updates from the exciting life of bekah

Well where should I start? I feel like I haven't written one of these fun updates in forever...Well I'll just start from this new year then since I can't remember and you might not either.
How are you all doing? Hows life, school, and the family? I'm doing quite good.
Now I'm going to tell you about the month of January. So as you know -back tracking a little- my brother (Josiah) came down for Christmas but left before the new year ( for work) and we miss him something terrible:( But we got over our something terrible feeling of sudden lose. The DTS (Disciple Training School) for September 2008 has 10 students, my mom had been helping staff it, and so went along on the outreach for 10 days in January to Antigua to help them down yonder... We missed her dearly. School took kinda 5x longer with my dad teaching but I think I learned a tad more or something like that. After she came back on Friday, my dad and I left that following Sunday to Trinidad, stayed over night there at the YWAM base, then took off early in the morning to the land of many waters----> Guyana! I have been to Guyana before when I was younger (about 1) so obviously I didn't remember a thing,which was fun to see everything for the "first" time. Guyana was so flat compared to Jamaica, and the people there were African black and Indian looking people, it was really fun to see different types of people together. The reason for the trip was because my dad was speaking in their DTS for that week and to meet with the staff and such. So I actually listened in when my dad spoke in the morning and afternoon, yes I did take notes and yes I did zone out on the stuff I heard already. While in Guyana though I was able to help with their reading program for the neighborhood children. It was a great experience for me especially since I'm interested in doing something in that area when I graduate. Another afternoon, I went with some volunteers to the Hospital to do ministry there. I went with another lady to the children's ward, we basically just talked to them for a bit and prayed for them. The other lady did most of the talking which was probably for the best since I wouldn't understand half of what they said, but it was really touching and hard to see little kids in pain and worried parents. That's what I did in Guyana mostly. I did get to see a bat, well kinda it more flew out of the roof and crashed into the wall in the middle of the night, so I did wake up. I blew out a light bulb and shut off all the power in the whole house on the last night trying to find my contact that was in my contact case the whole time--- yep that was pretty exciting:) Moving on though, we were in Guyana from Monday-Saturday morning, then we flew back to Trinidad spent the day there catching up on emails and going to Ruby Tuesdays. Trinidad is a nice country with mixed people there like Guyana, but way more developed with allot of the North American stores. Next we headed to Haiti on Sunday, but we actually didn't arrive till Monday cause it was such a long flight haha, no actually the flight was delayed and we had to over night in Miami, which was annoying but the hotel was pretty nice and free;) The next day we finally arrived at the YWAM campus in Haiti after a two hour flight and a 2 and a half hour truck/bus ride! So yes finally we were there and I got to catch up with one of my best friends *drum roll* --> Lizzy Snow! Yippee skippy! Yes we're close friends that don't get to see each other but once a year:( So we had great fun taking pictures, going on the trampoline, and jumping in the freezing cold pool for 20 seconds then hoping out right away. While I was there I had to do school, but I also got to go to her Bible class at the school that the YWAMers run there. It was nice, and reminded me of the school that's up in Mandiville Jamaica that I helped at last Fall. Haiti as some of you remember was hit badly by a Hurricane last Fall, but the campus is starting to look completely normal again with is a praise report:) One day Lizzy, her dad, my dad, and me went to the Fifth Section, which is a really poor section in Haiti that got hit really badly by the hurricane. Most of the people there lived in mud houses with little to no clothing. It was hard to imagine being so close to poverty where little babies where playing in the dirt was a normal thing. It was heart wrenching, but the YWAMer are doing some amazing stuff with God's help right now, their touching so many lives and giving out hurricane relief to the much needed families there. So that sums up my trip last month. When we returned last week, the DTS just got back from their outreaches so we just had their graduation this afternoon.
Okay since I don't write too much I'll give you a heads up on some things that are gonna be happening in the months to follow. This March my family is heading down to the Dominican Republic to get together with some close MK (missionary kids) friends, and so my dad can teach in their DTS, and so we can visit the various YWAM bases there and so I can attend NIKO ( a camp). I'm really excited cause I haven't seen these friends of mine in over a year almost! And this will be my first time going to a camp down there. The camp-NIKO is a sorta a survival camp, I don't know much about it but most of my friends are going, so it'll be challenging and fun. On the to bring list, we can only bring limited clothing such as 6 pairs of socks and say 2 t-shirts, so this should be interesting:)
Some of you may be wondering or maybe not, but I'll tell you what you may have been wondering is about our family's plans next year in regards to going back to PA to finish my high school or sticking it through in Jamaica. Well we haven't completely come to a decision yet( yes I know its taking forever!), but we're leaning towards going to PA this next school year, but it won't be a sabbatical, cause my dad will be traveling back and forth to Jamaica. Please pray for us as we come to a decision and then work through the process of planning and finding a place to stay and all those details. How do I feel about it all? Well I'm not totally sure, I have been up and down with the whole thing. I'm not sure, because now that I have experiences the American life its going to be alot harder rereadjusting to that again knowing all the stuff about school, stresses, friends, youth group, and all the other adjustments that come along with that. Just the other day when we were introducing ourselves to the new DTS, we had to state where we're from and our names. Right there I almost had a mini meltdown as to where I was from! Yep kinda sad but its a true story of a third culture child:) But I believe and I'm trusting God that IF we go back to PA that He'll make it possible and help us with the rereadjustments of life up there, but I'd appreciate your prayers alot!
Now I'm done, so please give me a mini update on your life and whats new! I'd love to hear from you so write back quickly! And if there is anything you need prayer for JUST ask:)

love,
bekah