Anyone want to teach overseas? I can paid more if I recruit

I think I heard there are 30+ positions to fill for next year.
cjsarazen2@gmail.com

Teaching this last few weeks has been… interesting. November is crazy. I don’t think we have one full week of school for the entire month due to the number of holidays. Students feel that so many holidays probably means it is optional to come to school or do homework…. not sure where that connection was made. Last week I suspended 4 of my most troublesome students. ugh. I spend many hours dealing with cuss words written on the walls (with so many languages they have a pool of bad words 3x as big to choose from!) my books and planners being stolen, 100 worksheets that we were supposed to do crumpled up on the floor, kids throwing things at me while I teach, bringing air soft guns to school, peeing on the door before class starts, and upset parents yelling in French and wondering why I can’t get their kids to behave. Its like I’m working at a juvenile correction center. I feel like I’ve turned into a real mean person real fast because any hint of compassion I show is immediately taken advantage of.

I still think back to my substitute days last year, and how it prepared me (sort of) for this. It was there I learned the meaning of “the Joy of the Lord is my strength” — I really am thankful that I have a Teacher who knows exactly which circumstances to surround me with to teach me exactly what He wants me to learn. There are times when despite the sucky day I just pulled through, I still feel the joy of the One who has brought me here – and it is more than enough encouragement to press on. I think there are areas in my character that I once thought was submissive humility, gentleness, patience … I am now seeing that some of it is actually a lack of boldness – a false humility due to insecurities and laziness. I am starting to see more some of the areas that God is now shaping so I that I become more like Jesus. Oh, Jesus- what a perfect example of someone who is infinitely humble and compassionate yet unyielding in truth, bold in confrontation and wise in discipline. To be like that….God shape me! Bring it on! I should turn every complaint into thanksgiving to the God who is merciful enough bring me to Himself rather to leave me on my own.

I am also super blessed with brothers and sisters here and back home who do everything they can to encourage and back me up. thanks

Come work here. I’ll split the incentive check.

This was one of my ETL (english as a third language) student’s answer to “What was the golden rule?” on one of our social studies worksheets. I am currently teaching a unit on Monotheistic religions. It is a HUGE subject for 6th grade – and even more so due to the heavily religious culture. I have Christian, Jewish and Muslim students in my class. So far, it has been amazing. The questions they ask are so innocent. “But sir” (as they always begin any addressed to me) “Which religion is true?” “Doesn’t God accept all monotheistic religions because they believe in the true God?” “If Jews that thought Jesus was the Messiah really were starting a false religion, why didn’t God stop it?” “Do some Jews think that Mohammed is the Messiah?” “Why did Christians think that Jesus as a God?” “Do you think Jesus was God, Mr. Z?”

Though the context of Social Studies, I have been able to show the Gospel from beginning to end to my very open-minded students. I’m not sure how much they “get” … grades are low…. but seeds may remain dormant for years.

I have been learning a lot myself. Next week I have invited a professor of religion to come speak to my class. He is a MBB (Morrocan Bible Beliver) Like Mr. Zitouni . I told my students to save all their questions (that I’m not sure how to answer) for the professor because he is an expert.

I didn’t quit teaching, of course, though I wanted to about a month ago. This week has been by best week of teaching so far. Behavior is not quite as barbaric, my lessons are improving, and relationships are strengthening. If I had quit, I would have cheated my students of the Gospel. And I wouldn’t want to be cheated that way.

(part one) The volume was turned all the way up. Grandiose speakers were rented just for the occasion. The door was propped wide open as if to let out the extra excitement. Further amplified by the acoustics of our apartment’s tiled stairwell, the music nearly deafened Bryce and I as we passed the party on our way to our apartment above. Curious, we paused for a minute to look inside. “What is going on?” we asked one of the musicians sitting just out the door. I suppose overcoming both language and decibel barriers was too much of a challenge for him, so he told us to wait as he went to find someone who could help us. Soon a nice-looking gentleman appeared and answered our question: “My wedding!” he told us with a smile, “Come back at 6:30!” So we returned a few hours later to be given what I feel was the epitome of Muslim hospitality. Everyone was so welcoming! They sat us down just in time for us to witness the bride and groom make their big entrance. After being lavished with food and drink (orange juice , the groom asked that we come sit by him. Really? I thought. Why are we -the strangers- objects of such generosity? One of the women there spoke Spanish, so Bryce and her were able to communicate. We remained observers of the dancing for as long could before being dragged into it ourselves. (I’m a terrible dancer) Things began to wind down after a while, so we decided to leave too. But no! We were asked to move into the dining room where a special meal had been prepared for us. More food! Bryce and I shared a three-course dinner for four with the newlywed couple. Wow! Who does that? Who wants to share a meal with strangers on the night of their wedding? After enjoying much food and conversation we were finally (at 10:30 PM) blessed goodbye with full stomachs, party favors, and good stories to tell. That’s my Cultural Wedding Story.

(part two) We don’t have Internet in our apartment. It was the weekend, and we didn’t want to travel all the way out to school just to use the computers, so Bryce and I decided to go looking for a café that looked fancy enough to offer Wifi. We had not been walking more than thirty seconds when a large man stepped in front of us to greet us. “Salaamu Alekum!” he said. “W’alekum Salaam!” we answered back. “You know Arabic!” Said the man in English, surprised. “You know English!” We responded, equally surprised. ‘Come to my shop, I will teach you more Arabic. So we went. Although we were obviously on our way somewhere, Nadir (we soon learned his name) was not concerned with our time-oriented plans. I’ve learned that in this culture, relationships are more important than schedules, whereas in western culture our relationships must fit inside our schedules. We sat over hot mint tea and talked for hours. Our Arabic lesson turned to a discussion on the country, which turned to history, which turned to religion. Religion is not a taboo subject like it often is in the US, due in part to the “individualism” that has take root in western culture. Everyone is entitled to his own beliefs. Here, however, 99% of the people all believe the same thing. Therefore, it is a common subject, especially when someone offers a different worldview. We talked about Islam vs Christianity. Eventually, Nadir (who I detected was proud to show off his “knowledge” in as many subject areas as possible) concluded that all religions were filled with good people, and as long as you were good, we would all eventually reach heaven. For some reason, I was comforted that his line of thinking was something I was familiar with. I know the “arguments” against this worldview. In a way I was suddenly more comfortable with my surroundings. Sure, everyone here says they are Muslim, but at its core it is the same as every other Christ-less religion. Jesus is the dividing point. We didn’t argue, though. To avoid the conversation becoming more of a knowledge contest than a meaningful dialogue, we told him how happy we were that we had made a new friend who was willing to chat and teach us Arabic. We now say hi to Nadir on our way out when we see him sitting across the street at the coffee shop almost every morning. Tomorrow night we will go to his house for dinner!

(part three) Today, Bryce and I were on our way to the store when we were passed by a local Muslim man, who, by his appearance, looked like what the average American would expect a devout Muslim to look like – long beard, long robe, head covering… “Hello! You come from America?” he said in broken English. “Yes!” we said. “Do you know about Islam?” he said. “Yes?” we offered, not knowing exactly what he meant. “You come follow me to the Mosque, someone will tell you about Islam.” We reminded ourselves to push “schedule” further down on our priority list, shrugged and said “ok!” After being greeted profusely and brought to a little room off the side of the courtyard, their intentions to proselytize became obvious. (It is “illegal” to proselytize in this country, but I guess this is only a one-way law We took off our shoes and sat on the floor of one of their prayer rooms. We had mint tea and some pastries and talked about where we were from. One of the men was a very good English-speaker, and after a few minutes of casual talk, the conversation turned spiritual. “let me tell you about God” he began, and proceed to inform us of his worldview, which I was surprised to find was very similar to my own (at least at surface level). It was obvious that he had no idea what a real Christ-follower believed – his points were geared towards a secular, materialistic, American audience. After a while, we told him that we agreed with him. Yes, we should not be consumed with possessions. Yes, girls and money are not what we should be living for. Yes, God is real and is the only revealer of truth and if we truly seek Him, we will find Him. And YES there is only one God! They were happy to hear us agree. Then I told him more of what I believed – that God is sovereign, all-knowing, all powerful, perfect, and hates sin. That we are sinful, and that no matter how much good stuff I do, I could never be perfect enough to get to God. That is why God chose to come to us – and that is who Jesus is. So here was the dividing point: Jesus. “Jesus is not God!” the man answered, “he said so himself!” he referenced what Jesus said in John 5:19, If you believe this than you believe in two gods!” Rather than debate, we moved on. The man said something very interesting at one point. We were talking about how you cannot judge a religion based solely on people who say they adhere to that religion. “There may by many Americans on TV who say they are “Christian”, we explained, “but by their actions you can tell that they are really not”. We tried to draw a comparison to “Muslim fundamentalists” who commit acts of terrorism. “You wouldn’t say that they are really Muslim, would you?” we asked. “Everyone does bad things,” the man replied. “but making mistakes does not discount you. Even if someone rejects 99% of Islam, yet holds to just 1%, than he is still Muslim.” (Hm… I had never heard that before. I wonder, then, why anyone would want to devote more than just 1% if that’s all you needed?) He looked at me: “I heard your friend say “La elaha ella allah” (There is no god but God), but I have not heard you say it.” I thought for a moment. I felt like he was trying to get me to say some sort of magic words to make me become a Muslim by accident. But then again, this man thought I was a polythesist! “I have no problem declaring that there is only one God” I answered, “la elaha ella allah!” All the men smiled, “I think you are close,” one said, nodding, “very close.” He then broke out in an Islamic chant. He sang for about a minute. My heart was heavy. What disturbed me the most was that they had said, “If you truly seek God with all your heart, you will find truth”. I believe that with everything in me! Why, if these men were really seeking God, had they believed a lie? Do people really seek truth and not find it? And what does that say about my own pursuit of truth? That gave me a lot to think about. Before we left, I said “Since you have prayed over us, is it okay if I pray over you?” they agreed, so I prayed. I thanked God for these men and their hospitality, I thanked Him for the openness of the Local people. I thanked Him for being Sovereign, Perfect and Powerful. I prayed that as we sought Him, we would find Him, and that HIS truth would be revealed. And I prayed these things in JESUS’ NAME, AMEN!