house of beautiful things

Today was my 2nd day teaching and I'm really enjoying it. I did forget to open the windows the first day which made the room miserably hot (with no air conditioning everyone leaves windows open here to keep buildings cool) but besides that mistake it has gone pretty smoothly. The kids were so excited to be back to school that it was almost scary. They literally ran into the courtyard jumping up and down, something you don't really see at schools in the states. The parents are also very invested in the education of their children and I can't even count how many parents have stopped by my classroom in the past 2 days. The former teachers and other volunteers have been extremely helpful by answering all of our questions, taking us to their favorite stores, restaurants, coffee shops etc. and have treated us like family.

One of the biggest adjustments for me has been the noise level. The combination of honking horns, fruit trucks blaring announcements as they drive by every 15 minutes, and the call to prayer speaker from the mosque makes it hard to find a quiet moment during the day. I have really come to enjoy the time early in the morning between about 6-6:30am when i wake up and sit on our sofa which looks straight out over the town still fast asleep, sip on instant coffee, and feel the love of our savior cover me with encouragement for the day ahead. A lot of people back home say things like "wow, it sounds like it must be really hard to live in an environment like that, so drastically different from what you're used to." And yes there are those difficult moments when you realize that you have no idea what has been said in a room for the past hour without translation or when you miss the convenience of your car or dishwasher. However it's all worth it when you ask your students to write you a paragraph about their summer and you end up with papers that say things like "I went to the cinema and I love you Miss" and when they run up to hug you as they enter the gate in the morning. I feel so blessed to be anywhere close to where I am now and to be able to share the love I feel so strongly sweeping over me at 6am to 25 little kids and their families. I wish I could put into words what that does to your spirit.

One of the volunteers who has been here for 14 years drove us back from a coffee shop in Jerusalem today and while she was giving us the background on certain names she informed us that the town we live in translates to "house of beautiful things." Before I left the states I kept listening to this song by Gungor over and over called "beautiful things" and the lyrics to the chorus read "You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of us."

And that is exactly how I feel, like I am a pile of dust, and the Lord is picking me up and making me into something beautiful that can be used, only with him am I able to do so much more than I could ever dream of.