Welcome Fall

So I realized today that it has been almost a month since my last blog....booo! I'm sorry ya'll. I guess life has gotten busier than expected. I was doing really good at the beginning sending out weekly updates. Let's hope I can get back in the habit of that soon! Also, it has cooled off and feeling somewhat like fall! Whoo hoo, I love Georgia in the fall and this is easing my little longing for the south!

Over the past month we have been preparing for AL BEIT! This year we have started Al Beit Jr. It's for the 6-8th graders and it's run more like a youth group! I have the privilege of organizing it weekly. It has been a blast! Tomorrow will be our 3rd week of having it. Sorry I haven't shared sooner, i'm trying to get a video posted, but it's taking forever. So hopefully I'll email you the link to the video soon, but I have included some photos! Each week we have had more and more kids come to hang out, worship, and pray. The past two weeks I have shared and tomorrow Joey Cantavati (former student) will be sharing his testimony and tying into Romans 12:2. This summer, I really felt that God wanted our students to understand Romans 12, and know what it means to live our lives like Romans 12 says. So each week, we're taking a verse and diving into it's meaning and asking "What does this look like in the life of a middle schooler?" I've enjoyed it and I hope that the students are getting something out of it. Later, we'll be focusing on outreach and teaching the kids to take an active role in their community.

Other than that, it's been school. I feel like I'm learning a lot about what it means to be a teacher. A teacher is so much more than an educator. A teacher is a friend, a mentor, a role-model, and just someone who cares! I'm trying to really be cautious of what all I'm pouring into my student's lives. While I do want to give them a good education and improve their skills, also I want to help teach them character lessons as well. I want them to know how to be trustworthy, honest, humble, and compassionate. I want them to want to please God with all they do and say. I want the core of their being to be Christ. My prayer is that they are seeing Him in me.

I'm having problems with one of my students this year. I'll call him GTK! He is having learning issues as well as language issues. He's not ready to be a 5th grader mentally. We are kinda lost on what to do for him. We cant send him back to 4th grade because his brother is there. We cant send him to even a lower grade (because he's around 3rd grade level) because of his size and ridicule of the children. Therefore, he needs constant tutoring. We have a JUC student coming in on Wednesdays to help him for 2 hours, then Thursday and Saturday I take him out during one of my free periods. This still isn't enough. He is not comprehending what he is hearing in class. He needs someone to sit beside him and explain it on a lower level. That we do not have. So please pray for open doors for maybe a special education teacher and God's will in this situation. We all need a lot of wisdom on how to help this student succeed.

 I would also like to share a first. On Tuesday I was invited over to a former student's house. We had a very "special" meal called kershat. Basically, it's the intestines filled with rice and meat. Not what i would picture as appetizing. I wasn't looking forward to it. I've had chitterlings before and couldnt get past the smell, so I figured this wasn't going to turn out nice. I was very surprised. There was no smell and I enjoyed it. The family took days, days preparing and cleaning the food! I was glad that I got to enjoy it with them!