Unexpected Tears (7/8/13)

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I knew today was going to be a little bit tougher then normal because I just had to drop off my boyfriend at the airport where he flew back to Texas. We have been long distance since September and saying bye is difficult each time. I was not taken by surprise at the tinge of pain I felt in my spirit waking up, but I was not prepared to see more people that I love leave.

This morning I was told that Tulasi and Chandra, my faithful and hard working students from Bhutan suddenly moved to Ohio. My tears are welling up with tears just by typing this out. Their caseworker told me that Tulasi came in on Friday to get the last bit of paperwork signed and say goodbye but I was not there. He told his caseworker, Robin, that he loved his time here in Jacksonville. He said "my teacher even counted out pennies for me to understand how American money works, and now I can write my own name."

When I first started teaching Tulasi and Chandra they had no clue to read or write at all. I got to see Tulasi and Chandra write their names for the very first time and read their first words. We had grown so much from the first awkward English class. We went from absolutely no communicating to taking pictures together and meeting friends. going to their home and meeting their family. When Robin told me that they moved to Ohio I tried really hard to just tell myself "Meg you can not get attached like that to the clients- people come and go- do not let yourself get upset..." but the tears I was attempting to hold back would not relent. I guess I feel like I really grew to love and care for them and I hate the thought of them not having someone like that i Ohio. I know I am going to really miss hearing Tulasi try to correct Chandra when she is actually the one saying it right- or hearing Chandra laugh when she says something in Nepali and I repeat her. I think more then anything, I am sad at the thought that they do not know the Lord. I did not realize that they were Hindu, but when I found out I instantly started praying for there to be opportunities to share about our beliefs. I really pray that the Lord puts intentional people in their lives to selflessly love them and share the freedom of Christ with them.

After I recovered from that blow I moved on and started teaching through the material I bought at a local Dollar General. Peter Nay is getting really good at reading and is pretty much getting the vowels almost completely down. I accomplished my goal of at least one good laugh today during "class". Today I rally wanted Peter to know how to write his birthday and his age but could not figure out how old he was because he was insisting that he was 78! After I wrote my age on the dry erase board we both shook with mirth and adjusted his age to 38. I was taken back when I saw that Tulasi and Peter have the same January 1st birthday, but then realized that most of the our refugees do not know when they were born. I don't even know if the years are legitimate. It is really strange to think of a life without birthday candles, presents and people celebrating your life. I guess it is kind of a narcissistic performance now that I think about it. A more important lesson however was the Karen smoking prevention material I showed him to stress the fact that he needs to quite smoking. He insisted that he only smoked two a day but I told him that if he did not stop he really would be like a 78 year old man!

I was also able to visit his wife at their apartment and start working through a new set of flash cards. We worked on the words "sun" "moon" "stars" "tree" "apple" "bug" "hat" "bat" and "rain". We worked on those until her little boy ,Clein, would not allow her to focus any longer. I noticed the bottle of dish soap was only a quarter full so I felt a little encouraged that they were using the soap, but their kitchen was still swarming with bugs and apparently also are interested in English, seeing how they eagerly climbed on the table I was teaching on.

Recently I have been stuck on a song called "Oceans"  by Hillsong. The lyrics that I was praying through today were:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

Lord I pray that I am being lead by your spirit in the big decisions of life along with the monotonous day to day activities. I pray that trust you with Tulasi and Chandra. You love them more then I do and You are a good Sheppard. Please put people in their lives that will care about them and intercede for them. Lord bring me deeper into Your love and Your calling then I could ever choose to go. I pray as I trust You and watch You move, my faith in You grows. Jesus I only want to be where your presence is and where it goes. *Amen*

A bird just dropped a gift..rude