Whew! It's been a great week and I'm exhausted! That's the way we're supposed to feel at the end of a week, right? I think the best way to give you an idea of this week is just to give a little summary. I already wrote about Monday in my last post (I Love my Life).
Tuesday: school 8:30-1:30. At 3:30 my friend, Noemi, showed up at my door with two of her high school friends because they all wanted help with their English homework. After about an hour, her friends went home but she stayed. Noemi's been pretty sad, lately, because two of her friends are being really mean to her. I'm her small group leader, so she just wanted to spend some time together. I was SO glad that she came over because I love her so much, but I hadn't been planning on any visitors and I REALLY had to go running. I felt bad, but I'm going to Argentina for a marathon in 3 weeks and can't skip my runs, now! Noemi seemed to understand, though, so I gave her a t-shirt and she came to the park, with me! Afterwards, we made dinner, and then the other girls came over for small group. They stayed until about 9.
Wednesday: school 8:30-1:30. At 5:30 another one of my friends/ small group members/ helpers came over. I'll call her Lucy, because I don't want to use her real name. She did my laundry and washed my floor while I went shopping for our dinner. At the supermarket, they had just pulled freshly baked whole wheat bread out of the oven, so I bought a loaf and we ate it for dinner with strawberry jelly and hot chocolate! It was good to spend time with Lucy, but it was sad, too. She's fallen in love with a boy who doesn't love Jesus. In the Bible, God tells us that He wants Christians to marry other Christians, because He loves us and knows that we will be the happiest if the people that we marry love Him, too. But in Paraguay there are a lot more Christian girls than Christian boys, so a lot of my friends often have to choose between disobeying God and marrying non-Christians, and never having boyfriends. Unfortunately, Lucy chose to go out with somebody who isn't a Christian, and now she has to decide whether she wants to lose her relationship with the boy (for now) and keep her close relationship with God, or disobey God and keep her relationship with the boy. It would have been so much easier if she hadn't ever become his girlfriend. But she did, and now she loves him, so both of her options are really painful. I feel so sad for her. But I'm scared, too. She left sometime between 8-9.
Thursday: school 8:30-2. I'd planned on making black beans and rice for lunch, but when I opened my sealed plastic container, I found little black bugs crawling throughout my black beans. I almost threw up. Later, I showed Lucy, and she said that the eggs were probably in my beans when I bought them (in a sealed bag from the supermarket). I guess that's not uncommon. Now I know why my host mom always washed beans before cooking them. Anyway, At 3:45, one of my third graders came over. Her name is Silene. I really wanted her to do well on our test, Friday, so I said she could come over to my apartment to study. As soon as she left, I ran out for a quick run. When I got back, Lucy was sitting on my steps outside my apartment. She did my dishes and washed the floor while I went to the terminal to check the bus schedules, and went to the supermarket to get some more of that freshly baked bread. After supper, Lucy and I studied the Bible, together. We talked about it for 3 hours! Finally, her mom came to pick her up at 10:15! After she left, I baked cookies that I'd promised my 6th and 7th graders, wrote 3 exams, and crawled into bed.
Friday: school 8:30-1:30. After school, one of my student teachers and I got into an argument, but we didn't have time to work it out. So in the afternoon I invited her over to talk more. We talked for 3 whole hours before planning her next lesson! Even though it's hard, Americans usually try to talk about problems in their relationships, but Paraguayans usually keep their feelings inside. So when we finally do talk about our misunderstandings, it takes a long, long time because we have to talk about things that happened 9 months ago. It was exhausting, but very good to work everything out. Getting along with people can be really hard, sometimes, but aren't you glad we get to do it? Can you imagine if we had to be all alone? Sure, we wouldn't have to share and we wouldn't get our feelings hurt, but it would be really lonely and not much fun. After she left, I graded quizzes, had dinner, and talked on the phone to MY boyfriend (who IS a Christian!). We don't really talk during the week, which makes Fridays pretty special.
So what does a missionary do? Lots of stuff, but it's different every day. And it probably depends a lot on their personalities and what they're good at, too. Jeff, for example, is a doctor and spends a lot of his time seeing sick people. Tony can fix anything so he spends a lot of time fixing broken things that people bring him. Fiona is a good writer, teacher, and organizer, so she spends time working at a college. Jeremy is amazing at math and business, so he spends most of his time in the office, organizing our money and working on the computer. Renee, Amy, and Jean spend their time homeschooling their kids and taking care of them. I guess I'm good at English and listening to teenage girls figure out their lives, so I spend a lot of time doing that. Missionaries really do whatever you and your parents do. They just do it in a place where most of the people don't know Jesus. But just like your parents, everything that they do is to help people get to know God.
This one writer, named Soren Kierkegard, once asked, "What is talkativeness? It is doing away with the vital distinction between talking and keeping silent." One time when I went to bed, this week, I thought to myself, "What is laziness? It is doing away with the vital distinction between working and resting." I'm trying to become a better worker and a better rester. When we left class, every Friday afternoon, one of my professors used to tell us to work hard, rest hard, play hard, and pray hard. I'm not very good at it, yet, but it's sure fun to try! I love the feeling that I'm getting to work together with God, and then enjoying resting with Him, too. "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
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