Class is in Session!

Well y’all, day one of classes is officially in the books! And let me just say, God’s faithfulness is overwhelming. I am teaching English as a Second Language classes in a country where I don’t even almost speak the language. If you ask me, that’s a tall order. Going in to today, I was nervous. Nervous that I wouldn’t teach well. Nervous that my students wouldn’t respect me (mind you, all but one of my students are older than me). Nervous that they would speak in a language that I don’t know the entire time. But instead, God greeted my anxiety with a reminder that He is in control and that He never leaves us hanging out to dry (Deuteronomy 31:6).

First off, the plans I had for my classes today were somehow perfectly timed (and we all know that wasn't because of me). On top of that, my students grasped the material well and even interacted in the lesson some. But the absolute best part of both classes was getting to read God’s Word with my students. You see, the way our classes work is that we teach English for the first hour of class and then the last 30 minutes is spent reading a Bible story and digging in to that. Once a month, we get to share the Gospel explicitly with our students (obviously, we can more if the Spirit leads us. But we set aside time once a month to do specifically that). This unit, we are doing a series on the life of Elijah. Now I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t usually sit around and read stories about Elijah’s life for my casual reading. But today, I got to stand and listen as my students, who are almost all Muslims but chose to take the class even though they have to learn about Christ simply because they want English, muddled through the story of Elijah and the woman with a handful of flour (1 Kings 17:1-16). As they read this story that I haven’t heard in years, I was humbled and amazed at how awesome our God is.  I was amazed that God would use their desire to learn English and my desire to make His name known and tie them together for His will to be done. I was reminded that someday in Heaven, every tribe and tongue will stand before our Maker and worship Him. Even if no one comes to know Christ through me and my time here, I will still know that I’ve done what I’m called to do.  Because I’m presenting Truth and their ears are hearing. We aren’t called to change hearts, we’re simply called to speak.

Thank you for praying for my classes today, it means the world! Please continue to pray for my students – that God would soften their hearts and cause them to seek Him and the Gospel – as this term continues! 

All my love,

Sarah