Lesson #2 Recognizing what you don't know

My first trip to Haiti was so that I could pass on my knowledge about teaching to about 20 Haitian teachers.  I was armed with books, markers, paper and exciting teaching supplies.   On the first day I realized that teachers were just not as excited about my lessons as I thought they would be.  It didn't take long for me to realize that my teaching strategies just didn't make since to them.

That night in bed I prayed all night.  I asked many things and at the top of the list was "Why am I here?"  I explained to God that they just don't understand anything I am trying to teach them.  I cried out to him asking what I was suppose to do?  In the early morning before the sun came up and before the roosters started crowing outside my window, I once again reminded God that these teachers were like beginning teachers.  No, they were even farther back than that.  They were like those college students that really don't know any more about teaching than it is a desire in their heart.  God said to me, "Then start them at the beginning.  What did you learn in the beginning?"  

Well, I probably wasn't the best student in college, but I do remember learning about Bloom's Taxonomy and the levels of thinking.  Yes, that is it!  These teachers teach at the knowledge level only.  I got up around 4 o'clock so that I could get on the computer in the office.  I added a couple of slides to my PowerPoint about the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.  

All of the teachers arrive, take a seat and look at me with blank faces.  I could almost hear them thinking, "I hope she says something that makes sense today".  I nervously started talking about the levels of knowledge and thinking.  I wish I could tell you what all I said, but I firmly believe I was just saying what God placed in my mouth.  Teachers began to sit up.  I saw some smiles.  Excited conversations among the teachers and my translator would sometimes go on for 15 minutes.  This information was all new to them, but because they had the heart of a teacher, they recognized this as something valuable.  We spent the next 3 days talking about what I will forever now call "Taxonomie de Bloom".  I added some activities that I had originally planned and together the teachers discussed where these activities fit on Taxonomie de Bloom.  

At the end of my last day each teacher stood and prayed for me.  Then they each told me how much this training meant to them.  With tears, they begged me to come back and teach them more.  They recognized that there was much that they didn't know.     

My lesson:  I thought I knew how to train these teachers because I knew more about teaching than they had.  But, I didn't know what I didn't know.  Praise God, He knew what I didn't know and when I went to him, he had the answer and filled me in.  

John 14:26

26 But the Helper, (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in My name, (in my place, to represent Me and act on My behalf), He will teach you all things.  And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.

Lesson #1: Never say Never

I am not sure lessons are really ever completely learned.  As a teacher I think one should always be learning.  Learning is exciting and can push you to places you never dreamed you could go.    I am so thankful that my teacher is the ultimate teacher, Jesus Christ.  He is a patient teacher and has worked with me for years.  But, the way he has chosen to work with me as I journey into serving in Haiti has been full of wonderful and miraculous lessons.  I will attempt to write about each of the lessons that Jesus has allow me to be a part of.



Please tell me that I am not the only student who has had to learn this lesson the hard way.  This lesson started in the summer of 2008.  My husband and I were on our way to our first mission trip in Puerto Rico.  At the last moment Buddy Phipps joined our trip because his trip to Haiti had been cancelled due to unrest in the country.  Buddy had been to Haiti before and was disappointed he could not go again.

So, being curious, and one who loves to talk, I asked Buddy about Haiti.  He describe visiting a family that lived in what could only be described as a small tin hut.  No electricity, no water,  very little furniture and even less food.  As he talked, and I pictured this impoverished country, I had the thought "Who would go to Haiti?  It sounds like a horrible place".  Then came the thought that now days makes me shake my head and grin, "I would NEVER go to Haiti!".

And I didn't go to Haiti....for 3 years.  Yeah, I didn't stick to that resolve for very long.  God changed my heart about Haiti without me even know it.  I never asked to have a heart for Haiti, but God had that plan for me and began to prepare me.

One day two missionaries from Haiti visited our church and told us that they desperately needed training for their teachers.  Suddenly God allowed me to see Haiti as a place that had teachers and students rather than a horrible place of unknown people.  I tried to put together a trip to Haiti, but it just never worked out.  After a few months I felt that pull again so I planned a trip to this country that seemed so far away and a little scary to me.

Our group began to make plans to arrive in May of 2010.  In January of 2010 Haiti had its largest earthquake.  Many people said what I was already thinking, "Well, I guess we can't go now".   Sometimes I get kind of complacent in my prayer time.  I am very sincere in what I tell God, but I just don't expect him to talk back me as I pray.  God, like many of my family members, probably wishes I would just stop talking so he can say what he wants to say.  (that  blog lesson is for a later time) So I was quite shocked when I prayed about our trip and I told God all of the reasons we couldn't go now, but God very plainly said to me, "Now is when they need you most".  Well, okay then..... the trip is on.  We booked our flight, went to Haiti and did a week long teacher workshop 4 months after the earthquake.

My first lesson:  Never say never to God.  I went to a place I said I would never go to and I left a bit of my heart there.  God taught me that he can change the desires of my heart.  You don't have to ask for the change, he just knows his plans for you and prepares you for them.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."