Most people can remember that person in their classes growing up that just wanted to impress the teacher -thats right, the teacher’s pet. This story is a little different, but let me give you some background and update on what has been going on this past month!
We arrived here in Bulgaria at the beginning of October. We had a little mini debrief in Sofia, Bulgaria. We were able to worship, hang out, learn, and have an epic lip sync battle in those days. We also prepared to say goodbye to our squad as we ended our all squad month. After those few days, we all dispersed across Bulgaria and some teams went to Greece.
My team is in Dupnitsa/Dupnica, Bulgaria. We are helping a family reconstruct a church/school building and we are teaching English at night. We spend our mornings spackling, taping, and sanding the drywall to prepare for the painting. We then get lunch and have some time to ourselves, and then we go back to teach in the afternoons. There are different classes, ages, and levels, so we normally pair off and each teach one class, and we switch so we are getting to teach the different levels and people.
Well, one day I went to the class, expecting for it to be the normal calm class. Well little did I know God would surprise me in a big way. Right in the front of this class, a little boy is sitting and he is just chatty, has a huge smile, and just wants to talk. So I sit in front of him and start talking. Eventually we start teaching and he is thinking about everything else, but the work. He is jumping from one thing to the next. It didn’t take me long to realize he has ADD/ADHD. I automatically handed over the lesson the my teammate and started working one-on-one with Emil. I sat right in front of him and had to continuously point at his workbook. He kept wanting to turn around and talk to the kid behind him so I had to continue to point at his work and call his name. Surprisingly, he was not upset about it. He never got upset when I would interrupt his conversation and he would turn right around and start working again.
He is so smart, he was reading and writing better than some of the other people in his class, he just could not focus. He also didn’t even get upset when I asked him to finish his last two sentences before he could leave, even when everyone else had already left the class. When it was time to go he had a huge smile and I walked him out the class. He runs to his mom who is holding a leash.
Everyone here knows how much I love dogs so of course my face lights up when I see that little dog sitting there! Emil calls me over and introduces me to his dog, and tells me I can pet him. He is a little beagle and his name is Oscar. We pet Oscar for a little while, then it’s time for Emil to leave, so we say goodbye!
Emil and Oscar (Look at that sweet smile)
I show up to class the following Tuesday and Emil is there. He sees me and gets the biggest smile, puts his fist in the air and says “YES!” This is one of my favorite memories. This little boy, that I had taken the time to help one day for about an hour was so excited to see me again. The same thing happened again of him turning around and wanting to talk to the kids behind him, so I sat next to him and we completed all his work again. Right after his class his dad picked him up this day, with Oscar and our host told his dad how much I loved dogs, so Emil and his dad let me walk Oscar all around the big square in the city. Once it was time for my teammate and I to walk home we told Emil we would see him next week and he got the same contagious smile and told us bye.
I have now told my team that I want to continue to go to the same class on Tuesday/Thursday so that I can continue to work and bond with Emil. We have met so many amazing people on this trip, especially kids. We have worked with kids in all of the ministries and all the countries we have been to, but I know that I will remember Emil when I think back on this journey.
God blessed me with the opportunity to serve those around me and He is just making it so easy to continuously show love to all these people he is putting in my path.
