momentous days

Sunday was celebration and celebrity day.
An M village 45 minutes away was celebrating it's 40th anniversary all week last week. Since there is a center and workers from our team there, we were honored guests and were asked to join in the festivities. Loud music, unending rhythmic drumming, and brightly colored costumes overwhelmed my senses as I walked in a huge parade, adorned in traditional garb along with seven other Western women. I was thankful for the light, cooling mist that was falling, the grey overcast sky and drab wet pavement a stark contrast with the vibrancy of the costumes and the vivacity of the participators. (I was thankful because when it rains, the temperature generally drops, which means that life in my head-covering, long-sleeve shirt, and floor-length skirt was that much more bearable in the humidity!) After walking in the parade and watching several large groups perform ethnic dancing, we were issued into the mayor and vice-mayor's lavish (and blessedly chilly!) offices to meet them and eat lunch.
It was truly an honor to be a part of the festivities here, as well as meet so many authorities in the town. My feelings fluctuated between feeling proud of the relationship the team has here with the municipality and the service they give to its people and feeling unworthy of such honor just because I was affiliated with them and was coming to help from overseas. As is typical being from my culture, I still feel a little squeamish when my egalitarian ideals are met with situations where status takes precedent, especially when I'm the one who seems to inherently have the status. Regardless, this was a day I will never forget. I was thrilled to have a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage that is still thriving in the municipality, as I watched it being passed from one generation to another in watching the feet of young and old alike pounding the earth to the time set by the thundering drumbeat.

Monday was meeting day.
Again, a wonderful time to reconnect with team members and get things settled for the week ahead.
In one of our meetings, we learned about the history of work among the M's. It astounded me to find out that there are only a handful of accounts about workers among them before the 1950's! I was shocked and heartbroken! So long there has been so much animosity and mistrust between our two faiths, so long have millions of people lived in so much darkness! Current stats on M people also shocked me: 60% of the world's poor are M's, as are 80% of the world's refugees.
Wow.

Tuesday was THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!
Thrilling! I found out that I will be teaching two classes on campus, both of which neatly fall on Tuesday and Friday mornings back-to-back. As it worked out, I only got to meet one of my classes that day, but as I introduced an ice-breaker game and coaxed some smiles out of the 50 nervous faces staring back at me, my heart began to melt a little. This was something I wasn't expecting, especially so soon. None-the-less, here I was, finally in front of the students I had been nervously waiting so long to teach! I found myself excited to try and help them, to think up creative lesson plans, and to invest in their lives as God gives me opportunity. In all honesty, up to this point, in my mind it was really a duty of obedience. Because I was nervous, I had braced myself for the worst: finding no joy in what I was doing.
Instead, when I woke up Tuesday morning I felt nothing but peace, and when I was told five minutes before the class started that I would have the floor for an hour (instead of co-teaching under my supervisor for the first day, as I was expecting), it didn't really phase me. (As it was, she did turn out to be a huge help, and winging it worked!) I can only attribute that to the weeks of praying you have all done for me!

Please thank God for answering our prayers, and continue to ask Him for His help and stamina for me as the "honeymoon" phase of teaching will fade. Pray that I will be able to accurately assess how much English my students know and cater the lesson plan successfully to that. Also pray that I will connect with my students, that the classroom will be a safe place for them to use English, and to struggle through language learning. Pray most of all that they would eventually know Him.

Oh, and I got to talk on skype with a dear friend AND it rained very hard so I got to hear the sound of rain on a tin roof! Life is soooo good.

Wednesday was the first regular student center (SC) day.
The entire morning was my weekly half-day of prayer and alone time with God (everyone on the team has one, and I'm becoming a big fan of the idea!). It was great just to get away and spend some time with God, even if it was just on my bed with my journal, ipod, and devotional books!
During the afternoon, I manned the SC. For regular students, the center with it's library, tutors (as in yours truly), and computers are availble during the day for studying and socializing. It was unusually quiet for a Wednesday afternoon (no regular classes on Wednesdays), but that meant I got to do some good lesson planning, so I was thankful!
Oh, and something very momentous happened that night: I killed my first cockroach! It was dangerously close to my bed, and my flipflop was right there, and because i'm not a Jain, *smack*! The dirty deed was done, the invading force anihillated...well, at least for now.

Well, I'll have to tell about today another time, because I have to run...or else I'll be late for a birthday party a few blocks down the street for the super-talented friend I posted a dramatic picture of last post.
Speaking of which, more photos coming soon!
Thanks for your prayers! And as they say here, "Ingat!" Take care!