Teachers Day

Thursday was Teachers Day, which is a day to publically recognize all the hard work that teachers do. Our day started with an assembly in which the students sang songs and presented gifts, hugs and kisses to show their appreciation for us. Later that day my year 13 class sang "Happy Teachers Day" to the tune of "Happy Birthday" to me and asked for a speech. I took that as an opportunity to tell them how much I have enjoyed teaching and mentoring them and that they have really touched my life. Afterwards, two of my students came up to me and asked me about HIV and premarital sex. It really blessed me to talk about absitenence with them and to see and hear from them that they appreciated it and felt comfortable talking to me about that.

Our school took the day off on Friday to celebrate Teachers Day. We piled into a bus at 8 AM and headed off to the beach for a picnic. Part of our budget included buying 3 crates of beer and 2 bottles of Bailey in which the alcoholics in the group began tapping into immediately. Needless to say the bus ride (which took about an hour) was pretty brutal - even with headphones on. They were extremely loud and very inconsiderate of the rest of the people on the bus. I was praying for patience the entire time. When we got to the beach house, the partying and noise continued. I couldn't help but want to get away, so I started walking and kept walking. I walked through Coconuts, Maninoa and Sinalei resorts. I picked up seashells and had some time with God. I came back about an hour and a half later and ate some oka, pig and taro. Candice and I decided to go for a swim in the rain, as we needed to get away from one of the drunk guys that was following us around and could barely speak because he was slurring so bad. We walked out to the ocean and could not find any water that was deeper than about a foot but we did find a sandbar and laid in the water like beached wales for a bit.

As hard as the day was when it came to dealing with the immature, obnoxious behavior, I was convicted that I needed to have compassion on my fellow staff members. They have an obvious drinking problem and I need to be more committed to pray for them and show them love. I am called to be in this world, not of this world. Jesus hung around the tax collectors, prositutes and other sinners. He rebuked the Pharisees and the ones that were self-rightous. I need to keep myself in check and make sure that I don't become like a Pharisee!