Praise the Lord for the weekend. It always comes at the perfect time... :) This weekend feels a little special because I worked really hard for the last few days so that I would be able to walk away from my room at 2:45 when I walked my students to the buses and not return until Monday morning. I think it's fairly uncommon for elementary school teachers to completely take the weekend off, but for the sake of sanity - it has to happen sometimes.
With the way things went today, I'm tempted to describe this week as a bad one, even though we got a surprise day off thanks to the soccer victory and the declared national holiday. It's amazing that because of the ever-changing group dynamics of a classroom, one day can be incredible and the next can be awful just based on the rising and falling moods and energies of a few or all of the parties involved. It's sad that behavior can and often does overshadow academics. It's even worse that the bright spots in the group often suffer at the hand of the masses...
Coming from a small town in the rural south, I have been very spoiled by courtesy, manners, and respect for authority. I remember being so impressed by the values being instilled in many of the Vincent kids despite the common opinion that children in our society lack proper parental guidance and instruction. I miss hearing "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am." What do you do when a student is blatantly defiant in small ways that are infuriating and yet do not really seem to merit an office referral?
And then there are the bright spots... Argentina is probably the smallest 5th grader I've ever seen, but she has a huge heart. She longs to please the Lord and I feel like she knows more about Him than I do. Lydia is extremely smart and teacher-pleasing, and she has a dynamic personality that is loved by everyone around her. Juan Carlos is kind and polite with a sweet sense of humor. Manuel is one of the most responsible and disciplined ten year olds I've ever seen. Keren struggles with the language, but longs to be helpful and to be liked.
I wonder if every teacher sometimes wonders what it would be like to choose a few students to be removed from the class. It just seems like teaching, learning, and relationships could be much stronger without the hindrance of such constant distractions. But yet didn't the Lord join us all together for a reason? Doesn't someone have to teach and invest in those distractions? I just wonder... What is the Lord doing? What is He teaching me? Is He even working in them? Will the entirety of the next eight months be this difficult?
Other areas of this life are going well. I love my friends and feel very blessed and challenged by the godly women that I have met here. When I left in August, it was hard to let go of my friends from home and I remember thinking that hopefully the day would come when it would be hard to leave Honduras because of the relationships that I had built. I've spent a lot of time being a hermit this week. I've been working and talking on skype a lot. I'm excited about the weekend and I fully intend to get out and spend time as much time as possible with people.
I'm really liking my church and my care group. The pastor at Impacto speaks with clear and simple Spanish, so I like to turn down my headset and challenge myself to listen and understand. The teaching there is simple, but Biblical. It seems as though they are focusing on growing disciples on a firm foundation of the Christian faith. For the next two weeks, they will be having a missions conference. Last weekend they talked about how they want to be a missions church. I praise the Lord that I moved as a "missionary" (although I still don't feel that title is right) from a missions church to a missions church. :) And all the while, I am still following the podcast of Brook Hills - so I am still being challenged and feeling connected to my faith family.
My care group is going through a study on Philippians every other week, and on the weeks when we're not doing the study, we're currently sharing detailed versions of our testimonies. Monday night will be my turn to share.
My birthday is a week from tomorrow. I can't believe I'll be 25. It's funny because I didn't really put a lot of thought into that until about a week ago. 24 was my golden year because I turned 24 on the 24th. I had looked forward to that birthday and this year for so long. So now here comes 25. I think the only reason I've ever been excited about that was for a lower car insurance rate, and for the first time in years, I don't even have a car!
Twana signed a two-year contract this week. She said she wants me to do it too, but I'm still unsure. I'm thinking about grad schools and seminaries and wondering what the Lord is cultivating for me at home. I'm glad it's His to work out and not my own... Logan had a dream the other night that involved the two of us and our paths for next year. I guess time will tell if her dreams are prophetic. :)
A funny thing happened today... I believe my fifth grade boys and my fifth grade girls have discovered each other this week, and there has been a lot of giggling and talk about who likes who... Today some rumors were being spread about a few students, so we had a whole-class discussion about the reasons we should not be gossiping. After that conversation, some of my girls asked if I have a boyfriend. As I have experienced in the past with other students, they were very disappointed to hear that I do not. Then a couple minutes later standing in line outside the girls' bathroom, they said, "Miss! You need a Mister!" :)
The next two weeks are huge in the high school world. This Monday begins a week of 24/7 prayer where teachers and students will sign up to pray at various hours during each day so that prayers are constantly being prayed around the clock. I'm excited to participate, and I've signed up from 9-10 each night. This is all in preparation for spiritual emphasis week. As part of the elementary world, I won't really be involved in that, but I hear it's a wonderful week of worship and discipleship.
Speaking of discipleship, I should probably go. Tonight is Live Out Loud for 10th-12th grades, and I'm supposed to go and go hang out...
If there is anything that I can be praying for any of you, please leave a comment or send me a Facebook message or an email (JameyLynne@gmail.com). :)
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