The Mirror of "Error-Said"

In the Harry Potter series, one of the many magical artifacts mentioned is the "Mirror of Erised," which shows the person looking into it the deepest dreams of their hearts (note that "erised" is "desire" spelled backwards). When Harry, the orphan, looks into it, he sees himself standing between his loving parents. I wonder what my students would see when they look into this mirror, especially when they're in my classroom. I imagine that it would not be them sitting in their seats and learning. The title of this post is the "Mirror of 'Error-Said'," though, and you'll see why at the first point below:

• Though many students desire to refute the consistency of biblical claims, they claim logic has value. None has yet told whence this value comes, and few have proven they known what the word even means. Another student, though, is my favorite for inconsistency. She is a Hindu, and her father owns Burger King.
• Amy's class had a pow-wow on Friday. They studied different Amerindian tribes and had the option of bringing in food or dressing like their group. One student, who researched the Anasazi, was fully prepared to wear only a towel in the classroom, and though he was persuaded to put the towel on over his pants, he managed to put up enough of a fight to be able to enjoy the in-class festivities without a shirt. Ah, youth.
• Amy's birthday is coming up soon (October 9)!

That's all for now, folks. Oh, and Zach, per your comment, IAS is a Christian school. The old City of Man's just opposed to City of God. Shame.

Blithe to Help Me

"But I am no beggar; I look for no favors at your hands, and I want none that are not freely given.  For as poor as I appear, I have friends of my own that will be blithe to help me."   

 -Robert Louis Stevenson, in Kidnapped.

Oh, the joy of a little connection with David Balfour, the protagonist of the above-mentioned classic.  What a babe.

Updates:

• A representative of a delegation of parents was sent to the director of the International Academy of Suriname in order to assure that "less Bible would be taught during high school history classes."  It was with a subdued expression and an admittedly pleased-with-himself air that these words were received by the teacher of said classes.  This is the connection with David Balfour:  no matter the trouble with parents, the opportunities presented are freely presented from God or directly asked by the kids, and I've a Friend who is "blithe to help me."
• The wall behind Amy's desk is decorated with gifts from students that contain mis-spelled messages of adoration, affection, and admiration.  She had a long talk with one student today about putting effort into his work, and the outcome was that he wanted more reading homework.
• We're both still trying to figure out how best to help out those students who either don't care or just don't get it.  There are poor English speakers added in, and it's just tough for them.
• There's still not much sign of any young men around my age who speak English, so feel free to throw up a second or two long prayer about that.

We appreciate everyone reading.  We love hearing from you.  "Streams in the desert" and all that.

Tigers and Troubles

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? -Blake. A little update on what's going on in our world: Amy's teaching about endangered and extinct species in social studies, and she had a little surprise.  One of her students loves the species of the tiger.  Adores the tiger.  Admires the tiger hugely.  The tiger, however, is an endangered species.  He did not like this fact.  No, he deplored it.  Indeed, it sent him into despair, and he began to weep, wondering, no doubt, if the tiger would, one day, no longer be able to burn bright. Conner's Bible class today entailed a twenty minute discussion on whether or not it is worth getting saved.  After explaining that Jesus has given us back the freedom we had in Eden, to choose God or death, the students were in an uproar because God didn't appear in the sky and show Himself bodily to them.  Conner tried to respond calmly, but they wouldn't accept history, logic, or the faith of others as a basis for believing.  He thought to himself, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!"  The Resurrection's the proof; they've all admitted it's possible and maybe even likely, but they just won't accept it. We're getting some of our furniture reupholstered. That's all for now.  Enjoy the anecdotes; pray for the protagonists.

Missions, Monkeys, and Mediocrity

John 9:4-5 reads:

"As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Working full-time is funny after being in college for four years and only having to do full-time work in the summers, when I saw the end clearly.  I always liked that, seeing the end.  It was nice in cross-country, and I think it's pretty nice in life.  Our Sabbath's coming, and it'll last a lot longer than the time when we're doing the work.  So here we are in Suriname, trying to do the work we've got while we're still around, because not only is Jesus the light of the world; he call's us the light of the world, too (Matthew 5).

Some updates that pertain to our work here:

• A monkey was playing on the power lines outside of school last week, and he received a physical and metaphorical shock.  We got to see the little beggar, and he was having a little trouble walking straight.  He also put the power out for the school that night, which happened to be "Meet The Teacher Night."  It had a dimly-lit, intimate atmosphere.
• We've learned all sorts of new recipes, from eggplant parmesan to chicken soup with rice, and it's been a real nice thing to be able to eat food that we find appealing to our taste.  The Indonesian food here is also quite delectable, and we'd love to introduce you when you come to visit.
• Youth Group starts up Friday night, so both of us will be helping out with that.  I guess that the youth group at Calvary Baptist in Dayton wasn't the stopping point.  Too bad Andrew Glines isn't here.

That's all for now.  We'd love some prayer about keeping hard at our job.  I, Conner, have figured out how to scrape by, due to some technical malfunctions, and I'd like not to be using my fall-back plans for everything.  We both have students who are struggling, as well as some who are excelling, so if you could pray that our teaching will be for everyone of them, that'd be great.