One of our main ministries this month at El Shaddai in Swaziland was 1on1 homework tutoring with the elementary school-aged children. We could either choose one of the children to be our special buddy or we could be assigned a child by one of the staff members. I really wanted to choose my own buddy and so I kept my eyes open while playing with the children over our first weekend here to see which child would stand out to me. I started to zone in on one 10 year old boy named Andy. We first started to bond when I was playing with a group of boys and making funny faces at them just to get them laughing. The next day Andy got my attention and called for me to make funny faces again, so I happily did and got more laughs from him. A big group of us went for a walk in the afternoon and Andy kept close to me off and on and I started to think that I would choose him to be my special buddy for my time here and my buddy choice was confirmed on the Sunday at church. I came in to church and found a seat and Andy quickly came over and sat beside me. It made my heart so happy and full of pure joy. And I wrote his name down on the buddy sign-up sheet to ensure I would have him as my buddy for the month. I then couldn’t wait for Monday afternoon when our squad would be officially partnered up with our buddies.
I was really excited to start the tutoring with Andy the next day but I wasn’t prepared for how things would go. I expected to have lots of fun with him and to enjoy helping him with his school. I expected that my time with him would just go perfectly and smoothly with no frustrations or issues. Well, expectations don’t always hold up. My first week with Andy was full of frustrations for me. First off, I want to tell you all that Andy is a very smart boy and full of fun and life which I love so much about him. But throughout our first week as buddies, he didn’t always want to do the schoolwork I was supposed to help him with and he would run off when he had enough of me. He also, when he gets upset or hurt, he would go quiet and I couldn’t get him to move or say anything. The first week I would end buddy time every day feeling defeated and frustrated, feeling like I failed at my task to tutor him well and even just get to know him more. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong and I asked the Lord what I should do to make my time with Andy go better. I didn’t have long to wait for God to respond and all I heard Him say was simply this: love him.
Although to love Andy sounded like a simple task I knew I couldn’t do it with my own strength. I asked the Lord to give me His love to pour out into Andy. I was amazed at how much things changed in my attitude after that prayer. The Lord gave me a renewed love in my heart and no matter what was happening between me and Andy, the Lord just kept reminding me to remember to love him through it all, the fun times and the difficult times. My patience and joy increased as well and it made the last two weeks with Andy the best ever. We daily managed to complete all his homework and even were able to complete extra reading times too. I looked forward every day to having that special 1on1 time with him and being able to not just help him with his schooling but also just pouring out the love of Jesus into his life. I loved every minute I got to spend with Andy, in and out of homework time. He was the best buddy I could have ever had at El Shaddai and he will always have a special place in my heart.
