I Don’t Know When or If It Will Get Back To “Normal”

Buses are running at 50% capacity but they’re not running between departments. The government has officially announced the airport will be opening on September 18th. Anyone entering the country will have to present a negative Covid test taken within the last 72 hours or they’ll have to take a test when they arrive. There will be a Covid clinic set up at the airport.

The ministry has changed and I don’t know when or if it will get back to “normal”. The last 4 months have given us a chance to look at what we’ve done, what we can change and how we can do more.

We’re teaching the 9th grade boys 4 days a week (2 hours a day), doing our best to prepare them for high school.  They take work home every day and go over it during their next class. 

We’re teaching the 7th and 8th graders once a week and giving them packets of work to do at home as well.

We’re feeding the community but have scaled back a little. We’re feeding the most vulnerable; the elderly, widows, single moms, and the most poor.

Two things I’m SUPER excited about:

1. Researching and better understanding the 10/40 Window. If you’re not familiar with the 10/40 Window, 2/3 of the world’s population lives in that pocket of the world. Of those, an estimated 1.6 billion people have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not even once! I’m excited to see how God leads me through this. I’ll be sharing what I learn on a new Facebook page The Matthew 28 Project and I’m sure I’ll be sharing some of that here as well.

2. I’m also studying how we can make our middle school better. After almost 4 years, I’m learning that many kids in Guatemala who graduate from High School are not prepared to get a job.  I recently read that “In 10 years, roughly 2/3 of (American) students will be doing work that hasn’t been invented yet.”  WHAT???

The world is changing, maybe faster than ever. EDUCATION is changing right along with it. What if we could teach kids here to get some of those jobs???

In order for that to happen, we need to:

a. Teach them to understand and better navigate the internet so they can explore the world around them.
b. Teach them to find their passion.
c. Teach them to be creators.
d. Teach them to share what they learn and create. “Who can you share this with?” “How can you share it with the world?”
e. Teach them to express themselves. Especially with writing. “You can move minds with your fingertips.” David Perell.  “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ~ Maya Angelou
f. Help them learn to love reading. “Books were my path to personal freedom. I learned to read at age 3 and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.” Oprah Winfrey