DETAILS!

Here I am in Chuuk, Micronesia. I’m sitting in a very comfortable, less than a year old apartment with my laptop computer connected to the internet. (Actually, while I’m writing this I’m not on the internet. I’m trying to save money and not spend internet time writing and thinking and rewriting and so forth.) I have a bedroom of my own with a queen size bed, dark purple and green striped sheets, and five big fluffy purple throw pillows. This is important because if you knew my desires of having a home/apartment of my own, you would know that the first piece of furniture that I wanted to buy was a queen size bed. Forget that desire when God called me to Chuuk, right? Not so. God provided a queen size bed for free! It’s a small unnecessary thing but I think that’s why it’s so extremely cool. So I’m thanking God for my big bed. :o) I changed the furniture around in my room so I could look out my window. I can watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean every night.

But life in the “uttermost parts of the sea” is challenging and very very different. It’s hard to try and get you to understand how it really feels and what it’s really like living here. (I’m talking like I’ve been here forever and I’ve only been here a week and two days!) However all of this doesn’t really matter because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wanted me right here at this time teaching these classes at Mizpah Christian High School.

Here are some of the little things that some of you might be interested in:
There are pot holes on the one road on the island. The driver sits on the right side and also drives on the right side. I’m having fun. :o) The electricity is on and off and on and off and on and off. Even though my lovely little apartment has air conditioning, it can only be used when there is electricity. I’m already getting used to the humidity though. I do have an apartment mate. Her name is Junotte and she is 65 years old from New York. She teaches music at Mizpah and is quite a character. She makes me laugh and makes me listen. She’s a great cook and cleans almost to a fault. I’m learning a lot from her as I’ve never lived away from home before (excepting college and dorms don’t count). Our apartment is a duplex and an absolutely wonderful young Filipino couple lives there with their one year old baby (Anna, Nic, and Niko). Actually, Joshua Niko will be one year old on Sunday and we’re going to his birthday party! They have a fairly cute dog named Tootsie who just had puppies. Of course, I like them a lot too. What else? Everything’s expensive. There’s a lot of food from Asia and Australia. I’m not going hungry though and praise the Lord for variety!

School:
There are about 100 students enrolled at Mizpah. I’m teaching Junior AP Speech, Senior AP Speech, Sophomore NT Survey, Freshmen World Geography, and Sophomore World Geography. The kids are hilarious and we’ve had fun together (I hope) these first three days. My speech classes are my favorite. They’re smaller, better English, and more-or-less interested in what we’re doing. I do have a few who take some pushing before they relent to my speech exercises. Oh, I’ve made them do all sorts of fun things. They think I’m hilarious but when they finally do the vocabulary that I give them, it really helps them to understand. My NT class is probably the hardest. I did not like the curriculum they used last semester at all. I taught them the NT book song and they applauded for me when I sang it to them yesterday. Today they were happily singing along. My World Geography classes are going okay. I’ve done a lot of review from last semester because I don’t want to go on until I know they know for sure what I’m talking about. I was very discouraged yesterday after my freshmen class. I didn’t know if I was getting through to them, speaking to fast or using too big of a vocabulary. Mr. Chiles’ son who is my class said that I was doing a great job though. That was very encouraging. Because they have almost no motivation to do homework, I’ve decided not to assign any. In all my classes I drill the same thing into their heads over and over and over again. I teach like I learned how to study in college. Writing, drawing, filling in, saying, doing in their heads over and over again. Pray for my students!

Pat and Linda Chiles have been great. I love them dearly. They are so encouraging and always find something to thank the Lord for in difficult situations. And they both laugh all the time. It’s great. (Except when Mr. Chiles peaks in on your speech class when you’re making them do crazy breathing exercises. Heeheehee.)
Elvis is the principal and his lovely wife Mandi is the secretary. They’re great too. Mandi serves and serves and serves and never complains.
Steioshy (stay-oh-she) is the vice principal and is always so incredibly kind to me. Whenever his wife Diana sees me she holds out her hands and says, “K-T!” in a loud voice with a deep laugh tied to the end. She always makes me smile when I see her.
And there are more… the other teachers, the leaders and their wives from the church, the congregation. They are all so incredibly kind.

You say to me, “Katie! All of this goodness and you say it is hard?” I’m still getting used to living here. It’s just different. It’s not my choice living place by any means for a lot of reasons. I think it will take about two to three more weeks to get a little more used to things. Teaching three high school classes in a foreign country is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But, you see, this is one of the reasons why God wanted me here. I’ve prayed and prayed to be in a situation where I am forced to rely on Him, where I am forced to ask for His strength, where I am forced to pray and read my Bible instead of any of the numerous activities that are available in California. God has simply answered my prayers. “Forced,” you ask? Not exactly, I guess, because I know the God of the universe by the blood of Jesus Christ who cleanses me from all my sin. I do not know Him fully and perfectly, but I do have a relationship with Him. He has already taught me to trust Him, to live for Heaven, and to know that no matter what He is faithful. I’m not perfect, but I press on by the grace of my precious heavenly Father.

Praise the Lord for His greatness! Praise the Lord for His power! Praise the Lord for His might! Praise the Lord for His unending love!

Pray, pray, pray! The army of prayers the Lord has given me is one of my greatest blessings. It truly is overwhelming. God blesses our partnership for the sake of the Gospel.

And so I leave with a thought from the faculty’s devotion this morning. It comes from the book of Esther, chapter 4. This is when Mordecai has been grieving over the King’s decree about getting rid of the Jews and at first Esther says that she can’t do anything about it. Mordecai responds to her by saying, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Verse 16 is Esther’s reply. “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” May this be our attitude as we seek to whole heartedly serve the Lord.

Grace and peace,
Katie Masterson Eaton

PS Here’s my address!
Katie Eaton
Mizpah Christian High School
P.O. Box 571
Chuuk, FM 96942

Unfortunately, the Federated States of Micronesia has now been changed to international mailing. :o( But praise the Lord for a USPS post office! :o)

Also… I’m 18 hours ahead. 24 minus 6.