Monday, March 21, 2011

Joys & Tests

A couple of weeks ago I attended a ladies' conference at my church and we went through Beth Moore's "Loving Well" study. Something that I really absorbed from the conference was a certain way that Beth classifies the people we love and should love:
  • "Joy"
  • "Testy"
  • "Foe"
  • "Far"
She describes the "Joy" category as those
who are a joy to love, people we just love to love. The "Testy" people are a little harder to love and really grind on our nerves and frustrations. Our "Foes" are those that seem absolutely impossible to love. And those who are "Far" are people who don't even fall onto our personal radars, strangers.

We talked during the conference about how these categories can sometimes 'mesh' together. For example, you might have some people in your life that fall into the "Joy" category and the "Testy" category at different times in your life, or even in the same day. ^^



So, I've developed a new formula: "Joy" + "Testy" = "Jesty".

Meet some of my current "Jesties":


My Monday, Wednesday, Friday 4:00pm class. They've been with me now two weeks and I promise you that the first day they walked through my classroom doors they spoke not a word of English! Although I specialize in teaching beginning ESL, it is customary for the students that I teach to at least be familiar with the ABCs. Not so with these youngsters!

I was asked about a week before receiving this class to take these students out of desperation. To make a long story short, our one Korean teacher at our Center (she's a fantastic teacher) has a completely full schedule at the moment. Therefore, these students--who really need to study with a Korean teacher and learn the basics before they're ready to move to a class with a native English teacher (me)--were without a teacher.

Manager: Ferial, what can we do with these students?
Ferial: I really don't know, what are our options?
Manager: Well, I need you to teach them.
Ferial: WHAT? I'm not a Korean teacher!
Manager: I know. But I know you speak Korean pretty well. And we will only have you teach them until we can hire another Korean teacher...

So, here I am. Two weeks down with these kids and although they do test me and grind at my frustrations like crazy, they truly are a joy. Praise God for that! The class is extremely hard to teach (I teach it in 80% Korean) and it zaps all of my energy, but the students are so refreshing.

But, if you ever happen to think of me on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday around 4:oopm, lift up a prayer on my behalf, OK? ^^

2 comments:

  1. Well said Friend. Those children are blessed beyond measure to have drawn you as their teacher. They will never forget you Ferial. You will be a part of their conscious memory for the rest of their lives.

    ReplyDelete

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