Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Things I love about summer vacation!

We are now officially done with the school year, after the closing program on December 17 and the first elementary school graduation ceremony on December 18. Report cards are done. Grades are handed in to the Dept. of Ed. Classrooms are cleaned out. Desks are washed. And I am not going to school every day anymore. So in celebration of summer vacation, here is a fun post highlighting some of the things I enjoy about summer vacation, not in any particular order of importance or anything.
1. Sleeping past 5 AM!
2. Good time to spend with God.
3. Time to be social without the pressure of schoolwork bearing down on me.
4. Watching movies and playing games with my roommate, Mary, just because we have time to do so.
5. Christmas!
6. Time to work on schoolwork that I want to get done for next year at my own pace (yes, I know....I'm impossible!)
7. Vacation....time to travel. I'm planning on going to the jungle.
8. Time to scrapbook....at least in theory, because I haven't gotten to that part yet.
9. I don't have to wear a suit twice a week!
10. Catching up on some emailing.
11. Laughing and destressing! I do this during the school year too, but it's more pronounced during summer vacation.
12. Seeing my kids randomly and them telling me that they miss school, 2 weeks after they were so excited for summer vacation! That cracks me up!
There's only one thing I don't enjoy....the water pipes for the area of Cusco where I live were installed years ago and the population has grown a lot since their installation. That means there is no longer enough water to go around and my water in the mornings is very on-again-off-again (case in point, I just washed my breakfast dishes 4 hours after using them). Oh well. It does make me feel more like the typical missionary!
Before I was a teacher, I saw a mug somewhere that said "There are three reasons to be a teacher: June, July and August". I couldn't understand it and thought it a little rude. If teachers were so dedicated and enjoyed so much what they did, why in the world would they be so excited for summer vacation?
I love my kids, but now.....I understand. :)

Friday, December 17, 2010

Huayllar

For the last few months, I've been walking to Huayllar with some of the other youth and young adults from my church to have a kids' club with the children of this neighboring village. Many of the families in this village are involved in the roof tile-making industry. A number of the families are also involved in the church. However, most of the children who come to the kids' club are not from families involved in the church. They have shown a keen interest in the Bible and in the stories we have been telling them. My good friend Lisi is in charge of the group, but I've been helping her out lately with telling Bible stories. I continue to realize with doing this that I love to tell stories. It's great fun to dramatize the crossing of the Red Sea or the 10 plagues, for example (we just did a series on the life of Moses). We also usually have a time of playing games and sports (jump ropes, baseball, frisbees, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball, etc). It's a fun time and is starting to show some fruit in the lives of the children. There are several in particular who have shown a lot of interest and even some who come regularly to church. I enjoy being involved with this ministry and it has been a blessing for me. Here is a link to some pictures on facebook that I just posted of our times in Huayllar. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=255415&id=610351019&l=998b03b595

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

The other day in fourth grade was one of those "worth it all" days. It started out crappy. The kids were talking and they would not be quiet and pay attention. We always start out by saying the date, saying and singing the monthly memory verse and then choosing someone to choose a song for the whole class to sing. The entire time it was noisy and I felt like we weren't getting anywhere. It was Jafet's turn that day to choose a song and he, in the spirit of the season, wanted to learn a Christmas song. So I "randomly" chose Joy to the World, since it's pretty easy and fun to sing. We sang it through once, with the participation of about a fifth of the class. I got frustrated and told them to all sit and put their heads down on their desks. That apparently did the trick and, after a bit of down time and me talking to them, they were ready to work. So we sang Joy to the World again, this time with the participation of the whole class. Then we talked about what it meant. The line "Let every heart prepare him room" got special attention. We talked about how the innkeepers in the story of Jesus didn't have room in their inns for Jesus. I dramatized it. They had fun saying "No!" When I asked if there was room. Then we talked about how lots of people today don't have room in their hearts either, how some people just want to drink or work or study and they don't want to go to church or read the Bible and they don't care about God. We talked about how we all have a door in our hearts, a door that can be open or closed, a door at which Jesus knocks and asks if he can come in. I asked them if they wanted to be like the innkeepers and say there was no room. I also said that Jesus won't just open the door and say "Ahem! Attention please! I am now going to live here in your heart, like it or not!" We have to open the door for Jesus. And we talked about how Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and says to each one of us, "May I come in to your heart?" I ended the day by praying with them if anyone wanted to open the door of their heart to Jesus and talking about how when Jesus is in your heart, He tells you what is right and wrong, what is true and not true and how to live and He tells you that God loves you. As they scampered out to recess afterwards, I was talking with some of them and had the distinct feeling of "Wow, this is worth it!" It was exciting and I thought that was the end of it.
The next day they wanted to sing the same song again. They really liked it. After we sang it and were all sitting down again, Sebas had a question. "Profe", he asked, "how do you know when Jesus is talking to you?" That's not something I'm always completely confident about either, but I gave it my best shot. "Well," I said, "sometimes when you're in Bible class, did you ever think 'Wow, I think what the teacher is saying is true' or 'That makes sense'? That's God talking to your heart right then. And sometimes when you're reading the Bible and you think 'Wow, if God could help them, He can help me too', that's God talking to you. And even sometimes when you have peace in your heart, that is God giving you that peace." Then we got into a discussion of peace and I shared with them the saying "Know Jesus, know peace; no Jesus, no peace". It was fun because they were able to understand the humor in it, even though it was in English! And then I shared with them a riddle that my friend once shared with me: "What's greater than God, more evil than Satan, poor men have it, rich men need it and if you eat it you die?" (nothing) They got that too. So we ended up talking about God things for the better part of two classes and mixing that with English and they were having fun and learning about God and learning English at the same time! Yes!!!!! It gave me an idea for a permanent English bulletin board in the hallway for next year, to try to get the students playing with and interested in English by putting games, puzzles, etc there. But more than that, it was encouraging just seeing how God took that crappy day and turned it into a great day and a very fun day and a day that, I trust, will plant seeds in the hearts of my students. Praise God for those "worth it all" days!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

9 more days!

We are counting down the days till the end of the school year at PROMESA. As of the end of school today, that makes 9 more days. Please pray for a strong end to the school year and for renewed energy for the last few days.
A special prayer request is for fifth grade. Lately their attitudes have been very bad and they have not been respecting their teachers, particularly me. I'm not quite sure what has gone wrong, but it is extremely difficult to have class in that classroom right now. Today I talked to them about things for the entire 90 minute class. And I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. So I am quite frustrated with them right now and yet really wanting the last few days of school to be good ones and positive ones, for all my classes but especially that class. But I feel a bit hopeless. And I feel completely unmotivated to do anything in or for that class. Please pray that I can show them God's love even when I'm very frustrated.
On a positive note, I had a very good day with fourth grade, mostly. Started out rough, but then the end was pretty amazing. We learned the song "Joy to the World" and talked about preparing room in our hearts for Jesus. They were very interested and we prayed at the end of class if there was anyone who wanted to open their heart to Jesus. So that was the high point of the day.
I continue to need God's grace for each day. Please pray for the end of the school year. Thanks!