It is a little over a week out of my life there and many hours of preparation before, to hopefully touch the lives of teachers in another country desiring to improve their craft. Prayerfully I ask God to help me discover ways I can connect with them not just bringing a bagful of tricks, but with real, sustainable methods and His heart of encouragement. I hope to contribute a little boost of inspiration while they work another year with their students.
We all (including those in the Balkans) have favorite, memorable teachers whose lives went beyond instruction bringing us understanding of more than facts, giving us keys of connection, importance to their meaning with relevance to success in life. We rarely understood it then, but certainly do now. Great teachers can shape the future potentially opening the doors to life long learning and success.
For reasons that God alone fully knows, He has called me to go and with my eyes, ears and heart connected to Him and many wonderful teachers there in Livno, last year also in Glamoč (a town on the outskirts of Livno pronounced Glah- mach). He leads me through my time with Balkan teachers choosing to give up part of their time off, without pay, to attend this free conference offered by World Hope. It is an amazing thing that I get to be part of His love, with the gifts He has given me, to come alongside people clear across the world in a city named Livno.
Dr. Garner has been leading this Instructional Leadership Conference for over a decade. I have had privilege to participate with him in the last three. It has taken me three years to earn the trust of teachers there. While sitting with teachers in an open forum, they were surprised that I invited administrators into my classroom any time for any reason. Foreign seemed the idea of seeing an administrator as one coming along to help, encourage and foster greater success; but we work with some administrators who want to celebrate their teacher's good work and we get to come alongside them.
Last year was the first time a few teachers opened their classrooms doors for me to sit, observe,and begin seeing their teaching culture. The teachers attending our instructional leadership classes finally understood that we do not come to tell them what to do, but to guide them in successful teaching practices that might help continue students success. The calling of Dr. Garner and I is to invest in teachers giving them courage to develop lessons steeped in solid teaching practices which foster creativity and develop problem solving abilities in their students. It is our hope this might lead them to a brighter future both for their students, themselves and even their nation. It is our desire also, to love and encourage them with the love Jesus placed in our hearts, just being who we are.
Last year was the first time a few teachers opened their classrooms doors for me to sit, observe,and begin seeing their teaching culture. The teachers attending our instructional leadership classes finally understood that we do not come to tell them what to do, but to guide them in successful teaching practices that might help continue students success. The calling of Dr. Garner and I is to invest in teachers giving them courage to develop lessons steeped in solid teaching practices which foster creativity and develop problem solving abilities in their students. It is our hope this might lead them to a brighter future both for their students, themselves and even their nation. It is our desire also, to love and encourage them with the love Jesus placed in our hearts, just being who we are.
For years God sent me without the love of my life, Carrie. She, a pediatric nurse by vocation and a very astute asset to my life, was disconnected from my love for the people of Bosnia. I would return full of stories and amazement at all that transpired. I captured many pictures, but we all know that pictures pale in comparison to the depths of being there. Last year, God opened the door for her to join me.
Even though she had experienced Bosnia as I raved about it and prepared her for enculturation, she was overwhelmed by her time there. Given opportunity to visit and talk with doctors and nurses there, a chasm became apparent between the worlds of health care there and here. For decades she has been surrounded by a plethora of equipment and medication for the treatment of ails, basic and complex. But as she walked the clinics in Glamoč and emergency rooms stocked (if you could call it that) with limited basic supplies and meager tools, she came to the realization that even our urgent care facilities would appear as diamonds if they were moved there.
It took years for God to help me to learn how to best help teachers there (and I still have so much to learn); it will take years for Carrie and the team there to make connections in medicine. Trust is built with repeated visits as hearts and lives grow together.
When we wander into the lives of those who seem to have less, we often believe we are to bring the 'stuff' that works for us as solution to their 'problems'. We believe we are helping, but we might actually be hurting them. As I went, God helped me listen. Together we dug deep as He unfolded my understanding of the culture of teaching in Livno. He helped me look for opportunities to understand the challenges they face. It was like mining. I was searching for and following veins that would eventually lead me to that which is precious, the gold of successful, meaningful connection. It finally came.
Last year I remember asking God what I should share with the teachers. He led me to give them some simple teaching strategies with hands on support in language arts. One teacher implemented it in her classroom. With gleaming eyes and confident heart she proudly presented the work of her students to me. God handed me some gold, a teacher's excitement to have, and use, a new tool in her tool box, one that excited her students about learning. Finally the sacrifice of years is starting to pay dividends. At last, for me, the door seems open to connect and tangibly build. Dr. Gardener has been doing this well for over a decade.
God has been kind to Carrie and I, providing finances and health (no small matter these days for me) as we go. We have been asked to return and I am excited to share some math lessons with the teachers, lessons that will build understanding about what lies between 1 and 0 and between every whole number. Carrie is excited to look some more and see where God might lead her. Together we are trusting God again for provision as we step out in faith.
Carrie's adventure is just beginning. She, like me, will require time to steep in the culture while listening and praying about how to help as she joins the team there. Just like me, it will take time. We are often impatient. We frequently desire rapid results as Americans. But God seems to tell us that this work will take time. It may take a decade of honing and caring to find the mother lode. We are grateful that we get to be God's emissaries to hunt and dig with His help. We hope God's work, through us, will be His tool to open their hearts to understand His good news.
Would you be willing to make a financial contribution to this call? We would like to thank those who joined us in prayer and contributed monetarily in the past. As we join the team in Livno with your help, we become the extension of you and our Lord into the lives there.
Should you wish to contribute financially, you can do so by sending a tax deductible donation made out to New Heights Community Church, mailing it here:
New Heights Community Church
10701 N. Magnolia Avenue
Santee CA 92071
If sending a check, please write "Balkan Outreach" in the memo line.
Your prayers are crucial as God leads all of us through the year. Please let us know how we can pray for you too!
Wishing you blessing in the New Year,
Bob and Carrie Arii
When we wander into the lives of those who seem to have less, we often believe we are to bring the 'stuff' that works for us as solution to their 'problems'. We believe we are helping, but we might actually be hurting them. As I went, God helped me listen. Together we dug deep as He unfolded my understanding of the culture of teaching in Livno. He helped me look for opportunities to understand the challenges they face. It was like mining. I was searching for and following veins that would eventually lead me to that which is precious, the gold of successful, meaningful connection. It finally came.
Last year I remember asking God what I should share with the teachers. He led me to give them some simple teaching strategies with hands on support in language arts. One teacher implemented it in her classroom. With gleaming eyes and confident heart she proudly presented the work of her students to me. God handed me some gold, a teacher's excitement to have, and use, a new tool in her tool box, one that excited her students about learning. Finally the sacrifice of years is starting to pay dividends. At last, for me, the door seems open to connect and tangibly build. Dr. Gardener has been doing this well for over a decade.
God has been kind to Carrie and I, providing finances and health (no small matter these days for me) as we go. We have been asked to return and I am excited to share some math lessons with the teachers, lessons that will build understanding about what lies between 1 and 0 and between every whole number. Carrie is excited to look some more and see where God might lead her. Together we are trusting God again for provision as we step out in faith.
Carrie's adventure is just beginning. She, like me, will require time to steep in the culture while listening and praying about how to help as she joins the team there. Just like me, it will take time. We are often impatient. We frequently desire rapid results as Americans. But God seems to tell us that this work will take time. It may take a decade of honing and caring to find the mother lode. We are grateful that we get to be God's emissaries to hunt and dig with His help. We hope God's work, through us, will be His tool to open their hearts to understand His good news.
Would you be willing to make a financial contribution to this call? We would like to thank those who joined us in prayer and contributed monetarily in the past. As we join the team in Livno with your help, we become the extension of you and our Lord into the lives there.
Should you wish to contribute financially, you can do so by sending a tax deductible donation made out to New Heights Community Church, mailing it here:
New Heights Community Church
10701 N. Magnolia Avenue
Santee CA 92071
If sending a check, please write "Balkan Outreach" in the memo line.
Your prayers are crucial as God leads all of us through the year. Please let us know how we can pray for you too!
Wishing you blessing in the New Year,
Bob and Carrie Arii
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