This month in Rwanda, I'm teaming up with the ladies from my team and two others for Feministry! All our men have taken off to an undisclosed location (across town) and are doing their thang, while the ladies have been split into two groups to spread the glory of womanhood around.
My teams are spending our time teaching students at a school in the mornings, preaching in churches on the weekends, and hanging with a women's group one afternoon a week. It's pretty fantastic.
I have to tell you, though, in the beginning I wasn't too psyched. Normally I would be! I really enjoy teaching, especially high school-age students and older. But Karilyn and I were given the "P2" classroom, full of 8 year olds who hit each other, constantly get up and walk around (sometimes even out of the classroom), and definitely don't listen. Believe me when I tell you that that first day was a doozy and a sure-fire wake-up call. I woke up the next day thinking I can't do this. I definitely can't do this.
But of course you can, and you do. You get up and trudge positively on. Karilyn and I went back and began teaching what we knew- English and Math and songs with dancing. We also started working on a memory verse for the kids which, after 2 days they can now recite at the top of their lungs:
"JESUS ANSWERED, 'I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!' JOHN
CHAPTER 14 VERSE 6!!!!!!!!!!!"
learning to memorize and recite
You know, I bet Jesus said it in just the same way.
But that's not even the best part!
After a few days of being with the kids, we've learned their names and they have learned ours. They have stopped greeting us with a formal, "THIS IS THE P2 CLASS. WELCOME, VISITORS!" and started greeting us with a "GOOD MORNING, TEACHER!" which is cool in and of itself. They have started listening better, and responding when we ask questions. They sing to us and dance for us (sometimes at inappropriate times…cough cough…. math time… cough), and they hug us goodbye every afternoon.
The coolest thing, so far, has been our song time. Karilyn and I taught them "This Little Light of Mine" and they LOVE IT. Today when they left class for home, we heard the majority of them singing it all the way out of the schoolyard. We also heard them repeating the memory verse, just for fun.
It's a pretty cool feeling to know you've had an impact on a person, even in such a small way. But to hear these babies singing about Jesus and reciting His words is an altogether surreal and incredible experience.
I love teaching.
and drawing on the board
