A Beautiful Place

This afternoon, I observed an English class at the Center that I will be teaching later this week. The students first listened to a two-paragraph short story (a modified form of Cinderella) and then read it in pairs. After this, they had to give synonyms and antonyms for a few of the words. As I sat in the corner of the classroom watching the students come up with synonyms for “beautiful,” my mind quickly began to reflect on my first two days at the Center. They were very beautiful…

Beautiful is seeing people from several, sometimes conflicting, backgrounds coming together to educate themselves in English, the Bible, Computer, Sewing, and many other subjects. Beautiful is seeing my students stay in class 10 extra minutes (I did not know what time class ended) to learn as much as they possibly could to prepare for their upcoming test. Beautiful is the excitement of the students when they are called to the front of the class to participate or when they answer a question correctly. Beautiful is seeing the inevitable presence of God at the Center that allows so many incredible things to happen, despite limited space and resources, new students coming every day, and other challenges.

I have been here only two days, but can see that The Center of Hope is truly a beautiful place. I am so glad to be here for the next two months and am confident that, even though I am the teacher, I will be learning far more from the students than they can learn from me.