Let Full Time Begin! And other joys.

Tomorrow begins my first day of full time teaching. Student teaching is divided into sectiions, with a period of observations at the beginning and end, and six weeks of teaching in the middle. In addition, tomorrow marks one month since I have left the States.  All I have to say about both of the revelations is: How did it get here so fast?!?

During POST (Program for Overseas Student Teaching) training, we were encouraged to set small goals for ourselves on a regular basis. It is much easier to enjoy your time in a new place with new responsibilities if you set goals that are relatively easy to meet but which are still challenging. My goal for my first week was to survive, so that was not too difficult. My goal for week two was to learn my students' names (all 43 of my ninth graders'), which I accomplished by Thursday. Week three was to say "Sawadee Khaa" (Hello) to the guards on my way into school and to call my students by their names outside of the classroom. This past week, my goal was to learn my numbers in Thai: Nuung, song, sahm, see, ha, hok, jet, bpet, gao, sip. That was one through ten: success! I think my goal for week five will be to survive my first week of teaching, and maybe to learn my senior students' names.

One thing I wanted to share with you all was that my roommate Cara and I have found a church that we enjoy, and today was our second time going there. We are really enjoyinng being in community with many missionary families who attend the church. Today, however, the message wasn't quite working for me. It turns out God and I needed to talk. Instead of focusing on the sermon, I was drawn to a conversation with a God who already knows everything I have done and everything I will do (and yet loves me anyway). In a moment of shame, I cried out to God and he reminded me that my sin is as far as the east is from the west. My guilt has already been paid for by his Son's death and my freedom has already been declared by his Son's resurrection. He told me that he has given me grace. We took communion at the end of the service, which is symbolic both in a Christian sense and to me personally as a gift of second chances. Our God is so good. You don't have to fly around the world to hear from God, but sometimes being out of your comfort zone makes you more willing to hear him. It definitely does for me.

Until next time,
--

"Seek Him. Be Here. Be His."