Earn your Mollars!

I started a new management system in class where students who are well behaved receive class money. Our class currency comes in the form of "Mollars" - dollar bills with my face on it. Hey! It works for the kids, OK?!

On Fridays, students can spend their "Mollars" on school supplies, random toys, and priveleges such as doing my hair or sitting at my desk for a day.

Friday Surprise!

The first "Friday Surprise" had to be a great one, so they knew that behaving would have good rewards! I borrowed the "Molly Dome" that I had made for my nephews and had it blown up in the classroom when the students came in after gym. They went nuts! It was so cute to watch them get so excited!

We had a great time inside the dome, but it got really stinky really fast. Next time, I will have a footwashing ceremony before entry!

Inside, I showed them pictures and videos from Saipan. Now every week I hear, "Miss Molly, can we go in the dome again this Friday?"

Choosing to Love

My experience at Webster Elementary in Minneapolis has been much different from Saipan. Many of these kids come from very hard homelives and make poor choices that affect the climate of the classroom. I felt like giving up last week. I sat at a small cafe, just me and God, and I told Him I couldn't do this. I asked Him to encourage me, and He did so by reminding me that HE is my strength, that HE can work miracles, and HE can help these kids. It's gotta be Him. That night I committed to pray for each kid every day. I already have noticed a change! God completely transformed my attitude about being there. It is still hard and discouraging at times, but I know I am there for a reason. I think the main reason is to love these kids.

I found out after I took this picture that the rule is only 3 at a time. Oops.

Home Sweet Home

One of my favorite parts about being home is hanging out with my nephews! Can little people ages 1 to 4 count as best friends? Check out my videos to see some footage of these precious kids.

How much can you cram in to 2 days?

After saying our goodbyes at school, Mel and I went crazy trying to fit in a ton of last minute stuff before leaving Saipan. Check out what we managed to accomplish!

LOTS of Mopedding!

Mel and I rented mopeds for our last 2 days and took them EVERYWHERE! Thanks God, for the beautiful weather and safety - especially while I was videotaping! Check out new videos - videos

Posing with the Japanese tourists. They just came out of no where and jumped on our bikes!

Hiking to Bird Island

Playing Detective

When we were hiding our mopeds in the jungle before our hike to Bird Island, Mel found a stolen purse with credit cards and a passport. Yikes! Maggots were crawling inside the purse, and we were nervous what else could be crawling nearby. Ah! Thanks God for keeping US safe!

Picnic near Bird Island

My goal before I got to Saipan was to have a picnic on that island out there. This is the closest I got.

Dumb and Dumber

I'll be Dumber.

Nikki, Crystal, Ashley and Becca were four of the teachers at Grace who we became good friends with. They made us feel so welcome! Such sweet girls!

Soakin in the view at Bonzai Cliff

New Friends!

We knew Rob a little from Ultimate and Volleyball, but just met Ben from New Zealand (left) on our last day. He is traveleing the world for 7 months. Fun! Can I come?! The four of us crammed a ton in on our first and last day together.

Boating

Rob took us out for a last blast on the ocean - some more snorkeling and... learning how to wakeboard!

Hangin' out in the Ocean

Wake Boarding

Mt. Tapotchau

Mt. Tapotchau is supposedly in inactive volcanoe, but there have been rumors that something could be brewing beneath the surface. Behind me and Mel is the town of Garapan, where we lived in Saipan.

One more trip to Forbidden!

Forbidden Island was one of our favorite places. We had to go back!

Souvenier Shopping

Looking at Stars at Bonzai Cliff

We stayed at Bonzai till 3am looking at the stars.