Our Weekend

This was a great week of teaching. In my NT class I taught on prayer and fasting using Jesus as an example. It was wonderful to have a concert of prayer and a day of fasting broken with sharing communion. Nate and I enjoyed leading the students in worship for chapel, and everything else just went great.

I was really excited about the weekend, though, because we had lots of fun things plannned. First we had game night with the high school students. We really got to have some laughs with them, which is great relationship building outside the classroom. Our favorite game is "telephone charades" where a person acts out a scene for another person, and they have to pass that message on until the fourth person interprets it. We had a blast with them!

Then, Saturday Nate and I celebrated with our friends, Micah and Rachel, who are flying to the U.S. this week to get married! Nate and the guys went out with Micah and ate by the ocean doing guy things (and not one picture was taken), while the girls and I went out with Rachel and took over 150 pictures! That is the difference between males and females!

That is not the only difference, of course, like we all got dressed up and wore boas on the town. We had some fun with Filipinos, and did some crazy things together as females. The funniest thing we experienced was when we went to the mall and were taking Rachel's picture with her fake tierra on. We told her she had to get a picture with her and 20 Filipinos together, so we saw a huge line of them standing outside the European bread store. After we took that picture we started to leave, but the people in the front of the line were calling her over to them. They thought she was actually a famous person and they wanted to meet her! That is the fun of being white--they thought she was a princess! The owner of the store even said we could take a picture of the place showing it was a European store in the Philippines. We had so many laughs as Rachel got a pose with all her fans!

All of this made me thankful for the memories of what a great wedding week Nate and I had 14 months ago today. We were surrounded by such great friends and family and made so many great memories! We're glad we were able to pass on the love to our friends as they prepare for their marriage! Praise the Lord for friends and fun!

Spirit Week

Last week was spirit week at the K-8 school we teach at. Every morning we gathered at the covered court to watch everyone walk around in their costumes. We had fun days like "Hair and face day" or "Hero day" or "team color day" or "look-alike day". Here are some of our crazy students, and even our principal!
Us on twin day with our twins!Our bold and crazy principal! (He's Nebraskan too!)Gloria got a pie in the face--this wasn't just any pie, it was FRESH DURIAN PIE. You can smell it for kilometers!

What Child Is This?

I was so nervous this morning as I dressed in black. I was planning to perform for my New Testament class. For homework last night I gave them an assignment to read the virgin conception from Matthew and Luke. I asked them some key questions to get them thinking.

When they came into class I told them that there were going to be two visitors from Ancient Israel to come to our class. I asked them to give full attention. With my assistant, Hannah, in the back to do lights, sound and camera for me, I put on my angel costume and began to dance through the aisles of the class. I had a spotlight and ribbons around my wrists as I danced to the music "Call His Name Emmanuel!" I even sang the prophecy to the class, "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son."

Then the music changed while I got into my Mary costume. I really praise God for helping me to get into character. I really thought I was Mary there for a minute! I gave a monologue to the class as though I were Mary--surprised, unsure, faithful, and worshipful. I tried to get them to imagine how Mary felt, pregnant teen, fiancee wanted to break the engagement, and obedient to God even when it was something that had never happened before. I even brought myself to tears as I identified with Mary's feelings.

Finally I performed a silent drama to the music, "He was still her little boy." It's very sad to watch Jesus grow as his mother--from infancy, to being a little boy, to becoming a man and then to the cross. I ended the drama in tears and then we had lights out. Wow, God taught me more than even the students, of course! I really praise Him for giving me all this music and drama so I can use it to bring HIs Word alive to my students!

Ode to my Wife

I probably don't say this often enough,
but my wife Jessica, she is wonderful!
She is the perfect mate for me!

She actually has written most of these blog entries
But she also does so much more!
She prays and loves the Lord with all her heart.
She loves God and the Bible and also loves teaching the Bible.
She loves people and her students.
She is passionate about life and makes the most of it.
She is a terrific singer and musician.
She works hard at home and at school and everywhere else.
She never gives up and gives it her all.
She prays for me and helps me in so many ways.
She is a life-long learner.
She keeps everyone up to date and connects with people.
She is a faithful friend to many people.
She is good with technology, writing, music, teaching Bible, photography, creative ideas and about a million other things.
She works well with students and sees their needs--I thought it was so neat how she sat next to a sixth grade girl during band class and helped her when she was struggling.
She is committed, dedicated, and devoted.
She is very good-looking and beautiful inside and out.
She is intelligent and a thinker.
She knows how to have a good, fun time!
she loves to travel and make the most of crazy trips!
She has wisdom, intuition, and deep understanding (probably what a lot of women have that we guys sometimes lack)--she can see the big picture or something hidden sometimes better than I can.
She is made in the Image of God.
She is an incredible woman in Christ because God made her and chose her!

I love you, Jessica!

Nate

Surprise Musical Birthday Class!

One of our students is turning 18 tomorrow. She told me she's going to be alone for her birthday because her parents aren't here and she has no plans. Of course my mom has taught me how to celebrate birthdays!

I quickly decided to make our 5th period vocal music class into a surprise musical birthday party for Jess. One of my other students helped me to prepare during her study hall. We quickly made a banner with crayons and computer paper. We put on the table cloth (I happen to teach in the kitchen anyway!). I was looking for food when I saw all these cakes, goodies and mangos just sitting on the counter from last night's parent open house. Perfect! We even still had punch left over from the open house.

I quickly made party hats (dorky looking) and I put a measure of music on each hat from our sight-singing lesson. Finally the students came in and were all surprised. They actually wore the dork hats the whole time and they loved it! I was so glad to make Jess' day and to teach through celebration. I told the class to "sing the hat" of each person, and that person had to look on the music and tell us which measure was taped to their hat. It was so fun!

Then we sang happy birthday to Jess in English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and Indonesian. We even video taped ourselves! Then the kicker was when I was wearing my dork cone hat and standing on the table setting up the video camera. Right as I was totally in an unusual place "teaching", the principal walked in with two visitors to the school!! I was like, "It's not normally like this--don't get the wrong idea!" This was all as I was standing on the table behind the TV. Fortunately they had a good sense of humor and stayed for the performance. I know my students will not forget that music lesson for a long time!

First Vocal Music Performance

Today was (as the title says) the first vocal music performance given by the first ever high school vocal music class. I was the director of six males and five females. It was so fun! I loved hearing their voices in harmony to God. It's going to be a great year of growth for them. Most of them never knew how to read music, and in just two weeks they are able to do simple sight-singing. I praise God for this opportunity!

Mrs. Becker's First Miracle

I was planning to teach my 7th graders about John 2--Jesus' first miracle at Cana. I had this vision of doing something with a visual aide--like put a bunch of kool-aid in the bottom of a glass and then pour water in. I wondered how I could make the appearance of water to wine so the students would get the effect of the miracle.

Then I talked to my friend, the Chemistry teacher! She got me all hooked up with the right recipe=
A pitcher full of water and add some sodium hydroxide (NaOH)--a BASE
An empty wine glass with an unnoticable amount of phenolpthalien--an INDICATOR
Another empty wine glass with a bit more hydrochloric acid (HCl)--an ACID
I got a major chemistry lesson for my Bible class prep!

I was so nervous that someone would drink my "water" and I was nervous about my miracle--I didn't know if it would really work out! After we studied John 2 and observed all the important info I pulled out my pitcher and wine glasses. I said, "This will help you visualize it--they poured the water and it became wine!" I poured the water + Base into the Indicator and the glass filled with purple water. 'AHH!!" I got just the reaction I wanted. A miracle! =)

7th graders said, "How did you do that?!" or "You used food coloring" but I said, "this here is clear, and you didn't see anything in this glass did you?" They were puzzled. I let them ponder it for a while and they asked me all about it. Then I said, "You know, this isn't in the Bible, but Jesus is so amazing, He can even turn wine back into water!" Then I poured what was in the wine glass into the acid glass and it all turned clear again. They were really amazed by this--I was hoping many would put their faith in Jesus right then and there!

We had such a wonderful discussion about the miracle and about chemistry. I let them solve the mystery and finally told them how I did it. I know they will definitely not forget Jesus' first miracle!
P.S. I have pictures but they won't load--sorry

The First Note--Video Clip

Click on this link to watch a video of "The First Note" in the beginner band. It is pretty funny and makes me laugh every time, but just wait and I will put a clip of their progress later in the year. That's what's great about Nate--he has such vision for what potential students have. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord."

http://www.ghormley.org/files/Becker/08.10.06_133.avi

Fun With My Korean Students

This year we have a far greater number of Korean students than we have ever had. It's been quite an adventure making sure we are reaching them and making sure they understand.

Today after school I met with the Korean study group in the library to explain our Bible quiz. I slowly explained what was on the quiz and I wrote down the information. They looked up words in their electronic dictionary and nodded.

Finally after 20 minutes of explaining and teaching and discussing, my whole message got through clearly to Joyce (her chosen English name). She was like "Oh!" and then she turned to the whole group and rapidly interpreted all that I had told her in Korean. The whole group listened to her preach the word of God that I had just reached her with. Finally they all said "OH!" and they said "Thank you, Teacher!"

It was an experience that I had to tell you about! I can't even describe it, but I love them so much! They are so wonderful and so willing to learn. What a joy to finally get the message of the Word through and to hear another student pass it on immediately to her peers. Be praying for us this year that we will effectively teach and reach our many Korean students.

*Disclaimer* These pictures are not from our study group! They are the ones from the retreat that I took of the girls.

Boat Building Contest

During the high school retreat (mentioned in the last blog), my co-leader, Victoria, and I invented the idea of a boat-building contest. We saw a pile of driftwood and bamboo and thought "Hey, let's have a boat race!"

The students quickly grabbed on to the idea and set to work. What a great team-building game it was! Students were helping each other and working together. I just sat and observed so I could learn about their various personalities and strengths. It was hilarious watching girls drag junk wood from the pile and watching boys take over leadership of the construction.

After everyone built the boats (or what have you!) Victoria and I got into one of the "real" boats and said, "We want to be like Jesus, so we're talking to you from a boat!" We explained the rules and blew the whistle. Off they went. They were to transport their whole team from here to there using that boat they had made. It was an event to remember that's for sure!

High School Retreat

The second and third days of school we spent apart. Nate stayed at school and taught while I went as a leader on the high school retreat. We have 18 new students out of 34, so it is a great way for everyone to get to know each other and for us to set a spiritual emphasis for the year.

I praise God for letting me be the first speaker of the retreat! I took the story about the South American Spider Monkeys and related it to Matthew 16.24-26. I wanted to remind the students: "Is anything worth more than your soul?" Let go of your life and you will find true life.

It was so special to hear students on the last day sharing what God had done in them as they decided to let go. One girl said she could relate to the mask story I told--she wants to take off her mask and be real. Another guy said he wanted to read his Bible every day and spend time with God. Praise the Lord for His Spirit's work and pray that the students will continue to grow!

It was an exhausting week that's for sure, but very rewarding! Oh, and it was so good to be back in Nate's arms again when I returned!

The First Day of School

Wow, 11 days--I think that is our longest stretch between blog entries. Thanks for your patience! What a busy two weeks it has been! God has been so gracious and faithful in answering many prayers. We had strength, health, energy, joy and excitement as we began a new school year.

The first day of school went great! I think I was more nervous about that than our wedding day! Wow, we were excited to see the students and to get back into a wonderful teaching ministry. We are anticipating all that the Lord has in store for this year!

It was fun to see the beginning band--and this week I even got a video clip of their first note! It is hilarious. It's so hard not to laugh, but Nate does such a great job of keeping things serious through the honks. Does anyone know how to put video clips on the blog? Is that possible? We'd love to show you!

Getting Organized

We have been working hard together in Nate's office to get everything organized! We just worked four hours on the inventory and the filing cabinet. We haven't had time to organize since Nate first came to the Philippines, so there were boxes, papers, and who knows what. Since we stayed here this summer we were able to sort through all the music, lesson plans, resources, books, binders and papers. What a project! Whew!

We made labels for the instruments and a system in the computer for tracking with them. At one glance we will know who donated it, who has played it, what condition it is in, and who has it currently checked out.

I also organized the books for Nate--piano, strings, band, archives....it is becoming quite a wonderful music library! We are really weak on CDs and DVDs so if anyone out there wants to send us a collection we will put them on our empty CD shelf! We need to collect samples to use in teaching of all kinds of music. DVDs for teaching would be great--even to get kids into another world (example:symphony--we don't have that here so they could see it on DVD).

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be an advertisement but a praise! God has helped us prepare, and He has provided many resources for us to use. We even put a binder together with dividers in one for each class, so we are all ready to start our lesson plans. Staff meeting is tomorrow and school starts Wednesday! Thanks for praying for our first couple weeks of school--they will be exciting!

Teaching In the Philippine School

We were invited to teach today at one of the private Christian Filippino schools. It was our second time visiting one, but our first time teaching at one. We got all dressed up and had our lessons prepared. I was excited and nervous!

Nate taught music behind that wall you see, and I taught photography in this classroom pictured. We both integrated the Bible into our lessons so the kids would learn more about how to worship God with music and photography!

It was so fun to see their little brown eyes and to hear them all greeting us. They were so happy to have us visit and all thought it was funny when we greeted them in Cebuano. They were surprised we knew how to speak their language! We of course taught in English, which they also know, but it is always fun to use their language too.

When we left the school the principal walked us out, and many of the students followed her and waived good-bye. Their voices rang out "Bye!" I'm sure we will all remember that for a long time! Thank you, Lord, for the chance to share your love in a Pilippine school! May the students we met learn to worship you in everything.

Be Praying For Us...School Starts Next Week!

The title basically says it all here....I just want to remind you to be praying for us as school is starting next week! Nate and I are mixed with excitement and nerves, just as we are sure the students are also feeling.

Pray that we will receive God's grace (it doesn't have to be perfect for the first day!)
Pray that we will be healthy (not good to miss school or feel unwell)
Pray that we will get our seminary homework done (not too time-consuming as the two courses overlap for about two months)
Pray that we will be prepared for our classes and for our students (we love them!)

Thank you for praying, and praise God with us for such a wonderful ministry opportunity!

What We've Been Doing

Hello everyone! We haven't posted much these last few weeks of summer. School will start in a little over a week! Nate and I are dilligently organizing the office and music, preparing the instruments to check out to students, planning schedules and strategies and praying that God will give us grace as we teach our students.

We have also been busy taking three night classes with lots of reading and observations to do. We are learning so much about classroom management, which will be very helpful to us those first days of school. There is so much to learn about teaching styles and effective teaching methods. Taking these classes this summer was a great way for us to sharpen our teaching skills and develop new strategies. We are also learning about philosophy of Christian Education, which gives us much to think about! Don't worry-we tell ourselves--we don't have to be the perfect master teachers in one week!

Other than these preparations and studies we have been enjoying each other much and have been playing music in the home together. It is so fun to hear Nate practicing his trumpet or practicing the saxaphone. I often like to get out my violin and play while Nate is playing piano. We love to make music together and worship the Lord! That's about it for now--but thank you for remembering to pray for us as we prepare for school! School starts August 2 for us (staff report on July 31 officially). Pray for health and vision and grace. Thank you!

Treasures Termites Destroy

It's Sunday night here in the Philippines. We had a wonderful weekend of reading and playing instruments and having people over. Our home is finally coming together to where we can have company--so come on over for a visit!

Our dinner guests were actually translators and were telling us how they just got back from the U.S. They have had their stuff in storage for one-and-a-half years, so they just uncovered it. When they opened the room with all their cardboard boxes thousands and thousands of termites covered their possessions in a haze. When they lifted one box all the critters disappeared into holes. They have had the trouble of finding many things eaten, like a graduation tassel, pictures, cardboard boxes, etc. They also found that the sticky fluid that termites leave was left all over their stuff, sealing plates together and ruining picture frames.

We told them about our finding the other week--we moved the piano (on loan to us from a Korean family). We were going to do a routine annual cleaning behind the furniture when we found a pile of sawdust behind the piano. It turned out that the buk-buk (wood mites) were living in the piano and were eating a hole out of the back of the piano! What a discovery! What are we supposed to do about that (the Filipinos have a solution they told me about).

Well our guests told us that the Cebuano translation of the verse Matthew 6.19 actually uses the word "termites" instead of "moths" It truly is a vivid picture for Filipinos and those of us living here that things on earth are temporary.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy or where theives break in and steal.

Cebuano translation: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where termites and rust destroy..."

Certainly we must store up treasure in heaven!

One Year Anniversary!

We praise the Lord as we celebrate today one year of marriage!! We are so thankful for each other and for our families. Yesterday morning we got to talk to my family on the web cam!! They were all in Lincoln and we saw them live! Oh, it was so wonderful. Just a year ago we were all together in Omaha for our wedding. I remember that time with such a grateful heart knowing how long and far so many of our friends and family traveled just to be with us. I cannot stop praising God for our wonderful families and for our friends. Thank you, Lord!

We also praise God for providing all our needs and for allowing us to serve Him together in the Philippines. We had such a wonderful first year of marriage, teaching together and growing together in Christ. We praise God for that and thank Him with grateful hearts! Oh, we love each other more every day, and we know that many people have prayed faithfully for our marriage! May you continue to remember us in prayer as we begin our second year of marriage--praying that we will glorify God in our lives and that we will keep Him in the center of our marriage. Praise God with us for His faithfulness and grace this year!

"Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful."

Philippine School Observation

"It's obvious you're an American," one boy told me.
"I thought all Americans had blue eyes--you have green eyes," another boy observed.
"Are you rich?" a little boy asked me.
"I think I've seen you on TV," another student decided.

These were the quotations that stick in my mind from our recent visit to a local Philippine school. Nate and I had an assignment to observe some classrooms, so we thought we could get to know more about the Philippines by observing there. The kids were so fascinated by our presence, as you can tell from the above quotes. Wow, it was such an interesting experience!

I won't be able to describe all my observations here on this site, but I will say some of the interesting facts we did learn about this school with over 1,000 students!

--School starts at 7:10a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m.
--The school year begins June 5th and ends in March.
--Grades 1-6 are called "Grade school" and grades 7-10 are called "high school."
--Grade 10 is the last grade before college.
--Students stay in one classroom all day but the teachers rotate and come to them.
--The classrooms have open windows on two walls so air flows through and so does sound.
--The teachers and students all wear uniforms.
--The kids all bring suitcases on wheels and rest them beside their desks.
--Most subjects are taught in English, their second language.

After class the kids surrounded us and asked us so many questions. They were so happy to have us visit. One girl in class would raise her hand and answer a question. Then she would turn around and look at me to see if I noticed her answer. When she made eye contact with me I smiled at her, and she smiled and sat up even more straight. She was eager to do her best in our presence!

One boy told me about how he was in section C. It seemed he was telling me they group the kids based on their abilities to excel--so I don't know what section C was. I just told him, "Wow! So you must be very bright!" He shyly shook his head no, and I said, "No, I think you are bright-kaayo (very bright!)" He smiled from ear to ear and listened to every word of encouragement I could give him.

I'm sure both we and the students will remember the day we visited the Philippine schools!

Precious Peter's Collared Shirt

This time I'll let my Mom do the writing. She e-mailed me this story about Peter, my precious nephew, and I laughed and laughed. I thought you would like it (and I hope that's okay with my mom!). You know you must have a collared shirt to golf at my dad's country club--as Peter well understands....

Excerpt from my mother's e-mail:
That reminds me of a cute story Sarah has about Peter. You know how he is so proud to pick out a "collared" shirt whenever he goes golfing with Grandpa at Ironwood. Last week he was getting dressed to golf and he seemed a bit puzzled about his shirt. Finally he asked Sarah, "What is the collar?" It turns out, all his collared shirts had a logo of some sort embroidered on the left chest, but this time he ran into a plain but collared shirt. Sarah was trying to assure him that this shirt was just fine for golf, but he couldn't find the "collar." Sarah finally figured out the problem, and now dear, dear, precious Peter has an accurate definition of a collared shirt! You just never know what goes through a child's perception of the world.

That reminds me of another Peter story. Last Monday I had Peter and Clara in the car and I was quizzing Peter about his weekend, etc. He reported that Sunday evening they had gone out to eat supper at the "Eyeball Restaurant." Hmmmmmmmm. Exactly where is the Eyeball Restaurant? Perhaps it's a new kids place, I thought. Or one by the optician's office? Or is there a picture of a big clown or monster with great big eyes? Or do you wear 3D theatre glasses? I was puzzled. He reported it was the one he had been to when he was a baby.....Hmmm again. "What did you eat there?" "Pancakes," he answered. "OHHHH! Was it the "IHOP" restaurant? The International House of Pancakes? They call that one the IHOP," I questioned him with a huge new insight. "Yes, that's the one," he affirmed. I dared not burst out into laughter, both for the sake of his precious sincere soul, and for the sake of not driving off the road. But my heart soared for the rest of the day. "Thank you, Lord, for these precious, precious moments!"