Patience

This week we had the very great honor of leading the vacation bible school at the Montebello Academy, a top tier, Christian private school in Ecuador.  When we were asked to help out we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Nick, John, and I had led a VBS in Ecuador last time we were here, which mostly consisted of entertaining the children and keeping them from hurting each other for a few hours a day.  But this... this was a fully staffed school with a clear curriculum, ridiculous space and resources, and lots of very intelligent (and of course, mischievous) kids.  Thank goodness Kristina is a veteran school teacher and knew just how to tackle all our planning, teaching, and scheduling problems; we would have been completely lost without her.  Still,  I'm not quite sure how we made it out alive.

The lessons for VBS were on  the fruit of the Spirit.  We covered a different fruit each day: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, and Kindness.  These gifts were certainly used and tested  as we went through our rotation of classes.  I'll have to get the others to post some of their own stories of the kids' antics later on.  My personal favorite moment from my music classes was when a couple of the boys in the 1st grade class got very carried away singing the music and had to jump up on their chairs, swinging their arms out wide, eyes closed, and belting "I've got the joy, joy, joy" in their best little opera voices.  Adorable, yes, but not conducive for getting the class to focus.  

 

Presenting a song before the whole group

We also had fun with the language barrier.  The academy teaches only in English, so we had been told not to worry, all the students should be able to understand us just fine.  But this was a program for new students, so their skills were not up to par yet.  I know I got a lot of blank stares as I tried to teach them about singing in rounds, using rhythm instruments in a non-chaotic fashion, and asking people to please stop kicking the person next to them.  Fortunately arm waving, exaggerated facial expressions, and a little bit of Spanglish really did the trick.  However hackneyed the expression may be, the smile truly is an international language.

Lisa leading kids in song

Everyday this week all four of us came home completely exhausted.  And for me, that meant being a fair bit crankier the rest of the day, unless I got a nap.  Almost every bit of Ecuadorean life that was different from what I was used to or had expected (which was quite a lot) seemed to rub me the wrong way.  From our crazy meals, to the barking dogs (aka, Legions of Satan), to the slower internet, to the people at the store across the street not understanding for the third time that yes, we would return our glass bottles, I felt myself getting more and more frustrated.

Thank goodness we studied patience this week.  With the gift of patience I'm learning to take a step back and enjoy this new culture.  This has also helped me appreciate what it means to be a missionary and a Christian.  God works in His own time, and all we can do is be patient and willing to be part of His plan.   I have a whole other post I'm working on in my head about God and His timing, so check back soon!

I am thankful that the week of VBS is over, but I am even more thankful for the lessons learned thus far.  And I thank you all for reading our blog and supporting us during this crazy little journey!  It really means a lot to this occasionally cranky girl, hehe.

Much love,

Lisa