Good Wins

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a wonderful week because once again we had a holiday! Diwali!! Also, Sarah's parents came in last weekend and it was wonderful to have them around. Sarah's mother always gave us so many hugs and it was like having a real "mama's" hug as she called them. They brought us some wonderful treats from home and it seemed like it was a mini Christmas full of candy!!! It was a blessing to have a small reminder of life from back home and its always good to be reminded of home!!

On Saturday night Audrey, Meg and I went out to the national cultural center to see a dance show. The cultural center has a dress code so we all had to dress up! I enjoyed the dance show and the performers were really good. It was the national dance troop and its associates.

Work this week was easy and simple because we had a day off in the middle of the week. My favorite work story of the week comes from Thursday morning. I was walking to work and as I went to cross the street a motorcycle went to pass the bus at a rapid pace and I didn't see it because it was passing illegally and I had already looked once. All of a sudden I hear someone yell miss. I stopped and the bike just missed me. When I got to school I told one of my students the story and he said: "See miss, God be with ya, See, Good thing I pray for ya every morning". It made me smile. My students bring me so much joy and truth.

Diwali is the Hindu holiday celebrating the religious new year and also the celebration of light: Triumph of good over evil. The night before Diwali there is a motorcade along the sea wall and we went to Sarah's parents hotel to watch it from the veranda. We had a decent view and we didn't had to be in the middle of the chaotic crowd... I had already done it the year before! It was a good night just to relax, see the floats, and enjoy getting to know Sarah's parents a little bit more.

On Diwali day we spent most of the day with orphanage boys. At first the church next door had their church fair which we took them too, and after that one of the supermarkets in town had a party for all of the orphanages in town and we went with to help take care of the boys. It was a great day. I brought along my new camera and tried out some of the new features with the boys when we had free time at the orphanage between activities. :) I got some Amazing pictures... Also we went out that night with our friend Ryan, he brought us by some of his friends who feed us Seven curry - my favorite - and then "Sweet meats" which are not meats at all, but rather sugary treats!!

Wendell showing off his shoes after he asked me to put them on for him.... He is my baby!! :)

Audrey helping Sanjay put his shirt on right!

My make shift belt for Sanjay that was 2 sizes too big. :) Gotta be creative when you don't have much to work with!

Boys at the church fair

Wendell 

Lenny, Showing off for the Camera :) 

Adrian and I 

Boys being silly!

My new favorite picture!

Wendell tired at the party... 

a Diya which is lit on Diwali night in front of the houses

SEVEN CURRY, Ryan, Meg and Audrey

SEVEN CURRY - I love Hindu holidays!!

Megs first batch of seven curry

A house lit up with Diyas

Well I hope you enjoyed the pictures this week. And remember the meaning of Diwali - Good triumphs over Evil. Even though we may be in the midst of the battle, ultimately good wins.

Love,

Ashley Ann

What kind of Sandals are you wearing?

Hello Everyone!

Once again another week has flown by and I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing my blog. Days seem to be moving faster and faster. I keep hearing how weather back state side is getting colder and colder and its really hard for me to imagine right now. This week it was rainy for both thursday and friday and we felt like we were in our own little "cold spell". All four of us felt cold on friday and sat around the house with long sleeve shrits on... However, I am sure it was nothing compare to the cold that has hit the states.

Last Sunday was one of my favorite days I have had in a long time. I went out to my friend Andrew's house with my friend Venus and met a few other people out there. We ended up spending the entire day cooking and relaxing. When we finished cooking we watched Big Bang Theory which I have to say is one of my favorite shows now. I think it is absolutely hilarious. Maybe part of the reason I find it so hilarious is because I know a couple people who vaguely remind me of Sheldon, a man with almost no social skills, and I can't help but laugh whenever he says something ridiculous. Sunday night we went out to the sea wall and relaxed. It wasn't anything special but it was just all together a very relaxing sunday, helped me to get ready for the week ahead.

School this week went pretty well. I am always surprised at how the students behave depending on the week - the class last week that had no attention span and no energy acted as angels and the class that is normally angels decided to be completely distracted and lost through out the entire hour. I have learned that predicting the behavior of my students is impossible so I just take things one day at a time.

Life at the hospital was as expected this week. We had a steady week with no extremely busy moments, yet very few completely dead moments. The hospital is under construction and I am completely sick of the noise that is going on there. It is always so loud and I can't wait for it to stop. However - the construction will be going on for a LONG time so I guess I just have to get used to it.

This week I've been reminded to focus on the good that people bring into your life. One of my co-workers Terese always brings a smile to my face. On Friday I gave away my lunch to someone who forgot to bring their lunch to work and asked her to buy something for me when she went out on the road. When she came back she brought me an AMAZING and FREE lunch. It was from a restaurant that I had never been to before and the food was out of this world! She even brought me a coke which just made my day. I know that this sounds really small - but sometimes when you have a really long week even the small things in life can just make a REALLY huge difference.

On Wednesday this week I got off of work about a half an hour early because I had to run some errands related to our visa's before different offices opened. I ended up getting a free ride from my co-workers friend so the extra time I took off was not needed. When I realized I had some extra time I decided to stop by a church that one of my past students now works at. When I went to go find him we had a really good discussion. He is doing well and is actually now in charge of his own "parish" in an area about an hour away from Georgetown. He asked me if I wanted to stay for the prayer service which was starting in a few minutes but I kept giving a reason for why I couldn't stay. He had to leave town so he didn't pressure me too hard because he wasn't going to be there anyway. On my way out another pastor kept talking to me and trying to convince me to stay. I have a really difficult time saying no (something I inherited from my mother) and ended up going to the prayer meeting.

Now I've always had non denominational friends before but never have I been to a prayer service like this. There was a lot of loud praying and yelling and at first I was completely freaked out. I was doubtful that God was hearing any of this as I thought it was all crazy. After a while we sat down and they handed out a bible story and their interpretation of it. It was the bible story of when Moses is on Mount Sinai. The scripture that they looked at was: "God called to him from within the bush, "moses moses!" and moses said, "here I am." Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Exodus 3:2-4)

They then went on to talk about if the sandals didn't have negative influence then God wouldn't ask Moses to take them off. The sandals represented the doubts that Moses had in his life. In order to fully approach God Moses had to remove all doubts that he had and come to God without any reservation. This really made me think about my own life and what kind of sandals I am wearing on my feet. What am I doubting that is keeping me from a full complete relationship with God. I wrote in my last blog how I have a hard time being sure that heaven exists and that is a perfect example of a doubt that I walk around with. Like our shoes, our doubts become a part of us that our entire self rests on. I doubted that I would get anything from this prayer session and yet I still found something, how much easier would it have been if they didn't have to practically drag me into the church. How much better would it have been if the doubts didn't have my judging the validity of the prayers being offered at that very time.

One last line that really hit me from the sheet they gave me went: "I believe that those who have not conquered what they are fighting to conquer, due to the faith they claim to have in God, Surely, have not yet removed the sandals (doubts) from their feet. Due to this they have not yet placed all their strength {in God}." This hit me really hard. Sometimes I want God to have control of my life but I don't want to give Him all of myself - I give him a piece here, a piece there but there are major things in my life where I say to God: "Don't worry I got this one...". What am I thinking?!?! I don't have the right answer yet instead of removing the doubt I have that God won't bring me happiness and peace - I cling to my own strength and often fall.

What sandals are you wearing that is keeping you from approaching God fully?

Moses removed his sandals and God sent him to Pharaoh to bring his people out of Egypt. It was difficult, it was hard and I am sure there were many times where Moses sandals again got in the way of God... but in the end Moses brought the Israelites out of Pharaoh's reign and this journey could have never began had Moses not first removed his sandals.

May you all have a blessed week! Prayers and love being sent your way!

Always,

Ashley Ann

Love = Mangos and Bananas

Hello Friends and Family,

Last friday I ended up spending an hour of my time at the main branch of the post office here in Georgetown. Now, that sounds like a long time - but the truth of the matter is if you have a package waiting for you one hour could be considered a blessing. I know some people who have had a 2+ hour journey. I got two packages one from Kelsey which was a beautiful bracelet and a mystery box from my Auntie Deb.

As I was watching this box I was wondering what could possibly be inside. Although I really wanted to open it I decided it would be better and safer to wait until I got all the way home before I busted open the box. When I got home I was pretty excited about everything that was inside - but one thing that really sparked my interest was the book: Heaven is for real. I was interested into what the book would be about but by that time I already had to run off to work. I had a long but good day at work and was excited to come home and read the book. I ended up sitting down at four pm and didn't move until six pm when I had finished the book. It really hit me hard and God must have inspired my aunt to buy just the right book because it was just what I needed.

Although it is typical for me to get completely absorbed in a book I just couldn't put this book down. It wasn't even close to the best book i've ever read - but it was the best book that I could have read at that time. It is about a little boy who has an experience of heaven. I don't have enough confidence in the fact that heaven actually exists. I think of heaven as a place that I hope exists but my hope is terribly week. To hear a young boy be so confident in heaven was inspiring and made me realize that I have so much to learn in life.


One of my favorite parts of the book is when the young boys talks about how Jesus emphasized how much he loves little children. I kept thinking about that yesterday after work because I went up to play with the orphanage boys for an hour or so after work. I was sitting on the edge of the play field just kind of watching them and I ended up being some type of "safe zone" for the nursery boys who were playing tag. They would start running towards me and jump into my arms so other boys couldn't tag them. They are all so affectionate when they want to be. At one point one of the little boys was laying in the field crying - now this sometimes happens and in two seconds they are running around again fine, so I gave it a couple of seconds before I started to move. Then I thought :"What ever you do to the least of my people you have done unto Me". I went and picked Jr. up and asked him what was wrong. Of course he didn't respond but just clung to me for dear life. After a while he told me what was wrong and a little bit later he felt better so I tickled him to get him smiling and then set him down to go and continue playing. The book reminded me of the simple truth of how much God loves the little children - yet so many people in the world don't share that same deep love.

The week for the whole was pretty typical. We had school sports on thursday but I stayed at the school to teach the students who were to stay behind. In the end it wasn't so much teaching as supervised free time because I had so few students.

Yesterday I was at the hospital and I ended up having a lot of interesting characters. The first one was talking to me about how God is going to cure her from her HIV. She then said but if he doesn't - I still am faithful that everything is for a reason, and He is the source of all my good. Even if you think she is crazy for her beliefs I give her credit for her passion. Either be hot or be cold - do not be lukewarm.

Another woman came in not to long after her wanting an HIV test. After I began explaining to her what HIV was she ended up laughing and telling me how she hadn't had sex in over 20 years and was almost 80. She didn't know it was an STD. Before she left she handed me a pamphlet to look at about her religious organization and I asked if I could keep it when she said to me: "Of course you can keep it: You show people the path of God and you will be blessed." I thanked her as she exited my office and thought to myself: "Wow Ashley, you have a lot of lessons to learn on faithfulness".

At the end of the day at the orphanage yesterday one of the boys Ramario asked me for my rings. And this is how the conversation went -
Ramario: "Miss pwease for one ov ur rings"
Me: "No Ramario, sorry they are mine"
Ramario: "Pweare for your ears ings."
Me: "No Ramario sorry all I have to give you is my love"
Ramario: "Ahhh...." (Sad face)

I started to laugh on the inside because I thought to myself: In my life God is me and I am Ramario. Always asking for shiny things and not being satisfied at all by love. These boys are always teaching me lessons.

One more funny dialog from my week:

Me: "Bye boys"
Wendell comes running and jumps into my arms for a hug
Me: "Bye Wendell, wheres my kiss?"
Wendell kisses me then smiles at me
Me: "You know I love you Wendell"
Wendell: "Please bring me a sweetie"
Me: "You think love means sweeties?"
Wendell thinks hard then says:
"Well, then please bring me a banana" .... "Or a mango"

Haha!!!!  I laughed the whole way out. These boys really do bring joy into my life.

Wishing you all the best. Love and Prayers,

Ashley Ann

Whats with all the noise?!?!

Hello Everyone!!

I guess that I need to start my blog with an apology that I had been kind of slack at my once a week post always before Sunday - I was scolded recently, so I promise to try and do better! :) 

I sometimes wonder how life always goes by so quickly, I feel like it was just yesterday that I sat down to write my last blog and I realize that a whole week has actually gone by. This week was a really good week. Last weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday morning I was just hanging around my house wondering what I was going to do for the day when my friend Andrew ended up outside of my house. We ended up hanging out for the entire afternoon, joined up with some other friends, and eventually went to a party that night for one of our friends Marcia. I had kind of been sulky that morning for several different reasons and having someone come by just to see how I was doing and what I was up to made a ton of difference in my attitude. It was a big reminder for me on how important it is to find joy relying on and enjoying the company of other people. 

Sunday I went to Guy-expo again. I ended up walking around with a student from last year and we had a good time just window shopping. I am not a big fan of big craft type fairs like that because I get distracted really easily, but in the end it was still a good time. I was glad to reconnect with her and just catch up on how her life was going. She now has a job at a day care which she seems to enjoy and it brought some re-affirmation that the work we are doing does have fruit in getting these students a job!!

This week at the hospital was VERY LOUD. They have started to do construction on the floor above my office and all week we heard jackhammers and saws. On Wednesday I had to leave my office a few times and go to a different part of the hospital just to keep my sanity. It was hard to do my job when I had to talk over a jackhammer. I am hoping by monday they will be done with all the very loud work. 

On Wednesday I had an appointment set up with a patient at 7:45 am, they ended up coming to the hospital at 3:45 pm as I was on my way out of the compound. I thought about it for a second and ended up going back and talking with her. It was a really complicated story which kept her back from the clinic and in the end I thought to myself - whether you have an excuse or not I'm going to come and finish this education thing with you so might as well just spare yourself the stress of explaining the entire story. Gotta give people grace sometimes...

Today we had school sports for Mercy Wings. It was really good because I basically just got to stand around and take pictures of the students. I always enjoy school sports day because its like a day of work, but its also kind of like a day off. I got to watch them run, eat good food for free, and interact with a lot of different people. I hope to post up some pictures of my students running sometime soon. This year we had a couple of good athletes but nothing compared to the year before. Although we didn't have the high achievement we did still have a great time. I would have to say that they all had really great attitudes and laughed at almost everything which made the day have very little stress. 

Anyway, I came here after being at sports day and I am just exhausted from the sun. I kept putting on tons and tons of sunscreen, drinking water, but no matter what this tropical sun always take the energy out of you. 

I feel like this quote describes a lot of what I have been thinking this week. A lot of the struggles I see around me and a lot of the injustice that is faced is because people are being used as objects rather than being treated with their full dignity. We forget the worth of each other and treat people the same way we treat objects without emotions or a soul. The very first lecture I gave to my students in my computer class was about how even though learning about computers and how they are used is good - computers and technology can never replace real people. A friend on facebook is not even comparable to a friendship based on face to face communication. 

Enjoy the fall colors for me - I sure am missing the leaves and how they are changing. 

Love, 

Ashley Ann