This weekend I was able to spend some time with one of my favorite 6th grade students. This meant a lot to me since she will be graduating and starting Junior High school next semester. She came to Jin Cheng, where I live and we hung out...went shopping, bought drinks, talked, and just had fun together. The flip side of getting to know students better is that there are usually heartbreaks in store when I start finding out about their lives. Jessi is hardly 13 years old, and lives here in Kinmen with her Grandmother and older brother. There were no parents mentioned, and they do not seem to be in the picture at all. I asked her if anyone worries about her if she doesn't come home and she said her grandmother doesn't care, and her older brother (a highschool drop-out) just tells her to "remember to come home sometime."
During our time together on Friday, Jessi kept talking about a Junior High guy that she seemed rather infatuated with, but I didn't know the Chinese name, and she didn't know his English name. It's OK, because on Saturday night I found out who it is. Lucas and I were hanging out with some highschool friends at the track near our dorm when Jessi came roaring up on a moped sitting behind one of our worst students from the Kinmen team's infamous "drop-out" class. Suddenly, there was the whole gang, minus one or two that we taught last semester; Allen, Luke, Shawn, Ian, Jason, as well as some of their younger partners in mischief. My heart sank to see my sweet little girl with these guys...for a while I couldn't face them. I had to walk away and cry and pray for them. One of them was hurt so I went to gather some first aid stuff. These kids don't have a reputation for treating us well, but somehow there is a love in my heart for them that I can't explain. I wanted to show them how much Jesus loves them. I know He would have tenderly bound up their wounds, so I asked Him to use my hands to express His love to them.
That being taken care of, Lucas and I just sat and talked to them. Now...generally "talking" with these guys means putting up with a lot of dirty language and curses, in English, Chinese, and Taiwanese, which most of the time are directed right at us. But that night they seemed a bit calmer than usual. A couple of them especially got pretty serious and as they shared some of their struggles and fears, we were able to share with them Jesus love, the peace and freedom from fear that He can give, and how they can know Him for themselves. When they finally left, (at an extremely late hour) hopefully to go home, but most likely looking for more mischief, I watched them go and prayed that Jesus will draw these poor, shepherdless sheep to His side. What love, comfort, and joy they could find in Him! While it breaks my heart to see the situations of my students here, I rejoice at the amazing opportunity we have been given to tell them of One who can change their lives and bring hope to their longing hearts. Please keep praying for our team here, and for those to whom we are daily reaching out with Christ's love.
"...when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them because they were... as sheep having no shepherd..."
Matthew 9:36
Rebekah
~Phil. 1:20~
Kinmen
