“As I pray that my students will choose to follow Jesus, I pray too for a deep sense of belonging to Him when they make that choice. One of the blessings here is that we can also feel that sense of belonging with others, which truly is a gift from the Lord. It is hard for me to explain what it feels like to be foreign. If that label applies to you, then you’ll know, but otherwise, it is a difficult emotion to quantify. Each one of our students feels it, and God has given them one another (as well as their family and the teachers) to walk this path together. We don’t talk about it much, but that mutual understanding is evident in the way that they pray, care for and accept one another. They choose joy every day and I am so thankful. One of the times we see their ‘togetherness’ the most is during recess (playtime) when they are a force to be reckoned with as they play games with the older students – the other day a 13 year old told me ‘When your class decide to tag me, it’s like an ambush!’ So while encouraging such ambushing may be ethically questionable, it blesses me to see this community and belonging developing – and they do have good relationships with the older students too!…Pray for ongoing energy, creativity and wisdom in ministry here.”