Busy Days

When you are preparing to go as a student missionary they tell you a lot of things.  They say you will not like it at first and it might take a while to adjust, you will have a hard time keeping order in the classroom, you won't be able to drink the water from the tap, and you will have to learn to cook rice.  The list goes on and on, some of them are true some not so much.  One thing I wasn't told was that I would be expected to do everything.  I had some returned SM's tell me they got bored after a few months.  I can't imagine how that could happen!  We have all been given a million job titles: teacher, maid, cook, vespers coordinators, sabbath school teachers, church pianist (4 weeks in a row), sabbath school superintenent, youth leader, class adviser, worship leader, and song leader just to name a few.  It can be really exhausting sometimes, and I am really looking forward to our short break coming up.  Even though some weeks can become really stressfull, I am thankful for all these jobs.  I hate boredom more then anything, and I know I will never have a problem with that here! It's good to know they have a need for us here! Anyhow, this was one of those weeks where we did everything.  I felt like I was in a race everyday to finish everything on my to do list.  It didn't all work out, after arranging everything for the class christmas party and sending home permission slips I was told I had to cancel it.  I was very discouraged, I worked a long time with the students and the office arranging it, it was frustrating to have to change everything after all that work.  But God is teaching me to be flexible this year!  That same day I had a students collapse in class and show signs of a seizure, it was really scary.  That night while I was trying to arrange things for the Christmas program, the power went out! It was out for so long we just gave up and played some card games with our flash lights for a while.  Which actually turned out to be a blessing, I think we all needed a break!  By the end of the week things were looking up a bit.  My plans for the Christmas program were approved and everything seems to be going well!  I practiced with my seniors on Friday.  The first song we chose wasn't going very well, but then I just sat down at the keyboard with 4 of my senior girls and started playing the songs they wanted to hear.  When we sang Silent Night they started trying some harmonies.  I helped them with it a bit and by the end of the hour we were singing "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night" in three part harmony! They sounded so great and I really enjoyed working on it with them! It made a great ending to the week, as well as a few of my students thoroughly cleaning my room for me without even asking :).  The highlight of my week was today.  After church we headed to the water for some baptisms.  These baptisms were particularly special to me, two of my seniors were among the group!  It was so exciting to see them give their lives to God.  I'm getting to know my students better every day and they are talking to me more and more.  I was so excited to see a couple of them make such a huge decision, I pray for wisdom as they continue to ask me for questions and advice.  I don't always know the right things to say!  I had a student talk to me this week about eating problems she was having, all I could think to do was pray as I was talking with her.  Sometimes I feel so inadaquate to help them, I just pray for the right words.  I am really excited for this week.  We have two days of school, a day for a class party, the Christmas program, and then break! Merry Christmas :).