Lil' Bites

"Why are the people in the story wearing dresses?" asked one of my 10 year olds as she looked at the picture for our Bible story. Before I had a chance to answer, another of my 10 year olds answered. "Those aren't dresses. Those are robes. Men only wore dresses in the 80's." And he was dead serious. Needless to say it took a little while for me to be able to explain that one.

"Is this right, Mrs. Helena?" asked one of my first graders. She had been having a great day at school. She was focusing on her work and really trying hard to do her work and it was paying off. Whenever my kids are having a great day and really doing well I tell them that they are "On fire!" So because this student was doing so well I of course told her that she was "On fire!" She went back to her desk and a few minutes later I heard her talking with the other boy who is in the first grade with her. She was trying to help him with his work by explaining how to do one of the activities that they were working on. After a couple of minutes of trying to help him she came to my desk and looked me in the eye and said in a very serious voice, "Mrs. Helena, he is not on fire today." I almost burst out laughing but instead I asked her to call him over because maybe I could try and help him.



"Mrs. Helena, guess what?" asked one of my six year olds. "You saw a purple hippopotamus." I guessed. "No." He answered with a smile. "I stayed up to midnight last night!" he exclaimed as proud as he could be! Needless to say I was not nearly as proud and wondering now what kind of day I was going to have. A couple of hours later, he came back to my desk, "Mrs. Helena, I am tired!"

It is towards the end of the day and several of my younger students were in the library room reading quietly together. They were being so quiet that I had almost forgotten that they were down there. Pretty soon, I heard sweet little voices coming from the library room singing quite loudly "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my FAIR LADY!!!" They then went on to sing "Baaa Baaa Black Sheep" and "Mary had a Little Lamb". So I went down the hall to see what was going on and two of my three students who were in there had a book between them that had these songs in them and they were "reading" and singing at the same time. Their faces were so happy and they were having such a great time I couldn't make them stop. 

A few weeks ago one of my little boys came up to my desk singing, "I roll up, I roll up." He had stuck a pencil behind his ear as he danced over to me. " I am Mr. Daniel." He explained to me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I thought that it would be a good idea to have my students write Mr. Daniel a letter. I figured that it would be a good way to practice writing in English, also letter writing is a good skill to have and to practice not to mention that Mr. Daniel would really love to get letters from the kids. I asked one my first graders what he was going to write in his letter. "I am going to ask Mr. Daniel why he dances in school." That was not what I was expecting to hear at all! "You are going to ask him what?" I asked again, thinking IJ must have misunderstood. "I want to ask him why he dances in school, because you say that the classroom is not where you should dance but Mr. Daniel used to dance in the classroom, so I want to ask him why?" Well, I couldn't really argue with that, I guess. I did try to explain to him that I don't want him dancing in the classroom because he bumps into people and or their desks and he might hurt himself. He seemed to understand that but he still asked Mr. Daniel anyway...Daniel just laughed and laughed...

Long, Long Overdue Update

The first thing that I must do is apologize for not updating this blog for so long! I just realized that the last time that I posted anything was May! I am so sorry. There have been some major events going on in my life since then so I will do my best to keep it brief but get you all caught up.

The biggest event of all is that I got married in August to an MAF pilot, Brent Mudde, who lives and works here in Angola. (I don't' know if any of you noticed the name change or not:) .) We have been in and out of each others lives since 2004 when he first arrived in Lubango and moved in across the street from me and my family. Since then he has remained a close friend of the family but last March we began dating and in May got engaged. We were married the beginning of August in Greensboro, North Carolina at my home church. It was such a special day, surrounded by family and many friends! We feel so blessed that the Lord made our day so special for us.

Another major event is that I have changed mission organizations. Brent is with a mission organization called Mission Aviation Fellowship and it seemed to make sense that I join his mission instead of both of usbeing part of different missions when we ultimately have the same goal of furthering the Kingdom. So in July I officially joined MAF. Brent was due for his home assignment in August and it seemed a perfect time for me to go with and meet his friends and supporters as well as for him to meet mine. So we spent from mid-August to mid-November in the United States and Canada traveling around and meeting with as many friends and supporters as we could. Once again the Lord made it a wonderful time of refreshment as well as encouragement as we met and talked with people who are excited about His work all over the world. I think at times we can get so busy with just every day life that we forget that we are part of a bigger picture and that there are people all over the world who are excited and are doing their part with you. So thank you so much if you are one of this people! Whenever I feel overwhelmed by life

and work and I remember that you are there with me, praying and encouraging me along! You mean a lot to me!

My younger brother Daniel, came out to Angola

to fill in at school for me. He had just graduated in May and was looking for something to do. So he very graciously said that he would fill in for me for a few months while we were in North America. He did a fantastic job and the students and their parents all loved him. He went back to the States in January to see what the Lord has for him next. My students and I are all praying that the Lord will call him back here!

Brent and I arrived back home to our "new home" in Lubango in November. Brent before we left in July, worked on renovating our house that was right next door to his old house. He made the living almost double the size but he only had time to move his stuff in before we left. So when we arrived back we finally got to set up the house like we wanted.

In December we had to move from our classroom at the seminary because they needed it back for a previous contract. Fortunately there was an empty house at Mitcha, the missionary gated community that we live on, so I asked if we could rent that for a school. It needed to be cleaned up and a new paint job but nothing that was really that serious. We obtained permission to rent it and spent the we-

ek between Christmas and New Years painting and cleaning and building shelves and moving so that we could be ready to start school January 9th.

There was an old shipping container here on the compound that was full of all kinds of books and magazines. However the container was very rusty and musty and had holes in it so it was leaking. It also was home to several mouse and rat communities! Needless to say many of the books were ruined however we were able to save quite a few! Brent took apart all the shelves that were in the container and moved them to the new school that now has four rooms, three of which are classrooms and one that is a library room. It is such a blessing to have shelves and not have to have books in boxes anymore. The compound manager was able to find all the old furniture from the old school

house and he moved it all to the new school so we did not have to buy desks and tables, which of course was a huge help as it seems that everything here costs a lot of money!

School started on the 9th of January with 15 students and a couple new faces in those 15. The students were all very excited to be in a new location. I am pretty sure that most of them have never seen so many books in one place before! So learning how to take care of books is one of the most important lessons we are learning. It never occurred to me that I would have to teach children who are 2nd and 3rd grade how to put books away on a shelf! They all love to come to school each morning and are excited about learning not just their school work but also during our class devotion time. They are all engaged and asking questions and they all want their own turn to pray each and every day! Absolutely thrilling! The children are also very excited by the fact that now they have swimming lessons once a week with Brent! Brent is also helping my high school boys with their science course.

Our biggest need at the moment is another teacher. I have new parents coming to me each week asking if I couldn't possibly find space for their child in the school. However I am very much at my maximum capacity. I can't take on any more students but at the same time I don't want to miss out on help these children and their parents. So if you could please pray with us about staffing and what our next steps should be to grow that would be very much appreciated.

Once again, I apologize for taking so long to update you all.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! They are most certainly not unappreciated!

Reading a story

Our recent trip to the zoo

Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

“Miss Helena, can I pray today?” asked Marson (one of my five year old boys) as we have just finished reading our Bible story and I usually end that time of our day with a prayer.

“Of course you may pray, Marson.” I answer, more than a little surprised. We all bow our heads and wait in expectancy. I am expecting Marson to pray in Portuguese.

“Dear Jesus, thank you for Miss Helena. Thank you for Honey, Thank

you for Kiara, Thank you for …” My heart is pounding as he prays entirely in English and thanks Jesus for each of his classmates! It was so thrilling! I wish that you all could have been there to see it personally. Since then several other students have been asking to pray and for the most part they each pray in English, sometimes it is a mix of English and Portuguese.

These last few weeks have been in

credibly busy and tiring but also incredibly

rewarding. The students are all making lots of growth and progress in their academic work, their language and also their personal growth. I have been blessed by having a friend and colleague who is a MAF Canada pilot come once a week to do a “Science Group” with my four boys who are doing the eighth grade. He goes over what the boys have read during the week and then they go out and do some experiments and experience the scienc

e. It has been wonderful for the boys because not only are they learning but they are also talking more and practicing their language skills. It is so thrilling to see how excited they are about what they are learning and applying it themselves.

At the beginning of March we were informed that we would most likely have to move from our classroom at ISTEL because they would be need it for a university that had requested it several years before but ha

dn’t started yet. So I spent the month trying to find other options and figure out another solution. Two days before the end of the month I receive a message from the director of ISTEL that says not to worry we can have the classroom until December! It was such a huge relief and an answer to prayer. However we are fast outgrowing our space so I am continuing to look for a new place and I am also discussing with the church leaders about maybe building a school. I would really appreciate your prayers as we seek the Lord’s guidance in this matter.

Looking Ahead…

Our biggest challenge is finding a new space by at least December.

Our goal is to finish our scholastic year by mid-August so the students have lots of work to do in order to reach this goal. Please pray for the students as they work hard to finish and that the Lord would continue to work in their lives.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It means so much to me and the students. I know that I could not be here doing what I am doing without you all.

In Him,

Helena Foster Fabiano

Blog: helenashappenings.blogspot.com

Phone number: +244936896649

Mailing Address: C/O UIEA

CP 33

Lubango, Angola

Africa VIA PORTUGAL

Some More Little Bites

A conversation that I overheard on the playground between my one five year-old boy and my other five year year-old boy…

Boy A: You date don’t you?

Boy B: No, I don’t date. I just have lots of girls who like me. It’s just my life. You wouldn’t understand.

Boy A: Oh, okay.

Then both boys run off to play on the swings with the rest of the young kids, who are all girls!

This happened a few months ago but it cracked me up so I thought I would share.

We had been in school almost a month and the kids were in a pretty good routine about what to do after break: put your bag at your desk, line up at the door, go the bathroom, wash your hands, line up at the door again to get your little squirt of hand sanitizer and then go in the classroom and either go to your desk and get to work or get a game or a puzzle out.

I only have two or three young boys and they were done in the bathroom quickly and were back in the classroom. I was at the door making sure that the girls were doing what they were supposed to so I had my back turned for about a minute. I all of a sudden noticed that it had gotten remarkably quiet without any reminders from me about what volume our voices should be when we are inside. So I turned around and what should I see but one of my five-year olds with his shirt off trying to do push-ups in the middle of the floor!!!

My first reaction was to laugh but I managed to curb that and tell him to get up and put his shirt back on and go to his desk to start the work that I had set out for him. After a little bit I went to him and asked what he thought he was doing in my classroom without a shirt on. He told me that he couldn’t possibly exercise with his shirt on and he had to show his friends how to do push-ups!

The other day it was just me and my older kids and I mentioned a song that had been playing in my car when the baby was born in the back seat. I happened to look at my fourteen year-old boys face right when I said “…the baby was born in the back seat of my car…” and he made the most disgusted face that you can imagine! I hadn’t realized that it would be quite so traumatic for him to hear about it!

We received a new student when we came back to school at the end of January, a little girl who just turned four. We had only been in school a couple of weeks and the classroom was pretty quiet (a rarity around here) when all of a sudden I noticed that someone was humming the theme from Star Wars. I looked at all of my older students and they were all hard at work and not humming. So then I looked at my little girl and sure enough she was lying on her stomach putting a puzzle together and humming away to herself. I don’t know where she heard it but she had it exactly right and then I spent the rest of the day with the song going around and around in my head.

Yesterday, I was working with my one kindergarten girl and I asked her how her weekend had gone and if she had done anything exciting. Without blinking an eye she looked at me and said that she had a good weekend but that they had a wolf come to their house.

I said, “Oh, really? What happened when he came to your house?”

“He blew our house down.” She stated rather matter-of-factly.

“He blew your house down? Oh no! That is terrible.” I answered her.

“Yeah, and then he bit my father on the leg, my mother on the leg and then me on the elbow!” she exclaimed; now really getting into her story.

“When did he do all this?” I asked.

“While we were napping.” She said.

“Wow, it sounds like you had quite the weekend!” I told her.

“Yes, I did and then a monkey came and knitted us all trousers.” She told me.

“A monkey? A monkey knitted you trousers?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face but not really succeeding very well.

“Oh yes, he didn’t have a bed at his house or any toys so he came to our house.” Was the explanation that was given as if she couldn’t understand why I hadn’t thought of that because what other possible explanation could there be!

I had to end the conversation there because it was getting too hard to keep a straight face, but the next few months should be very interesting. I can’t wait to hear what is going to have happened this next weekend..

My students right before Christmas Break.
Me at the Farm at Christmas time.
Elephant tracks though the mud.

There will be more pictures in a couple of days!

Long Over-due Update

Dear Friends,

I hope that you have all had a WONDERFUL start to your new year. I originally started writing this about two weeks ago but never quite managed to finish (sorry!). So here is the “updated” version!

November- We started out with 11 students and by the end we had 13! We welcomed a Pakistani girl who is 9 years old. She and her family are Muslim and they just recently moved to Lubango. She knew some English before coming so she has been able to jump into the curriculum with no problem. Our newest student is 13 years old and Angolan. He will be starting the 8th grade. He is very hard working, motivated and excited about school and what he is learning, which will make this coming semester lots of fun.

December- We had our first Parent/Teacher meeting at the beginning of the month and it was very encouraging for me to hear how happy and excited the parents are about how the school is going. The last day of school was the 17th, I left Lubango to go and spend Christmas and New Year’s at Tchincombe Ranch with family and friends. It was a wonderful, relaxing time. I knew I was pretty tired but I hadn’t realized quite how tired so it was a good break.

January- I came back to town on the 3rd and spent the next four days helping a friend run around town to get her visa renewed, talking to the church leaders about getting the documents for Mum’s car so that I could take it to Namibia to pick her up, driving to the coast to get her documents renewed, then packing up my house to move when I got back from Namibia and then packing to be in Namibia for two weeks! Needless to say it was kind of a crazy week but I managed to get most of it done. I drove to Namibia with another missionary lady and her son; they had to go for visa renewals and doctor appointments. We left at 3am and arrived in Windhoek at 9pm. It made for a long day. A friend of my Aunt Shelley and Uncle Peter was very kind and opened up his house for us to stay in while we were there, which was a huge blessing. I took Mum’s car to the shop to have an extra fuel tank and rear wheel carrier installed. I received the car back within a few days and did all the shopping and running around and was all ready to go when Mum arrived on the 19th. Mum arrived okay but her luggage did not. They took one of her carry-ons away when she boarded the plane in DC and failed to return until more than twenty-four hours later, by which time it was missing close to $1000 worth of equipment, including an i-phone that I had asked for. We stayed in Windhoek a couple of extra days to see what we could do to follow up with the airline. After two days of driving we arrived in Lubango on Saturday afternoon and Monday we packed the stuff from where I had been living in the car and moved it to Mum’s house at ISTEL. School started again on the 31st and we have already had one week. Not all of the students are back from their holidays in various

parts of the world and we have added some new friends! It is great to be back at school again and the students all seem excited to be there. It is great to be back at school again and the students all seem excited to be there.

Looking Behind and Ahead- It is hard to believe that only a year ago the Lord told me that it was time to move back to Angola to open the school. A lot has happened since last January and I know that without the Lord’s sustaining hand none of this would have taken place. Our next big challenge is building our own facility for the school. We are fast outgrowing the space that we are renting at ISTEL. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance as I sit down with the church leaders to discuss what our next steps should be. At the moment we do not have the money for building but I know that the Lord can handle small problems like money. I just want to be sure that we work within His plan for the school.

In Him,

Helena Foster Fabiano

Blog: helenashappenings.blogspot.com

Phone number: +244936896649

Mailing Address: C/O UIEA

CP 33

Lubango, Angola

Africa VIA PORTUGAL