My Mission Field
Some people are called to go thousands and thousands of miles from home to the other side of the world. Some are called to neighboring countries. Some are called to stay in the United States and some answer the call placed on them and due to safety can’t disclose exactly where they are going. Then there are some of us who answer the call placed on us and we serve in the mission field that is 5, 10, 20 minutes or an hour from home. Our mission field is called the classroom.
We may not be in a foreign land but it can sometimes feel like it. For example when we spend a whole week teaching a math objective, followed with daily independent practice and put it in math stations the following week. Then assess the objective but the data is not what you expect and you think to yourself where did this group of students come from and what happened to the ones that were here last week. On days that there is a full moon, super moon or the such, well you might as well be in a foreign land.
Sometimes we face language barriers. It may be because we get a student brand new to the country, we get a student with speech impairments, we get students who speak English as a second language, we get students who are select mutes. The language barrier may be with the parent/guardian. We might have to depend on the child to translate or whoever the parent brings with them and hope they understand well enough to translate. Sometimes we have to ask the district to try and provide someone to translate.
Each day we go and we serve and to the ones we serve as well as others it may look like its just teaching but it is so much more! Just like those who go to countries where they can’t mention God or Christ, we can’t either. I have found that the saying “actions speak louder than words” is how we teach the love of Christ in the classroom. I don’t have to say his name out loud. I speak Christ through the things I say and how I say it. I show Christ through my actions. Teaching them how to get along with others, how to be respectful and problem solve is teaching them how to be Christ like.
The mission field is sometimes not an easy place to work. The ones we are there to serve are not always cooperative and nice. The parents or guardians of the ones we are there to serve sometimes are difficult to work with. It’s in these hard times of the mission field when we know these are the ones that need us the most. These are the ones we must reach down deep when we feel we have nothing left and give a little more. That extra little bit might be the glimpse of Christ they never saw before or the sound of Christ they never heard before. We spend more hours than we ever imagined in the field and the pay doesn’t even come close to what we should earn.
Through all the blood (yes, literally sometimes blood), sweat and tears come magnificent and beautiful things in my mission field. It’s magnificent to see the joy on a child’s face when he or she gets it, be it reading, math or some other subject. It’s magnificent to see students using words to work out problems and hurt feelings. It’s magnificent to see the data through the school year and celebrate as a class. It’s beautiful to see the joy in a child’s heart as they give you a sandwich baggie with a half used tube of Bed Head hair cream for Christmas. It’s beautiful to see the delight on a child’s face as they hand you a piece of paper the size of a dime and explain that you might not be able to tell what they drew because that was the only piece of paper they could find.
Everyone has a mission field. We all have lives to touch. I love my mission field in kindergarten. They are a treasure and I love them just the way they are. For now it’s what I’ve been called to do.
