The Goodness of Children

It’s no wonder that the scriptures say, “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19).  I saw so many examples today of the person I want to be someday, and each example was a child.

Pretty much from the second I open the doors to the office at 7, I have parents, teachers, students, and staff coming to ask for this or that (or to demand).  A boy came in this morning, so I greeted him and asked him how I could help him.  He replied, “No, I just came to say good morning” and proceeded to give me a small purple flower!  Talk about thoughtfulness and selfless caring.

During the day, I had such a treat!  On Thursdays, the students get to participate in a “club” for about an hour during the day.  The teachers run the clubs, teaching things themselves or employing teachers from outside.  Theresa (the one who talks in one of the videos) took me around to observe the children, and it was so fun!  Their willingness to try new things, their desire to learn, their humility while learning, their enthusiasm for the simple joys in life - all of it is so wonderful!  Plus it was a first to see African people doing taekwondo…haha…but you didn’t see that in Korea, Lyle…haha ; )

There was one club, in particular, that was SO patient.  There were some problems getting the music equipment for their dance club (they get so excited about it that they’re already asking if it’s happening that week on Monday…when it’s not until Thursday! = )  But instead of getting upset and whining, or running wild with nothing to do…they started singing songs together!  I didn’t get it on video because I had to run back to the office to help someone…but I could hear them from my office singing Hannah Montana’s “Best of Both Worlds”!…haha

During the day I saw a girl be…commanded really…in a rather gruff way to come and get some toilet paper from me.  However, she turned right around and said in the sweetest voice, “Please, Aunty So-and-so asked me to come and get some [shoot…I can’t remember what she called it…not toilet paper though].”  Rather than taking out her frustration on me (I actually don’t even think she was frustrated or spiteful)…she just was so sweet and polite.

After school, Charles (Mandy and Melinda’s 16-year-old “cousin” who lives with their family) was told to take the trash, which he did, clean our dishes, which he did, take these big canister things to the storage room, which he did, go to the little shop thing and pick up some toilet paper, which he did, go and fetch a taxi, which he did - all without complaining!  And then, when he was done and waiting for us to be ready to go, he was playing so sweetly with little Papa - it was so cute!

There was a new boarder that just arrived today, at like 5 o’clock (the reason why Charles had to wait around), and I watched as two girls came over and just started carrying her luggage for her and asking her her name and age and stuff.  The new boarder was really shy and seemed super nervous (understandably)…but the other girls just continued to be warm and friendly.  It was so impressive!

And just a funny side-note - when Theresa was taking me around to look at the clubs, a couple of times, as I was walking past students, they would just brush my skin as I walked by with looks of curiosity…haha! = )