Surely Teaching Something

The class was about 1/3 women, who all sat in a group

Everything we do is a potential adventure here. I was keenly aware of this a few days ago when I journeyed to a Bible school about 30 mins. outside of town to teach my first class.  Even though I’ve made the trip before, I wasn’t really sure if the car would make it on the sandy road at this time of year.  I wasn’t sure what kind of class I was showing up to, how much introduction there would be, if there would be someone to translate, or what the teaching expectations would be. 

But the adventure went well.  I knew I was teaching English that day, and so that’s what we did even when it became apparent that the class was the whole campus of 40 students with no other teachers around.  We had a great time practicing introductions and greetings in English, and laughing when they sounded like gibberish or when they had to correct my pronunciation in their language.  On the way home, I wasn’t sure what the car was saying to me in French when the warning lights flashed on, or what the neon green liquid was that they put in my car when I stopped to ask for oil.  I was very not sure if the soldiers at the road checkpoints would hassle me this time through or would like my travel documents while I waited at their mercy in an overheating car.  As I gave the car a break under a rare shade tree by the side of the road, I wondered at how blessed I am that none of my adventures have ended up on a low note.  Even though I didn’t know for sure the car would eventually limp along in 100+ heat to get me home safely, I took real comfort that in some form or another, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow my all the days of my life...”