Nepotism

I have another great story from today. In World History in 8th grade, we're just starting to shift into the Reformation. Today's lesson was about highlighting the major problems that were tainting the Church, some of the basic reasons people were wanting to reform it. What I had the students do was act out a problem based on a description I gave them (e.g. selling forgiveness for sins, trying to buy a church position, etc), and the rest of the class had to guess what the name of this particular problem was (e.g. indulgences, simony, etc). I had a list of 5-6 problems.

One that hadn't ever appeared in the book and I figured would be brand new was nepotism, the idea of showing favoritism to a family member or friend. The group acted it out perfectly, and with a smirk, I asked if anyone had any idea what the name for this problem was. But the joke was on me when one student haltingly tried muttering "Nepo- something. Nepotism?"

Picking my jaw up off the floor, I asked, "JB, how did you know that?"

"The Office."

"Come again?"

BD chimed in. "Oh yeah, they did have an episode on Nepotism."

Who knew? The Office is educational!

Days of Laughter

Laughter really is the best medicine, and though I wasn't "sick" per say, I still thank God for the day of laughter he gave me.

1. In History class today, in a slide show of various Renaissance painters and authors, I tried to include a funny picture of a giant from Rebelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. What I didn't notice until 10 students pointed it out at the same time, was the human figure poised on the tip of the giant's fork just as he was lifting it to his mouth. Gross. And oops. I quickly moved on to the next slide.

2. In German class, a student winked at me. I can't even type it without laughing and blushing. I sit here 6 hours later, and I can't for the life of me remember what the wink was for. All I remember was wildly looking around to see if any other students had noticed. (Sidenote: coming from this particular kid, I know it had no meaning. Most likely he had something stuck in his eye.)

3. I won a door prize tonight at the Staff Appreciation Dinner to go bowling and take 5 friends. Hooray! It was one of the more unusual prizes as nobody even knew there was a bowling alley nearby. The fun part was having people come running up afterwards suggesting combinations of friends I could take. Am I blessed, or what.

Just sayin'

Anytime, as often as you like, if you come visit me, I will take you to Kandern's Eiscafe! Yummm!

Blood

I haven't spent nearly the time on this poem that I should've before posting, but it's fitting for Good Friday. Check out Leviticus 17:10-14 and Hebrews 9:22 for the inspiration.

Perfect

and

pure

Blood

Endowed with all humanness to live and all

divinity to save, most living blood in history

Depleted in one instance, Confiscated to a cross

Spreading

out across

wooden

knots

Staining

Roman

spears

Atonement

for my

polluted

blood

We own a goat!

A few people have been asking when I'm going to blog about Africa. The truth is I'm still processing, so you'll have to be patient with me. There were just so many impressions to take in: heat, poverty, work, water, food, dance, drums, dust. There was never lack of a child's hand to hold or a smile to photograph. Here are a few of the church we roofed in the village of Debe and some kids we played with.

One of the impressions I have already worked through a bit was the gratefulness I experienced, not on behalf of the team but on behalf of the Bush villagers. Twice, they randomly pulled out the drums and began singing while the women formed a semi-circle around them to dance. I got to hold babies both times, which made my day each time, but it was fascinating to watch their uninhibited expression of thankfulness as they watched the roof go up. Our team felt so fake in some ways since we got to swoop in with a bunch of corrugated aluminum, swing some hammers, and get all this "credit." And they showered their thanks upon us, not just with the dances and the kisses on cheeks, but as we were getting ready to leave, they even brought out a goat and four chickens! Some of our girls wailed, "They need them more than we do," but leaving them behind would've been incredibly rude. So, we loaded that goat and those chickens up on top of the Jeep (quite the process) and drove with it the 5 1/2 hours all the way back to Ouagadougou, listening to it bleat the entire way. At one point, mid-way through the trip, one of the students turned to the rest of us and said, "Guys. We own a goat!"

It's made me think about my own level of generosity and expression of gratefulness, not just in response to gifts people give me or deeds they do for me, but as a way of life. It's got to be the oldest axiom in the book: that joy is not found in the accumulation of things, and the people of Debe proved that. So, how do I show my thankfulness to God. If I ever owed anyone pure joy, my total heart, it's him. Do I dance and sing for him? Do I bring him gifts gladly? Do I grip his face between my hands, kiss his cheeks, and whisper over and over "Barrika" (Thank you)? 2 days of roofing, and the people of Debe were pouring themselves out. What a challenge to live that way!

How DO you say Ouagadougou?

Last fall, I was keeping score at a basketball game next to the Chaplain who was announcing plays, and he leaned over during halftime, his eyes glinting as if he were up to something, and he said, "Have you ever thought about Africa?" Odd to ask a geography teacher. "Of course, I have." "How would you feel about co-leading the Spring Break missions trip to Burkina Faso?"

I didn't admit that I had to even figure out where it was on a map first (sad geography teacher), but after more prayer and exchange of information about what the trip would entail, I decided to say "yes." (Good thing, or this post would be pretty pointless.)

Months of planning and praying and getting yellow fever shots are coming together, and now we stand 36 hours before departure. Our team consists of 4 guys, 7 girls, and 2 leaders, and our job will be to roof a church in a small bush community, the 5th one BFA will now do this for. The students are thrilled - the guys to play with tools and the girls to play with kids - and I'm just praying none of them break anything or even bleed since I was asked to play nurse for the week.

Another cool moment we've gotten to experience as a team was when a church in the states collected used skirts for us, 2 per girl, and sent them in a huge box along with some encouraging notes. What a blessing, and what fun it was to unpack it with these girls.

We covet your prayers as we travel, work, and seek to be Christ's hands and feet from April 9-17, both for the people we hope to serve and for our own hearts.

P.S. Waa-gaa-doo-goo

Clever Kid

In German class, which takes place in the Main Building (not the Janz Building), we've been recently learning the use of prepositions. For a fun review game on Thursday, I told students they could make a sentence about another student who would then have to act it out, so of course it kept getting bigger and better. (Mind you, this was all in German. And I did mention we were in the Main Building, right?)

Me: Where is LA?

SW: She is next to the window.

Me: Where is DC?

LA: He is standing on the desk.

Me: DC, where is JZ?

DC: She is under the chair.

Me: Where is LS?

JZ: He is out in the hallway.

Me: LS, where is Miss Custer?

LS (from the hall): Miss Custer is in the Janz Building. Take your time!