It has been far too long. And since I'm updating at 10 p.m. after a two day beach stay, I'm not too sure how extant this update will be.
Let's take it month by month.
December 2013:
I decided to stay in Haiti for Christmas. There were too many options and too many requests for me to comfortably choose where I'd go for Christmas. I had also not had a chance to simply live in Haiti without having to plan for classes or fill out paperwork. I also needed a week of quiet to assess what I'd done with teaching and what needed to be done for the next few months.
At the end of the first term, I had my Creative Writing class put together an online writing journal, which we presented in Chapel. The students canvased the student body for original works of art and then created the journal. I would have liked it to be a physical copy, but I was too fresh to the country to know how to go about doing that.
All in all, my classes ended well. I have learned that I am a functioning perfectionist - pray for this, as it is seriously hampering my work.
I spent Christmas vacation visiting friends and joining in some of the ex-pat community celebrations.
January 2014:
The first week of the New Year was spent in lesson planning for my new class. Since Creative Writing ended, I was given 9th grade World History. They have a text book but that was all I had to work with.
So, since I now have four courses to prepare for, I have been rather busy. Being co-advisor for the 9th grade class has also meant that outside activities were becoming a norm. Planning meetings, class meetings, Valentine's day organizations.. it sucks the hours right out of the day!
February 2014:
More work, more planning! My Brit. Lit. class is reading Jane Eyre and starting on their first draft of a research paper due at the end of the year. American Lit has just finished My Antonia and handed in a paper on that. World History has left the French Revolution behind and is heading into the brouhaha that is WWI. 9th grade English has finished Mythology and is starting Lord of the Flies.
Mid-month I realize that I don't have time to prepare AND grade and my grading is lagging behind, and then I get a stomach bug... two days before spring break.
March 2014:
A dear friend from N.Y. flies in to visit me for a week! This gives me a push in taking a break. We've been to the beach and tomorrow we're heading to the mountains. Having a friendly face from (one of them at least) home helped me relax and evaluate the situation. The job I have is truly overwhelming IF I don't break it down into sections and set guide lines for my thinking. I am reminded of the verse 'For we are taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ' (2 Cor 10:5)
This time, instead of interpreting it as a stern command to think only on otherworldly things, I take it as meaning that I should list the truths of Christ opposite the 'truths' of my own mind. 'you will surely fail' is in contrast to 'my strength is sufficient for you' and so forth. It's been a rough and beautiful ride. So many things are happening - so many things are being transformed.
There isn't a lot of detail in this post - I apologize for that! I don't tolerate vagueness in my student's writing and here it is in mine!
More to follow. But here are my prayer requests:
- Continuation of physical health. I've taken 4 sick days this year, and I would like those to be the total.
- Healing in general: God is working on me mightily. Some days I worry that he's asking more than I can deliver. He's guiding me through quite a bit of misguided thinking and wrong presuppositions - and I fully embrace his promptings. But I still have to work my day job! There have been days in which I've experienced a profound shift in my understanding of Christ, and have then taught class in a haze, not quite present. I recognize the necessity of this period, but I also must be able to work.
- This one sounds petty, but please pray for my own work space. I share a classroom, and the staff lounge has only 3 desks so we can't spread out. I'm finding it very hard to juggle four classes, the media and literature for each, changing classrooms and changing desks. The school is looking in to what they can do, but pray for space.
- Pray for my community. Obviously, since this is a public space, I won't name people here, but there are some hard, hard struggles going on in some of my acquaintances lives. These people are brave enough to share with me and lean on me at times. Pray for them and for the strength I need to be there for them.
- Pray for Haiti. Specifically for an election to be held soon to keep the government going. The senate elects a third of it's members every two years. We're already down to a two thirds capacity since they canceled the last election. If they cancel this next one, the senate will be rendered ineffective. I don't think it will come to that, but pray that the government will push themselves to be honorable in their decisions.
