Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Lord Provides...


It is hard to believe that another whole school year has passed us by! Somehow time really got away from me this year. I will do my best to give you a little glimpse in to our past school year.

As a teacher I like things to be organized by unit themes and then lessons that teach about that theme. As I look back on this last school year the "unit theme" that I see is The Lord Provides. So I thought I would organize this summary in the ways that I saw and learned about this theme throughout the year.

Lesson One: We began our year with a class of 13 with age ranges of five to eighteen and we ended the year with a class of 14 with an age range of four to nineteen. Around Christmas time the four high school boys that had been in the school for a couple of years decided that they would prefer to be back in the Angolan system so they left just after Christmas. However as soon as they left the Lord brought four new students to us which was a wonderful blessing. We were sad to see our friends go but we are very happy to have our new friends as well.
Class at the beginning of the year.


Lesson Two: With the addition of the new students I really needed help and the Lord provided. My younger brother Daniel decided to give a year and a half of his time to invest in the children at the school and we are so excited that he has decided to do this. He arrived in January and finished the year with us. It was wonderful to have an extra hand. With the addition of four younger students it means the day is busier and more action packed so Daniel's help is GREATLY appreciated. The students all really look up to him and he is a wonderful role model for them.
Daniel teaching

Lesson Three: As many of you can imagine adding new students to a class can change the dynamics of things especially when they are young students. One of my new ones turned four three weeks after he started with us. Having students this young has its own special challenges so at the beginning it was rather overwhelming however The Lord foresaw all this and provided even more help in the form of short term volunteers from North America who gave their time to help us. They were able to work one on one with a several students. With their help the children were able to see the Lord's love in action as well as help them figure out how they could fit into our class family. We are so thankful for their help. The children still ask when they are coming back!
Bethany Mudde, one of our volunteers, reading a story.



Lesson Four: In May and June we began making preparations for next year and as we looked ahead we realized that in order for the school to keep running and support itself as it has been we need a few more students. As soon as we realized this we had several new parents knocking at our door asking if we have space for their children next year. So exciting to see how The Lord provides!
Reading a story to the class that they wrote



Summary of what I Learned: I know that The Lord is not done teaching us to trust Him to provide for our wants and needs but it has been neat to look back at this last year and see his Hand working in wonderful, marvelous and mysterious ways. Just like with Abraham in Genesis 22 when The Lord asked him to do what seemed like something incredible and completely crazy and sacrifice his only child. Abraham was faithful and The Lord provided for him in more than one way. Genesis 22:14 "So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'"

As we look forward to next year I am excited to see how The Lord will work and teach. His lessons aren't always easy to learn at the time but if you can wait, learn and see often you can see Him working in ways that you never imagined possible. Sometimes you can't see the lesson until you are at the end of it but you can always trust that He is right there with you.
Class at the end of the year. (we are missing a couple of students that were away that day.)