some things are just universal

So my class is in a little tiny nursery that sits off of the big room that the rest of the class rotates through during our two hours of teaching English each day. When the air conditioning is not working, it is easily the hottest room in the building and when it is working, it is easily the hottest room in the building. So, needless to say my kids are often very rowdy and pretty crazy when we have class. I like to let them have fun, but some of those boys just go crazy. It’s interesting the opportunities that present themselves while teaching something as simple yet as complicated as English. The room we are in, apart from being the in-house sauna has windows from floor to ceiling on two of the walls. So, we can see people walking around. The area that the church is located in would be the equivalent of the area North Central University is located in the city. It is not the roughest neighborhood but it also not the upper end of the town if you know what I mean. So, we see some pretty interesting people walk past. Almost every day there are homeless men who lay on the bench across from the church and take naps during the day. When the kids come in, they notice it and usually comment.

One day, one class of about nine kids came in and they started laughing at him for being homeless…as you can imagine, my teaching skills and passion for justice arose in me and I started to get on their case for laughing. I asked them if they would want people laughing at them if they had no place to live. They quieted right down. I asked them if they believed in Jesus and surprisingly they all said yes. So, then I told them it was their job to take care of people who were poor. We had a whole discussion about where money would go if they were drunks. I told them it wasn’t their job to judge that and that there were other ways to help. The kids were clueless. They had never heard this information before. I told them that if they couldn’t help by giving them anything, then it was THEIR responsibility to pray for the homeless people. So, we prayed for them and then we started class.

I have been able to share a lot of other things about treating people nicely and taking responsibility for your actions. I created a small problem for myself. I told the kids that they could only speak in English all day; no Phillippino, no Chinese, no Italian, no Spanish, and no French. So, now they just tattle on each other when they speak in other languages. If they get caught, they have to write one sentence in my class that day. So, every time they get caught, it’s one more sentence. The advanced kids have to write two sentences. My classes write a lot of sentences. Ha I know what all of their favorite things are!!

The Lord is so good. He works things out. That is for sure. Stay tuned…