Saturday, August 12, 2006

We're back!

Yes, we are now back in the Dominican Republic! After a day of travel (and it was actually mostly painless and smooth!) we arrived in Jarabacoa Friday night. Today we spent the day cleaning and unpacking. I knew I was at home when a loud car drove by blaring music. I went to the room Daniel was in to mention this, and he couldn't hear me in spite of my yelling. Yes, that's how loud it was.
When we got home, I found out some slightly stressful news. The max number for classes was 18, and I had 17 students on my list. However, a decision was made to change the max to 20, so I had 20 students enrolled in my class. Now, for U.S. classes this would be small, but for rooms that barely held my 13 students last year, and for students that are second language learners and need one-to-one help, this is fairly stressful. And I am supposed to have an aid, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they are still in the process of looking.
I thought about this and stressed about it (how much of an extra load it would be, how much extra time it would take, etc.), but then realized that my focus was wrong. I came here to serve God through teaching. He did not say it would be easy. When I put too much focus on myself, I lose sight of what's really important. When I said, "yes" to serving God, there were no stipulations. It should not make a difference if I have 5 students or 20- in fact, the more students I have, the more students I can love!-what matters is that I am serving, not for myself, but for God and for these students. So why do I focus so much on myself? God has never given me a hard task without giving me the strength to do it. If He calls me to do something, He will provide the time and energy I need to do it. And worrying will only make me unhappy. Tonight I was reminded that He is my shepherd. If shepherds care for their sheep, how much more does God care for us? How blessed we are to have a Heavenly Father who provides all that we need. It might not be all I want at the time, but in the long run, it will bring Him the most glory and us the most joy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh Tree, How right you are!! Here I am sitting and complaining in my head about my students and browsing blogs and which blog do I "happen" to read? Yours! Thanks for the reminder about where my focus should be. BTW, I'll get the video to you soon!