Faith Like a Child

So yesterday I braved Sunday church at La Verdad y La Vida, and I lived. I was very uncomfortable, but I lived. I am still learning how to suck it up, if you recall. I wish I understood more...They love to see my face get red. It comes with practice, I realize. It's only been 5 days.

Today I got to see my munchkins for the first time, and I adore them. I wish I could communicate with them better. Daniella is one of the smartest girls in the class, but she is also quite shy. So I may ask her to help me learn tomorrow. :) I think that would make her feel very important. She doesn't seek attention like some of the other munchkins, but her whole face lights up when she is affirmed.

There are 14 of them, and we get them for an hour and a half a day. I think we are going to run out of things to do. We really need to talk to Sully so we can start doing weekly lesson plans or something. I love the thought of having them for the next 7 weeks (minus that last Friday).

Gaby and Jorge teach them normal kindergarden things like writing letters and the sounds they make, and Valerie and I are teaching English and giving as much love to them as we can by playing with them and teaching them dance moves and what not. It's very VBS, and I wouldn't have it any other way. They couldn't remember our names at the end of class today, so when Gaby asked them who we were they said "teacher!!" in English. When she asked them what our real names were, Jusin shouted "panqueque!" which, if you can imagine, means pancake. Yep. Teacher Pancake. I can handle that. haha. We told them our names again, and Katie is seemingly much easier to pronounce than Valerie. Yay easy name!

So we played with them all recess. They love "corremos," which is just chase. They wore me out, but I love it. Then we taught them our warm-up dance...and they caught on very quickly. It's very fun. Tomorrow we will play "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" in Spanish and in English. I hope they like that. Maybe Simon Says will be good, too. I just need to learn some more Spanish before I jump into that. But we are teaching English. I think that could be a good tactic...log that away for later. :)

People keep telling me that things will get easier, and I know they are right. But sometimes it's hard to take people at their word. Alabaster and I talked about that on Skype today. God built us in a very interesting way. He created instincts for a reason, but there are times where we have to blow past our instinctual comfort zone because He has something better for us. Jesus said we will be like sheep among wolves. Does that sound safe to anyone? Because I'm pretty sure wolves like to eat sheep...It can be dangerous to take people at their word in all kinds of situations, while on a mission trip, in a relationship, even within a family because people are bound to let you down. But the good news is God will never fail you. He will never leave you or forsake you. He keeps His promises, and the worst thing that'll happen is death. The only way that will start to be comforting is when you see death as a reward. Eternity with Jesus? Yes please. I want to hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant," so I'm going to risk the discomfort because nothing beats the sovereignty and Christ.