Samuel's Adventures: June 2016

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about Eduardo, the young man above. He is super nice and rarely gets riled up. Pretty much everything he does is done in a matter-of-fact way. We are pretty good friends in school and I try to encourage him as much as I can, even though he often would rather give up instead of study.

But he needs Jesus just the way the rest of us do.

Eduardo is approaching a point of his life where he needs to start making decisions that will affect the rest of his life. But he is very passive and seems to be content to just let things ride and see where they lead.

Some of his passivity may come from his insecurity about himself. He is an intelligent student, but he is terrified of making mistakes. This could be due to his age (15) even though he is only coming to school for about four years now. There are younger students who know about as much as he does.

Eduardo knows about God. He has heard about Him pretty much every day since he has started school. We pray and talk about scripture in class. Some of his classmates have accepted Christ. He knows about all that.

But it isn't personal.

Like I said, Eduardo needs to start making some decisions soon, where he wants too or not. And there are a lot of bad influences around him that he could easily follow. I may have said this before, but sometimes it feels like everything is stacked against these deaf youth. Many of their families could not fully support a Christian (and by Christian, I do NOT exclusively mean Mennonite) lifestyle which makes it very hard for them decide to follow Jesus.

I feel inadequate to be a mentor for this young man, but I feel like God has placed me here for a reason. I want to do the best I can.

So pray for Eduardo. Passivity is one of the devil's best tools and I'm afraid of what could happen to Eduardo should he not stand up and make hard decisions. Pray that Eduardo could begin understand his insurmountable value to God, even if he feels pretty small sometimes. Pray that God would keep "knocking at his door" as the Bible puts it.

And pray for me. I am a flawed human being. However, I desire to live so that Christ could be glorified, and if God can use me to provide a means of mentoring and providing an example to Eduardo, I will endeavor to fulfill that responsibility to the best of my ability.

This week was rough. Let me just put that out there right away. But it did end well, and for that I thank God! Now I have a nice weekend to get ready for another school week.

But let me tell you a bit about what happened.

It all started today in math class. It was test day. Of course, with tests it's always better to focus and think hard in order to finish confidently. But that was not to be.

Paola and Beatriz have always had this problem with cheating. I have reminded them again and again with varying success. Anyway, I saw them signing again while they were supposed to be doing their tests, but whenever I looked their way they just looked at me innocently.

I asked them what they were doing and of course I was told it was just random conversation. I knew better (why hide your signing if it's normal conversation?), but I decided to let it go and let them finish their tests. Plus that would give me some time to think and ask God about what to do.

As class went on, they began to finish their tests after which I told them to study. Teresa was the only one still working. She had been working hard the entire time. Eduardo, Beatriz, and Paola (now finished with their tests) began talking and laughing even though I had told them to focus on their studying.

Then Teresa started acting strangely. She couldn’t focus on her work and she was doing awfully on her test. I figured maybe it was because she knew what was going on. But I didn’t ask her about it until break time. She said nothing was going on, and that she didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Finally school was out and I asked Teresa again what was the matter. Still nothing. I asked her about Paola and Beatriz and she said she had seen it too. Of course, I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone she told me that. Then I called in Paola and Beatriz separately and they both admitted they had cheated. Beatriz had been asking Paola for test answers, which Paola had been furnishing when I wasn't looking.

So I told them that because they had cheated, and because I had warned them before, their punishments would be, among other things, getting a score of zero for their tests. I also wrote a note explaining what had happened for their parents (Bethany in Beatriz's case) to read.

As for Eduardo, I told him he had been disrespectful for talking and laughing when I had asked him not to. Another punishment for him, which he understood and accepted.

I decided to ask Paola and Beatriz further why they had cheated. I asked Beatriz if she was afraid to make mistakes. She admitted that yes she thought I might be mad if she gets a lot of mistakes. That was pretty hard to swallow on my part. I had wanted them to get good grades, but it had not been my intention to make them be so terrified of making mistakes!

And Paola confirmed what I thought might have been happening in her case. Paola has always wanted to be friends with Beatriz and Teresa, but she never seems to be able to fit in. Paola sometimes feels like an outcast, and will do whatever is necessary to garner favor from either of those two girls. So when Beatriz asked her for help, she thought this might be her chance to make Beatriz like her for a while.

I explained to Paola, that although her intentions were good, helping someone cheat is just as bad as cheating yourself. Beatriz is responsible for her own work and needs to think on her own.

Anyway, that was my day pretty much in ruins. The day ended on that sour note. And up until they left, some of the girls were still angry and hadn't accepted the consequences for their actions.

...

The next day was not much better. Although Beatriz had repented and was trying to be happy, Teresa and Paola came to school angry and would hardly crack a smile all morning. I had hoped that a new day would erase the previous one's griefs, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

However, I wasn't about to let any of that stop me. I was determined to be happy regardless!

First period: gone. Still no change.

Then at recess I talked with my fellow teachers about what had happened. They advised me to deal with the anger issue head on. I really did not want to, and I resisted the idea for a while, but I decided they were right.

So I called a meeting and told Teresa and Paola very clearly, that this behavior could not continue. Their anger was not just ruining their day, but also everyone else's. I explained that while it might be feel good for a while to be angry and ignore others to get revenge, that type of behavior is a mistake.

I asked Paola how it felt when others ignored her, and if she was really sure she wanted to inflict that kind of pain on others.

I advised Teresa to really think about what she was doing. Was it God or satan that she was giving space to when she harbored ill will in her heart? I also told her that since, she is the oldest of the girls, she bears the brunt of the responsibility, since the others learn from and copy her behavior.

...

Looking back, my fellow teachers were very wise indeed. The girls owned up to their mistakes and tried to improve, leading up until today which was such a good day! We had more tests, but this time they tried their best and left it at that. Such a huge difference in their attitudes!

I should probably close my epistle soon, but maybe just a little bit more: please pray for wisdom for this inexperienced teacher! I may know sign language, but there is so much more to learn. I want the best for all my students and I hope I may be able in some small way to help them on their way to Christ. It really hurts that someday I'll have to leave them and it's hard to think about it, but I want to do what I can for them while I'm here.

Also pray for my students: Teresa, Eduardo, Beatriz, and Paola. They are not young anymore and some of them have yet to make a commitment to follow Christ. Pray for them and that they could make good decisions and heed the Father's voice.