Drop kicking the devil

This morning I apparently turned my alarm off in my sleep because I woke up with about 20 minutes until I had to be at school; well, the time the American has to be at school!  I got dressed, ate breakfast, and "hurried" to school.  I still arrived right as Valeria did, and thus I was not actually late.  Italy will teach me to be relaxed, or it will die trying!

I will not go into too much detail here about the events of the next hour, but Valeria, one of my favorite people here in Cosenza, told me that she has to go to Milan to see a specialist after an abnormal mammogram.  THey wanted her to go immediately to Milan, where the specialist is because there are none in Southern Italy!  She explained some of the insurance issues here in Italy, and let's just say that I am appreciative of my BlueCrossBlueShield in America.  She told me most of this after the students left to go hear an author speak.  We set up in one of the computer classrooms, but before I could do the lesson, they had to go.  Valeria did tell me that everything was very quick and efficient, and before I could show my surprise, she said, "Shocking right?? Efficiency is NOT Italy's thing!!" I said, "I'm glad you said it before I did!!" We talked a little about my extra work next semester, and I am really excited to do this for a few reasons: 1. It will be with some older students whose ENglish has a more solid foundation (the groups I should be working with anyway) 2. Some travel money

Then, Valeria gave me the most beautiful scarf!!  She said it was my Christmas present, which I thought was sooo sweet!

I told her that her present was coming from the States.  I also talked to Valeria about the concorso that had the schools closed for those two days.  She said she passed her first concorso at 26, and started teaching in the public school system right after that.  She had been a private school teacher starting at 22.  She said that the average age is around 26.  Hey, that's me!

So, with a heavy heart, I left Valeria when the bell rang, and went next door to Rosina's class.  I got a wonderful welcome, and then I took half of the students to the room with a computer, and the other half stayed with Rosina to do a test.  So, we talked a bit about Christmas in the U.S.  They said that they only put one string of Christmas lights on the balcony...that's it! However, I have noticed that this is true!!!  THey were so funny talking about it, and talking about how they think the words (in lights) hanging in Corso Mazzini are stupid!  They said that they do not make sense; I have to say that I agree.  They loved seeing the different Christmas movies, and Home Alone is a fave here (though it has a different name).  I explained the m&m's commercial, and they really liked it!!  It is one of my favorites as well.  Overall, it was a good class with them!

When class was finished, we walked downstairs, and ROsina started telling me how some of the students are terrible at English.  She wanted to know if I could bring more grammar type exercises because they need to practice that.  Well, the issue is that I am not a grammar teacher; this is why I think I should be in the 4th year classes or so.  If you put me in classes where they do not have the basics, how am I supposed to fulfill my role as a conversation/culture teacher?? I am a little frustrated about this, but really have no one to talk to!  I WANT to help these students, but I do not know if I can give them what they need; not language wise at least.  What I do know that I can do is this: 1. Pray about it   2. Try to build their confidence  3.  Encourage them at every moment possible   4. Approach it like I would any other problem...cry about it and then attack it!!

So Rosina told me that she could not drive me to the other school today, so I booked it across the city.  I made it with about 15 minutes to spare, which gave me time to make copies, for the copier to hate me, to get help in broken Italian, go to the bathroom, and then go to Francesca's class. Francesca was like 20 minutes late, so I just "talked" to the students some. Then we went to the lab and talked about Christmas in the U.S.  They paid attention for the most part.  They loved the slide of the movies, and said that the lights would cost a lot.  One girl is becoming more open and conversational, so this is good!  The boys were pretty engaged.

Next up was Angelino's class.  E. ran up and gave me a hug and told me that she loves me!  It's always good to get these hugs and to hear such sweet words.  We went to one of the computer labs for class.  They barely paid attention, so much so that I was able to respond to Nick's text messages.  It was ridiculous.  So, I talked to Tony, the boy from Wisconsin.  We talked about American Christmas stuff.  The vocabulary list I gave them turned into a "prof. give us 10's on something since the world is ending on Friday!!!"  So after class was over, some of them came up and hugged me, kissed me, and wished me a Merry Christmas.  I got a few of their numbers, and then we parted ways.  I went to catch the bus, and E. was sitting there. I talked to her in Italian a little bit, and she was headed to her sister's house.  We talked a little bit, and then she got off the bus.  I headed on home to eat lunch (I was STARVING), talk to my momma, talk to April on Skype, worked on blogs, did some lesson planning, and Francisco called to say that I should meet him at 7:30 to go to the concert.  I also emailed some friends to ask for prayer requests for Valeria....so I am going to ask for them again through my blog.  I have some pretty amazing people in my life that prayed for her immediately.  I am going to ask that you all do the same...and continue to pray!

So, I was also feeling in hermit mode and not wanting to go anywhere tonight, especially on Italian time, which is LATE!!  However, I had to drop kick the devil.  I walked to Piazza Europa and there I met a new friend from church, Armando.  He was really sweet and speaks English; he will be traveling to Australia, so he is working on his English!  So, when they came, it was Francisco, Sofia, Dashina (from Guatemala), Armando, and me.  We were off for our hour drive.  It was fun.  We stopped for them to get something to eat; I had already eaten dinner at home!  We talked in Italian, English, Spanish (not me!!), and had the best time! The guy at the autogrill was shocked when we told him that we were a group of 2 Argentinians, 1 Guatemalan, 1 Italian, and 1 American.  When we arrived at the church, it was packed, and the music had just started!  It was 4 guys...all individual Christian singers, but singing together tonight.  They were amazing. They were playing guitar, and Nick would have LOVED their playing!!  They sang, they talked, and it was great!  I did not understand a lot of it, but I was able to catch some lyrics, and they were worshipping the Lord, and that was all I needed to know!  The last song they sang was one I knew, but because of all of the Italian around me, I could not pick up on the English word (in my mind).  There were some amazing songs tonight though; I could not catch every word, but I could catch phrases.  I am SO GLAD I drop kicked the Devil and went!  Afterwards, I met a lot of random people; some Brazilians, some Candaians (the girl that lives in Lilla's building), and others.  It was fun, but I was definitely tired!  We went to the bathroom, said goodbye to some other people, Francisco went to get the car, and we were off.  We had fun on the way back...I think we covered English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German!  A very international night.  We laughed about random things on the way home.  Ohh...when Francisco called earlier, he said he had a surprise for me!  He made me a copy of Kari Jobes newest cd, which I have at home, and was on my computer, but then my computer crashed!  I forgot to get it at the end of the night, but I will get it soon!  We made it back to Cosenza after midnight, but it was a fun night!!!   P.S. I have no pictures because they were walking around making sure that you were NOT taking them!  Seem strange?? Yes; to me too!

I came home, got ready for bed, and talked to Nick until we fell asleep!

Yay for dropkicking the devil...now, let's all pray to drop kick him out of Valeria's life.

The thing I have to remind myself of sometimes, and I think it is important to address right now, especially after the Connecticut thing, is that God is not the source of pain and suffering in life.  Cancer, murder, sickness, loneliness, sin in general, are a result of human error.  Sin entered the world when Eve fell victim to the devil's temptations.  God is good...God is love...God is not the source of these bad things.  He has given us free will, and the way we use it sometimes breaks His heart.  However, He is our source of comfort, hope, love, peace, healing, joy, and all things GOOD in this world.  So, where was God last Friday?? He was in the classrooms with those children and adults.  Why did God let it happen?? He gives us free will, and with that comes the fact that He has to allow us to use it.  However, He loves us more than we can every possibly understand.

So, what about cancer?? Well, all bad things come from the sin in this world.  They are a result of a fallen world.  With sin came death.  So, while I know that God does not cause cancer, and is not causing these issues with Valeria, I know that is is there.  He is in the situation.  He is with her.  He is offering his comfort, His peace, and His presence.  So, I ask you again to join with me in prayer for her; prayer for any healing that is necessary, of course, but also the "simplest" of prayers that she will find peace, comfort, joy, love, and rest in my God, who is bigger than any of these other things.