A good friend of mine, who already has a jam-packed schedule out in the Kustia District studying Bangla and working on community development projects, decided he didn’t have enough on his plate.
"Look! I still have seven free minutes between 4am and 5am," he noted. So he challenged me to read the Bible with him in 90 days. Never one to turn down a challenge, I readily agreed.
A few days into this intense venture I was leading a class assembly for my 14 year-old homeroom students.
“How would you guys like to read the entire Bible in 90 days?” I was expecting a less than enthusiastic response, but surprisingly 4 of my students were excited about the challenge.
“Yeah, we’ll do it!”
“Maybe they’ll realize how time consuming it is, or get bogged down in the boring parts, and quit,” I worried. To keep them on track, I got their moms on board with the idea and I daily harassed my lil' kids to keep at it. I also asked friends in Dhaka and back in the States to pray that they perseveare.
Now it is almost a week into the challenge, and they are still going strong.
No, more than that.
They are coming excitedly into homeroom to tell me things they’ve discovered in their reading.
This morning Charles eyes grew wide and he waved his arm enthusiastically after I asked my typical, “Sooo, how’s the reading going?”
"Ooh! Ooh! Listen!" he proceeded to tell me the significance he’d found in numbers in the Old Testament so far, like how the numbers seven and forty are special because they’re repeated over and over.
Neat, I can actually see the prayers of my friends at work in my students' diligence and excitment.
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Other exciting news is that I'm moving to Tanzania this summer to begin teaching at another Christian international school, called, are you ready, Haven of Peace Academy. Now who wouldn't want to teach at a school with that lovely name? To top it off, it's located directly on the Indian Ocean, so I can swim in real water everyday. Mmm. It'll be wonderful.
Asia to Africa is a big move, so I'm feeling the need for more prayers from friends and family, but this time for me and not my students. If four or five friends would volunteer to be my prayer partners, that would be amazing. Hint, hint to all you blog readers.
Really, I covet all your prayers at this particular transition time in my life, so let me know if you are interested in becoming my prayer partner.
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I like your 'i not so happy pose' in the second photo than the overly cheery one in the first one.. just thought i'd say thank.. random.. random.. not entirel sure why i said it but i did. so you keep smiling anyway you like.. but yeah.. it's good when you try to look serious/unimpressed as well.. have i dribbed on long enough-- other than that .. thanks for the new post :D JSG
ReplyDeleteWould LOVE to pray for you more purposefully, Elaine! Fire away! Was so excited to hear in church today that you've decided to move to Tanzia. May God bless your efforts there as He is in Bangledesh! How exciting to have students in the Word!
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