Integrity

Fun Stories: I have been praying that the Lord would bring a precious dog into my life that I could actually pet and play with (since Colombia has an abundance of dogs, yet none of whom I should really be playing with).  This past Friday, we had a teacher hang-out at a ECA family's house...and they had a dog!!!!!!  I got to spend almost a hour playing fetch and giving Goldie, their golden retriever, a belly rub.  God is so good :-)

God was also gracious to me to give me the opportunity to cliff jump off the side of the Andes Mountains!!!  Spending last weekend at Prado Lake in Tolima, Colombia was a much needed time of rest, swimming, and revelling in God's beautiful creation.

One of my student's families invited me to go to church with them this past Sunday :-)  What a blessing this was to spend time with her outside of school and to have a fun lunch together after church.  The families at ECA are so welcoming and hospitable :-) 

Integrity - "In missions, you are guaranteed to fail"  Roberto Green, our Missions Spot teacher.

Our theme this year at ECA is Integrity - living lives that are real, truthful, with character, without secrets, and living the same way whether someone sees what you are doing or not.  If we look at the life God calls us to, this can seem almost impossible to do.  "But just as He who calls you is holy, be holy in ALL you do. For in scripture it says, be holy because I am Holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16. 

In 1 Peter, God calls us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, and people that are to offer Him spiritual sacrifices.  "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (v 2:5)"  Peter goes on to say, "But, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may delcare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into wonderful light. (v 2:9)   How can we do this??  At times when we feel tired, angry, sad - how can we live lives that show our real struggles AND our desire to be more like Christ??  I must admit, I sometimes choose the easier road of covering up my sin.  Who would know, right?  God does :-)


Elementary Chapel - God has given me the role of being the Elementary Chapel Worship Leader!! Thankfully, God has prepared me for this role by having served in children's ministry with Wendi Serna for the past 5 years :-)  One song that I learned from her is "God Looks on the Heart."  These lyrics are great to meditate on and the kids at ECA have already been singing them loudly after learning them a week ago. 

I will be real like Jesus!

I will be set apart!

While other look on the outside

God looks on the heart!

My prayer is that these students would begin to grasp what it means for God to truly be looking on their character and not on their physical apperance or their social status (which is really important here in Colombia).  Please pray that I would follow God's leading in this new role, as I create an atmosphere that will teach these kids how to worship God.

 

A Yellow Canary named Joshie - During my plan period this week, I heard a noise that sounded like a little animal coming from one of my file cabinets.  As I slowly went over to peak, I pulled back a piece of cardboard and found a yellow bird sitting in a tiny cage!!  Relieved that it wasn't a mouse, like I originally thought, I quickly came up with a plan to find out which of my students brought a bird to school.  As my students came back in from PE, they found me sitting at table with the bird by my side.  Very excitedly, I began to tell them that I had found a new pet bird!  I continued on for about 5 minutes about how wonderful this new bird was, how I was going to take it home and name it Joshie (my students decided to name the bird after my nephew!!), and how I couldn't believe a bird just happend to be in our classroom.  A few of my students asked if I was really going to take the bird home ( I guess I was a really good actress!!)  Finally, one of the student's confessed that it was their bird, probably because they were worried I would take it home :-)  I pulled that student aside and talked with him about hiding the bird.  He denied that he tried to hide it, even thought there was plenty of time for him to have shown me his pet bird at the start of school.  I asked if he remembered what we had talked about in Chapel the day before - Were you showing Integrity by hiding your bird?  We prayed together and asked God to help both of us be honest and live lives of integrity, like Jesus did.

 

 

Integrity.  To be holy and set apart. To be a chosen people, a priesthood offering sacrifices to God.  Our calling as believers is to show integrity because God is Integrity.  What a calling we have, my brothers and sisters!!

 

 

Prayer Requests:

• The language barrier is hard.  Trying to build relationships with ECA families, spanish speaking staff, and people at the churches I have been attending are proving harder than I thought with my spanish abilities.  Please pray that the Lord would show me that His love, grace, and mercy that connects the body of believers would transcend the language barriers I am feeling :-)
• That God would strengthen my belief in his gifting me to teach - sometimes, it's just plain hard to feel like you are doing an adequate job!!!  I truly love my class and want to be the best teacher I can be for them, so I am depending on the Lord daily :-)
• That ECA would find a High School Social Studies Teacher - we need someone very soon!!!!!
• Pray for Parent/Teacher Open House that is this coming Friday, August 31th!  I get to meet and talk with the parents for the first time.  I am excited, and nervous, to finally get a chance to begin partnering with the parents for their child's education and spiritual growth :-)

Because they haven't heard,
Carrie