My time in Myanmar has come to an end.
This month, my team was in Yangon, Myanmar, which is the rural part of Myanmar. We taught English at a Bible college. At the beginning of the month, I told my teammates how I don’t have a passion for teaching and this was going to be a challenging month for me. Some days I felt like I wasn’t qualified enough to teach college students English when English isn’t even my first language. Teaching little kids is one thing, but trying to teach people that are my age and older is another.
Sav and I taught the first year students. Some of them spoke very well English and others tried their best. I didn’t love teaching, but I absolutely loved the students. They were so dedicated, hard working and very respectful. Can you imagine trying to learn a new language at the age of 17, 22, 23, 32…etc? It was hard enough for me to learn a new language when I was 14, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be if I was just starting to learn a new language now. It is amazing to see how much their English has improved in the short amount of time we were with them.
On Wednesday we decided to throw them a little party to get to know our students a little more. It was awesome seeing them do something other than school. We played games, ate snacks, danced (not me, of course) and had so much fun. The girls live at the school, so after the guys left, we painted our nail,ate chocolate, and shared our testimonies with each other.
Friday was our off day, but we decided to help prepare for a wedding that was happening on Saturday. One of the teachers was getting married. We arranged almost all the flowers for the wedding. As someone that has zero experience in arranging flowers and decorating, I was a little nervous to help with anything. The flowers turned out great. My teammates are very talented and did their best to make everything look good. It was a beautiful wedding. And how awesome is that I got to be a part of something so beautiful?!
People often ask me what I like best about all the countries I have been to. My answer is always THE PEOPLE! I am on the race to love and serve others, but sometimes I feel like I am being served more than I serve. In all the countries I have been to so far, the people have been so loving, so caring and very hospitable. In Myanmar the students won’t even let me pick up my own chair. Yes, I can pretty much do everything by myself that they’re offering to do for me, but sometimes I think the best way to serve others is by letting them serve you and letting them do what makes them happy. Sometimes that could mean allowing others to carry your bag, pay for your taxi and food…etc. I didn’t love teaching, but I have loved getting to know my students and experiencing Burmese culture for the past few weeks. I will miss all my students.
I have two more days left in Myanmar then I head to Cambodia for about 5 days for an awakening where my squad will meet with two other squads to worship, fellowship and whatever else you do at an “Awakening.” Then we are off to AFRICA!
I hope you’re all doing great! Thank you for following along my journey.
