testimony time

The thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not represent those of the WorldTeach organization.

Monday, January 17th

For the first week back from Christmas break I did review every day in each of my classes. In some classes, especially geometry, a few of my students didn’t show up until the second week back from break. It was quite boring for some of the students to review, but they definitely needed it!

One of my students, Paul, needed to go to Pago to get his jaw wired shut. On New Years he decided to get in a fight with a drunken 40 year old man. I don’t know if anything happened to the man, but Paul’s jaw was dislocated leaving him in the hospital during the first week back from Christmas!

Last weekend was spent preparing for the final exams. I decided to take Saturday as my day off and finish the last two exams on Sunday. Unfortunately, it rained so much on Sunday that I didn’t want to leave my house after church to go do work at the high school. After the two and a half hour service, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home working on the SAT prep and geometry final exams.

During the first week of 2011 there was church every day. Starting on Monday, January 3rd until Friday, January 7th there was church every night. They also had a morning service on the Saturday and Sunday. These services were a bit different in that anyone from the village could go up and speak giving a bit of a testimony. Some services lasted only an hour and some lasted a couple of hours. After speaking to Trish and Tautua more about the testimonies, I decided on the last day to go up and give a testimony. I thought it would be a good idea for some of the village to get to know me a little bit better. The following is similar to what I said (some words or sentences were altered as I was speaking).

Taeao Manuia.

Sorry, but I will only be speaking in English.

First, I would like to give you a little background. I was born and raised Lutheran in Wilmington, Delaware: a small state on the east coast of the United States. I was baptized and confirmed. I went through four years of youth group and then graduated high school. In college, I joined an organization called Lutheran Student Movement. During my sophomore year in college, I became a peer minister in which I assisted in Bible studies, organized events, and organized a few church services. I graduated this past May and have now undertaken this teaching position.

That is me in a nutshell with a whole lot of detail missing. I am a Lutheran. Instead of getting into any detail, let me just say that I believe in God and Jesus and that should be the only details that matter.

Now, I would like to take you back to seventh and eighth grade when I attended a weekly confirmation class. For two years I studied scripture and my faith. Upon graduation, there is a church service in which each confirmand must recite a Bible verse. I chose Matthew 5:43-44. “You have heard it said that it was said, ‘You should love your neighbor and hate your enemies’ but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I graduated and officially became an adult in the church. To me at that time I thought the verses meant to literally love my neighbor. My neighbor who woke me up at 3 or 4 in the morning cursing at his car (which had no engine in it) due to his schizophrenia. I thought, yeah I feel bad for this guy and maybe I shouldn’t ignore him all the time.

For the next four years I attended my church’s youth group. My favorite part was the week each summer we spent in West Virginia, a state south of Delaware, at a work camp. After the five hour road trip, we arrived in Gap Mills, West Virginia one of the poorer towns in America. For the week, I lived in a cabin on a sheep farm. During the day, we would drive into town and help with house repairs. Over the four years, I did various jobs: painted barns, ripped apart a chicken house, cleaned trash out of some houses, laid a concrete foundation, put up dry wall, and managed to meet a few interesting folk along the way.

In May of my senior year we had Youth Sunday. Sort of like White Sunday but only the high school students ran the service. I happened to be one of the preachers that Sunday. I decided to pull out Matthew 5 and use my confirmation verse as the focus of my message. My perception of the verses was a little different at that time in my life. I believed that it was talking more about the bigger picture. Like those people in West Virginia, I was helping them with their problems showing them love and kindness.

While in college, I again saw this passage in a different way. I realized that I didn’t need to attend an organized volunteer outing nor did I need to do work to show love to my neighbors. I took what you could consider as the “aliens” or the people that had trouble fitting in under my wing. Being in the role of peer minister, I had the opportunity to meet many freshmen, transfer students, and exchange students that needed that extra guidance and support.

This past Monday I attended the church service. Trish and Tautua informed me over the weekend about the testimonies and sermons and I was a little intrigued. Towards the end of the service on Monday, I had a strong urge to talk about my faith journey to all of you. That night, I even had trouble sleeping. Tuesday night I stayed up writing what became my first out of two drafts of this. My heart brought me back to Matthew 5 again. “You’ve heard it said as it was said, ‘love your neighbors and hate your enemies’ but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I definitely wouldn’t say I have enemies out here that I specifically need to love. I would say I am facing many obstacles as a first time teacher in a foreign place. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home. I missed Thanksgiving and Christmas at home for the first time in my life. The day before Christmas my grandmother had a severe stroke. On the 30th of December she passed away. Yesterday, I woke up at 4 AM knowing at that moment her body was being placed in its final resting spot. These are just a few examples of obstacles in my life out here in Manu’a that have been difficult to digest. I’m not the perfect Christian; I do have faults and fail at things but I am taking all these challenges with an open heart.

I first believed this passage meant very literally loving my neighbor. Later in life, in high school, it became community building and assisting which I believe fulfilled this passage. While in college, I learned to take on individual people and lend an ear. Now, I take this passage as a test. Is my faith strong enough to love, pray, and overcome the obstacles in my life?

Thank you.

I think that should be enough for you to digest from the first week back from vacation so that is the end of part 1!

Love,

Gretchen