little heart to hearts!

So in the spirit of Valentines Day I thought I would share some heart to hearts that I have had with my students lately. To be honest I haven't really had chances to skype with anyone back home in a while and I don't always like to talk to the teachers here about school because we live and breathe it all day. So I have been treasuring these things up in my heart for a while and I feel the need to write them down and share them to encourage myself in a way and to help others know what is going on so they can remind, look how God is working! To share a little of MY heart first I am starting to get discouraged and my focus is getting divided. I just experienced a really hard issue with a friend at home that I don't think I handled correctly and she didn't take the time to understand my feelings either. To top that off I think I am running myself ragged, I'm so tired and there is just no break in sight and my students and I are getting in that very comfortable place where it is easy but I also get very very very easily annoyed with them. I like change and I am looking forward to next year. God has to keep reminding me to keep my focus in the present...one day at a time. Anyways, all this to say that even in all this attack my heart has been experiencing, God has allowed me to have truly precious times with my students that I just want to share.
***Fuji*** This student makes me smile. He is SO smart and So intelligent. The way he thinks and acts, he is every teacher's dream. I went through a stage where I struggled with him as my teacher's pet but I truly love him so much and his heart is so big. The other day in tutoring all of a sudden he began to cry because he doesn't have any friends. The other boys in the class like football (soccer for you Americans! :)) and Yugi cards and legos and Fuji likes to read. He doesn't fit in because they don't enjoy the same things. He just said he was so sad that no one wanted to be his friend. I told him about how I went through a similar thing in school and he asked me what helped me and at that time in my life was when Jesus became real and became my best friend and it was so neat to see how a time of such loneliness for me as a child could be used to minister to a little hurting boy on the other side of the world years later. He told me that he was going to start praying to Jesus whenever he felt alone to see if it made him feel better.
***Winnie***If I had to have a favorite it would be Winnie. This girl is so so precious to me. I almost want to hold her back just so I can have her again. She is so shy and quiet but when it is just the two of us in the room its unbelievable how she transforms. This week I spoke in chapel about how we have to clean up our hearts. If we put garbage into our hearts, that is what comes out of them. After school, Winnie came into my room and said that sometimes she says bad words because she knows she puts that garbage into her heart with the movies and music she listens to. She said that she wanted to try to clean up her heart so bad words wouldn't come out. Its a start! She is listening in chapel and trying to apply the things to her life!
***Folk*** Oh this child! He has been the concern from the start! He is the boy who brought in all those weapons to school, he is the child who I was contemplating over holding back or not, he is the lowest in everything and gives the least effort, AND has the scary guardian to boot! But I don't know what happened---these past 2 weeks I LOVE him. He has started to finally feel comfortable around me and he is so funny and he tries to talk to me. Yes our conversations are short and it is mostly me trying to speak Thai to him and him trying to speak English back but I LOVE him! This week we have been learning a verse that talks about how good words need to come out of our mouths. He has an enemy in the class and I always have to make sure I seat them on opposite sides of the room, never put them in partners or even groups that are next to each other on the mats. We spent the one morning brainstorming nice things he could say to this "friend" in our class and he said one of them today! I know that that does not seem like a big step but it was just a milestone for Folk!
   Even in writing this blog post I feel blessed to work with these students. I am looking forward to next year and all the personality that class with bring, but this class is a blessing and I feel grateful for the opportunity to work with and teach them. Just if you think about pray that I would focus more on Thailand and my work here and not get distracted by things at home. The devil dividing my focus now is one of the best tools that he has against me!