“To teach is to touch a life forever” was written on a plaque that I handed to my second grade teacher Mrs. McFarland. It was an end of the year gift that suited her perfectly. I understood the way she impacted my life that year but I guess id never grasp the way that she affected others until I became a teacher like she was.
For the past several weeks in Rwanda, we have had the opportunity to evangelize in the local villages, preach sermons and teach English.
These three things are not something I have much experience in.
I thought, ” Okay evangelism can’t be that bad.. Maybe a little awkward but we can just talk about Jesus and hopefully it will only last 30 minutes ” – True, evangelism can last 30 minutes but sometimes it’s an hour. & that hour turns into a wonderful conversation of getting to know one another and being welcomed as guests into a cute little mud house. We spend our time not just “preaching” about Jesus, but sharing stories of how Jesus has worked in our lives and how evident he is in these communities.
Then I thought, ” Preaching?! In front of a congregation?! I’m going to die. I know about God, yes, but not enough to tell a bunch of other people about him in a consecutive 30 minutes! ”
– Also true.. But I’ve learned to breathe and give all my effort to The Lord and hope that he shows up with the words that he wants to say when I’m standing on a stage. It still continues to be terrifying and I barely know what I’m saying, but I know there’s a purpose for me to be there and in the end I start to learn more about what I’m teaching myself than to others. I received feedback from Mary (our pastors wife) about preaching a few Sundays ago and she said that I spoke as a “spiritual adult” and was very surprised by my words. She said I would make a great pastor one day. … Um what?! I don’t plan on being a pastor and I don’t think what I said was even great but others always see the side of us that we tend not to see.
And then my thoughts on teaching English were, ” Teaching English to kids should definitely be the easiest to accomplish out of the three. ”
– This had a possibility of being true..if we were actually teaching children.
Tuesday through Friday we teach basic and advanced English to students that are the same age as us. Sam (19) and Ananias (22) live on the church compound and have a very basic understanding of the English language. With them we go over emotions, the months, colors, etc.
& then there are others such as Donat (21), Kevin (20) who want to learn more on grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. I never knew how hard learning English could get until we tried tapping into past and present verbs and when to use “I” and “I am” and how different they can be in sentences. I’ve had to explain the terms grudge, humility, entire, approximately, vulnerable and other words that I sometimes don’t even think of explaining.
Then there are days like today where Kevin wants to learn how to better communicate in English so I suggested that we have a normal conversation and ask questions to one another. I learned about his family and how he started playing piano. And then he asked questions about what brought me to Rwanda and why I wanted to be a missionary. He said, how did you decide to leave your family and everything you know back at home? I began to explain how God said to go and make disciples of all nations and that he gave me a big heart for his people. I began to explain that it wasn’t easy but that I trusted God to lead me where he wants me to be and that along the way there is so much that he wants to teach me.
For these past few weeks I’ve been feeling inadequate and that when I try at things.. I’m just not good enough. But as I was talking to Kevin today on how I ended up in Rwanda, I believe I gave myself the answer that I needed to hear. That the Lord is taking me through a learning process and I don’t have to “feel” inadequate because the truth is he already says I am enough. I don’t have to know how to do everything because I get to learn along the way and the best part is I get to do it with him. I get to learn more about my relationship with Jesus and learn more about myself. I get to learn practical skills and about people around the world and the culture they live in. How crazy exciting is that? I get to touch other lives but more importantly they get to touch my life as well. So yes, to teach is to touch a life forever. Because my Father in heaven is teaching me everyday and he has my life touched from now until eternity.
