and this is a treble clef...

I’ve survived the first week of school! This has been an odd week of highs and lows. Some classes were chaos, kids all over the place and no common language. Other classes were full of learning music and even some talking where we understood each other. Lyn Dyck from Go Mission!, who’s out here with a ministry observation team from Canada, challenged our team here with the thought that perhaps success isn’t measured in the big things, but in little things. THIS IS TRUE. If I think of every single class and what I need to do, I am mentally drained. However, I have many many students who come up to me and hug me or just say hola, profe (teacher). I have the classes where we are ALL enjoying what we’re doing. I have the students who can’t understand a word I’m saying, but they try so hard to do what I’m demonstrating, so eager to please. There are many little high points and successes every day.

At my desk the first day of school (Feb 10)

- pray for good ideas of how to teach music and also cross the language barrier at the same time (that barrier is much bigger than I anticipated)

- pray for ways to connect with and/or mentor these students

- I’m thankful for meeting with the team from Canada, the fresh conversations they bring, and the encouragement

- also thankful that I finally got a phone here! It makes communication with people at home a lot easier. And for here too, obviously.

More words and photos to come, hopefully in the next few weeks, as energy and internet allows