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God is so #amazing! I came here 12 years ago as a #studentmissionary with my #sister @h_grbic and @88banaman88. Came here today with my #bestfriend @hopson_daniel. #expat in awe in #taiwan (at 元福燒肉飯/香菇肉羹) https://www.instagram.com/p/CF50ROeB-VO/?igshid=2fjpg8g2adjl
Befriend the students as Jesus teaches, mingle with men. :) The MAS-AMICUS at MSU-IIT Org. Fair. #pcm #masamicus #iit #studentMissionary (at Iligan Institute of Technology of the Mindanao State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnYHMG9HhTF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=knoq86pp35ic
A testimony of faith. A zealous student missionary that proves to us that physical difficulties will never be a hindrance in sharing God's love. #pcm #masamicus #convention2k18 #adventist #studentMissionary #yeAreInChrist (at Bagontaas Seventh-day Adventist Church)
Qualified vs. Called
August 23, 2016
“Teacher, I’m going to have a baby!” I look down at my kindergartner in confusion.
“What?” I ask.
“My mommy is going to have a baby in her tummy.” Here she pauses, and reaches up to pat my tummy. “Teacher, are you going to have a baby in your tummy?”
Or how about this? On the way back from music class, the same kindergartner walks into – wait for it – a parked car. Yes, a parked car. Crying ensued, as well as the same kindergartner slipping on her own tears once we were inside the classroom. And so it goes.
All of us SMs have started making a tally of how many kids we make cry because we’re yelling at them. Between the nine of us, we’ve made 16 kids cry within the first week alone, although I don’t know if these kids fear us enough yet. My kindergartners became increasingly rowdier as the first week progressed, and I realized that I had been too sweet in the beginning. So now I have to backtrack and be super strict.
Teaching has proved to be both a challenge and a joy, although so far it has been more of the former. The latter came in the form of one little boy named David, who barely speaks English and couldn’t write anything on the first day of school. Once I realized that he needed individual attention, I began working with him separately from everyone else, and over the course of the week he has started learning to write his numbers, and on Friday he learned how to write his name. Most of the other kindergartners already know how to write their name, but David, among others, had no idea how to even hold the pencil. After every number or letter that he writes, he looks up at me with an expectant look on his face. When he sees me smile and nod my head, he gets the biggest grin on his face, so proud of himself.
My experiences with my kindergartners drastically differ from my experiences with my seniors, as they should. For one thing, there are eight seniors in my biology class as opposed to 26 kindergartners. Our first day was spent going over the syllabus, and I do believe that I was quite scary (a good thing, I assure you). On the second day, the boys came in with a basketball. I asked them why they brought a basketball to my class, and as I was taking it from them, one of the boys asked me, ‘Miss, do you ball?” I replied with a resounding, “No, I most definitely do not ball.” Ball is not life. Sorry, Mark.
I gave a placement exam on the second day of my biology class. As an extra credit question, I wrote “What is my name?” on the board. All of them got it right, except for one student. His answer? “Ms. Larry.” I have no idea where he got that answer, because “Ms. Nelson” and “Ms. Larry” sound nothing alike.
It’s so interesting to hear the stories from the other SMs – mainly the elementary teachers, although there are a few from the high school – about how their kids barely know how to read, much less write. There is a stark contrast from the grade-schoolers compared to my seniors, so the English teacher must be doing an excellent job.
Some of us girls made a deal with each other while we were still in Hawaii that we would see who could last the longest without shaving our legs and armpits. Weird, I know. Morgan was the first of us to shave, and when we realized that she lost the bet, we decided that she should make us brownies. We ate two pans of brownies between the seven of us, and spent the evening in our apartment wearing shorts and doing yoga (scandalous, isn’t it?).
Right as we were going to bed that night, Morgan and I noticed how far out the tide was and went out with Kim. We probably walked out over 100 feet, and the water was still only ankle deep. We saw so many little starfish and fish, even a couple sea cucumbers. The waves were huge, and yet the water was so shallow. The three of us stood out there for over an hour just talking and looking out at the sea.
The moon here is beautiful. It seems so much bigger and brighter than it ever did in the U.S. One night, Lauren and I were walking back to our apartments from the AV room, and we both just stopped at stared at the moon. The moon was so bright that it was casting a huge ring of light around itself, looking very much like a planet. After gaping at it for a couple minutes, Lauren grabbed my arm.
“Look!” she said. “Do you see it?”
“See what?” I thought I had seen all there was to see. It’s just a moon, after all. But Lauren pointed to the clouds surrounding the moon. They were streaked across it like the rings around a planet. I felt so incredibly close to God in that moment. It seems like such a trivial thing, but I just felt like the moon was the closest thing that resembled God in that moment, and my eyes were locked on it.
I am amazed every day at what I am learning and experiencing. I remember some previous SMs telling me, “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” I truly believe in my heart of hearts that this is true, because one week ago I had no idea what I was doing. Even now, I’m still nervous getting in front of my class and overwhelmed when I think of lesson planning, but I have already seen how God is working through me to reach these kids. It is my hope and prayer that I can do His work so that these kids might know Him better.
First Week Adventures
August 22, 2016
“Teacher, I’m going to have a baby!” I look down at my kindergartner in confusion.
“What?” I ask.
“My mommy is going to have a baby in her tummy.” Here she pauses, and reaches up to pat my tummy. “Teacher, are you going to have a baby in your tummy?”
Or how about this? On the way back from music class, one of my kindergartners walks into – wait for it – a parked car. Yes, a parked car. Crying ensued, as well as the same kindergartner slipping on her own tears once we were inside the classroom. And so it goes.
All of us SMs have started making a tally of how many kids we make cry because we’re yelling at them. Between the nine of us, we’ve made 16 kids cry within the first week alone, although I don’t know if these kids fear us enough yet. My kindergartners became increasingly rowdier as the first week progressed, and I realized that I had been too sweet in the beginning. So now I have to backtrack and be super strict.
Teaching has proved to be both a challenge and a joy, although so far it has been more of the former. The latter came in the form of one little boy named David, who barely speaks English and couldn’t write anything on the first day of school. Once I realized that he needed individual attention, I began working with him separately from everyone else, and over the course of the week he has started learning to write his numbers, and on Friday he learned how to write his name. Most of the other kindergartners already know how to write their name, but David, among others, had no idea how to even hold the pencil. After every number or letter that he writes, he looks up at me with an expectant look on his face. When he sees me smile and nod my head, he gets the biggest grin on his face, so proud of himself.
My experiences with my kindergartners drastically differ from my experiences with my seniors, as they should. For one thing, there are eight seniors in my biology class as opposed to 26 kindergartners. Our first day was spent going over the syllabus, and I do believe that I was quite scary (a good thing, I assure you). On the second day, the boys came in with a basketball. I asked them why they brought a basketball to my class, and as I was taking it from them, one of the boys asked me, ‘Miss, do you ball?” I replied with a resounding, “No, I most definitely do not ball.” Ball is not life. Sorry, Mark.
I gave a placement exam on the second day of my biology class. As an extra credit question, I wrote “What is my name?” on the board. All of them got it right, except for one student. His answer? “Ms. Larry.” I have no idea where he got that answer, because “Ms. Nelson” and “Ms. Larry” sound nothing alike.
It’s so interesting to hear the stories from the other SMs – mainly the elementary teachers, although there are a few from the high school – about how their kids barely know how to read, much less write. There is a stark contrast from the grade-schoolers compared to my seniors, so the English teacher must be doing an excellent job.
Some of us girls made a deal with each other while we were still in Hawaii that we would see who could last the longest without shaving our legs and armpits. Weird, I know. Morgan was the first of us to shave, and when we realized that she lost the bet, we decided that she should make us brownies. We ate two pans of brownies between the seven of us, and spent the evening in our apartment wearing shorts and doing yoga (scandalous, isn’t it?).
Right as we were going to bed that night, Morgan and I noticed how far out the tide was and went out with Kim. We probably walked out over 100 feet, and the water was still only ankle deep. We saw so many little starfish and fish, even a couple sea cucumbers. The waves were huge, and yet the water was so shallow. The three of us stood out there for over an hour just talking and looking out at the sea.
The moon here is beautiful. It seems so much bigger and brighter than it ever did in the U.S. One night, Lauren and I were walking back to our apartments from the AV room, and we both just stopped at stared at the moon. The moon was so bright that it was casting a huge ring of light around itself, looking very much like a planet. After gaping at it for a couple minutes, Lauren grabbed my arm.
“Look!” she said. “Do you see it?”
“See what?” I thought I had seen all there was to see. It’s just a moon, after all. But Lauren pointed to the clouds surrounding the moon. They were streaked across it like the rings around a planet. I felt so incredibly close to God in that moment. It seems like such a trivial thing, but I just felt like the moon was the closest thing that resembled God in that moment, and my eyes were locked on it.
I am amazed every day at what I am learning and experiencing. I remember some previous SMs telling me, “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” I truly believe in my heart of hearts that this is true, because one week ago I had no idea what I was doing. Even now, I’m still nervous getting in front of my class and overwhelmed when I think of lesson planning, but I have already seen how God is working through me to reach these kids. It is my hope and prayer that I can do His work so that these kids might know Him better.
Just some of the cockroaches that invaded our apartment on our first day 😷
My kindergarten classroom and my biology classroom, respectively.
Pictures from the yokwe party that the church put on for us. The Fijian teachers sang us a song (left) and there was so much amazing food (right)!
