In our family, most evenings we play a game over dinner. It is called "High/Low". Each member of the family shares their lowest point of the day and their High of the day...kind of a "best and worst of..." It has served us well as a way to avoid the "how was your day...fine" scenario. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but we actually got it from a movie.
My high and low for yesterday were pretty much polar opposites. It is final exam time here at the Bible School and that is always a tough time for Roy and I for several reasons. First, it is labor intensive with the writing of the exams, administering of the exams, and of course grading of the exams. Secondly, it is the time in the year when we find out just how effective/ineffective our teaching is. It is usually the ineffective that we discover. It is not easy to teach or learn cross-culturally and one must learn to be content with small gains. While we know this in our heads, it is still difficult at times. In addition to that, we caught some students cheating, which really breaks my heart. In this culture, while it is difficult for us to understand, cheating is the norm rather than the exception. Even so, my heart is torn by the knowledge that they are missing out on the joy that comes from living a life that is above reproach.
Needless to say, that was my "Low" for the day. My "High" came from out of nowhere and I am still celebrating. On the bottom of one of the exams...incidentally it was the student who did the worst (obviously NOT one of the cheaters) was a note...
"Mommy Faith, please help me. I want to understand"
Hmmmm......???
I was not exactly sure what that meant, so I went to visit Mariatu (the student in question). As it turns out, she did not want help understanding the class... she wants help understanding the Bible!!!! WAHOO! She told me that, until she married her husband, she was a muslim and since she became a Christian, no one has taught her about the Bible. She is hungry to know more and really wants to be able to understand and be able to read and study it for herself!!! WOW! It doesn't get any better than that! We are going to start a Bible Study together Saturday morning. I can't wait.
I know that missionaries don't usually share the nitty-gritty stuff...you know the low times...
Well, tough....
here I am...
what you see is what you get...
and I left my holy-roller shoes in the States because of the weight restrictions.... SO...
I do get discouraged. It is disheartening to me that students who are training to be pastors would cheat on exams. It is appalling to me. BUT, we are all human, we are all vulnerable to temptation... and every single one of us will let someone down at some point. However, if in the middle of that...
just one person... just one...
learns to fall in love with Jesus and is hungry to know His Word...
Well...
then I am a very happy woman indeed!