Teaching in Fragua

Saturday, I watched the Barcelona vs. Manchester united soccer game at the house of Maribel's sister, Arabela.  It was pretty fun watching soccer with a bunch of soccer fans.  Maribel and Reynaldo were there along with Arabela, her family and some of Maribel's nephews.  It was especially comfortable too, because there was air conditioning- a bit of a commodity here.

I talked to Arabela a little bit and she asked if I could come and talk about Jesus at a small school for some underprivileged kids.  I said "sure, sure I can," because that is kind of the whole reason I am here, to share Jesus with whomever I can.  So today, Monday the 30th, I got the phone call to come and talk to the kids.  I had no idea what to expect.  Reynaldo gave me a ride to this office off of the main highway and I met a couple of people there, Alfonso and Rosa.  I talked to them a bit and it sounded like they expected me to come and teach English to these kids, they didn't say anything about evangelizing.

We talked and I thought we got things straightened out and I went with Alfonso to this school to meet with the teacher there.  Now it sounded like today I was only going there to meet with the professor to talk about what I would do tomorrow for the class (a lot has been getting lost in translation lately).  We arrived at the school and I met with the teacher there and I guess he understood that I was going to be teaching English at the school every day all summer.  I don't know where he heard this but I had to tell him that I couldn't teach all summer and that I had other responsibilities with CALMS.  I am sure he was disappointed.

After our meeting he took me into the class and introduced me to the students and then handed the class over to me to teach.  Yet again I was taken by surprise, for then I thought I was simply meeting the teacher.  So now I had the full attention of the class and they were looking to me to teach them some English.  I did so, I was pretty nervous because I hadn't prepared at all to teach English.  I shared with them some common phrases and they seemed to enjoy it.

After this a proceeded to share with them the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet and how we are to be servants.  This I had prepared to do in advance.  They were pretty shy the whole time, and only one little boy answered my questions.  Alfonso told me that they are not used to seeing strangers here (I am sure he meant to say Gringo).

 I am sorry, because I didn't take any pictures of the school or the kids.  I forgot my camera.  Tomorrow, hopefully I will remember.

Please pray for me tomorrow as I return to the school to share the Good News of Jesus.  Also pray for these kids and their well being.  Many of them are children of single mothers and do not get a lot of attention or instruction.  But thanks be to God, and thanks to some generous donors that they have a place to go to school and teachers to instruct them.