Same city, new ministry...

Welcome to my first blog post of the 12-13 school year.

I’m sitting at my dining room table feeling like a real adult. I have a teaching job. I’m teaching 4^th and 8^th grade English and assisting in 1^st grade, by the way! My rent is due soon and the electric. We’re all paid for internet for September, the only catch is that we don’t actually HAVE internet yet. They’ll come or call sometime…We hope. We put the garbage out this morning as I caught the bus to head to school. My fridge is about  10% full of food and sometimes when I’m hungry I remind myself that food is expensive and I can wait until the next meal. I have pasta cooking on the stove for dinner. I have a housemate – fellow Destino teacher, Amanda.  I co-own two cats: Milo and Toby. They haven’t decided if they’re friends yet. We’re going to give it more time before deciding if one needs to be passed to a willing child and family. There is a mercadito across the corner from my little blue house and we’re their best customers. Seriously. We buy all our veggies, eggs, milk and water there. My land-lady, Mina, is very kind and her grand-daughter, Loami, is really sweet. They gave us mantucas the other night (similar to a tamale but better!). So yummy. It’s rainy season so right now I’m enjoying the slightly deafening sound of rain on a tin roof. If you’ve never experience it – it’s a must. 

I’ve much enjoyed my first week and a half here. It’s been filled with lots of time at school having various meetings and bible studies.  It’s been fantastic to be assured that I’ll be working in a truly Christian atmosphere. Each one of us desires to serve the Lord and from that,flows our desire to work hard at the school and share the gospel with each student. Each day we’ve had time to decorate our classrooms however we want! I’m sharing my class room with the 5^th and 6^th grade English teacher and that room will only be used for English. So, right now I have my rules, calendar, “Wall of Amazing”, phonics charts, and bible verse (John 14:6) up on the walls. I’ll soon have my Word Wall and behavior chart up. 

This week we’re doing things a bit differently. There is a visiting group from Georgia and one of the ladies is going to be leading our Bible study each morning. I’ve been asked to translate from English to Spanish for her at least a couple days this week. A voice in me says I can’t do this. I translate from Spanish to English all the time. That’s easy. Going the other way is unimaginably difficult. If it is what God wants me to do this week – I will do it through His strength and clarity of mind – not through any ability of mine. 

 Also today (Monday) we did home visits. This is where the whole teaching staff splits up into 4 groups and goes to find all the houses of our students with the intent of meeting their families, taking prayer requests then praying with the family. We visited close to 20 homes today and have many more to visit tomorrow. Now, if you were thinking that we have addresses, a GPS or even phone numbers for most of these houses, you’d be wrong. Addresses here sound something like this: “The yellow house near the little school, but before the field.”  Please, find that house for me, because we couldn’t. I loved meeting the families and a few of my 4^thand 8^thgraders. When we asked for prayer requests, the first thing most of them would say is that they would be praying for this school year, for the students to succeed and learn and for the teachers to have patience and wisdom. Wow.  These are very poor families that we visited. Some told us heart breaking stories and others were just thankful that everyone in their family was healthy. I am humbled. I am ashamed at how many things I take for granted. Indoor plumbing, windows, a roof without leaks, and a bedroom I don’t share with anyone. The list is endless. I’m very much looking forward to teaching these children and in some way understanding what life is like for them. I look forward to loving and accepting them the way Christ would. I look forward to a year spent among friends, students and other teachers alike. 

For now I leave you with one prayer request for myself and a few for the school. For me, I’ve been having a serious amount of joint pain most of the summer and I plan to go to a doctor to at least get some blood tests done to try to figure out what is wrong. I’m worried. Worrying is not OK. Pray for God to give me peace. For Destino: We have no water at the moment, but the well company FINALLY came today. Please pray that the new well can be dug quickly so we can start school. There is a big complicated mess happening with our electric – pray that it gets worked out quickly and Destino will either not have to pay anything for electric or at least a reduced rate because it is a non-profit ministry. Lastly, our buses are all in varying levels of disrepair. All the children and teachers are bused to the school each day, so to have these working is another necessity before school starts. 

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – mediate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. “