Little Talents

“J-OH-LUH-EEN… Jolene.”

  Each girl in the small classroom twisted their face into weird contortions to wrap their mouth around my name.  I couldn’t help but smile as I heard different variations of “Jolene” throughout the classroom.  I had written my name on the board so the girls could see how to pronounce it.

My class of 12 girls

  Mommy (as Mrs. Horner is lovingly called) had left today to go on a weeklong trip.  I offered to take on her English class for her while she was gone.  She was grateful and gave me the run-down on how it works.  She gave me all the supplies I would need and explained how to give quizzes.  I took all the stuff to my room, and as I began to prepare the next day’s lesson, I felt a giddy excitement well up in me.  I’ve always enjoyed teaching; be it tutoring someone in chemistry, homeschooling two hyperactive boys, or teaching a first grader how to read.  Either way, I love bringing people to the “ah ha” moment when the light bulb turns on.  It’s so thrilling.

  So today, I taught my first English class.  The girls were quicker than I expected and were very attentive.  Sandra Miss translated for me, which turned out to work really well.  I was a tad nervous to start, but after hearing the girls try to pronounce my name after I wrote it on the board, all anxiety left me.  My heart warmed and I excitedly dove into the topic for the day.

  I feel like I’ve established myself as a helpful member of the staff already.  I had a jump start when I offered my services to Sandra Miss, who was vainly battling her computer to play videos for the evangelistic series soon to be presented in Nepal.  I sauntered over to where she sat and asked what was going on.  She quickly handed the computer over to me with huge sigh of relief and said, “If you can fix it, I’ll be so thankful.”  Then she walked away. Great.  I’m not that proficient with PCs already, and here she gives me this laptop that I’m totally unfamiliar with and I’m expected to figure out how to make a video on PowerPoint work.  Fat chance.  But I took the laptop and paused for a moment to send up an earnest prayer to God.  When I finished praying, I stared at the computer screen.  Where to start?  To say the least, I did get it to work.  Praise the Lord!  I was just as surprised as Sandra Miss was when I said I had figured out the problem and fixed it.  She’s been trying to figure it out for months.  God surely helped me.

  And I’m super excited!  I got to clean teeth today!  Well, I cleaned one girl’s teeth with Sandra Miss looking over my shoulder correcting me.  She often had to take the tool from my hand to demonstrate how to do it.  But, by the time I was done, I felt a little more confident.  It’s a lot harder than I thought!  You have to place your fingers in just the right places as to not hurt your patient, you have to put just the right force into your scraping but make sure you have full control so you don’t slice their gum or lips, and you have to find just the right angle to access that part of the tooth.  And you have to do all this with a very sharp tool in your hand that you have to be fully aware of where it is.  What a lot to think about!  It will probably take me close to 10 people before I’ll start feeling comfortable and confident, Sandra Miss says.  Well, I have 23 girls who need their teeth cleaned… so that leaves 13 that will get a good thorough cleaning without a nervous, shaking amateur in their mouth.

Before

After

  I will probably have to do one or two girls a day to get them all clean before I leave.  Some of the girls have used tobacco or beetle nut and so their teeth are quite the challenge to clean.  And most of them don’t brush their teeth well.  I’m supposed to also teach them how to correctly brush their teeth, tongue and gums.  I wish I had brought floss for them…

My talent being put to the test

  So, I’m starting to feel that satisfaction that comes from wholeheartedly giving myself away in serving mankind.  I feel helpful too.  No, I haven’t been formally trained in any one area (like dental work!), yet I’m still finding that God can use me.  Every “little” talent or gift I have is being put to use and tested…such as playing the piano.  I thank God for all those Friday evening worships that I played for my family, for now, my talent is being thoroughly tested and tried.  I’m trying to play on a keyboard without a pedal, where both the keyboard and I are sitting on wobbly stools a foot off the ground, the hymnal is laying down on the keyboard and I’m trying to play from a Nepali hymn book that only has the treble cleft (thankfully I know chords!). I am so thankful the Nepalese sing really loud!

  But I am grateful that I can help them in this way.  I’m thankful that all my efforts in learning piano are being put to good use here.  I’m thankful that I have some talents and gifts that can be used here, even if they are so small. God is helping me double them so I won’t be the foolish servant who hid his talents in the dirt.  Instead, I’m hoping of hearing, “Well, done thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”