Tonight I was lounging around in my bed reading a book when I was startled by the door bell ringing. Worried that it might be an intruder I stumbled out of bed and to the door while the doorbell again rang another two times. From the other side of the door I heard a familiar voice, "It's me, Zh.!"
I quickly opened the door and let in Zh., an older visiting scholar, and her daughter.
Z.. had decided she needed to fly home to attend to her sick mother. I was delighted to see that Z. had returned after her visit, and was eager to hear how things had gone.
Z. handed me a plate of doughnuts, which she later told me had been purchased that day on a trip. While her daughter sat shyly sipping the green tea I'd made for her and her mother, Z. caught me up on all of their comings and goings over the last month.
After Z.'s mother spent two weeks in ICU, the family had decided to take Z.'s mother, sick with pneumonia, home. Z. and her siblings then took shifts watching and caring for her mother. Her mother's condition stayed stable and Z. and her daughter returned to the states where they traveled with a tour company around the west coast before returning to our town.
Their visit this evening was a welcome event as I was alone at home for the night and love company. Z. has also endeared herself to me. In fact, Z. I were doing a weekly B. study together one-on-one before she made the decision to go to attend to her mother, so I was delighted to see her again, and to hear in detail how she and her mom were doing and what she did during her travels around the West Coast.
But the greatest joy for me came when I brought out a small gift for her and her daughter. A woman in my parent's church crochets crosses, and I had saved several to give to scholars and students when they return home. Z. and her daughter each picked one of the color they liked, and then Z. held hers up.
I will repeat as best as I can remember the conversation that ensued.
"Do you know what this is?" She asked her daughter in a serious voice.
Her daughter blushed, fought a moment for the right English words, and then Z. filled the silence and said, "It's a cross."
"Do you know it's meaning? ... Jesus died on the cross, the crucifixion," Z. held out her arms. "He took sin on him, all sin put on him," she said in her accent. "Envy, jealous, greed,... " Z. tried to explain.
The daughter could not understand or was unable to put into English what needed to be said to her mother's response. But it was clear that Z. understands! 6 months after arriving here and she is all seriousness trying to teach her daughter why Jesus died. I was so moved.
Teens
I teach the teenagers Sunday school class at my church. We generally only have 3-4 students each week, and this morning, because there was snow on the roads, there was only one student that was able to make it, C.. So, I told C. he could pick a video to watch, and he surprised me by choosing to review the videos we had been going through on 1, 2, and 3 John.
At that moment, in walked C.'s two cousins. Their elementary Sunday school class had been canceled for lack of a teacher. I was getting ready to play the video when I looked at Caleb. "Caleb, would you like to teach the Sunday school class today?" I asked.
After years of working with international students I have gleaned two simple techniques that are also very useful when working with youth 1) Engage them directly in God's word instead of trying to explain everything. 2) The more you can allow them to teach rather than being taught, the more they will learn and subsequently the more they will also make it a habit of sharing what they're learning with others.
Caleb nodded, and went to take his place at the head of the table.
He then played the video on 1 John, and stopped often to ask the two younger boys, and later their little sister who also joined us, what the video was saying. He covered enjoying a relationship with God, God being light, revealing our sin, repentance, and many more important topics. He rewarded the younger students' answers by throwing them a marshmallows (I always bring snacks, usually whatever was I find in my cupboard, and today it was marshmallows). Caleb's questions were right on point! I was so moved by listening to this normally hyperactive 13 year old cover such deep and meaningful topics.
When the video ended Caleb continued by asking his three pupils to read 1 John 2:1. After they read it he wrote down the verse on the dry erase board, and then asked them to answer the following questions: Who is Jesus Christ? Who is our advocate Why is the author writing this?
Admits the three kids doodling on the board and getting distracted, he managed to get them to write down their answers, correct misconceptions, and remind them that who Jesus is.
I was so proud of Caleb!