After glancing back over some of my latest posts, I realized that they are lacking in the good, juicy details of everyday life here in Mexico. I suppose these posts simply reflect the tendency of my thoughts: high, floaty, idealistic, and pondering, not grounded in details whatsoever. So, for the benefit of readers that might be wondering a little more about what life looks, smells, tastes, sounds, and feels like for an English teacher here in Parral, I’ll try to put my observation and writing skills to work and describe it for you in part. Of course, I'll probably tack on some of my floaty ponderingness just to keep things realistic. :)
In case you didn’t know, I live a house with three other twenty-something guys: David, Jorge, and Mica. I’m in the process of writing an entry about the details of my fellowship and interaction with these great fellas, so anticipate more good stuff to come about them later. For right now, just know that they’re incredible brothers, and I love them.
Our house is pretty sweet. We’re still in the midst of trying to acquire more niceties to make our home more homey, but at the moment, we’re quite blessed with everything we could need and then some. Our pastor’s wife gave us a complete living room set to use, along with a hideaway couch, a coffeemaker, a coffee table, an end table, and a lamp. Yeah, she pretty much furnished our whole house. I’m still trying to decide whether I’m more excited about the living room set or the coffeemaker. :)
School is going well right now. I teach 4 classes a day on Monday and Wednesday, and 5 classes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I confess that sometimes it’s still difficult to feel excited about teaching English (especially to my nutty 4th graders, chatty 9th graders, and apathetic 10th graders), but let me tell you, I find it hard not to be excited about teaching my 12th grade History class. This fact encourages me that I could still find a career in teaching someday.
We arrive at the school to teach at 7 am, and classes end at 2 pm, although we don’t really leave the school until close to 3, because all the students have to be picked up by the parents before we can leave. Thus, school is a large part of the day. This is my first real full-time job, and I’m finding it interesting how much I am falling into the “Well, this is just my job: I’ll do what I have to do, and then I’m outta here!” mentality. I enjoy coming home and relaxing, and then start dreading having to go teach the next morning. This basically means that I’m “just getting by” for 35-40 hours of the week, waiting until I can go home and not think about school.
Pretty lousy attitude, huh? God is using this mentality to show me how stinkin’ selfish and lazy I am. Towards the end of the school day, all I can think about is how David and I are going to get home (since we don’t have a car, and rely on friends for rides most of the time), and what we are going to eat for lunch. I only do the work that I have to do, I don’t think about how I can improve my teaching techniques, I resent my fellow teachers when I feel like they are “outperforming” me, and I although I teach my classes sufficiently, I usually only do it because I have to, not because I want my students to learn. Ugh. Lousy.
Seeing all this crap in myself makes me come to God feeling guilty, insufficient, and below the standard. So I read the Bible to feel better and try to “gain points” with God. Then I read verses like this:
He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Perfect truth and perfect life. Completely right and sufficient in the sight of God. Being made into the very nature of the holy Father Himself. His blameless life traded in exchange for my rotten core. All in the Son, Jesus Christ.
Paul’s right. That IS something to boast about.
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4 comments:
Hey, I finally got a blog so I can leave a comment here instead of on facebook. YAY!;0)
I really enjoyed reading about the "good, juicy details" of everyday life in Mexico. It seems that God has really blessed you with a good living situation and a COFFEEmaker!Thank you God for coffee and the pastor's wife...she's awesome! ;0)
All I can say to the last part of the blog is AMEN!! Let's boast in Christ the one worthy of all the glory!
Um, I vote for the coffeemaker over the living room set.
As life in India proves, sitting on the room can be managed...but the divorce from my morning cup of goodness is drastically more painful.
Good to have some more details of your life! :)
ditto - thanks for more info on your daily life. I loved your last post too. probably cause I'm feeling alot of the same things...and you quoted me :-). all my holiness points have now been taken away because I said that. awesome. :-)
Ahh, Billy. There's some good stuff there, but I kept thinking, "How can you be kind to yourself?"
For some reason, we're so difficult on ourselves, and then every once in a while, we get a glimpse of God's kindness to us - it's overwhelming, it's relieving, and it's liberating.
What would it look like for you to be kind to yourself also?
you know, if I could hang out with Okada when I went home, I'd be dying to get back too!
Tell him Hello for me, and let him know that I've been hanging out with Luke Abernathy (he's also at Mars Hill) and he showed me "Attack, Goats, Attack." All I have to say is, "brilliant. Oscar-worthy."
Hang in there. I miss you.
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