I had spent the last 20 minutes re-teaching myself how to multiplying matrices to prepare for teaching a class of secondary students ages 14-18 the next day. Today I was simply going to sit-in on the class and observe how the teacher taught them so there would be a smooth transition from their teacher to me. But that smooth transition didn’t go quite as planned. When they rang the little hand bell, meaning break was over and the classes were to begin, the kind teacher looked at me and happily said, “okay, head this way! I’ll show you to the class you’re teaching today.”
“Wait… Today?”
“Yes today” she replied cheerfully.
I ended up spending 80 minutes teaching matrices, something I had forgotten could be done on anything but a calculator, to a bunch of BaSotho students. I think it went well?? The students seemed to understand everything I was attempting to show them??
This is our ministry here in Lesotho. All five of us drive to a school 3 days a week and get to teach secondary and high school students math, science, life skills, religion, and English. Even though it gives us homework (we have to take a subject book home every night to learn what we will be teaching the next day), we love this ministry. The school we are teaching at is a special school. I’m not just saying that, it really is. The students at this school are the kids who couldn’t afford public school, got kicked out due to behavioral issues, maybe even struggle with drug problems. This school is home to the kids who were cast out and deemed uneducable because of their actions or their family’s financial situation. Society defines them by their issues, but once you spend a little time with them it’s hard to see them as anything but normal kids.
They are full of laughter and jokes. They try to sit next to their boyfriend and girlfriend until they are reminded of their assigned seat. They get excited when they finally understand a hard topic. They even get a little rowdy and need to be reminded to quiet down. They are respectful and seldom speak a word when a teacher is explaining something and they like to talk about their passions and what they want from their future.
Being able to teach in this school lets us connect with these students, pour into them and remind them that they are not defined by their past. We get to see them as they are, not as society has said they are.
I think my team loves this ministry so much because we get to be Jesus to these awesome students.
The woman at the well was cast out by her town because she had five husbands, and wasn’t married to the man she was with now. But still, Jesus offered her the water of life, despite all that she had done.
Jesus is a shepherd and even if there is one lost sheep, He will chase after it to find it.
We get to chase after these students, reminding them that they are so, so loved not only by us, but by a super cool God.
