First Day

Today was our first day of school! Everyone was excited to see the students and happy to get started again. This year I am only teaching four classes and then spend a few hours in the office helping out with some accounting work. I started today with Algebra II and had the Sophomores. Of course, since today was the first day, we went over rules and procedures and therefore didn't have a lot of time for the lesson. We did get through most of it and will finish up tomorrow. Lucky for them, they don't have to turn in an assignment tomorrow. The same went for the Juniors who I had after the Sophomores.

Following the Juniors, I headed downstairs to 6th grade to teach math. This was especially fun because I got to meet a new class of students. There are twenty students in this class of which only two are boys. Quite an odd balance, but I am sure it is going to be a lot of fun this year. I hope as much as it was last year! I will miss the old 6th graders, but fortunately for me, I get to see them upstairs in passing since the seventh grade is just down the hall.

The disturbing part of the day came in the middle of my 6th grade class. I was approached by one of our aides here and was told that Mr. Roger was being taken to the hospital because of a heart attack and was asked to pray for him. We immediately stopped and the whole class prayed. It is a blessing to be able to do this in our school. It's interesting, because Norma's devotion this morning was about this. She had mentioned that we have the privilege to pray in school and today was no exception. I am grateful for this.

Unfortunately, we didn't know too much at the time, but as I sit here and type this, I have been told that Roger is doing much better and is being monitored at the hospital. He was initially taken to a hospital nearby in a town called La Pointe. After he was monitored there for a little while, he was driven back here and taken to the airport to be flown out to Port au Prince by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). They were great because they flew here from Port au Prince as a chartered flight, just for Roger. I heard that the plane is so small that they actually picked up the tail of the plane after it landed to swing it around in order for it to take off again. Seems like something out of a comedy.

The only news I have heard since has been great. I got the following email from Carmen tonight:

Hey all,

thanks for praying for dad. Nader met the MAF charter and took them to the hospital. he and a deacon from his church prayed with dad before he went inside the hospital.

they are at Sacre Coeur (sacred heart) Hospital. the doctor is French. studied in Paris and did research at Harvard. he said definitely was a heart attack. he did an EKG and a sonogram of his chest. they gave him an anticoagulation shot.

the hospital is new and nice - AC, nice room with fridge, microwave, all new. they feel like they are getting good care.

they are sending up food for dad.

If you want to call them. they'd love to hear from you sometime! you know mom!

keep praying.
love,
carmen.

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So, as you can see, the first day of school was an eventful one. We're all grateful that Roger has been doing better.

As for the rest of the day, I had spent a couple hours in the office working on accounting, and then went back to school to teach Algebra I to the freshmen. This class was also fun because I have a bunch of new students that I had seen before in passing, but will now get to know. I did finish up early with them and they had some time to work on their homework assignment. It should be very easy for them as it is just review and an easy lesson at that. It will be interesting to see how well they do and how much they have retained from last year.

As for the classes, the first day was great. As I said before, we are always glad to see the students come back after we have been home for the summer. They are also always happy to come back and were excited as well, I am sure, to see their friends.

Thanks to all who help make this possible, for those of you who pray for Sonlight Ministries and all that you do. Please continue to pray for us and especially for Roger.

Blessings
Doug