March Madness

Alright, I just want to reiterate for those of you who do not know me. The NCAA Basketball tournament is with out a doubt the best sporting event. It is so much fun to watch the upsets, the buzzer beaters, and so many games being played in such a short amount of time. I have been able to watch a lot of games from "On Demand" from CBS Sportsline. This afternoon I came home from school to watch unbelievalbe endings to the UCLA-Gonzaga game, and the Texas-West Virginia game (wow, that was GREAT).

Let me add, that I did witness a great ending at the expense of my beloved Hawkeyes, but it's ok. I still remain excited for all of this basketball that is being played.

To school news.

This morning, the foreign teachers lead chapel for the Junior and Senior High Students. We made bracelets with different colored beads, each standing for part of the Gospel message (see previous post for a story on prep for this chapel). It was fun and the students really liked getting the bracelets. Giving them something interactive and tangible is great, because most of the time they just get a lecture or a message. Plus it empowers them, by giving them the opportunity to share the message with others.

For classes today, we had a fun day with the students. They had been taking tests all week, and this was the only day of full class. We did not want to do anything to get the students ahead of the schedule, so we played an smaller scale version of "4 on the couch". Some of you who read this might know that game, and if you are interested in hearing about it just post something and I could elaborate. Anyway, it was a much needed opportunity to have fun and build rapport with the students.

I only see some of these kids one time a week, and the others I only see 2 times a week. I realize that it has been a lot more difficult to build that relationship with the students. However, I have started to pray more about it, and asked God to give me ways to build stronger relationships with me students.

Until later....

Mark