Back to School. When I was first told I would be working in a school teaching English I was so excited and couldn’t wait. The anticipation of being able to teach students brought me so much joy. The day came to go to school. My team and I waited at our bus stop full of excitement and the unknown. We waited and waited and waited. We were waiting for a bus that never showed up. With much defeat we walked back to our ministry house to speak with our hosts about what to do. Thankfully one of our hosts had a van and we all piled in and headed to Anderson School. When we arrived at the school I was overtaken with the fear of teaching. As we sat in our orientation I realized my fear of the unknown had turned into a stomach monster. Trying really hard to focus on what they were telling us and not on my stomach they started paring us with teachers. Then we went on a tour of the school to know which classes we would be teaching in and where everything was. They explained to us that as we kept going up the stairs the grade levels got older. As they started pointing out classrooms to my teammates I began to wonder; how many stairs am I going to walk up before they would tell me which classroom I’m going to be in. Finally then came my turn however I thought I would be teaching one class with students who needed to learn basic english. Not the case. I am the new freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and I.B. Senior English teacher. My name is Teacher Nathaly. As I found out I was teaching all high schoolers who know English really really well but were at the same level as their teacher. My stomach monster grew to be 100 times bigger then it originally was. Right then and there I knew the Lord was about to grow me in a big way.
As I started teaching my classes with lots fear on the inside but completely confident on the outside. You know … because kids smell fear. It was a very tangible reminder that the Lord qualifies the called. This ministry here at Anderson School is more then being qualified to teach English. It’s about the way I talk, walk, set an example, have patience, teach, communicate with and love these kids through everything. The Lord has grown me in my capacity to love, give grace, have mercy, patience, and to be intentional with every conversation I have this these kids.
As I started teaching, there was at least one student in each class that upon arriving in the class I knew the Lord was asking me to walk along side of them in these next few weeks. One of these students name is Mateo. He is a 14 year old young man who has a very sweet spirit. He winks at me everyday day in class, he is striving to learn English as fast as he can, but he is struggling a little bit. However, it’s not because lack of effort. His smile lights up my life a little more everyday. I recently found out he excepted Christ just a few days ago and was so excited to hear I was a Christian because he was ready to hear more about the Lord. He also bought a Bible this weekend. We are starting to talk about what we read. Another students name is Valentin!! This young man is 16 and has been asking so many questions about who the Lord is and what he has done for us. Everyday he comes to school with new things to tell me about what he has learned about The Lord. Friday he told me that he was slightly selling drugs which opened up an opportunity to have a conversation about what the Lord expects from us. He told me he wanted to be a good man and a man who loved the Lord. I am continuing to pray Valentin would make the decision to personally trust the Lord.
The Lord not only equipped me for teaching English. He softened the heart of many students that I can talk about the Lord with. I can’t wait to see what happens in the following weeks! I’ll keep you updated as I go. Please join me in praying for these two young men.
