2 Part blog for this past week!

Part 1 will be sharing pictures of what my children did while I was away. As they do say, while the teachers away the children will play! :)
I am so thankful that my sweet friend and co teacher uploaded pictures of their adventures to the Museum, and I thoroughly enjoyed looking at them and seeing how excited I knew they would be, and were!
 I will say, I was pretty sad that I couldn't go with them, mainly because our original time and date had been cancelled due to Protesting. Ah to live in a big city means...rearranging ones scheduled to avoid the (potentially dangerous) but mainly just annoying protests.
Im just happy my little ones were able to still make it there before the year was over, because I knew they had earned a fun day out, and that they would LOVE the big trains. I mean, that IS just about all my boys create in blocks Big train tracks.
As I looked through the pictures, i don't know if it is because I was away from them, or because I had time in my 10 hour layover to look through allllll my pictures, but they have grown up. In front of my eyes. They are happy. They are becoming confident little people, and they are moving on the Kindergarten in 2 weeks. How has time flown so quickly?!
 Having the privilege to be their teacher for their last semester has been a gift from God. They are such a dynamic little bunch, and every " Tia Candace, I am going to miss you" or the " I love you" is starting to get to me. I found that even while I was with 2 of my favorite people in the world ( my parents), and IN America enjoying good food and English, I thought of Room 3 often,( and slightly worried as well)l for the sub! I was told that she said she preferred the older ages and did not know how I did it...the first day in! Funny isn't it how the Lord equips us for our calling...because I couldn't imagine how high school teachers do it. Dealing with attitudes all day long. Nope I could nottttt it! At least my kids attitudes are age appropriate. :) Being in charge of helping the high schools learn a song to sing at the Easter Performance in April reminded me of that!


Here are some of the pictures of their day at the train Museum!!

So thankful I get another semesster with entertaining Bi. ( guess which one Bi is? :))

Santiago Christian Elementary school!

Toot TooT!

The Parent Meetings: Well I must say, this past week marked the end of my Parent/Teacher meetings, and I am so glad. It is never easy to have to make the decision that one of your little ones isn't advanced enough to move up to Kindergarten, and another year in Pre-K is what is truly best for the child in the long run. It isn't so much difficult because you think it will hurt the child, no, you know they will be just as happy with another year of playing and learning,  as well as taking their hour long nap. :) Its because you never know how the parents are going to respond. Maybe its because of my tendency to be a people please and not liking any type of conflict head on, but the Lord truly has taken me out of my comfort zone numerous ways since landing here, and these meetings were just one more tool He used. I was thankful to have the achievement test scores on hand to show the parents, but they were still not happy campers. It makes me think back to when my parents chose to put me into kindergarten later, thus making me always older than my peers, but more prepared because of it,  and never once feeling ashamed for being older, as I would be ashamed had I failed a grade. Im thankful for them making that decision. I just find it fasinating that a parent would want their child to move to kindergarten so " They can stay with their friends, Their siblings will make fun of them ect" instead of truly taking an honest look at their child's behavior macherity as well as their acedemic standing, and seeing what would be best for them. Call me crazy but, if my child has to be held back in pre-k, I would feel a lot better about that then having them held back when they are one year older, more aware of what is going on..and then imagin what their siblings and friends would say!  At 5 years old, words don't affect them the way they will when they are 1 or 2 years older.
Well anywho, what does my opinion matter right?! :) Im just thankful the meetings are over! Praise the Lord!

The Priviledge to Sing

The Junior class came to me months ago and asked if I would sing at the Jr/Sr Banquet...and I said Of course, I'd love to! :) My friend Angelo  who is an encredible musician, agreed to come along and help meout! What a fun time we had! I ended up learning the chorus to " I could sing of your love forever" in spanish, which is something I am trying to do more and more of.  I chose to sing a Christian chorus because I felt that it would be a great opportunity to bring everyones focus for 3 minutes back to the Lord and His faithfulness, as I knew my song would be the only Christian song chosen to be played or sung the entire evening. I felt the need to sing a song that would remind the students that the Lord's love for us is greater than any earthly love or thing we will ever find, and the Lord just kinda put the song on my heart, and we ran with it!

Presious Gift: How surprised I was when one of the Senior students who I got to know on the Pucon trip, as part of his going away speech to the class during the Banquet, called me up to the front. Each student had the opportunity to give items of theirs as keepsakes to their friends, and only 2 gave something to professors. His gift to me was a shirt that he had been his, that He said reminded Him of me, and in turn wanted it to remind me of him! It said " Where there is love, there is God." ChongBin and his twin Sister are two kids I will never forget, and am so thankful I came in time to get to know them, before they headed  back home to Korea. They will be on my heart continually as I know I will never see them again on earth, but I hope to see them both in Heaven. How thankful I am to the Lord for His perfect timing in when He chose to bring me here!

The Protection of the Lord: On saturday the Lord proceeded to protect me, one situation after another! The first situation started like many other saturday's, as I picked up my car from the school, and was heading to the nearest gas station before heading off to my Pastor's house to hang out before Bible study. When I had turned onto the side road that was about 20 yards away,
I heard a big SNAP and puffs of smoke began rising from my front hood. I was able to ( protection #1) pull my car over immedietly and get out. The second blessing was having my cell phone on me, and being able to call a missionary who is very good with vehicles, and who had already assisted me before with various issues I had had with the car. ( Blessings # 2) He and his wife go to my church and were heading over there in half an hour anyways, and so they told me to go inside the gas station, and wait for them. When they got there, he was able to get the car to the school where it will safely stay...for the rest of its life ( or my life here!) Bless Iago's heart, but his days with me are done. What a protection of the Lord in that whole situation to not only keep me safe in the car, but as I waited alone, and then to have a ride to church! :)

The second situation was in the Metro, my new home away from home. After Bible study we all where going different directions on the metro, and I ended up going on the same one as my friend Jose. As we were riding I noticed a guy maybe 25 years old, staring at me and seemingly inching closer and closer to where we were standing. I usually try to just ignore things like that and pay it no mind, until as in this situation, they talk to me ( and in Completely English). He overheard me asking my friend which stop to take to get to my metro station, and proceeded to speakk up and say " Im going to Quilin Stop also, you could come with me." YIKES! Yea Red flags where popping outta Jose and my ears. It reminded me of Taken because for those who have seen it, the guy was young, clean cut, goodlooking and spoke my language ( though he was chilean). So scary. Thank the Lord for my sweet friend Jose who decided to go 20 minutes ( possibly more) out of his way, to go WITH me to my metro stop, so that I would not be alone with that guy. The Lord continually speaks peace to my heart by showing himself faithful over and over and over again, in His hand of protection over things I see, and things I know I do not see.


The Packed out Restraunt- Ever imagined what watching a Soccer game in South America in a Packed out restraunt would be like?! Well I had, and it lived up to its expetations! Insanity!!! haha, but a cool memory for sure. I must say, our NFL fans have nothing on their Futbol fans. Nothiiiing.


Packing!!! It is time for me to go Pack because I will be heading on an airplace back to PA in less than 6 hours!! I cannot wait to see my wonderful parents, eat chick-fil-a, drink sweet tea, and buy some much needed cosmetics! :)
Thank you all for your prayers, As i listed in this blog, the Lord is honoring every last one of them!!

Best Man I know

This weeks blog post will be a tribute to my Father by writing out the ways He unknowingly has strengthened, convicted, encouraged, and led me back to the Cross, time and time again since touching down in Chile. I heard a quote in the message today ( I stayed home and listened in to Colonial for the Father's Day message :)) and it said,
" My father didn't tell me how to live, He lived, and let me watch him do it."
How true that is in my own life... and how blessed by God I know I have been to of had the opportunity to watch for 24 years...His life. How the Lord knew,  I in all my sinful tendencies and selfish ways, would look back on the example I saw on his life, to continually bring my attentions away from myself and back to the word of God.
So if you don't mind I am going to give credit where credit is due and honor my father for the next couple minutes. :) I cannot sum up everything, nor do I believe He would want me to, so I will list 4 attributes that continue daily to encouraged me as I serve In this ministry here.


His Consistent Walk with Christ: In all my life, through all the trails I have witnessed him go through ( in ministry) I have never questioned whether He still felt called to be in the ministry, or whether he had lost his love for Christ. As I look at my attitude this past 4 months, when there was a facet of the ministry ( whatever that may be) that had dissapointed me, or relational hurt me, I tended to be prone to mope and want to question God's calling. My fathers faithfulness to the Call God gave him, has helped remind me in those moments where I am questioning, to Go back to what I know to be true. God called me here for this time. And to question no more. I've learned to do that because of His example of  going through a trial confident that the it is allowed by God to produce character and bring glory to God., It has always always encouraged me to stay faithful to what it is I know God called me to, and to not let the devils arrows hit where I should daily be placing the armor of God.
His Ability to Forgive Others. It amazes me more and more, as I grow older and see more of how we as fallen people so often hurt others and how we are continually at war between our flesh and the Holy Spirit in the area of relationships, and how we treat others. As I have watched my father forgive those who have wronged him, his  sense of burden to pray for them instead of be angry towards them, It just humbles and convicts me continually. How Thankful I have been to of been able to pick up the phone numerous times and call him, and know He will offer me words of refreshment and truth, and always end with praying with me for the lords victory and often for the person who had hurt me. He has told me it is more difficult to remain angry with someone when you are praying for them. Man, how those phone calls are a treasure to my heart. The devil does target "Ministries" be it a Church, a Christian School, a Missions Organization, Missionaries, Christian Organizations, Christians period. So why do I forget to see trails as from the devil, thus being proof there is a spiritual battle being fought?! I pray that one day I learn to see those relational hurts and hiccups as my father sees them. A battle being faught, and an opporunity to always show grace, apologize and seek forgiveness even when there is no apology given. What an example that is so counter culture...and against everything we hear from anywhere other than the word of God.
His Thorn In His flesh as he might call the dissablity God allowed Him to have, and I until recently never even was that aware it was even there. In part, because My father never openly brought attention to himself, sought pitty, or complained. When it did inhibit him in different circumstances or situations, he always took the approach of having a positive attitude, and finding a different route to take. He also used humor and continues to use it, in spite of whatever circumstance he is in. Most recently he bought my mom a golf cart for her birdhouses, and little zoo she has going on in our backyard. Well in an email he sent to me he mentioned he had taken mom on a ride around the neighborhood and they enjoyed some quality time together by the lake. :) After I initially got a little laugh out of the image of them riding around on a golf cart, it hit me that...my father knew he and my mom could finally "walk around the neighborhood" as most couples have always been able to do, but they could not. Little things, i've seen even recently, in his always positive approach to his health, have made me evaluate how much or little I can choose to complain about little things throughout each day. May I not be a complainer, in circumstances, but may I seek to find humor amidst the circumstances and by so doing, bring a sense of peace to those around me, as dad always seems to bring to our family about his thorn.
His Integrity and Discernment: As I have watched him through the years, go over and above in circumstances to insure he is above the appearance of evil, it has struck me that...our reputation is only as good an the perception those have of us by the day to day decisions we make. This mindset is daily battling with my sinful mindset, and often I find myself thinking " what would my dad think about this". Yes its true, I am a 24 year old missionary overseas, and I find I ask my dad for his opinion more than any friend, co teacher or fellow missionary. There is just something so comforting about knowing the opinion my father gives me, is the word of God. When I have highschool girls wanting to talk with me to get my advice on something or I have an adult at church as my opinion about something ( both happen often) I desire to speak not " What candace davey thinks" but " Here's what God says". As My whole life I have seen my father ask and do!

I love you daddy, and am so thankful for the example your life has been to my own.
7 days till I see you AND mommy!!!

Semana 17!!

The Wrong Word:

 So anyone who has tried learning a new language and has been in that stage where numerous words sound alike and you often waffle between which word to try and use. I mean, words that you know or DON'T know that have completely opposite meanings but sound exactly alike. Well I found myself in this position on Thursday and it lent itself to quite a memorable/very funny moment that I'm sure I will hold on to for "story time's" down the road. :) The two words were Caca/Queque, they sound more alike than they look...say it out loud!!
The story began with a birthday party for one of our little girls and the beautiful VERY yummy looking cake her mother brought. The school has a cleaning lady who is the most hard working precious, Christian woman you will ever meet, and I often try to converse with her as often as I can. I offered her some of the Cake in passing...and of course she said she would love some..I mean who wouldn't want a piece of a white/pink beautiful Barbie cake? Well, it ended up tasting exactly like it looked. A little on the Synthetic side and VERY Pink mixed with the bubble gum toothpaste I always loved when I was 5.
Knowing how it tasted, I wanted to worn Tia Clara about its taste, so first chance I got to do so, I did. I was walking with the little ones out to the playground and passed by her and my co teacher who were in ear shot, and the moment came. But which word to use, Caca or QueQue?! I opened my uncertain mouth and yelled " Tia Clara, Loseiento la Caca es no bien!" Her face literally froze and she and my co teacher just looked at me like I had suddenly grown 2 heads and for what felt like a minute we just stood there looking at each other. My heart dropped to my toes. What had I just yelled across the field? Until suddenly they looked at each other and both said " Tu mean Queque, cake?" As soon as I said " Si, Si!" they started laughing and giving me that smile that says " Oh you poor American, you don't know what your saying!" After they had composed themselves they must of seen I was still confused as to what I had just said, and so they both spoke up and said " You said Caca which means Poop, So you said "I'm sorry my poop is no good". The poor cleaning lady had thought I was warning her of what she was going to find in the bathroom!!! haha. Oh dear. :) I am thankful for their grace and patience with me, and the ability to always laugh when I mistake words like "Cake for Poop".


The Coat's on Fire: 
Have you ever had a gas stove/heater?! If so you know how they work.  One little heater can project enough heat to fill up an entire room. In a country where there is no central heat in homes/buildings/schools...the Winter season can be a wee bit cold. Its a cold that seeps through your bones, and often doesn't fully get thawed out...unless you are blessed enough to have the heater/stove on for a few minutes (electricity is really expensive), or your driving in a car that has working ( emphasis on working) heat. - Iago is being a bit temperamental these days in the heat department. :)
I've become very thankful for the early morning's in my classroom because of the nice little gas heater attached to the wall we are allowed to turn on ( for just a little while)...and knowing the children are also in a warm environment makes me happy.
Now I am sure you are already thinking " Why would they have a gas heater in arms reach in a 5 year olds classroom. Well, the answer is simple. Something like a gas heater in the States would make many parents concerned because they are different, thus often making it more of an attraction to little ones, and more appealing. In Chile, and more specifically in the childrens homes that attend this school, gas heaters are old news, common and not ever an attraction to the children. They are trained from an early age to steer clear of them, and surprisingly always do. However Tuesday, the problem of, the clothing touching the heater, and the child not being aware they were smoking presented itself!!
 Four or five of the children were sitting/standing around the table that is directly beside the heater, and observing a picture one of the students was coloring. No one was touching the heater, but I noticed a consistent puff of smoke rising behind the child who was closest to it. I ran over with adrenaline that parents reference having when their child is in trouble, and picked him up. After I picked him up ( and ensured he wasn't on fire) I just rubbed his back and kept asking him if he was ok, as he just looked at me like "why are you holding and hugging me?". As I was rubbing his back  I felt a texture much like cotton,and immediately knew what had happened. However the extent I was not prepared for! As I turned him around, the gaping hole greeted me and a wave of terror filled my heart! How thankful I am for the Lord's protection in the situation of little Aaron, his poofy nylon coat and the floor length heater.


The Time PorFavor?!

We are beginning to learn how to read a clock...and it is amazing to see how quickly the children are picking it up! I continue to be amazed at these little minds as they truly pick something up so quickly.

We did Assessment testing and they all did wonderful....AND, we found out after the fact that the Level of testing we gave them was the 1st Semester Kindergarten test! So they did over and beyond their grade level!  They got a lot of "treats" from their proud teacher. :)

The Animal Cage and The Clock:

As we are learning about Animals I wanted to do an activity that allowed them pick out various animals that they believed belonged in a Cage or ones that are Pets. It was so fun to watch what animals they went with!

The Moose from Ice Age was my favorite! We also had "Horton hears a Who" elephant in one cage!

My father visited the BBN headquarters that Pastor heard my father on.

The Encredible Connection: All day today I have been excited. Why?! Because My pastor here in Chile was attending Colonial and eating with my family!! How you might ask?! Well the only answer I can give you is...the Lord.

When I first started attending the church the Pastor mentioned to me he listened to my father on BBN and really enjoyed his preaching. Little did I know that I would be able to connect him with my Father while Pastor was visiting church's in the states! The Lord truly works in Miraculous ways. I am sure as Pastor Ramon listened to this Preacher in the states..he never imagined he would pastor his daughter, and eat lunch with the preacher!

On top of that connection that I thought was sweet of the lord to make, my Pastor's son-in-law ( who was a missionary teacher at the church, where he met and married the patsors daughter) was mentored by Dave Burgraff!!!

This past week was wonderful, and I continue to want to thank you all for praying for me a I am here. It continues to amaze me the comfort the Lord has given me here in Santiago, and the people I continue to meet that confirm why I am here.