I wanted to talk a little bit more about my classes. It is incredible to see how much a student is willing to learn. I especially love how much I learn from them. I also especially love how much they make me laugh. My first graders especially crack me up. One boy who never seems to sit longer than 20 seconds has become one of my favorite students. I asked him, "buddy, why cant you ever sit still?" and he replies, "Miss Lysa, I cant control my feet, they just keep moving!!" and took off running. I chuckled for awhile. Another boy came up to me on my first day back after being sick and said "Miss Miss, I missed you! were you sick" and i told him yes that my throat had been hurting and he tells me, "Oh yeah when I get sick my throat hurts a lot too because I eat too much chocolate." "oh chocolate huh? that makes your throat hurt?" "yup." he says and walks away. These kids, they have my heart. My eighth graders are angels and its nice to have them right after 1st graders because it almost impossible to get 25 1st graders to listen. Seventh graders are a great class and quick to follow instruction. The sixth grade classes are my favorite because they are the perfect balance of growing a little older but still have such innocent minds. Every grade below that drains my energy more but keep me entertained for sure.
I also wanted to share about the people I live with. Particularly the girls I live with. Though there is tension at times, especially when it comes to cooking (because cooking in a tiny tiny kitchen with 7 other girls trying to make their own meals is never an easy thing to do) there is still so much love being developed. Two nights ago one of our girls was having a really tough time and felt very unqualified to do her job, which most of us feel every day, and it quickly turned into a group meeting to comfort her. It was more than words of encouragement it was talking to her about Jesus and about how wonderful He is. In that moment I felt the bliss you can feel when you surround yourself with people who share the same love in Christ. We ended the meeting with a deep and powerful prayer, huddled together in our tiny kitchen, tears flowing down some of our faces.
This is not easy. In fact, it is far from easy. Learning to be completely selfless, learning what it really means to represent Christ, learning to rid yourself of western mindsets, learning to deal with terrible internet lol, it isn't easy. But it is worth it, oh it is very worth it. One month down. And no I am not counting.