Hi Friends!
How are you guys? Hope you’re all healthy! I want to share a story with you, so listen up! Oops, sorry, I mean read! Since I’m telling this story in writing, haha! So, some time ago, I participated in an activity called Saint Mary Way, or SMW for short. Saint Mary Way is a program organized by the school to teach us to emulate the values of Mother Mary: Love, Joy, Peace, Prosperity, Patience, Generosity, Kindness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
I carried out this Saint Mary Way program from September to mid-October. In this activity, I learned to create proposals, reports, coordinate, and serve God. After the program started, it turned out to be really fun! I made new friends, and the atmosphere was exciting because there were many little kids. A lot of them asked me to play with them because I was assigned to teach BIA (Children's Faith Guidance). The kids there were very young, some were even toddlers.
Honestly, I was really tired while working on this project. Many of the kids were fussy, and I was overwhelmed taking care of them. But I was also very happy because they were all so cute. All that tiredness was worth it when I saw them smile and laugh widely. I’m happy when they’re happy. Even though it was tiring, I still want to teach there. Because the Sunday school teachers and the other adults who were teaching there before me were also very kind to me and Nathan (my SMW groupmate).
SO, HOW WAS IT, GUYS? Interesting, right? Of course, it is… look who’s writing! I’ll tell you the full story below! Happy reading!
So guys, before going directly into the field, we definitely made a plan as a group, right? I, Nathan, and Angel created a proposal together. After the proposal was finished, we submitted it to the principal. Even then, we couldn't immediately teach, we had to wait for the letter to be approved by the principal first. And then… it didn't end there, we had to ask permission from the church. Here, we asked Angel for help as an intermediary because she had been teaching there before.
After all the permit matters were settled, I, Angel, and Nathan started teaching at the church. But, but, but… life always has obstacles, right? It wouldn't be life if there were no trials. In the first week/meeting, Nathan's family had a bereavement. Meanwhile, Angel was a committee member in the pastoral meeting of the Bandung Diocese. So, because they were both unable to attend, I taught alone in this meeting. Actually, the night before, the three of us had coordinated a bit. We had agreed that we would create a "chain sentence" game. But, I personally didn't really understand how to play the chain sentence game, especially since I was alone here. I became even more overwhelmed. So at that time, the other Sunday school teachers and I immediately created a new game, impromptu of course! Hehehe. Because of this incident, I was scolded a bit by one of the teachers there, guys… But it’s okay… It’s all part of the experience, people say experience is the best teacher, right?
Okay, let's continue… After going through the first week, we continued to the second week. This meeting was my favorite part. Because this week was the last week of September, aka the closing week of the National Bible Month. No one was absent here. Especially when we got ‘a little gift’ when we went home. Full personnel! How could I not be even happier? Since Angel is an insider here, most of the preparations for this meeting were prepared by Angel. But of course, Nathan and I still helped as group members. After all the preparations were complete, the time came for us to start. Here we sang, read the Bible, just happy, happy. When Sunday school was over, the kids there were very happy. I was happy to see them happy.
Okay, let's continue… After going through the first week, we continued to the second week. This meeting was my favorite part. Because this week was the last week of September, aka the closing week of the National Bible Month. No one was absent here. Especially when we got ‘a little gift’ when we went home. Full personnel! How could I not be even happier? Since Angel is an insider here, most of the preparations for this meeting were prepared by Angel. But of course, Nathan and I still helped as group members. After all the preparations were complete, the time came for us to start. Here we sang, read the Bible, just happy, happy. When Sunday school was over, the kids there were very happy. I was happy to see them happy.
The second meeting was over, we immediately continued to the third meeting… Honestly, this meeting was a bit difficult, guys… Because again and again, Angel was unable to attend here. At that time, she was on retreat for confirmation at Bumi Silih Asih. So, it was just Nathan and me left. What made me overwhelmed was not when I was teaching on the day, but when I was preparing the materials and creativity activities for the day. If we just did coloring, they would get bored because they were used to it with Angel. I also thought about inviting them to play games, but Angel said that the creativity activity had to have a form and shape. After a long debate, Nathan and I finally decided to make a keychain. So this keychain contains 7 gifts of the holy spirit. Nathan and I asked them to color it according to their respective creativity. Then, when they were done, we gave them a rope to make the hanger. And then it was done! They were very happy when their keychains were finished. Nathan and I hoped that the keychain would be a beautiful memory for them.
After these three meetings were over, our struggle wasn't over yet, of course … we still had to make reports, practice presentations, and finally the presentation day. We started by making reports. Here, I, Angel, and Nathan worked together to compile the PPT, starting from the opening, content, to the closing. After the report became a complete PPT, all the students practiced presenting in the hall. Here, the three of us divided the tasks for the presentation. After the tasks were divided equally, and we had a clean presentation rehearsal, the day finally came when we had to present in front of the parents. That day, I was very nervous. Especially when my parents asked questions and gave reactions that made me even more nervous. Honestly, during the presentation, I was already trembling and wanted to cry on stage. But, I tried to control myself so that my voice could remain stable, and my eyes wouldn't be red and watery.
Emmmm… I think I've told a very long story, haven't I? Okay then, I'll just close this story. From this SMW experience, I learned so much. I'm very happy because I was able to get the opportunity to teach in Sunday school, meet cute little siblings, make new friends who are kind, and many more… Honestly, I want to go there again. But lately I've been busy, so I can't go there…
Okay, the story is getting too long, guys. Thank you for reading my story! Bye bye… See you next time guys!!!
