The 30 to 3 Theory

Something interesting I’ve noticed about the life of Jesus: Jesus only spent three years teaching.  That’s it.  Three.  And it’s not as if He looked back and thought, “Dang!  If only I had started sooner!  That whole unexpected crucifixion really threw off my schedule!”  Of course not.  He knew exactly what He was doing.  Heck, He changed the course of history with those measly three years.  So the question remains, what exactly did He do for the first thirty years?

Here’s my theory:

Jesus spent thirty holy years learning to be human and three years teaching humans to be holy.  It sounds ridiculous, because He’s God, but think about it: He had to learn language, culture, and emotions just like any other human.  That’s what make the Gospel so beautiful: God experienced the human condition (kind of makes it sound like a disease, but I think the wording is appropriate).  He knows exactly how we feel.  Then after thirty years, Jesus basically said, “Okay, now I know what it’s like to human.  And it’s broken.  Let me show you how to be like Me instead.”

As a teacher striving to model my life after Christ, I can come to only one logical conclusion: my learning to teaching ratio should be 30:3.  In other words, for every thirty things I learn, I should teach three.  And then learn some more.

This is not to say that I should keep to myself things I could otherwise teach... no.  It’s more of a reminder that I should be constantly learning, constantly aware of how much I don’t know.  If I can teach one thing to someone, he can teach me ten.  It’s a humbling life view, if you think about it.

What I’m Learning:

Culture

Okay, obviously, I’m learning a while new culture.  And culture is a funny thing.  Who knew all those years of being scolded to use a fork, I could have just moved to Honduras and eaten with my hands all day long?  In semi-related news, I learned to use a gas stove.

Guitar

I had my first guitar lesson this past Wednesday, and it was great, though my fingers are still a little sore...  Walter (Grecia’s husband) is teaching me in Spanglish—he trying to say things in English and using Spanish if necessary, and I the opposite.

Mayans

Thursday the 3^rd and 4^th graders went on a field trip to the Mayan Museum.  (It would have been nice if I had known about the field trip before I arrived at school, but it was fun nonetheless.)  The museum was geared toward children, so it was very interactive and interesting.  All the pictures are on my Facebook if you’d like to see!

Spanish

I had my first Spanish class Friday, and it was really great.  I met with my teacher at a cafe and she’s really good.  She’s one of those teachers that tricks you into thinking you know more than you do (by speaking slowly and using a small vocabulary) so that you instantly become comfortable.  You leave thinking, "Holy crap!  I can totally speak Spanish!"  But really you can't.  It's one of those teacher illusions.  I talked with her in Spanish for about an hour and a half, though!  Granted, it was probably awful broken Spanish with a goofy gringa accent, but she understood me.  That’s what matters.

Abolishing the Comfort Zone

“Melissa, get the heck out of your comfort zone!” –Melissa’s Whiteboard

Just some words of wisdom from me to me to you.  :)

 

What I’m Teaching:

English—ABBA Bilingual School (And some other subjects as well...)

English—the Pastor and Co.  (It was supposed to be just the Pastor, but apparently we’re going to start having Family English Time.)

English—my Spanish teacher  (We worked out an agreement: free Spanish for me, free English for her.)

English—Urban Promise (Another ministry asked me to teach English as an after school activity with their kids starting in March.)

 

(Are you catching a pattern here?...)

So my learn to teach ratio isn’t perfect yet... but it’s pretty obvious I only really have one skill to give here.  I’m basically just teaching the same thing to... all of Copan.  How much I have to learn, though!

 

Happy learning, Friends!