In a Foreign Land

Teaching is definitely one of, if not the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I have so much admiration for my teachers from all my years as a student. I never realized just how hard it was to be one! Staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, grading, lesson planning, the list goes on and on! By Wednesday, we had all turned in our grades and were ready to have our conferences the next day. However, for some strange reason or another, my report cards from Excel didn’t work out right. So I had to redo all the report cards and get them turned in. It took a while and was super tedious, but I finally got them done! They still didn’t turn out quite right but it was satisfactory. I just wish we could do hard copies instead! So much easier! Denise gave a great worship that night reading from Psalms 137:1-4 This is what it says:

Summer on the left, Reese on the right

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song. And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

Denise explained that we are in a foreign land, and sometimes feel hopeless and sad, and don’t want to play our harps, but God will help us through it and we are here for a reason! We may not know the reason yet, but we will. Anyway I was really blessed by her worship! Oh also that morning, as I stepped out of my freezing cold shower, Karyn asks me: “So how was your first hot shower?” Uhm what? Hot shower? What are you talking about?? “Yeah didn’t you hear last night? We finally got hot water!” I had gone to sleep earlier than everyone else and had not heard the wonderful news! I almost jumped back in the shower to take a hot one but didn’t have time. But now we have hot water everyday! When I took my first one on Thursday, I almost started crying. Actually tears were there. I’ve missed a nice hot shower very much!

Thursday was a half day! This was only because we had parent-teacher conferences from 1-4 and 5-7. It was a long day! The thing is though, I don’t really understand why we keep such long hours when we only have a few parents come! I only four parents come, and none of the ones I actually needed to talk to!  A parent of one of my trouble students came by and asked if I had the report card. I told him no, you had to get it from the office and then come back. He said alright and left. 20 minutes later, I was wondering if the printer wasn’t working or something. It was 4 o’clock so I decided to head back to the apartment to make some dinner and on the way I stopped by the office. Apparently the father had just taken the report card and left! I specifically told him in letters home that I would like to talk to them about their daughter! They never stay to talk to me at school. Same with a mother of the student that has the hardest time learning. She really doesn’t seem to care about his learning or behavior! She avoids me like crazy! It’s really frustrating sometimes. After all the conferences were over, Franky had a huge pot full of delicious lentils and homemade bread for all the teachers! Oh it was so delicious! After stuffing myself to the max, the girls in my apartment watched a movie and went to bed. We really needed the chill time! Oh! Before snack time, I always have a prayer with my kids. That day, a girl named Reese raised her hand and said, "Teacher? Can I say the prayer today?" I don't think I have been prouder since getting here! I told her of course she could and she said a lovely prayer! 

Friday was very hot. I didn’t do too much teaching just because the kids deserved a little break I think! Danny, who teaches 7^th grade brought his class over to read with my kids for reading time. He has 13 kids, and so do I, so each kid has a buddy. Both classes seem to like it and near the end, one of 7^th grade boys wanted to read to the entire class. I’ve never seen my kids so attentive and the boy did a good job! When I got to my high school classes, I got asked by everybody where I was yesterday. Apparently Thursday went on the Friday schedule and I had my classes after all! I never got told and I was one classroom duty all week so I was never in staff worships to hear announcements! My kids never went to my classroom to get me either. Oh well! Friday afternoon, we were all dead. We were just so exhausted! But we managed to get ourselves up to go to Power Hour at 6:45. Power Hour is a Friday night vespers put on for elementary students. We had a lot of fun singing and Amanda narrated an improv story of Noah where all of SMs and volunteers acted it out. The kids seemed to really like it! J

Sabbath was beautiful and sunny! We all went to our own churches and Pastor Tim, our school chaplain spoke at Kitti where I was. Sabbath afternoon, I really didn’t do much. It was our Sabbath off and we were all just relaxing. I got to Skype Joni! Ahh I miss that girl! We had a good sundown worship where some of us read our favorite Bible verses, sang songs, and had some prayers. The gym opened up for gym night and I really didn’t feel like playing, so I went to Jen’s new classroom with her and helped her decorate. It was nice to get the room all nice and colorful! J Right now, we are listening to Christmas music in my apartment. I love it, but it makes me so sad knowing that I won’t be home for Christmas to spend it with my family. I have a feeling many tears will be shed in December.

Have a Happy Sabbath all of you! Please keep praying for Riley!