For the praise of His glory: Progress

Classes were canceled on Friday for a teacher's retreat. We drove to a restaurant on Lake Yojoa about 45 minutes away, and a local pastor (the father of one of my 6th graders) gave a message on excellence. He said a lot of things that really spoke to me, but what I most remember is this quote: "Worry more about helping others feel good about themselves than helping them feel good about you." That one piece of advice brought me some much-needed perspective. I and a couple of other bilingual staff members were asked to help translate the message for the English-speaking teachers. I was chosen to start, but I didn't get tired of it, and no one offered to replace me, so I ended up translating the entire message, at least two hours. I really enjoyed it and received compliments from many of the English speakers.

Afterwards, we were served lunch, and then we had two hours to relax before heading home. I ended up talking with the pastor the whole time. It was a very uplifting conversation about the things of God and our life experiences. He told me several times that God has a ministry for me, and that he's confident God will bring me to a place where I am needed (I told him I don't think I'll be in Honduras after June 2011).

I've bee feeling very discouraged over the past few weeks, but God has been using things like this...affirmative words from others, Scriptures, songs, etc...to encourage me. And I feel encouraged for a little while, but there are some circumstances in my life that have me feeling very uncertain, and, well, discouraged. So please pray for my heart to be encouraged and for me to find the strength to choose joy and a positive attitude and to live above my circumstances.

Silvia, our school director, is feeling better. The infection in her lungs has cleared up, but she's still dealing with complications from the high doses of medications they've been giving her, so please continue to pray.

My principal plans to call a meeting on Monday afternoon with the mother of the student who has been seriously disrupting class. At the least, he will be suspended from school for eight days, since that is the next step in the school's discipline policy. Please pray for a resolution to these problems.

I've been given permission to leave my students with a sub while I go to the ear, nose, and throat doctor. I will pay, but the school will compensate me for the cost. God is faithful. Please pray for this issue with nose bleeds to be resolved quickly. I plan to go for the initial consult on Tuesday morning.

The picture below is of a note hidden between my papers by a student on a day I really needed encouragement :-)