need a replacement. There is nothing you can say that would be wrong. I was being cheered for every word I said, which at the start seemed really frustrating, but if I could get my High schoolers to have even half that much energy when I taught about anything I'm supposed to teach them about it would be amazing.

I got this from my coligue's blog, Emily who is in Ebeye.

1. Power is a privilege, NOT a right.
2. Fresh water (and drinking water) is a luxury.
3. You can kill big roaches with flip-flops.
4. When it rains it pours, literally.
5. Little geckos on the wall are “cute”.
6. Pizza, or what they call pizza and what we think pizza is are totally different.
7. Teachers talk about their students with other teachers. (Who knew?)
8. It’s hard to teach students who don’t really care if they pass high school, much less go to college.
9. Fresh fruits and vegetables are like gold!
10. Food costs twice as much here.
11. Rain can come through the ceiling during a rainstorm, even if there is a floor above you.
12. Rain makes everyone antsy.
13. “I want to go back to Union again…” (I miss it SOOO much!)
14. Most students at the school can sing and harmonize very well—they sound amazing!!
15. Sending emails and MySpace messages between people just isn’t the same as seeing them. L
16. Air Conditioning is a HUGE blessing, but so is a good ocean breeze on a really hot day.
17. To have a textbook for a class: good. To have a teacher’s manual: great. To have enough textbooks for students: amazing. To have a teacher’s manual and enough books for students: priceless. (Appreciate what you have!)
18. The taxis (small trucks) that drive around and are sometimes safe, sometimes not.
19. Kids that live a few blocks away from school will take a taxi to school. (Now that’s lazy.)
20. Cold showers are somewhat refreshing.
21. I REALLY miss my family and friends at home.

I changed it slightly for how it is in Majuro not ebeye, but the jist is still the same. For all of you who I'm sure want to send me an actual letter or note, you don't have a clue as to how to do that, but you won't have that excuse for long.

My address is:
Stephen baker
P.O. Box I SDA Mission
Majuro, Marshall Islands 96960

Well, I should probably get offline, its nearly sabbath. So with that, I wish all of you guys back stateside a happy sabbath and a good weekend.

The end of week two

Hi all,

I've come to the conclusion that I'm only going to be updating this about every week. I can only sporadically get onto this site. Its kind of frustrating, but alas what can be done.

My week went fairly well, I have no big complaints except for the fact that my family is all heading up to Yellowstone for our annual family reunion. I don't get to go this year, just like I haven't gotten to go for the past 3 years, its kind of frustrating, but oh well, thats ok. I don't know what the plans for tomorrow are yet, SS, church, and lunch are always good guesses though. Other than that though.........its up to what is going on tomorrow.

Today the High Schoolers picked faculty sponsors, I was told by 2 of my senior classes that they were going to vote for me. I told them I would do it if they wanted me to, but it seems like just one more thing that I have on my plate. I'm already teaching and preparing for 5 classes that have students of varying levels of English able to be spoken. Any teacher that thinks they are really good at teaching should come to a place where they don't know the native language and see how they do. Its not that I have just one foreign language either. I have like 7 in any class period. I have a rule in class that says that they can't speak in any other language than english, but its really hard to enforce, seeings as though some are translating for me.

I hope that the weeks continue to go the way they have been. If they do, I'll continue to love teaching. I know I'll have ups and downs throughout this year, but I also know that with God's help I'll make it through them unscathed for the most part. So far I am, and I have no scars from swimming either. Our vice-principle on the other hand got bounced off the very sharp reef yesterday while surfing, I'm glad I had better fortune than he did. I nearly did get bounced off the reef. I was snorkeling and I looked up into the face of a 8 foot wave about 10 feet off of me, about to break, I dove as fast as I could and missed it, when I came up for air, there was another 8 foot wave about 5 feet away from me, I nearly didn't get to breathe, but I made it through that too.

Well, I'm coming to the end of my time on the computer. Its almost the Sabbath here, so I hope I have a great sabbath, and I hope you all do as well. I miss all of you guys.

SB

Its been a while

Ok, so it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated this blog, sorry about that. While I was in Hawaii, they had this site blocked, so I couldn’t update it. The last few weeks have been very hard and very frustrating. I haven’t started classes yet, but I’m getting there, we start classes in 2 days. I’ve gotten part of my lesson plans done, and it wasn’t to hard to do, the harder part will be doing the weekly lesson plans.

When we touched down on Majuro, we were accosted by 90% humidity. The thing that made it worse was that there was no wind. The nice thing about where the school is located is there is always a breeze. It’s getting to the point that we as a group don’t even notice the humidity any more. The 12 hour days are really nice too, it allows for more sleep at night. So far for the time I’ve been here I’ve gotten no less than 9.5 hours of sleep every night. I doubt that I’ll get that much sleep while school is going, but its been nice so far.

So far the communications on this atoll are not so great, but I’m working on getting them up better. Right now I only have occasional internet and I get to use the Satellite Phone sometimes. The last few days we have been sitting through 5-7 hours of meetings everyday. It’s been kind of frustrating, for those of us that don’t do well not moving for hours upon end…….its all good I guess though, we all need to know this in the end.

Well, I should probably get back to listening to the lecture that I’m supposed to be listening to. I’ll try to keep this blog updated as much as I can.
SB

The End Of Summer LE

Well, the end of the 2 months of Summer LE has come.  Its kind of bitter sweet sorrow to see some of the people go, but its also a good thing.  God blessed this summer with more in sales than even our boss predicted, he has been right for the past 19 summers, but this summer he was 60% to low.  It was amazing to see how God worked through all the students this summer.  

Now I'm heading home for a few short days before heading to the islands for the year.  I think I'm ready most days, but then there are days that I'm pretty sure that I'm not ready.  I know that God will help me through all that I need to, but there is still some doubt.   In just a week and a half I'll know the full extent of what I'm up against, and I'm not sure whether that will be a good thing or a bad thing.  It will probably be a good thing, I think most of the apprehension has come from not knowing what to expect, I like to have plans and back-up plans in case something goes wrong with my first plan, but not knowing what to expect, has kind of thrown kinks in that.  

After some car trouble, I finally got to my sister's appartment just this afternoon, about 12 hours later than I was expecting to.  That is a long story that I don't want to get into, but I'm finally away from work, and it feels wonderful.  Today is my day off, then Tomorrow I drive home to pack for the islands and see everyone before I leave.  Well, I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to post this and take a nap.  

Two Weeks Left

Well, its been quite some time since I've done any amount of updating to this blog.  I haven't had internet for a while, so I've not been able to update.  As of now, we have had quite the summer, there has been drama and all, like usual, but its mostly been worked through.  

These towns that we are about to work are the hardest of the summer.  We are starting with Green River, and for those of you who know what the Green river ordinance is, it is a law that dictates how people can sell stuff door to door, like we are doing.  God will bless I know, but it sure seems like its going to be hard.  

Its less than a month til' I leave for the islands.  I'm kind of happy about it, and kind of sad about it.  I'm not exactly ready for it, but who is?  I think its something that you are only ready for when you come back.  

Well, its time for supper, and I'm hungry, so I'll try to update a few more times before I leave for the islands.  We shall see how many times.  

Nearly half way through summer

Wow, well, this week has been going really well. God has been blessing majorly. The first day here, sunday, I had to go back to where the books were stored to get more books, my students ran me out of books. That is a very hard thing to do. I carry 2-3 cases of all the books we sell. The rest of the week almost fell in suit. I was nearly out of books ever day before going to school and ending for the day. My boss is haveing to run down to Loveland to grab more books this weekend so that we don't run out of books before the week is out next week. We are heading to Sheridan next.

This weekend is great. I'm heading to Cody to visit family. My boss gave me the weekend off, including sunday, which most students don't get off. But, I was lucky enough to get it off too, I'm going to see my family up there, the ones that I won't see for quite some time. I'm prety psyched about it.

Everyone please keep all of the LE's in prayers, this is a ministry that all the students see the great controversy played out on a day to day basis.

Most of the way through Cheyenne

Wow, well, from the last time I've updated this alot has happened.  We have covered most of the city of Cheyenne, and probably will be heading over to Laramie tomorrow, just so that we have enough territory to last us the time we are here.  We are leaving for Casper on friday morning, I'm very excited for this move.  There is a very special place in my heart for the city of Casper. Casper is were I spend most of my growing up years.  Going back is always fun.  

I know that God will bless just as much, if not more, in Casper then he has here in Cheyenne.  He has been blessing the students left and right, with both sales and really cool experiences that you can't help but know that they were from God.  

One of our students, Natasha, was the first one to leave a whole loaf.  Now for those of you who don't know the LE terminology, a whole loaf is all the books that a student carries.  Usually a cause of great excitement and this time was no exception.  I've been surprised that there havn't been any more than that one I don't think, last summer by the end of the first two weeks we had quite a few already.  But then again, Wyoming is a totally different beast than Colorado.  

For those of you who don't keep up with Beth, she is doing well, doing the IRR training in Colorado.  She has successfully completed her Swiftwater technician and Advanced.  She also survived her solo experience in pretty good form from what I've heard.  The IRR program is just starting to come to a close, it ends on Thursday night.  She will be driving to Denver and flying out on the red-eye back home.  

Well, I think that is all the new news that is news or something from my side.  Hope you all are having a good summer.  

Start of Literature Evangelism

Today was the first day of Literature Evangelism.  Today was orientation, we have quite a few new students, so we had to go over alot of the things that we normally might not have had to go over as much.  Tomorrow all the "old" students will go out with me, which will be fun.  The first day of the summer is always a blast, it kind of sets the stage for what is going to happen the rest of the summer.  We have a pretty young group this summer, which is a nice change of pace.  There are only 9 "old" students working this summer out of 23, so its alot of new people.  

I'm so happy to be in Wyoming again, the afternoon thundershowers are amazing.  We had one today that is still going, its been 3 or 4 hours now.  There is no need for an explanation for why alot of people call this state Gods Country.  It is so beautiful now, so green and beautiful.  Words can't quite do justice for the beauty of the thunderheads stacked against the mountains with the sun just reaching through.  I have visions of Heaven looking like that.  

Pray for all of us as we get ready to impact people for God here in Cheyenne.  

Leaving Home Now........

Well, after getting my room spotless, packing up all my stuff, and getting the truck loaded, it is now time for me to say goodbye to home once again.  It never gets any easier, even though I've done it many times, but I know that in 2 months I'll be coming back to see my parents before I leave to go overseas for SM.  This summer is going to be a very cool summer.  My first summer doing Literature Evangelism was in Wyoming, and now I'm back for a second summer there, and quite possibly my last summer doing literature evangelism.  Wyoming is a particularly fun summer because it is a smaller group that we work with, so we get to be much more of a family. This summer we are working Wyoming much different than normal, but thats okay, we are starting in Cheyenne, and ending in Green River.  

For those of you who don't know, my parents are thinking about moving, and we now have the house here in Illinois for sale.  They are hoping to move back closer to home (wyoming).  I have to say that I'm glad that they are moving closer to home, it means that I get to live closer to home too.  If you guys want to it would be much appreciated if you would pray for my family as we try to sell the house here and for our deciphering of where God wants us to go.  

Well its time for me to run now................I'll try to keep you guys updated as to where I'm at, and what's happening in my life.

The start......

I'm starting this blog for my family and friends that I wont' get to talk to a lot over the next year or so.  For those of you who don't know, I'm going to be spending a year on the atoll of Majuro in the Marshall Islands.  I'm going there to teach high school Science.  More specifically I'll be teaching physical science, biology, chemistry, and physics.  

This dream to go as a student missionary started a year or two ago when I felt moved by God to volunteer to do this.  Some things made it so that I couldn't go this last school year, and I'm very thankful for that fact now that I can look back on it.   I do occasionally wonder what my life would be like if I would have gone this last school year, but I know I wasn't ready to give a year of my life at that point, so now I'm going to be going.  

This summer I'm going to be doing Literature Evangelism once again.  This summer I'm going to be again in Wyoming, its kind of fun, thats where I started doing summer programs at, so it should be a lot of fun.  

As of right now, I'll be leaving for the islands about the 2nd of Aug.  I don't know for sure, and when I leave Hawaii, I won't have cell service, so thats not a very good way to get ahold of me.  In fact, I'm really not sure yet the best way to get ahold of me while I'm over there.  I'll get back to you on that later, when I have more of a clue.  I'll try to keep up with this blog as much as I can.