Third Time's a Charm

The first week was overwhelming and confusing, the second week was frustrating, but the third week of teaching has been a charm! I guess it has taken me about three weeks to finally begin to get the hang of the classroom. I am loving the kids more than ever and have finally started some relationships with them, the teachers, and others around the school, which makes all the difference.

This is me with some of the Kinder 1 students in my classroom. We were playing dress up and learning the names of items of clothing. They are the cutest! Only three years old.


Paul and I have been doing our Bible workshops in the afternoon. Since Easter is coming up, this week we have been focusing on the death and resurrection of Christ and what that means for us. I focused on the verse, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 6:23. When I was with the third graders I was trying to explain to them that because of our sin we deserve death and hell. But because of God's grace and forgiveness he allows us into heaven because of Christ's sacrifice. They only halfway understood it. But then I had one of the children read this verse out of the Portuguese Bible and when she finished the whole class resounded with an, "Amen!" What an encouragement it was when I knew that they understood God's gift! I am so thankful that they teach Bible in this school; that we are free to talk of Christ our Lord. I can tell that many of the children understand what they have been taught and strive to live in a worthy manner.

Paul also had a great workshop with the 8th graders. He finished the lesson and afterward said that anyone who wanted to leave could, but anyone who wanted to talk more about the lesson could stay. The two boys left but all the girls stayed and started asking great questions about why Jesus died, the significance of Passover, and the forgiveness of sins. It lead to a great discussion where many of the girls really starting thinking about their faith. He was very encouraged by the whole conversation and prays that this will only be the beginning of their questioning and finding answers.

I am very excited for Easter coming up. We have a whole day celebration tomorrow for school and then no school for Good Friday. I'm not sure what we will do with our long weekend but I hope to have some great time with God somewhere in there. That might even include waking up to see the sunrise one day!

We hope all of you have a great celebration this Easter!