Samuel's Adventures: God is so good

You know the song, right?

God is so good
God is so good
God is so good
He's so good to me...

To be honest, there were a couple of tough times during these last couple days. But somehow, God answered my prayers even beyond my expectations. Let me tell you about all that...

Friday and this Tuesday were test days for the month of February. My students did not do so well. And that's putting it very positively. I'm still learning how to teach older students, so really some of that was my fault. But I was still disappointed. As a result of the bad scores, some of my students had quite a bunch of work to redo! (I make them redo tests that are below 70%)

However, I was able to use their poor test scores as a teaching/preaching opportunity. I told them that if they don't want to redo work and write their vocabulary words over and over and over, it might help if they take some initiative and, you know, study more maybe? Just maybe?

Skip forward to Wednesday, when we had social studies, and all of the students started busily copying down information about Panama from the keynote presentation, without any prodding from me. It would seem they got the message. Success!

Teresa was finally able to come to school again every day this week after battling with some sort of health issues, which I was really thankful for. It's just really unfortunate for a student to miss even one day of school, because there's a lot you can learn in one day. And especially Teresa, because of her great intelligence and willingness to learn (usually).

On Thursday was Bible memory day. Eduardo did much, much better than last time, writing about half of the first four verses of Matthew 5 correctly. He can still improve, sure, but I'll take it considering he only wrote one word last time and even the word he wrote was wrong. :)

Which brings me to one of the toughest experiences this week.

First, let me tell you a bit more about Beatriz and Paola. They are about two years apart with Beatriz being the older of the two. But in spite of being younger than Beatriz, Paola is ahead in school, probably due to coming to CICS when she was younger. The two are good friends, but for some reason I think Paola feels self conscious of being able to learn a bit faster, so she will either help Beatriz during schoolwork or intentionally make mistakes in her own work so she will have the worse score. I've warned the two of them over and over that they need to mind their own business during class, do only their own work, and ask the teacher if they have questions.

On Thursday morning, while writing out the Bible memory verses, the two of them were at it again exchanging signs, but this time teacher Samuel had enough. Time for a practical lesson. When recess came, Beatriz had to start all over, and Paola had to sit right in front of her, resisting the temptation to help in any way. Of course, this didn't suit the two of them, but teacher Samuel meant business, so they obeyed.

I made sure I explained clearly what they had done wrong and made sure they understood. They both said they realized their mistake and confirmed that they had accepted their punishment. Great, right?

Well, not exactly. You see, it just so happens that my students are experts at putting up a facade. So even into the afternoon and the next morning, I could tell that all was not well considering the fact that they barely looked or smiled at me.

I was really dreading school yesterday morning. I wasn't sure how it would go. But I prayed that God would continue to work in my dear students' lives, showing them areas where they could improve, and leading them to repentance.

And would you believe it, during prayer time at the beginning of the school day, Beatriz asked for prayer that she could learn to respect and obey her authorities and learn from her mistakes! I was very pleasantly surprised. How had this change come about?

Later, I expressed my gratefulness to the girls for their change of heart and for being willing to own up to their mistakes and change their attitudes. Beatriz told me she had talked with Paola and Teresa and the two of them had told her that she had made a mistake and that she needs to own up to it and move on.

Positive peer pressure like that was something I had not expected! But regardless, I thanked God for answering my prayers so directly like that.

I learned some things through this. First of all, it was a good reminder that He is still in control. And also, no matter how bad something may seem, God can always turn it around for good!

Please continue praying for these girls and for all the deaf, really. Pray that they would be open to learning from others and from God even when it's a bit humbling.

Pray also for me. I'm still new at this. Pray that I would also be able to learn from others and accept correction. Pray that God would give me lots of wisdom as I attempt to teach my students not only about math and reading, but also about life and the many challenges it brings.

Thanks everyone for your continued support! I appreciate it exceedingly. Here's your weekly dose of pictures. :)