Samuel's Adventures: June 2015

Ok, I'll admit that title is a tad strange, but it's interesting, right? :)

And by yippies, I mean my younger siblings: Elmer, Matthew, Martha, Joshua, and Martha. It was so much fun tussling with them again! Except this time it was fighting over a hammock in El Salvador instead of over a couch on a Sunday afternoon at home.

"yippies?" you ask?

yippies [yī-peez] - a collection of human beings who are very easily excited and can, without warning, erupt into a storm of giggles. Commonly suffer from acute heebie-jeebies.

heebie-jeebies [hee-bee-jee-beez] - ... ok, I'll stop. We don't want to be at this all day!

So yea, long story short, my family came to visit, due to some very cheap, answer-to-prayer tickets ($286!). Dad had promised me if I find some under $300, he would bring the family. I looked pretty much everyday until I found some. Still can't quite believe it!

We had a lot of fun from the very beginning, when all of my siblings got to meet Elmer and the other deaf. We had Skyped with Elmer and Verónica before, but nothing quite like meeting them in person. When we got back from the airport, all the deaf were waiting to be taken home, so I spent some time introducing each of my family to most of the children. I say most, because Román was having nothing of this! He stayed hidden behind the house until it was time to leave. My family is a bit scary, I know... :)

Alas, the seven days they were here passed all too quickly. During their time here, we did some traveling. We went to Suchitoto where we had a tour by boat. We went to the coffee shop and Strong Tower Children's Home. We also visited El Boquerón (a volcano), where we ate some delicious, but expensive, pupusas.

During school I had to teach so most of my family usually hung around my class, or roamed around other classrooms. Martha enjoyed sitting with Melody and her class of girls (and Eduardo). And Katelyn followed Paty all over--even when school wasn't in session. The first couple days Katelyn was here, I had to remind Katelyn how to say Paty's name in Spanish so that it doesn't sound like "potty". It's pronounced exactly the same, just with a harder "t".

The rest of their time here was spent just hanging out and having fun. Which is not hard with my family, as you can probably tell just by how I started this post. Another little tidbit I should mention is that in the time my family was here at CICS, they drank 34 bottles of glass-bottle drinks! It probably would have been a lot more if my Dad hadn't imposed a daily limit of a bottle per person.

And when the time came, it wasn't fun leaving them at the airport again, but nothing good here on this earth can last forever, I suppose. It was great while it lasted!

The day after my family left, we got another visitor. Wesley, a former worker here, stayed here until just yesterday. It was great having him here and hanging out with him! I was also able to receive a lot of good advice and encouragement from him, since he worked here for four years and has considerably more experience than I do.

School these last three weeks have been a bit duller (or easier, depending how you look at it), due to a missing student. Miguel had surgery, so he staying with his mom until he is fully recovered. I'll readily admit, school is easier without his distracting antics and lack of paying attention, but I miss his giggle and cheerfulness! It's about time you come back, Miguel! We hope for him to come back this next week.

I started something new for this week of school. As does almost any classroom, I have some things that are unacceptable for the students to do in class. This list of things is usually called "the rules" and contains items such as "be quiet", "don't talk unless asked", "be honest", etc. My students know what to do, but for some unknown reason, those guidelines continuously slip out of their minds (unless they see the other doing it, then it's terrible!).

So I decided we should "practice" our rules. Every Monday, one of the students draws a slip of paper out of a container containing all our rules. We read the rule and write it on the whiteboard. Then we practice it. For this week it was "tell the truth" (they always like to blame others for their mistakes). I became a "student" (albeit, a giant one) and punched Joel. Then I blamed it on Joel. I mean, duh, if I punch someone, it's his fault because he deserved it! Then Jairo was told to arbitrate. He told me that I was wrong to punch, and that it was my fault. He said I should accept the blame because it was an action I did. Well done, Jairo!

Hopefully these practice sessions help them practice not just small things like classroom rules, but also how to act out there in the big scary world, where each one is responsible for their own actions, where respecting others is a part of life, and where things aren't always fair.

We also had something very exciting happen for Paola, one of the girls in Melody's class. She declared that she wanted God to "clean her heart". It's so exhilarating, and at the same time humbling, to see the children make any step towards Christ and hopefully this is the first of many for Paola! But I'll let Melody tell you that story. Please visit her blog to read all about that and many other stories about CICS. For those of you that don't have internet, I'll include the relevant paragraph here:

...And then God gives us special gifts. Paola is one of my students that I have been watching very closely this year. It was clear to me there was a major struggle going on inside her tender heart. I knew God was talking to her, but like someone else I know quite well, she was sure she could do this on her own. And she kept trying. And my heart kept hurting for her. But Tuesday, the minute she arrived at school she told me she wanted to talk to me. And she confessed that she had not been honest with me. And she told me that she wants to pray and ask Jesus to "clean her heart." (Sometimes sign language just says it so much better.) So we prayed together. And I cried. And she looked at me funny, because she was smiling. And I felt so humbled. What do I know about discipling a child? Because the first step that Paola took is important and we are always emotional when a child takes that step, but what happens afterward is the whole story. The Decision is only the step out the front door to begin a journey that will last a lifetime. Pray for Paola, she has no one in her life, besides us here at school, who will help her or who will even appreciate the decision she made. Pray for me. I need wisdom!

This afternoon, we have a youth gathering that lasts until Saturday. Youth come from all over El Salvador to listen to sermons and interact with each other. Susanna and Cecilia Ramos are here in El Salvador and are planning on being here for that as well. Looking forward to having them here at CICS again!

Not much more to say, but wanted to leave y'all with some prayer requests. We here at CICS covet your prayers! They really do help! We are quite literally in a spiritual battle for the souls of all these dear children. Satan does his best to sow miscommunication and discord among us in the hopes of us giving up, or worse, reacting and making things worse.

Pray that God would give wisdom to us staff. I was reading Proverbs one day, where it says "wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" That has been my prayer a lot recently!
Pray for Paola. Life isn't easy here, especially for the deaf. Pray for her that she would be willing and humble enough to receive advice from others on her spiritual journey. Pray that the Father would near to her in a tangible way. Pray for her teacher, Melody, and the rest of us staff that we could encourage Paola and be godly mentors and examples for her.

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers! A million thanks... Here are some pictures for y'all to enjoy: