Being on the Race, you get used to the feeling of, "How the heck am I supposed to (insert seemingly crazy task and/or ministry)? I'm completely unequipped for that." It was no different when my new team and the team we were paired with found our first Sunday here that our ministry for that week included teaching for 45 minutes each in grades 6, 5, 4, and 3 at a nearby elementary school Tuesday-Thursday.
And by teach, I mean really teach. We came up with our own lessons and most of the time the teachers left the rooms while we were in there.
Plus, the kids barely spoke any English.
Oh and Isaac, our team's best Spanish speaker, left on Tuesday morning to go to his sister's wedding in Washington state.
"How the heck are we supposed to teach four classes of kids who don't speak any English? We're completely unequipped for that."
But, as per usual, the Lord totally came through and our three days in the classrooms were a success!
Day one, Teresa led a lesson on English colors and shapes then transitioned into a game in which the kids competed two at a time to find the cutout of the correct shape and color that she said, ie. they searched around the room for the purple rectangle, green square, etc. It was really fun!
Day two was music day. We taught the kids songs about Jesus, helped them make a "storm" rubbing their hands together, snapping their fingers, patting their thighs, and stomping their feet in rounds, like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Then to end class, we brought in make shift instruments and Liz led the classes in rhythms. What I loved about this was that it sent the message to the kids that it was okay that they didn't have it all or couldn't afford fancy things, because the Lord has gifted us with creativity to make the best of whatever it is that we have. And some of the rhythms even (almost) sounded kind of good!
Day three was our craft day, where we instructed and assisted the kids in making string bracelets with colors that represented points of the Gospel. But it wasn't just a craft; we actually got to share the Gospel with all the classes AND with a couple of the teachers who remained in their rooms with us IN SPANISH so they could actually understand! Graydon spoke with one of the volunteers at Zion's Gate who was able to help him with the translations, so we got to explain the meaning of each color–black for sin, yellow for hope, red for the blood of Christ, white for purity, and green for growth–and share Scripture to go along with it in a manner we knew they could comprehend.
It was so awesome to see how the Lord provided for all of this to come together! Not just the bracelets, but all three days and all three lessons. It painted a beautiful picture for us of how God doesn't always call us to things we are equipped for in our lives, but He always equips us with what we need.
Wednesday, our second to last day in Honduras, we were invited to the school for a program and a party. Each grade sang a song for us and TWO of the grades sang songs we had taught them! What a blessing and a surprise it was to sit in the audience and hear things that we had taught the kids being sung back to us. It's so easy sometimes to doubt ourselves–how much of a difference we're really making or how much of what we say sticks–but hearing "Boom-Chick-A-Boom" and "Making Melodies in My Heart" was a very welcome reminder of how much we do make a difference in the lives of people we meet, even if only for a very short time.
