Worth the Effort

Zach and Ariel!

In the words of Karyn, sickness is spreading like wildfire here among the SMs. Fevers, headaches, nausea, the list goes on. Jen is just getting over her fever, and now Danny has a fever of 104. Sunday was Danny, Jen, and I’s turn to do yard work around the school. Jen was still recovering from her fever and was too weak still to work so she was not able to come, so Danny and I worked. Danny was not feeling good at all so he had to stop part way through. It was very hot so I couldn’t blame him. I like working outside, I just don’t like it when it’s 80 degrees or more with 70% humidity! At 6, all of us went out to eat with Kat and the volunteers at this place called Nett Noodles. (Pronounced Netch) It was a restaurant owned by a Japanese man and his French wife. All the noodles were homemade and there was French inspired pizza and crepes. It was all so delicious! That night, I went to bed around 11:00 pm and woke up at 12:15am to find everyone awake in my apartment with Danny laying on our couch. He had Facebooked Karyn and Kim and told them that he was sick and had a fever. They helped him walk to our apartment since he could not do it on his own and Pastor Tim carried him part of the way and put him on our couch. We stayed up with him for a while and watched a movie with him. I ended up sleeping on the other side of couch so I could be there if he needed anything. I really didn’t get any sleep and when I got up the next morning, I felt like death.  

Part of our lovely group

I got up and got ready to start the new school week and I was quite disoriented. I had a mug full of hot coffee on the counter and I was trying to grab it and I accidently hit the side of it. It rocked back and forth for a second and before I could react, it fell on the floor, sending shattered ceramic and piping hot liquid everywhere. Ugh. What a great start to my day. Needless to say, I was exhausted throughout the whole day. In my second computer class, I was getting lulled to sleep by the sound of the keyboards clacking and the hum of the air conditioner. I made the mistake of putting my head down for a second and as I was dozing off, I heard a, “Miss. Miss C? Miss!” I quickly lifted my head up to see Ivana looking at me. “Miss I’m done.” I got up and got her score and made myself wake up by walking around. At PE, Roy made me go back to my apartment and sleep. I took a very brief nap and was awakened to go on the shopping trip. I checked on Danny later and he told me that he had had a fever of 104 when he had gone to the doctor. His body last night and today was super hot. It was shocking because even his head wasn’t that hot. I checked his temperature and it had gone down to 100.8. The antibiotics seemed to be helping.

On Sabbath, the school choir had their first performance at my church, Kitti. They sounded great! They sang two songs that I sang in choir in high school. We had a lot of youth for Sabbath school (Which us SMs are apparently in charge of now). A high school girl I teach named Lonie, who is not SDA came with us to Kitti. She’s not in choir or anything, but Kaylie invited her to come. Kaylie told me that one day during an English quiz, Lonie asks her, “Miss, why do you go to church on Saturday?” Wow! Isn’t that incredible?? Jessica, a very sweet high school girl I also teach, invited her to come to the high school vespers on Friday night (what a great example!) and Kaylie invited her to church. She came to both and she loved them both! She even came to outreach with us SMs to the hospital to sing.

I'm pretty sure these kids are NEVER still!

Sometimes, I forget why I’m here. Sometimes I forget that I’m not here just to teach, but to be an example. When I was colportuering, I was told that even if the whole time I was colportuering, I only helped bring one person to Christ, the whole summer was worth it. It was worth the effort. It was worth the sweaty days of walking in the sun, the rejection and cursing I got from so many doors, the long days. Even if I brought just one single soul, one single person to come to know Christ, all the stuff I went through would be worth it. Sometimes that’s hard to think of. So much work for one single person? Going through all the sickness, the heat, the hard days of teaching for one single person to come to know Christ? I have read somewhere either in a book by Ellen White or in the Bible that for every person we help bring to Christ, we get a jewel in our crown in Heaven. That is so cool!

I know I’m here for a reason and maybe I can help someone get to know Christ. Maybe it’s through my actions, my words, or even just becoming friends with the students. There are many students who go here who don’t even know who SDA people are or what they believe! In each class, there are only about 3 or 4 Adventists, if that. I know I only have one in my class of 13. When Jen was teaching 5^th grade, she had not one SDA kid in her class! I asked one of the parents of a Catholic student of mine why they sent their kid here instead of the Catholic school. They said they liked the atmosphere here better and the teachers at the other schools often times yelled at their students for not understanding something in class. I know my thoughts are kind of all over the place but, I hope you got my point. After hearing about Lonie from Kaylie, I think I realized a big reason why I am here in Pohnpei. God has some amazing things planned!

Please pray for all of us here as we go through this sickness phase! Our immune systems are suffering greatly. Riley seems to be getting better, thankfully and Danny seemed a little better the last time I checked in on him.

God Bless!