June 7- Mrs. Justice's Day Off

After a very busy day, Mrs. Justice needs some rest. So, unfortunately, the blog has to fall into the hands of an irresponsible, and exhausted, teenager. Or two. In this case, William and Daniel.

We started off the day with another amazing breakfast at the house, and hoped in vain that the coffee would provide inspiration for the day. Once we got to school and resumed teaching, Daniel and I experienced some of the same difficulties that we had the day before. The students were dead-set on convincing us that they didn't understand a lick of English, and many seemed generally disinterred in everything we had to say. We were memorizing 1 Timothy 4:12, which says, "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." A few students genuinely tried to memorize the verse, but even they were far from focused on the meaning of the verse. After I tried to explain it to them (failing partly due to the language barrier, but mostly due to lack of attention), I recognized that they didn't understand the importance of knowing Scripture by heart. Of course, I have been in their seats many times, and for a long time, I did not recognize the importance either.

*passes computer to Daniel*

William shared a story (with the help of a translator) from his life to try to impress on them the eternal importance of this seemingly futile activity. This story caused a profound change in their attitudes towards us. I'm not sure exactly what part of the story caused this change, but perhaps it allowed the students to connect with us better than before. In any case, the kids seemed much more enthusiastic afterwards. We began preparation for an egg drop experiment, and the students were really into it. We should have more information along with pictures/videos later in the week.

After school, we worked on a house for a family who lost their home in the earthquake on the coast. We mainly painted the interior of the house and moved old wood and trash away from the house.

We also went to Pim's, a really nice restaurant, and the food was incredible. I'm sure there is more I could say about the day, but it is practically impossible to condense the hectic events of the day into a tiny blog post, especially at 12:53 AM. I hope everyone is doing well back home, and please keep us in your prayers.

Quote of the Day: "The nuggiest nug to ever nug!" - Maggie Leigh (On Santiago, a student)

Henry steps on a nail.
His mom's response: "Did you do this just this just to get new shoes?"

Daniel and Maggie Leigh enjoying themselves while everyone else is hard at work.

The home-repair crew with Ivan, who will be living in the house

Emma with "The Nuggetsss!"

Totally did not exceed the capacity of this van...