I'm Into Something Good

i’m teaching preschool again!  

unlike most preschools, this new “model preschool” has the advantage of their own building, with walls to put up letters and visuals aids for teaching, and each child has a chair. 

boda is a teacher from uganda, sent here to help start this preschool that will hopefully add on more grade levels. though the original plan was to have fewer children in each class, boda was left to manage 2 combined classes when the other teacher left. she now teaches more than 50 children in this small room. and let me say this lady was born for teaching preschoolers. she’s confident, energetic and loving, and seems to have a song up her sleeves at all times. 

being drawn to boda and her preschool, i wondered how i could support her and began to pray for the Lord’s direction. of course, i would love to spend time in a preschool again, but was this where God was leading me? turns out, my desires seemed to be in tune with the Lord’s, but he knew the big picture and had a much bigger purpose in mind.

so i began teaching a lesson once a week in boda’s class. as the children would break for lunch, boda and i engaged in good conversation, getting to know each other better. she began to vent about the struggles of being here in south sudan. many things are not what she thought they would be, she is lonely and misses her family, and often wonders why she is here. hmm... sounds familiar! i can totally relate. 

i had prayed about opportunities to share God’s love with boda and weave the gospel into our conversations. and it seemed like a great time to encourage her in truth. we later prayed together, and she sent me off with a big thank you, telling me how thankful she was to have me there. 

so the next week, same story. she shared more and more, though this time i was surprised when she told me she was a muslim. and i begin to see the Lord, indeed, had this thing rigged.

it’s interesting that boda and i have so many things in common. we’re both preschool teachers, who left our family to come to a place that is needy, unfamiliar, and just hard. we both get frustrated and lonely and wonder why we’re here. but, boda doesn’t share my same hope in Christ. could the Lord have a purpose in bringing two unsuspecting preschool teachers together in south sudan? i believe so.

God is so faithful. so often i’m stepping forward wondering if this is really the right way, asking God to direct me but worried i’ll miss it completely. it’s neat to see some pieces of the puzzle revealed every now and then.