April 19th:
I forgot to say "Happy Birthday, Dad!" (I Skyped him, but forgot to mention that in yesterday's entry.)
0500 Woke up after a silly mosquito started buzzing in my ear. Enjoyed a longer time reading and praying. As I finished reading Luke 4, it struck me that Christ's refutations to temptation were afterwards confirmed in His "everyday" experiences. When he entered the synagogue and read from Isaiah, Christ closed by saying, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." He states His purpose for coming to earth, which was to fulfill the Scripture. He did not come to live conveniently, but to do the will of the Father. (Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.) Afterwards, the people were filled with wrath and rose up to "thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong." As the devil had tempted Christ to cast Himself from the pinnacle that the angels might deliver Him, the people here are ready to cast Him down headlong. In this real situation, as in the temptation, Christ was confident that this was not the end that His Father had intended for Him; He passes through the midst of them and continues on His way. Lastly, Christ had been tempted to worship the devil that He might receive all the kingdoms of the world. In reality, the devils must acknowledge that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and they are afraid lest He destroy them. The clear contrast in Luke teaches me that the devil will try to tempt me with things that are not real. As I am delivered from temptation, standing fast in the truth of God's Word, I can watch and see the reality of God's truth unfold in my everyday experiences.
0830 Walked to school and prayed over another day of teaching. As I visited with teachers in the break room, I found out that one of them is getting married in a few weeks ... she just met her fiance two months ago! They are getting engaged this weekend (there will be a large ceremony on Saturday), then they are going to Turkey to get married around May 5th.
0915 My "rowdy" class went really well, and I had a fun time with the kids. Even when they were misbehaving, I was able to look at them with that "are you really going to do this today?" look and they would smile back and straightened up. Two of the boys completely blew me off, so I had to take them to the principal.
1000 While waiting for the principal to arrive, I got to visit with a 7th grader that I met at the soccer clinic. It is fun to see how the older students will smile and talk to me now that I've interacted with them more.
1015 Graded papers in the teacher room. I don't go home in the middle of the day anymore since my breaks are so much shorter and I have more grading to finish. Being at the school more means I am getting to know the teachers better and they are more comfortable around me. Several of the teachers will come to me with English questions for their classes. Today I was approached with, "You know Miss Helen, that ancient instrument used for killing birds?" I've learned to repeat the question back to them in case I throw out the wrong word entirely. Sometimes I think I should respond "Jeopardy" style, "What is ... a slingshot?" I've also been asked how to pronounce the names of Egyptian pharaohs (with the way they keep changing for political correctness, I don't think anyone knows the correct pronunciations anymore!) Met with the curriculum director. In addition to the art fair, we are supposed to complete a step-by-step art lesson next week (for the curriculum that Lisa is developing) and critique it. It will be a busy week!
1145 Read "Little Pilgrim's Progress" to my students for their lunch break. The same students from yesterday came and they were very attentive. Afterwards I showed them pictures of my family on my iPad. When they saw Eithen, a lot of them said, "Oh, he looks just like my little brother!" or "Gelleck Jonah" which means "Very Beautiful." They also thought Jaden was pretty cute. When they saw Caleb and Stephen, they could tell they were similar to their own ages and wanted to know more about them.
1215 Taught the second 4th grade class. Their session went really well. It is exciting to see that we are getting settled into a routine together. I have at least twice as many students turning in their homework, and almost the entire class participates in the lesson.
1300 More papers to grade since I had the students complete a project and a lesson set for homework.
1345 Taught the 3rd grade art class. They were much better today. I am eager to see what they will produce for the art show.
1430 After school I always return to the teacher's room to put things in my locker. When I walked in today, they were in the middle of a teacher meeting for the locals (we have a separate one in English). The door opened right into the front of the room, so there was no way to retreat quietly. One of those embarrassingly funny moments.
1440 Walked home, thinking how thankful I am for my job and my students.
1500 Arrived home, feeling energized. Responded to a lot of emails, graded all my papers, and sent off the gradebook to the curriculum director.
1800 Skyped with Jessica, which was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise. The only thing better would have been chatting over a cup of coffee in person.
1900 Went to Sarky's with Stacy and we caught up on the week's events over pizza.
2000 Checked on John (with his shingles) and Mary (since I couldn't get through on her phone earlier). Mary came over and we talked for a little while.
2230 Crawled into bed late, feeling like I could indulge since it is officially the start of another weekend!
April 20th:
Stayed home from fellowship this morning and listened to a couple sermons from home. I was challenged to ask myself, "What am I pursuing for my happiness?" In a place like Kurdistan, the choices for pleasure are limited, which means my pursuits are easier to narrow down. I came to the conclusion that my pursuits are the same things I would have worried about having (or not having) back home when thinking about moving to a place like this. Probably first on the list is control. I want to be able to control my space, my time, my food, etc. This is an area I am striving to conquer as I pursue my spiritual goal to "walk consciously in the power of God on a daily basis." The more I depend on God, the more I must surrender control. Secondly, I pursue happiness by helping others. I have to be careful that in helping others I do this "as unto the Lord," receiving my happiness from Him.
By God's goodness I have been growing happier and happier in Him every day. As I realize my full acceptance in Christ before the Lord, my heart overflows with joy. Through continual practice, I am able to trace more and more of my emotions back to where I am standing before God. If I am trying to hide an idol or erase my shame, then I am discouraged, depressed, disdainful of others. When nothing stands between my Beloved and me, I am filled with hope, thankfulness, and love for others.
It was a good morning/afternoon of singing songs, reading God's Word, and listening to sermons. Around 3, Stacy and I went to the store and picked up ice cream. We brought it back to John and Mary's and visited with them. All of us went to Pizza Hot for dinner. I had something new: stir-fried chicken, peppers, onions, and mushrooms alongside fries - pizza without the crust! The weather was really nice, so we took the longer way home and enjoyed the walk.
