A quiet time

Sweet success! Genevieve and me at the peak of Mt. Hibok-Hibok, on a rare day of skipping classes at the suggestion of Fr. Joe, the school director. Who says Catholic school teachers are boring??

And all creation will worship Him! Praising the glory of God while cooling off in a crater lake near the top of the mountain. Did I mention Mt. Hibok Hibok is an active volcano? :)

Dear readers, I promise I’m still here! My teammates and I agree that there are definite seasons in our ministry -- a season of working with the street children, a season of fiestas, a season of hosting meals for visitors, a season of hospital visits, and now a season of teaching and tutoring. It’s never a question for us as to who God wants us to serve in any given season because He very clearly brings people in and out of our lives according to His perfect timing.

In this time of ministering to the students at Holy Rosary High School, our lives are just as chaotic as always, although our daily experiences are seemingly less thrilling than before. (Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never defined grading 600 English and religion exams to be an exciting task.) But any lack of excitement is balanced out by the fact that, as a teacher, I don’t have to go searching for opportunities to preach the Gospel. I have 348 eager (and sometimes not-so-eager haha) young people sitting and listening to me for hours each day, five days a week! What a gift God has given me in this dual calling to be both full-time missionary and full-time high school teacher!

A few pictures for you:

Some members from both of our 7th grade classes, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Lourdes, along with three of our fellow teachers.

We arrived home one Saturday afternoon to find a cohort of our 7th graders gardening in our yard! It was “Coastal Clean-up Day,” and the principal had assigned them to plant lanzones trees at the missionaries’ cottage. Unfortunately, the trees won’t be fully grown to bear fruit for another 20-25 years, but who knows? The Lord has surprised me plenty of times thus far -- maybe someday I’ll be back on Camiguin picking juicy lanzones from these very trees!

Devorah Dave waters a newly-planted lanzones tree. Behind her is our plot of fast-growing, 2-foot-long string beans!