He is Not Here

In this season of Easter we often reflect on the great demonstration of God's love for us through the sacrifice of His only Son on the cross.   It is only because of that sacrifice that you and I today and can experience a glimpse of the grace and love He lavishes on us.  As I look on this great demonstration of His power and saving grace I sometimes limit my view to the "big" demonstrations of His presence and miss the day to day manifestations of this same great power and love.   Dare I listen to the message of the angel to the women at Christ's empty tomb,  "He is not here, He has risen!"  I'm in no way saying that what took place on the cross is any less important simply that it is not only there that we find reflections of His sovereignty and love.

Where is His presence in the day to day?   With eyes wide open I can see His hand at work all around me.   Wanting to give Him all the glory here are reflections of His hand moving among us here in Matagalpa.

High Schoolers using recently donated microscopes

Second Graders doing an experiment with dancing raisins

NCA is growing by leaps and bounds.    More students means more parents and more lives to invest in.  Some of our student's  stories  are heartbreaking, filled with hurt, distrust, shame, anger and brokenness.  This month I have had the privilege of seeing divorced parents come alongside their teenage son to support him in becoming a responsible young man.   My first encounter with the parents was an icy one as neither of them wanted to accept their part in the character formation of their son but instead heaped insults and blame on the other parent.   When asked if all of us could meet together to formulate a support plan for their son both parents said NO.   Through nothing other than the hand of God in the hearts of both of these parents they agreed the following week to meet and we were able to talk openly and honestly about the steps each one of us needed to take in order to support and hold their son accountable.   Fearful of the explosive potential of this meeting I asked many to be in prayer for God's peace to reign during the meeting and God's peace and wisdom was revealed in the hearts of all present.

Sara chatting (right) with a parent

Providing learning opportunities for the teachers and staff at my school is a strong desire of mine.   It is a personal struggle for me as I am so busy doing much of the admin stuff for the school that I don't get to prepare for and lead as many training sessions as I'd like.  However, God in is goodness continues to bring amazing people to us that are eager to share their ideas and help our staff grow.  This year he brought us Sara. She is an amazingly gifted teacher with experience as an instructional coach at a school in the Dominican Republic.  She has been a GIFT to NCA in so many ways.  Encouraging us all to grow in new and challenging ways.   In addition to Sara others like Brianna have come to spend a week sharing creative science experiments with our staff and students.   I can not help but be overcome with gratitude at the countless ways that our Father makes His presence known in our lives and reminds us that He knows the desires of our hearts.

Brianna doing an experiment with the 5th graders

In the past week Nicaragua has experienced several earthquakes measuring 6+ on the richter scale followed by hundreds of aftershocks.    God's hand has been over the country as there has been relatively little loss of life and damage compared to similar earthquakes in the past.    We praise God for his protection and continue to pray for peace and provision for those who have been affected.  There is still fear of more quakes especially in Managua.



It is my prayer that this song from I Chronicles 16:8-14 would always be on my lips.
"Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.  Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.  Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.  Look to the Lord and his strengths; seek his face always.  Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Israel, his chosen ones, the children of Israel, the children of Jacob.  He is the Lord our God; his judgements are in all the earth." 

Parents and students building a flower nursery for NCA

End of another School Year and

First grade is a terrific grade to teach because you get to see kids grow and learn and change in so many ways.   My kiddos did a great job this year.   They all have learned to be better readers, writers and better friends.   There are few things that bring me more joy than to see my kiddos excited about school and learning.   When one of my little guys says to me in January, "Miss Franklin I don't like reading."  I think to myself what can I do to help him find something that he likes about reading.  Maggicly we found the right books to get him interested in reading a little bit.  By the end of the year this same little guy could hardly put a book down to listen to a lesson or go to recess.   He loved reading and had transformed into an avid reader.   These are the moments that I enjoy as a teacher. 

 

As I transition into a different summer mission team schedule it seems strange to not see my students every day.   It has been 3 1/2 weeks since I sent them into Summer vacation ready excited and ready for second grade.  

From Blogger Pictures

Aside from working with teams I received and invitation to return to the small town of Jinotepe and do another teacher training workshop for five teachers there.   The teachers were really excited to be there.   I had the privililege of working with three of them last year.   Recently I received a donation for teacher trainings that included a Spanish Calendar set.   The teachers learned about the importance of making the calendar a useful teaching tool in the classroom.  None of the teachers had ever used a calendar in their classrooms before.  We passed the afternoon away singing days of the week songs and practicing a calendar routine.   With some of the extra supplies I was able to purchase all of the teachers made their own calendars to hang up in their own classrooms.   I can't wait to visit their classrooms soon and see them in action.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

Procedures and Routines, Rules and Consequences

Hmm.... sounds like a lot of teacher stuff eh! Well you're right! This weekend has been full of opportunities to work with Nicaraguan teachers.

Friday a group of teachers from NCA went to Colegio Hosanna Sur and did two work shops. One group of NCA teachers worked with the upper elementary and secondary teachers while the other group worked with the lower elementary teachers. There was lots of creativity shared and fun lessons and objectives written or discussed during our time together. Our group acted out the life cycle of a plant. It was a very artistic dramatization. :-)

Saturday I was invited to a small town 45 minutes from Managua to share some teaching strategies with teachers at a local public school. 7 wonderful women were there. We had a great time working through some classroom management ideas. God showed up in a very special way as we were talking about building relationships with our students and making an impact in their lives. God opened up the door for us to talk about Him and the value of prayer with our students. In Nicaragua there are no hard and fast rules about religion in the schools therefore making it possible for these teachers to pray with their students. It was a wonderfully sweet time.



Here are some of the ladies making their rules posters to take back to their classrooms. They were so excited to write out their Positive Responsabilities for their students to follow. Pray for these seven women that as they go to their classroom on Monday that the Lord would grant them strength, creativity, patience and lots of love for their students.





I continue to praise God for the opportunities he has granted me to share with teachers here in Nicaragua. I pray that he would continue to use me in meaningful ways in the field of education.

Rules and Routines

What a whirlwind week this has been. So many things are happening all at the same time and it leaves me not knowing where to begin. I'll start with the most recent and work my way back. :-)

On Friday Julie and I after a month of preparation, hours of prayer and gallons of sweat held our our first teacher training session with the teachers at Hosanna Sur. We had a great time talking with the teachers about positive rules and routines. We played quite a few games and learned some behavior management techniques that I hope will serve the teachers well. Once the workshop was over we stayed at the school for another hour just talking with some of the teachers. It was an amazing time of fellowship.

In the past week we have seen that our time investment in the teachers at Hosanna Sur has been worth every minute. This week several teachers shared personal things with us and also were more open in sharing what God is doing in their lives. When we started this whole thing my prayer has always been that we would build friendships and relationships first. God has answered that prayer in so many ways.

I praise God for the time that He gave Julie and I to be with the teachers on Friday. Opportunities to encourage the teachers and for the language barrier to not be an issue in sharing the info we wanted to share were answers to prayer. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for the work here.

Please continue to pray for the work in the schools as we continue to help and encourage the teachers at Hosanna Sur.

Timing is Everything

The past month has been been full of incredible meetings with great teachers at Colegio Hosanna Sur. Julie and I have had tremendous opportunities to encourage and equip teachers all while building relationships with the administration and the students. What a blessing it has been.

Today we had the opportunity to model a lesson for the Bible teacher. He teaches Pre-K all the way to 9th grade. Tyron admitted to us that he is terrified of teaching the younger kids and has avoided teaching those classes for the last month and a half. (This could only happen in Nicaragua... can you imagine if a teacher just didn't show up to your class for a month and a half??) As he shared his thoughts and fears we were able to give him some ideas and tools to help overcome them and enjoy teaching his elementary classes about the great God we serve. Tyron was so thankful for God's answer to his prayers for help in this area. Please join me in praying for Tyron this week as he starts sharing God's work with elementary students at the school. Pray for confidence, creativity and consistence.

After our first week in the school the director and great friend of mine Esperanza called us into the office. She said she had something special for us. She gave both Julie and I uniform shirts with our names embroidered on them. What a special gift. What a wonderful way to help us feel welcomed and a part of the staff at the school.

On the 27th of March Julie and I will be giving a two-hour workshop on classroom management in SPANISH. Please pray for us as we search for the right words and ways to present the ideas we feel will help the teachers be more effective.

New Beginnings

The feeling you had as a kid at the beginning of a new school year was a unique one. Perhaps you laid awake the night before letting your imagination wander through all the new possibilities that lie in the year ahead. New clothes, new notebooks, pencils, new teachers and maybe even new friendships.

The Nicaraguan schools start the new school year this coming week. The ministry of education (MINED) has said that classes will start anytime between the 3rd and the 9th. Currently the teachers are in workshops and whenever they finish then classes will start. There is not a set date for the public schools to start. They will wait for word from MINED. The concept of not having a set day for classes to start is a foreign concept to many of us but is a fact of life for both teachers and students here.

With the beginning of a new school year there is a exciting new relationship that is forming with Colegio Hosana Sur. As I have shared before my dream has been to develop a teacher training/mentoring program with schools and teachers here. After many years, lots of prayer and patience God is moving us to start the program. We met with the pastor and director of Colegio Hosana Sur last week and they are really excited about the opportunity to deepen our relationship and to partner with each other. We don't know what things will look like as we progress but of this I am confident that God is at work in and through the the school and we want to join God where He is working. Please pray for this new beginning that as we move forward and share ideas, opinions, experience and resources that our first priority would be being sensitive to the Spirit's leading and focus on our relationship and not the tasks that lie before us.

Plans

This week we spent three days filled with evaluation of ministry and goals from this year 2008. It was wonderful to hear from the team some of the high points from the year. My high point was definitely was when the Mosaic Teacher team came in June. It was such a joy to work with kindred spirits and share ideas and excitement for Nicaraguan teacher training.

Some challenges for me in ministry this year have been missing teaching. Surprisingly this has made it hard at times to fully commit to short term teams. I have learned some valuable things through this time and continue to see God at work in my life teaching and shaping me for some future ministry that I don't quite know yet.

2009 is looking exciting as I can dive into developing our teacher training project. Our days of planning and goal setting always fill me with energy for new starts with new ideas and some fresh changes for some old ideas.