A Post On Teaching...

Some of you are probably thinking. "O.K. So, she went over there to teach, right? And I haven't read a thing about teaching." Yeah, I know. It's just that there have been so many other exciting and new things going on that I haven't paused long enough to write a post on teaching, but here it comes. 

I got so excited when I first looked at the curriculum I would be using this year. It is almost exactly what I did in fifth grade! God is so good. Whenever I teach Miguel something I have a major deja vu moment, and it makes things so much easier (another nice thing is that Miguel and my little sister have a lot of things in common, so I almost feel like I already know him...well, almost anyway). 

God is so good, and He has given me so much to equip and prepare me for this job. So much of my life has made me feel at home here. My Latino side totally meshes with the lifestyle of my new Portuguese family. Paulo even reminds me of my dad. Ruth reminds me of a mix of my Tia Mabel and my prima, Erika, and like I said earlier, Miguel often reminds me of Olivia.

All that said, I still get lonely, I’m still tired, and teaching is still harder than I thought it would be. How do I convey information in a way that is understandable to a ten year old? How do I inspire him to love learning, to take initiative, to be proactive? How do I bring to him the reality and friendship of Jesus? Sometimes it seems like too much, and worry and doubt start to crowd my mind. Am I really doing any good?

Yet I know God has called me here, and I know that He equips those whom He calls. I know that He can use me, and I have faith that He will do things through me that I may never see or realize.

A good friend of mine sent me an email recently, and in it there was this quote: “"The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to others. They may not realize that they are doing any special good, but by their unconscious influence they may start waves of blessing that will widen and deepen, and the blessed results they may never know until the day of final reward. They do not feel or know that they are doing anything great. They are not required to weary themselves with anxiety about success. They have only to go forward quietly, doing faithfully the work that God's providence assigns, and their life will not be in vain" (from Steps to Christ).

May God help me go forward quietly, ever faithful to what He has called me, even if I don’t see immediate results.