July 17
It’s Tuesday! And that means English class in the morning
and the high school class in the afternoon or should I say at noon. The girls
had their first English exam. Evelin typically doesn’t translate for this
class, so it’s pretty challenging at times to get my point across or to get
them to understand certain instructions. Sometimes I get frustrated because
they can be very disrespectful at times. Unfortunately, I suppose I have
allowed them to take advantage of my kindness once or twice. The other night
they were trying to bribe me. They said that if I agreed to give them my
permanent marker that I let them borrow, they would willingly take the English exam
the next day. Prior to that incident they had been complaining and saying that
they did not want to take the test. I got a little upset about that, and it didn’t
help that they tried to bribe me. Gracie told us the other night that if they
are being ruse or disrespectful, we have the authority to call them out. I can’t
help but feel helpless at times though because the language barrier makes it
difficult for me to be firm with them even if I wanted to. I don’t think it’s
good to have this “good parent – bad parent” thing going on where Evelin has to
do all the disciplining and I just let them get away with things. If they’re
going to learn, discipline has to be consistent. I’ll admit that because I am
such a people pleaser kind type person, I do let myself get trampled on at
times. When people ask me for favors, I have a hard time saying no, and people
have abused that a lot. Again, this is another one of those occasions where I come
face to face with my weaknesses. But feeling sorry for myself and allowing
Satan to fill my head with lies won’t get me anywhere. I love these girls, and I
try not to take things personally when they do something wrong, but they’re
going to have to learn to deal with a little tough love. Discipline doesn’t
necessarily have to be harsh, though sometimes it is necessary, but there is
such thing as a gentle reprimand. Thankfully though, the class went well. The
girls were actually reviewing before we started and they did well. I tried to
explain to them that their grades doesn’t matter, what matters is that they are
learning. Hopefully I was able to get my point across.
Later that afternoon Evelin and I went to Talanga with
Miriam and Heydi to go food shopping for the rest of the week. Unlike last week
with Alicia, Heydi was so much easier to tag along. She was very helpful and
she didn’t ask for anything. Evelin offered to buy her something. At first she
said, “don’t bother”, but Evelin insisted so she said that she would be happy
with anything. She made things a lot easier for us. It’s been a bit challenging
teaching the girls how to be thankful for what they have. But I’m hoping that
God can use us during our time here to help these girls realize how blessed
they really are…that they should count their blessings instead of the things
they lack.
I thought it was interesting that the pages for this journal
entry began with this quote:
“We know that He gives us every grace, every abundant grace;
and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through
every obstacle and difficulty.” –Elizabeth Ann Seton
…and ended with this one:
“Jesus is preparing us for good works and preparing good works for us. He has an ongoing plan to use us for His kingdom work.”
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