Saturday, December 10,
2011
Dear Praying Friends
God has
done so much evident work this week that I hardly know where to start.
I started taking notes in our cool-down meeting so that I
wouldn’t miss anything. God is so amazing!!!
One boy, whom I will call *Jay, seemed to be very
discouraged. His classmates were always on him, telling him he couldn’t do it,
giving him a thumbs down, and refusing to help him constructively. The Chinese
teachers said he was really naughty in character class, but he was never a
problem in English class. Feeling
honestly that he was actually very smart, I would encourage him every time I
walked past him. “Jaio! You can do it Jay!” He would look at me like, “no I can’t.”
The kid across from him would shake his head and give me a two thumbs down
sign. I rubbed Jay’s back and repeated quietly “Jaio!. I know you can do it!” I
didn’t really know if what I said helped him or not, but he always had his work
done in English class. At the end of the week, Jay left a note for the teachers
saying he didn’t want to go home, because CEI is “better than heaven.” Now, I
don’t guess that he knows what heaven is really like, but, it is obvious he
felt loved all the same. He cried in the closing ceremony, so I gave him a hug.
He melted into my arms. “Wo ai ni Jay! Jaio! You CAN do it!” What a sweet kid.
*Bailey never seemed to smile. Even when we would do
funny things in class, and her face got an amused look, her face never broke
out in a huge grin. She had a long-suffering look that made me wonder what home
was like for her. The boys at her table were always messing with her, taking
her stuff, or hitting her. She didn’t respond harshly. -She didn’t respond at
all. Here was a girl, that in 4th grade, already sees the world as
an ugly, cruel world. She has built thick walls around her heart, so that
nothing gets to her anymore. It doesn’t bother her to be “trompled over” because
she feels that is normal. How sad! I gave her a hug and a smile every chance I
got. I do not know the results yet, but I know that God’s love never gives
without causing an effect of some sort. I pray she sees that true love does not
take advantage, and that there is One out there that LOVES HER with that love.
There were a couple of boys who were very naughty in the
first class. I talked with them the first chance I got. I told them that they
had great names that reminded me of my family back home. One of them has the
same name and personality of my uncle back home. When I told him, he was very
excited and told the other teachers that he “was my uncle.” LOL! He was very outgoing, but I didn’t struggle
much with him in class. As he got ready to leave, he very proudly announced to
me “Teacher I miss you.” I smiled and chuckled a bit. “I will miss you too. *__” The
other boy was very short and reminded me of my brother. I told him how my
brother was very short as a kid, but is very tall now. I found out later that
this was EXACTLY what he needed to hear because he struggles with his height.
He was like my little brother all week, and I didn’t have any trouble with him,
though he was VERY naughty for others. God gave me favor through speaking words
of life and truth to him. What a good lesson to me.
From the very first step off the bus, *Amy wore a huge
grin. She loved on the teachers and was very obedient. I never saw her react
with impatience with the others at her table, though they gave her much reason
to react. Every time I saw her, she had a big smile. At first I wondered if it
was all a show to hide insecurity, but I soon realized, she is the REAL thing.
Later, in one of our classes, she called Teacher Jo over (because she speaks
good Chinese) to tell her that she was a Christian. Yes, there are Christians
here, but we don’t see them often. Jo chatted with Amy for quite a while and
found it very encouraging. This girl knows Jesus and is not ashamed of him.
Though it may have been a hard week, I was encouraged through this girl who
truly had the joy of the Lord as her strength.
Even the student’s teacher felt loved when she stepped
onto our campus. During closing ceremony, we sang “Happy Birthday” to her, and
she broke into tears. So all of us teachers gathered around her and gave her a
big group hug. Apparently, someone close to her had died right after she
dropped the kids off on Monday. When she saw we truly cared, she knew her students
were well cared for and felt comfortable enough to open up to the teachers
here.
On Thursday, the children practice good character by
interviewing people in the park. This week though, it was too cold to go to the
park, so they asked us to dress up to be interviewed by the kids. These kids
don’t speak English well though, so each of the English teachers was assigned a
translator. God is so good! This gave us one-on-one time with that teacher, and
opened up the door of opportunity. I
role-played a college student, and brought out my books to study. Of course, all
I have is Bible-study type books here with me.
Teacher Lisa was translating for me, and in-between groups, we looked at
one of the books together. She practiced her English by asking about the
pictures, and I practiced my Chinese and Taiwanese. On one of the pages, there
was a picture of a lion and a lamb together. She asked me “is there a story to
that picture?” It is odd to see a lion and lamb peacefully together. With a quick prayer for guidance, I delved
into the story of Jesus. We didn’t finish, because another group came to
interview us, but I had a chance to share. I’m excited about how the Lord will
continue to work in the future.
So, there are a few stories from this week. I hope you
enjoyed them, but most of all, I hope they have moved you to pray. God is here,
on the front lines, working with us. Your
prayers release His power to work among us. Please keep praying! Your prayers
are effective!
Praises this week:
-New glasses! I can see!!!
-An opportunity to witness to Lisa.
-Being able to call home on Monday night.
Happy in the Service of the King,
Barbara J. Sutton
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