day 120: open doors!

today was a pretty cool day at siyazakha, where we taught 2-grade 6 & 3-grade 7 classes on STDs. we had a teacher, mama "n," stay in 3 of the 5 classes, taking notes & interjecting/adding to the lesson. at one point she was sitting next to the learners in the desks with them answering the questions we were asking. it was awesome!

later she began translating some of the english words into xhosa, making sure the learners were following all that we were explaining. as she did their reactions were PRICELESS. it breaks my heart that so much is lost in translation, but we can only do the best we can with what we have. so, after that class (knowing mama n would not be going with us to the next period, i asked her to write down some of the words in xhosa so that i could use them again. she gave me a very brief pronunciation lesson & even though the next class got quite a kick out of my attempts to speak, they really understood the lesson so much more. talk about motivation to teach yourself!

even cooler, though, was our experience in doors flinging wide open! while we are not really supposed to share the gospel in the classroom, we've been sharing bible stories continually in order to emphasize the key points from the lessons. any time you share stories here, they are all so attentive. so, i shared the creation story today, emphasizing the relationship between the first man & woman & the perfection of God's good creation.

it was amazing to see the questions the students then wrote at the end of each class. now we have "permission" to answer their questions directly & in a very real way share the gospel more openly! can't wait for next week!

1. what will happen when we are all dead? (can't WAIT to answer THAT!)
2. why the girls come to be a prostitute but god doesn't create a prostitute?
3. why did god separate the devil? answer plz! (we have NO IDEA where that came from but WHO CARES!! we get to answer it!)
4. did adam & eve die when they ate the fruit from the tree & did God forgive them?
5. if your husband/wife is cheat & you will get STI?