Late Night Jam Session!

I got together with some students last night to have a late night jam session in my apartment!

Some people would say I am a little busy...

No joke this is actually my schedule for everyday: (I know a bit busy, no time for meals)
Drum Lessons:8-9
Teaching English Writing: 9-2:00
Drum Lessons : 2:30-3:30
Basketball: 3:30-5:30
Devotions: 6-7:00
Choir Practice: 7:30- 8:30

I’m super super stoked to tell yall about the ways I will be spending my time here. Even though the first week I felt awkward and scared and out of place, I’m so happy to say that I feel like God has put me exactly where I am to do just that. As you may know I am a man of many talents. I’m not amazing at anything but descent at most things. God knows what I like to do and put me right among people that need it.

The first week I was here I met students and teachers playing basketball after school. They had only played for two months about twice a week. But were eager to learn more, from the American, when I came. I am the tallest (which is nothing like in America) and the best at dribbling. So fast forward two weeks. BM, a teacher, and I have been holding scrimmages and drills 5 or 6 days a week for about 2 hours.  We opened it up to whoever wants to learn basketball so we are now at about 50 guys. Such an opportunity to use the talents God has given me and really get close to some of the students through one of my favorite things to do sports. We recently took 20 of the most interested players to a neighboring school called, Salt Brook. It was an awesome time where we taught them basketball and taught us all “handball”, which none of us had played. It was a sweet time to travel and hang with the guys. You can see pictures of me and the basketball boys at Salt Brook below. Oh and by the way their whole school was watching everyone learn the sports…. So that was about 500 or more fans cheering on both teams.

Drums are the next big thing we have planned. A drum set was purchased with the support of Khen Tombing’s ministry. Next week drums lessons start where I will be teaching two students at a time. Some of them will come before school and different ones will come after, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the days I’m not teaching the students I will be teaching, BM, one of the teachers. That way when I leave drumming can be passed on. The plan is to start a band with some of these drummers and some guitarists from the school. Pictured below are three of the students I will be teaching, they helped me put the drums together. I’m super stoked to see some good relationships be built on this one- on- one type teaching!

The church choir has also asked me to sing with them. I am no singer but I am here to do whatever God asks. I now sing in choir every night after devotions. Sometimes if I find myself building good relationships at the hostel that night I skip choir because building relationships with the kids is more important. But the choir practice a couple times this week has been a good way to connect with fellow teachers that are in the choir.

Teaching is an amazing opportunity. It’ll be a good chance to get to know some younger students and build relationships with teachers. You knows maybe I’ll even magically get better at English while I’m here.

The last big opportunity God has given me is the Integrated home. It is referred to here as the “Hostel”. It is a home of about 60 kids that live away from their families to go to Rayburn School. Every night they have devotions and worship time and they love music and love to scream out the lyrics to our American worship songs. I have recently brought my cajon (box drum) and have played it many nights the last few weeks. And a couple of the drummers, I will teach, have already picked it up and played during devotions themselves. They love me banging on it and making plenty of noise, so they can worship even louder. The leader of the hostel asked me to share a little speech every night, so this will be a good chance to connect with the kids. Being around these kids is all about being a good example and being intentional about the Gospel when I speak every night at devotions.

But I can’t do any of these things without prayer behind me.

-Pray that as I’m surrounding myself with these people that I will be a good example, I will be mature, and I will reflect Jesus as much as I can, in everything I do.
-Pray that as challenges come I will see them as ways to grow and see them as new opportunities to become a better man of God. And When I see things that make me uncomfortable, I will be brave just as 2^nd Timothy says.
-Pray that as this crazy busy lifestyle continues for the next months I will stay healthy physically and aslo find time to fill myself up in personal devotion time

Don’t forget to check out the pictures!!! Thanks for reading.

 The basketball team. (I didn't get the memo about not smiling)

 The Salt Brook and Rayburn High athletes and coaches.

 The first drum students.

 The crowd having a good time.

Everyone wanted to shake our hands.

Getting to talk to the Principal of Salt Brook about his school.

Wanna know what your financial support is going toward?

Be looking, this Friday, for another update about what opportunities the Lord is blessing me with. 

A hint on one of the opportunities below.

The drum set has arrived.

Check it Out!!

I could go through every day and tell you about everything I’ve done and every single person I have met, but that may get a little boring. I just want to share with you on this blog basically what challenges have come my way and what major things God has taught me through them.

 On the 5^th of August I started the long journey to Lampka. The trip took me five flights to get to my final destination at the Imphal Airport. The travels here were smooth, besides a couple long layovers and sketchy airports. In the end I am here safe, so all is good. Little did I know, was the first week here may be one of the hardest. That first week God was ready to totally throw me out of my comfort zone right away. And boy was I not prepared. Everything about that first week here seemed a bit awkward and weird. I was suddenly in a place that I didn’t know anyone and realized that I would be here for the next four months. The change that came the first week made me miss home and not feel like I belong at all. The food, the people, the culture, the language, was all different and I wasn’t sure if I liked it.

On my first full day in Lamka I met the vice principal of the school he took me to a class and introduced me. I thought this was nice until I noticed that there was no other teacher and he said, “I’ll be back in forty minutes”. Talk about being out of my comfort zone. I was now standing in front of eighty or more kids staring at me, ready for a forty minute speech about me. It’s funny how God knows where you are uncomfortable and weak, and challenges you to make you stronger. The rest of the first week was just like that class, I spoke in many more classes that day and the next. That Friday I was even a substitute teacher for an English class. Let me remind you this was still on my third day here. That first weekend me and Khen Tombing (the man I am staying with, who is the headmaster of the school) were talking to the vice principal about what I was going to teach this semester. Before coming on this trip my parents and I always joked that they would probably change what I’m teaching when I got here. So who would've guessed, that since God has such a funny sense of humor, he would change me from teaching math (my strongest subject) to English(my weakest subject). As you can tell from the simple grammar and spelling mistakes just in this blog that God once again saw where I was weak and is challenging me. (By the way the reason I am doing English is because even though I am not the best by my standards, I still have by far the best pronunciation and grammar just because English is my native language.) Also as many of you who read the other blog post know I was sick this past week which was a very challenging time because being sick in a foreign country, with not many people you know around you, is very scary. This was another time where I felt alone and afraid. This being only a week into the trip also made me feel out of place and scared.

All those changes and challenges seemed horrible at the time. But every challenge soon was over and now I can reflect and see what God has shown me through them. These challenges I have faced just in these two weeks have shown me that I can’t do this alone. I feel that God wanted me to be so sick that I would have to literally cry out for His help to stop the sickness. He showed me that He controls everything around me, my health, my safety, how comfortable I am, etc. I feel like He put me in front of the class to challenge me to be brave for His name. He put me there because He doesn't want a follower who is scared.
I see these little trials that God has thrown at me, and at first, I am scared for 4 more months of this. But 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power love and discipline.” So now I must look toward this trip with a spirit ready to take on whatever God calls me to do. This trip is mainly about sharing God’s love, but also I came here to make myself into more of the man God wants me to be.

Please just pray for me to be ready to be in tough situations.
Pray that I won’t be scared to talk in front of lots of people.
Pray that God will continue to make this a tough trip to improve me.
Pray that I will be brave when I need to meet new people.
Pray that God will make me uncomfortable.

Thank you for reading and for the support! Be looking for another big update next week about some cool opportunities God is already starting in basketball, drums, and leading some devotions! 

Thanks for the Prayer!

I am feeling better and was back to work teaching in the school today. Thank you everyone for the prayer and support!
Be looking this coming weekend for my first big update about what has been happening here these first two weeks!

I hate for this to be my first post on my blog. But I have been sick the past 24 hours. Being sick is never any fun, but being sick in a foreign country on a trip by yourself isn't on the top of my list of favorite things to do. Nothing would help more than some prayer for this to go away so I can start teaching tomorrow. Thanks.