I just glanced over my last update for this site, and it started out "Have you ever sat down in front of your laptop and suddenly felt very, very tired?" As I sit here looking at that, I quote from a movie pops into my head- "No matter how bad things are, they can always get worse!" Maybe we could change that to "No matter how bad things are, God's grace can always get bigger!" Such is the story of my life. I think I'm as tired as I can possibly get, and then I get even more tired! And God's grace is still there, and I keep telling myself to get to bed earlier... and so it goes. You can sleep when you're dead, right? The Lord seems to always give me just the encouragement I need to keep going right when I need it. Last week was no exception. I'm not feeling especially creative right now (brain cells are all on screensaver mode) so maybe I'll just give you my perspective on last Friday. Maybe it will make you laugh. I hope so. This was written on Friday.
I am not normally a klutz. Today was not a normal day.
This morning my whole team had our first class at 7:50 here at Ying Pan. We were doing a large assembly for the whole school, during which we told a story about a good dog and (can you guess?) a bad dog. Good Dog was played by Joel (hey what can I say- he's a good actor) and Bad Dog was portrayed by none other than Isaac. I had the honor of being both the cat and the dog catcher, which is kinda ironic, since I get chased by Bad Dog as the cat, and then as the dog catcher I get to chase Bad Dog. Anyway, things were going quite well. Ike and I did our normal "slow motion while the narrator talks and then take off chasing each other" routine and I was hot on his heels when suddenly I found myself studying the parking lot pavement really close. The first thing I noticed after the pavement was that I no longer had shoes on my feet. Upon further observation, I noticed that there were three shoes sitting near me. Naturally, the only conclusion I could come to at the time was "huh." I gracefully got to my feet, snarled at the Bad Dog (who looked rather startled that the dog catcher was getting a noseful of the parking lot) and took off after him again. Upon further contemplation and study of the three mysterious shoes, my sidekicks and I came to the conclusion that Bad Dog's shoe must have disengaged itself from his foot while he was being chased. The Dog Catcher, being so close behind him, did not see previously mentioned disengaged shoe and the three shoes quickly became tangled up, sending their owner down for a good look at the cobblestones. Conclusion? Dogs shouldn't wear shoes.
Soon after our morning class, the five of us were picked up for our first Friday classes of the year. We'll be going to different school each week and doing a program on Obedience- which means Good Dog/Bad Dog will make an appearance up to 6 times every week. *sigh* Halfway through the morning, I decided to take a trip down to the restroom. Now, after being in Taiwan for over a year, you'd think I'd be used to the co-ed bathrooms, but *ahem* I'm not. My usual tactic is to fling open the stall, set my sights on the door, and get there as fast as humanly possible. This works very well, except in situations when there is a large step down from the stall. Ahem. For the second time today, I found myself getting a front row seat in paving techniques 101. The two boys staring at me looked rather shocked. What was their problem? I mean, haven't they ever seen a 20-year-old American come flying out of their school’s bathroom stall and land on her nose in front of them before? Sheesh.
Klutziness aside, today was a good day. Having large groups of 1st and 2nd grade girls hanging on your hands, arms, and any other part of you they can reach through all their classmates does something to ones heart. Man I love this place. This afternoon I was feeling rather overwhelmed with all this teacher conference stuff I'm working on so I went for a bike ride to pick up some coffee. Upon arriving at the drink stand, who should I see there but one of my students and her mother! There's nothing more encouraging and touching than seeing a little kid's face totally light up when they see you. Her mom even bought me my coffee. Then on the way home I ran into three of my 6th grade boys. Having "cool" 6th grade guys flash you huge smiles and yell out "HOW ARE YOU TEACHER?" does something to one's heart too. God knew I needed it.
So that's my life lately- CRAZY but full of God's grace. Sorry you got stuck with an already- written update, but my brain is seriously not functioning tonight. Please pray for the teacher's conference coming up on the 19th and 20th- I need all the prayer you can spare!
Kai Shi (Christina Moody)
Ying Pan, Nantou
