Trying to process the whole two weeks is going to be tough.

Giving out certificates and gift bags!
 

Our last day was filled with amazing sweet moments of the students sharing their thanks for us coming, our slideshow of the two weeks, and gift giving.

I loved hearing them give their speeches in English

Our students!!!

. We arrived at the school around 10:30 and they had made a sign for the graduation and set chairs up! We were able to share how much they had meant to us and how encouraged we were to see their passion and joy every day for Jesus and how they wanted to share the gospel with the world! Then we handed them certificates and their gifts-which were bags with hygiene things in them such as deodorant, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, washcloths, etc. Later we peeked in the boys room and saw them sitting on the floor with their bags open happily putting on their deodorant (apparently that was a BIG hit:) and the girls were smelling each others body wash and examining their sewing kits (another BIG hit:) We eventually had to say goodbye and the boys stood outside waving until we couldn't see them anymore.




In talking with a friend later about the whole trip I tried to sum it up: I know God wanted me to go! He showed me so much about His provision (physically and spiritually)
 He infused us with God given energy every single day
 He gave us words to speak whenever we were asked to share
He gave me strength to eat things that I never would have eaten in America
He gave us grace and mercy to speak with kindness and compassion
His love covered a multiple of miscommunications with locals:)

And I'll end with our verse for this trip: 2 Corinthians 12:9
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

So therefore I will boast of all the things about this trip because it was in Christ's power that we were able to accomplish anything.

Working on unscrambling sentences

Giving their testimonies in English as part of their test

Today was the last day of classes and we ended it with a test on reading, speaking, and writing English. The students were so excited when they finished:) As I sat after the lesson and chatted with the students I realized wow I'm going to miss their smiling faces!! Everyday they greet us enthusiastically, help us carry our bags, get umbrellas for us if it's raining, and say how beautiful we look:) (that always helps ;) Today the boys wanted me to play football (soccer) to which I definitely said no...mostly because the field is mud...and they would kill me on the field!
Tomorrow we will have a worship service, celebrate their completion of two weeks of English, give them gifts, apparently they will give us gifts, and we'll have speeches and prayers!

There will be tears on our side of course.



Seriously they are always smiling!



Showing them pictures of my family in America:) They all agreed everyone is beautiful and very handsome!

2 days left with the students:
As we were driving back yesterday I thought...wow I'm going to really miss seeing their faces everyday!

cutting up the tomatoes: the boys were so eager to help!

Yesterday we had class in the morning and then tried something totally new:

pulling the meat off the chicken so we could put the taco seasoning on it

We taught 35 adults how to make tortillas!! We divided them into groups, wrote the recipe and directions on the board in English, demonstrated it, and then let them do it themselves. My co teacher fried them in the pan and we had rice, tomatoes, and chicken set up on a separate table for them. When we were explaining it..no idea. When I showed them a picture of one on my computer...the light bulb went on!:) So they loved it and the air was filled with laughing, yelling, pounding the dough onto the table, and more yelling in Burmese! They loved it. We loved it. and it was an epic success!

each group making their own tortillas and reading the recipe in English:)

Attempting to fold the tortillas and eat them!

Frying the bread they made

Challenge

We have four days left in this country. Time is flying by!

Over the weekend we were able to visit two of the orphanages that he had started and helped out with. We arrived at the first one with all 30 children sitting on benches eagerly waiting to sing songs to us. Then they asked us to share, pray, and teach songs. Key thing I have learned: ALWAYS be prepared to share something!! :) Beautiful faces and beautiful voices.

But it was the second orphanage that broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes. We rode about 30 minutes into the countryside in our truck...and when we turned down a dirt road..I realized this might be a little different than the other one. We passed a chicken farm with barb wire fences, then naked children running through bamboo huts with piles of trash everywhere. We eventually pull into a yard and two women and a man ran outside to greet us. We walk into the small brick building and the children are sitting on the floor ready to sing/greet us. We share again and pray for them. Then they come up and shake our hands...as I looked around the room I realized these children have absolutely nothing. No toys, no mattresses, no chairs...nothing. Their faces tore at my heart and as I shook their hands I really tried not to cry...one of the older women who helped there wouldn't let go of my hand when we tried to leave...so precious.

I would have loved to take all of them home. Seriously.

Rest

As we snacked on mangos and apples we reflected on how exhausted we were...why were we so tired?! Maybe it's just being in another culture and interacting with it for at least 9 hours a day.



Our usual ride back from the school

This first week has been a whirlwind of lesson planning, new food, drinking lots of tea, frustration and joy, schedule changes, and miscommunication:) But we have survived and thrived in this culture. Sitting yesterday and today, listening to the students and hearing their stories of poverty and village life...seeing their love and passion for the Lord, and watching them work so hard learning English challenges me and puts things in perspective. Some of the students are from such remote villages that they have to take a bus for two days and then walk through the mountains for another day and sometimes two days! One of the students was sharing how they didn't have any money for pens and pencils for school (that was in another village) they had to write on stone tablets (which is common!)
Seeing the Pastor's faith in every day life and his constant joy in Jesus is amazing...on our taxi ride in the morning (8:30) he will being humming and singing worship songs...while I'm still trying to wake up!:) In the afternoon, he and his wife and I sit in the back of their truck as we bump and speed back to our hotel.

The students filling holes in the road outside of the school today

Tomorrow we will be visiting two of the orphanages that he has helped start and manages. I'm so exited to get to see the children and hopefully hang out with them a little!

Almost the weekend

Well so much for writing in here every day! But last night I was so exhausted I was asleep by 8:30pm!!



Playing Cat and Mouse

Quick recap: Yesterday we asked if we could spend the afternoon at the girls house and hang out with them and do some one on one teaching because it has been hard to get to the know them. The guys are so eager to share and talk in English that the girls barely have a chance! :) So we were able to do some teaching through the bead bracelet and they each shared practiced sharing the Gospel...in English and some in Burmese! Then they told us how they celebrate holidays and birthdays and we ended up playing some games with them until our truck came to pick us up. Great day building relationships and having so much fun:)



Teaching
 

Being Flexible is the key

For the last two days we have gotten into a schedule which has been nice:

6am                          Get up
7am                          Breakfast of toast and eggs, individual quiet times
8:30am                     Taxi picks us up
9:00am                     We arrive at the school ready to teach:)
9:00-11:00am           Teaching our groups with a 5 min break
11:00am-11:30          Break-Debrief teaching
11:30-12:30               Lunch of rice with vegetables or meat
12:30-3:00pm            Teaching our groups with a 10 min break
3:00-3:30pm               Interaction with students/them teaching us Burmese:)
3:30-4:00pm               Ride back to hotel
4:00-8pm                    Relax, Plan lessons for next day, and eventually bed (which tends to be much later for me!)

However, as we have quickly learned, schedules are flexible and never set in stone. Like today, we didn't start teaching until 9:30 and instead shared testimonies with the students. Tomorrow we are teaching from 9-12 and then teaching at chapel for 30 minutes. (even then I'm pretty sure we missed some things in translation so the times are unsure!!) Then we will spend some time with the women building relationships and helping them work on their English in the afternoon. So who knows what the rest of the week holds??! :)  


Tonight we ventured out to the tea place next to our hotel since we both did not want to order off the hotel menu again...thankfully the menu had pictures of the food and we had 5 waiters standing in a circle around our little table waiting to help us.!! We ordered tea and some kind of sugar bread and a type of curry...using lots of hand motions and pointing. None of the spoke English and we have learned Hello and I'm fine in Burmese:) Overall it was a wonderful dinner and ended up being only a $1. You really can't beat that!!!!