Thursday was the first time I noticed considerable frustration while working at the school. I feel it could have been a culmination of a few things. I was feeling kind of sick, the kids had a day off school recently, the strike is still going on and the kids have probably been getting a lot of indoor time. Thursday I felt like I didn’t really know what to do though. I felt like I had almost lost control of the group. Kids were running around everywhere and weren’t listening. It’s the most non responsive I’ve experienced the kids being since starting to work at the school.

There were some bright spots in the group though. I had shared a devotional with the first group of 5^th graders and they seemed somewhat responsive. The group had been generally out of control and I didn’t know how they would handle the devotion for the day. The fifth grade group left and they were followed by a group of fourth and sixth grade classes and they were the most non-responsive group I’ve had yet. I felt a lot of frustration because it seemed like they just did not want to listen. It was getting towards the end of the session and the kids had been so wild I figured they would not be receptive to listening to a devotional. So I was planning on just letting them run around for the remainder of the time. That being until Nomthandazo, a girl in the 6^th grade class, asked me, “We aren’t going to have a Bible story today?”

It was so encouraging to me that there was at least somebody in the group that cared. After hearing that I was obviously compelled to sit everyone down and tell them the story for the day, even if only one person was listening. I shared with them the story of God parting the Red Sea for the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt. The kids took a pretty good interest in the devotional for the day though. As usual I opened it up for questions and there were a few kids that asked some good questions. One kid even asked me the meaning behind the word “Yahweh”.

It has been a challenge this week with the different things that have interrupted or caused a disturbance at school. The strike is still going on so the school is a bit on edge and attendance has taken a dip as well. On days that weather is not as great either, many kids do not generally come to school since they would have to walk in the rain. Today it has been raining really hard and the office staff at school told me not to come in because there would not be as much interaction.

With the different things that have limited interaction this past week, it has made this ministry a bit more challenging for the remaining two weeks of school. I would still like to share with the students a few more old testament stories, including God giving his people the law, but there is now more of a time restraint on my exposure with the kids. Since I’ve had less exposure with the kids than expected at this point, I am planning on beginning studies with them in the New Testament on Monday. The church has about 200 copies of New Testament Bibles that I am planning on bringing into the school in order for the kids to read Bible passages along with me.

After taking part in this ministry at the school for the past couple weeks, I realize that I can go in with a plan of things to do with the kids, and then I will usually have to adjust due to various reasons. I would like to plan on diving into the Gospel with the kids this next week but time will tell where it will lead. Ultimately I know it is all in God’s hands.