September!!!

September went so fast I can’t believe it’s already October!!! And October is almost over :0 Its crazy!!!! But I have been having a great time in Ruli and am looking forward to the rest of my time here!!

The first few weeks were nice and slow!! I had time to adjust to the new house and get some furniture made so all my belongings were not on the floor :) And I got to meet all the important “Top Dogs” in the area!!! They all want to learn better English so I hope we start some kind of English classes soon!! During this time I also read lots about my NGO and the different projects related and how my project will incorporate all of them!!!

My favorite part of this time was going to Church!!! I found it pretty easily the first week and am now familiar with how to get there and the surrounding area!! It is so great to have a branch family again!! It’s only been a month but they know me and I know them and I love them so much!!!

I had no idea I would miss seeing people in white shirts and ties and shaking hands and singing hymns and praying in a group!!!! The first Sunday I was in such shock and awe at being around Mormons I balled my eyes out basically the entire time :/ At least they all know now that I cry randomly and can’t control it :)

The missionaries are crazy here… they have at least 1 person get baptized every Sunday!!! And a couple Sundays ago there were 5!!!!! Who does that?? MY branch :) They are great!!! My callings are branch pianist and intermediate English class teacher!!! Every Saturday we have an English class and its super fun!!!! There are many awkward moments involved but I love it!!! I am also learning lots about teaching in general as well as a new culture!!! Games or activities that Americans would love… are strange and hard to explain and they just look at me like I’m crazy :/ But I am trying to learn!!!

I am assigned to help with an American run NGO called The Ihangane Project. The team is awesome and I love it!! Randomly my NGO had the founder visit within the first month of me being here and she is awesome!! Her name is Wendy and super fun!!! She has the biggest heart and wants to help everyone!! The cool part is that she finds ways to help. She thinks outside the box and is not afraid to do new things!! I want to be like her someday!! She was only here for 10 days but it was amazing and we accomplished so much as a whole team while she was here!! It’s exciting to hear about where my NGO has been and where it is going and how I will get to help it!!! I can’t believe I am so blessed to be part of it!!

My project for the NGO is to create, test and help implement a teaching style that works for the various different projects within The Ihangane Project!! It means the patience project :) hahaha and it’s something we are all working on every day!!! So far I have started my baseline data collection so we can see once we start changing things that education improves and my project actually accomplishes something!!

Well, I will post more soon!!! But this is all for now :) Thanks for all the prayers and support!!!