It is so incredible to see how God brings the right people, at just the right time, to meet needs that we may not even be aware of yet—it’s all part of the great adventure of faith! I fondly remember meeting Sarah, a prospective intern, one sunny afternoon in Monument, Colorado. Kimberly and I were immediately impressed with her maturity and adaptability (which we later learned was one of her “Top 5” StrengthsFinder themes). She was studying Elementary Education at Colorado Christian University and was looking for a place to serve. A short time later, we met her wonderful family, and were delighted to learn that her mother had worked in Africa years ago and Sarah had long dreamed about teaching there.
Little did we know that Sarah would become like part of our family during some very interesting days in Rwanda. As I reflect on Sarah’s time with us, I can’t even begin to share all that she did. Her duties ranged from washing many, many dishes to teaching in our elementary school. She led chapel, helped rebuild a mud home, distributed goats and loved on a lot of beautiful babies along the way! Sarah faithfully demonstrated Ephesians 6:7-8, which reads, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever he does, whether he is slave or free.”
As her internship drew to a close, I asked Sarah to share a bit about her experience, and I’d like to share it with you, in her own words:
“Ever since I was little, my dream was to teach at a school in Africa. But I never imagined that this would happen so early on in my life. My experience interning at Hope Haven has been one of the greatest and most life-changing experiences I’ve ever had.
During my time at Hope Haven I was assigned to the P-2 classroom, which is equivalent to 2nd grade. This class was full of the goofiest and happiest kids I have ever met. The students surprised me every day by their desire and enthusiasm to learn. It made me so excited to go to class!
I was given the opportunity to teach reading in the P-2 class while I was at Hope Haven. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me because I had not taught many lessons before, but the students made teaching so easy. They were so engaged and responsive when I would ask a question or ask for participation. It was really funny when Merab, the P-2 teacher, would tell the students to “speak like Teacher Sarah” and the students would try and copy my accent. One of the coolest experiences I had in the classroom was getting to use the new document reader and projector to teach the class a reading lesson. It saved me so much time because I typically would have written a lot of things on the whiteboard, but with the document reader I was able to project them on the screen and have more time for the students to practice the vocabulary words. I will never forget the look of awe on the student’s faces when they saw the projector for the first time.
I am so grateful for 6 weeks that I got to spend learning so much from incredible teachers, students, and staff at Hope Haven—I can’t wait to go back!”
Thanks, Sarah, for your sacrificial service to so many—let’s do it again soon!