Great News: New Computers for NSMS

Great News:

The new computers are here!!! We are so excited to announce that we now have new computers. Now we have a computer lab with 10 working computers.

The kids were so excited to use the computers. They each have their own username and passwords. (They were all excited to create their own passwords.)

As you can see, we are still waiting on the chairs to be made and be delivered, but doesn't the lab look great!

Now we just have to figure out what to do with the few working dinosaurs that the school has.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this dream a reality for the school. 

End of Summer

This summer flew by! (but doesn't every summer?) I was able to accomplish many projects and I am ready to start the new school year. :)

I worked with the HCJB Summer Interns. They were here for 6 weeks. The three guys worked in the Community Development Department. They worked with water projects in the jungle. The girls worked at the hospital in either health care or business administration. I was in charge of trips and helping with the accounting for the entire project.

I also helped with a large project in the school library this summer. We have close to 5000 books, but it was hard for the students to find books to read on their level. So the librarian and I worked on a system of looking up the books online to figure out what level they were. It took us 3 whole weeks but a we were able to label the books in the library with their corresponding grade level. It was A LOT of work but we did it and I really think it is going to help the students find books to read.

This summer wasn't all work though:

My parents came to visit and we had a wonderful time. I really enjoyed showing them my home and ministry. My mom helped me decorate my house and now it really feels more like a home :)

We had a missionary community "Hoe Down." It was loads of fun!

Thanks Irwins for the photo :)

School starts on Thursday!

Ministry Opportunity for the Nate Saint Memorial School

People often ask me about different ways that they can be a part of the ministry of the Nate Saint Memorial School. I thought I would share this opportunity with you guys.

The Nate Saint Memorial School would like to update the computer lab and classroom computers this summer in anticipation of next year.  Our current bank of computers are sadly outdated and consist of machines of differing generations and hardware.  They are barely able to keep pace with current educational software demands and are difficult to maintain.  Therefore, we would like to replace them with identical, modern machines with current software.  Our goal is to purchase 12 laptops, each for less than $1000, about $150 of which would go toward the purchase of Microsoft Office with Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for each machine.  Currently we are looking at a:

Dell Inspiron 17R Notebook PC - 3rd generation

Intel Core i7-3537U 2.0GHz

8GB DDR3 RAM

1TB HDD

DVDRW

2GB AMD Radeon HD

17.3" Display

Windows 8 64-bit   

Any amount donated would be greatly appreciated.

All donations can be done electronically at the following site:

https://donations.mtw.org/donate/AddDesignation.aspx?No=91367

This is a tax deductible donation into a designated account for this project.  

Checks may be sent to: (please put project #91367 in the memo line)

Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284

As usual, please know how much your prayers and financial support are so greatly appreciated. 

End of School and Beginning of Summer

This summer will be very full. I am working with the 7 HCJB Global summer interns. These are college students from all over the U.S. Four students will be working at the hospital, and three students will be working with Community Development and Water Projects.

They all arrived in country yesterday. That means I was at the airport from 7:30pm until 2:30am meeting the different students. (bad weather in Miami caused many delays) We will be in Quito until Sunday doing regular orientation stuff. On Sunday we will attend the English Speaking Church here in Quito and then we will be headed back to Shell!

I will also be working at the school library. We are trying to create a labeling system that will make it easier for the students to pick books that are on their reading level.

 Our last day of school was June 5. This meant saying goodbye to many close friends. Two of our teachers and the principal will not be returning next year. Several families have returned to their home countries (United States, Sweden and South Korea). Needless to say, the end of the school year was bittersweet. For the end of the program the students sang the school song, The Shell Song. I thought you might like to see the video with all the cute motions.

Nate Saint Memorial School Shell Song 2012-2013 from Jennifer Kendrick on Vimeo.

Art Show

During the month of April both the older and younger art classes  focused different styles of art. At the end of the month we had an art show Friday. The kids each worked hard on their art project over the month and then displayed the art projects. The students and teachers voted on their favorite projects. I thought you might like to see some of the projects.

1st Place
Art  by  a 13 year old

2nd Place
Art by a 9 year old

2nd grader worked on making doll clothes 

2nd grader worked on
 art about the Fruit of the Spirit

1st grader and her birds

1st grade drawing about the beach

Pink Panther in Shell

Rainbow  Explosion 

We even had some students create
3D art like this wind chime made
out of supplies found in the
 junk pile behind the hospital.

7th grade Mountain View

So Proud of my 1st and 2nd Graders!!

On Monday, during chapel my 1st and 2nd graders quoted Psalm 34 (22 verses) from memory. I was so proud of them. They were so excited and they did such a beautiful job. I recorded just for you guys :)

Psalm 34 1st and 2nd Grade (2) from Jennifer Kendrick on Vimeo.

School Pictures

A wonderful family here in Shell does the school's pictures every year. They do a wonderful job.

My 1st and 2nd grade class

School wide photo

And of course our serious photo

 We have testing next week so it should prove to be an interesting week.

Character Day

During the month of March, we had a Read-A-Thon. This was actually a lot of fun, and it was great to see the kids reading more and excited about the books they were finishing. The last day before Spring Break we had a fun Character Day. Each student (and teacher) came dressed as a favorite character. Everyone really got into it and there were a lot of great costumes.

I was Elizabeth from the Paper Bag Princess. If you have not read this children's book, it is about a princess who realizes that she doesn't need a prince to save her and tells the prince that although he has pretty hair and clothes, he is really just a bum.

Teachers on Character Day

All of the students and teachers dressed up in their costumes.

My Class- Junie B Jones, King Josiah from the Bible, Tiger from Winnie the Pooh, and Lucy from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Nate Saint Memorial School Song Video

We have a song that we sing at the school. We love to sing it for visitors because it talks about life in Shell. Well, the 5th-8th grade classes made a video of a special version of this song. It is hilarious, and I thought you guys might enjoy it.

Just think: If you come and visit us, we will sing this song for you in person. It even has motions :)

Nate Saint Memorial S Mar10 1038am from Jennifer Kendrick on Vimeo.

January and February 2013

Wow! I can't believe that I it has been so long since I have last posted. There has been so much going on here.

Short Update:
January
*School started back up

Mismatch Day

More Mismatch Day

My 1st and 2nd graders got to throw balls
 through the hoop for water balloons
 to be popped over my head. That water was so COLD.

February

We had a water games day that ended
 with a HUGE water fight.

Shari (5th-6th grade teacher) and I had the older
 students over for  nachos and a movie!

*The 3rd and 4th grade teacher had to return to the states. A parent volunteered to teach in the morning, but she is not able to teach in the afternoon. So now in the afternoon, I teach 1-4 grade science and social studies. Its one big class and we are doing the 3rd grade curriculum. It has been a challenge but over all I think that it is going very well.

We had a crazy hair Friday. Isn't Shari's hair just the best :)

These two are brother and sister. He has some of her hair as a mustache.