Life is Good

Hello all! Wow has time flown since two months ago when I last updated this blog! I've so desired to update sooner than this, but there have always been other more urgent priorities that have been grabbing my attention these past couple months...especially in the month of March before Spring Break. Boy, was it ever crazy.


Anyway, I'd like to start with sharing a huge praise / answer to prayer. We have been praying for Hinkson's licensing issue. We just recently found out some very good news, which puts a lot less pressure on the school while we work through our license renewal. We still need lots of prayers for that (and for a computer coordinator), but we are so thankful for the great process that has already been made. Thank you for your prayers.


In the class, there have been many festive times and plenty of teachable moments (along with some really late nights and many moments of inevitable frustration). One of the most notable is how well our slave-freeing campaign is going. After finishing just three of our five/six major pushes to raise money to free slaves around the world (through the "Loose Change to Loosen Change" campaign of the International Justice Mission), my fifth graders have already raised $750! It is so neat to see them grasping onto the fact that God's commands in the Bible to care for the needy find very practical application, even at their age!

In cultural news, the dollar's value is dropping (it has dropped almost three rubles since I arrived here two years ago), so it's forcing me to make my money stretch a bit farther. But I don't have to worry. I've always had all that I need, and in recent days I've been very grateful for my new living situation. Because of where my new one-room apartment is located, I'm not only paying less rent per month, but I'm also paying less for groceries! God's economy is just perfect!

While I'm thinking of it, I thought I'd let you all know what the school website is for Hinkson Christian Academy. Here it is: http://www.hinkson.ru/hca/hca-home.htm. The site has all the information you'd like to know about our school, why we're here, etc. If you let some of the pictures scroll through on the home page, you'll see a few of me. (Little known fact...I'm the guy dressed up as Spider-Man as well). Check it out!

One thought that's been really encouraging to me these past few weeks has been a simple one of deciding to look up while walking through the city. Recently I was walking to school on a Friday morning, looking down at the pavement directly in front of me, as usual. I've noticed that this is how most people walk, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's how I go about things about 97% of the time. However, on this particular day, I had chosen to intentionally look up and into the faces of everyone I passed by. The result was remarkable. I came to realize just how many people there are here in Moscow. And I began to love them. I began to understand a little more closely what God's love is like. I had been missing it for so long. Why? Well, whenever I'm walking looking just in front of me, I've noticed it's because I'm thinking intensely about plans, ideas, class, etc. - my life. When I chose to look up and out and onto the faces of those passing me by, I noticed that anxiety began to leave me and joy came flooding in. It was in that moment that I realized how everyone has a life they're living, each one with his or her own problems...we're all in the same boat, really. And I've resolved to look into those faces with a much higher frequency. There is such creativity in the Master's diverse design of people!


Just yesterday morning my roommate Max told me a story that was utterly hilarious and thus needed to be repeated to my students in class. Max informed me (not for the first time) that I had been talking in my sleep. He said that it wasn't muttering, but was actually very clear and audible. He said that I was addressing my class about some issues for about three to four minutes, and so he decided to join in the fun. He asked, "Mr. Hays, may I have a banana?" To that, I had evidently sat up in my bed and told him, "Not yet." And I don't recall any of this! What makes this even more funny is the fact that every roommate I've had since college has told me the same thing: that I talk a lot in my sleep. Interesting!


One area of growth for me in recent months has been one of realizing how important it is to accept the love God has for me, a love that does not change with my performance or lack thereof. I've come to realize that while I might show grace and forgiveness toward others, I am extremely hard on myself, leaving almost no room for error. In short, I have a hard time giving grace to myself, or more accurately, accepting God's grace to me. Furthermore, I've come to realize that I need to not only treat others the way I want to be treated, but I should also treat myself the way I treat others (with love). I'm not saying that I'm perfect, just that "being slow to anger, abounding in love" (Psalm 103:8) like God, needs to be a truth I live internally as much as I do externally.


Many of you, I'm sure, have been anxious to hear about my Spring Break trip to Israel, and believe me, I'm excited to share it. However, I've decided to let this blog entry be all about life these past couple months, and then the next big blog update (in the near future) will be all about the trip to Jerusalem. So here's my life in pictures:

About two months ago, we had a DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Day. Here one student is all curled up with a book!

Crammed in the back of a Jeep with one of my students after his basketball game.

Some students took my challenge to dress up like a god, goddess, hero, heroine, mythological creature, author, scientist, etc. from ancient Greece. Here's what they looked like!

My 5th grade Bible class helped me prepare for elementary chapel on Friday, March 14. I was given the privilege of speaking in chapel on that day, and it ended up going well as I spoke about compassion (our character trait focus for the month). Having my students help was a big plus!
So where were my Korean students in this picture? They have Korean Bible and Culture Class while I teach the remainder of the 5th graders about the Old Testament, which explains why they weren't a part of the picture at this point.

And yet again...acting out situations related to compassion.

As part of the recent rummage sale to help raise money to free slaves around the world, we decided to use the 5th grade bunny, Baxter, as an incentive. Students and others who attended the rummage sale had an option of getting their picture taken with Baxter with one of four hairdoes. Here you see "Poof!" Isn't the little guy so cute?

As part of the license renewal process, many staff members had to have medical tests done on site. I was one of those members. In addition to having my blood drawn to check for syphilis and AIDS, I also had to have an X-ray to check for tuberculosis. An old medical truck came in (above and below) that housed the X-ray machine. In the picture above, I was about to enter the truck while still holding the gauze against my arm where I had been poked!

The medical truck.

In our study of galaxies and space, I had the kids break into four groups and construct each of the major galaxy types with tiny pieces of paper that they had crumpled into balls (representing stars). Pictured above is a spiral galaxy, which is the type of galaxy that the Milky Way is. Our Sun and solar system are located on one of the arms about one-third of the way from the edge. Almost beyond comprehension is the fact that our galaxy is 100,000 light years across, and that's only one of billions of galaxies!

It has been a long time since I've seen my street sweeper friend Eelbove, but I've formed a new friendship with a man named Darlat. He works at the shaurma stand near the school, is from Turkmenistan, and is working to support his wife and children. I see him about once a week and we always talk a little bit (as best as I can in Russian :)

One recent development that was on the sad side was the sudden death of one of our three lizards, Spot. He was a little green anole lizard who brought much joy to the class. The kids asked if I would write a verse about death on a piece of wood that they would use for his grave, so I agreed. As you can see, the kids constructed quite a gravesite for the little guy. We had a funeral during recess (I was the officiating "pastor"), complete with a eulogy and the singing of "Amazing Grace."

The weekend before last, I had the privilege of taking my middle school Caring Community Group (we meet once a month to talk about life, questions, spiritual matters, etc.) to visit the kids at the orphanage. After having a fun overnighter on Friday night, the four boys and I ventured to the orphanage in the Nazarene church van, along with a young married couple from my church. While relations were a bit awkward at first between the Russian kids and my three American and one Korean middle schoolers, all were getting along splendidly by the end of the day. For most of my boys, it was their first time visiting an orphanage, and they were moved by the experience. A few highlights from the day include jumping into the cold river in just my jeans and then getting pelted with mud by the kids every time I exited the water, seeing the kids run alongside our van as we pulled away because they didn't want to see us go, and having one of the kids call one of my middle schoolers on his cell phone a couple times during the week. We're planning one more visit to the kids before their orphanage is shut down in May (all the kids will be sent to different orphanages...quite tragic).

My 5th graders just concluded their big Eastern hemisphere country reports last week. Part of their project was to do an oral presentation in the form of a newscast. Pictured above is one student reporting on Ireland.

Last Thursday, the 4th and 5th grade classes took a joint field trip to the largest puppet theater in Russia, and here they all are getting ready to catch a metro train!

Last Thursday was our Staff Appreciation Dinner. The location was absolutely beautiful as we ate at an Indian restaurant on the top floor of a building that is located near the center of Moscow. The view of the city was outstanding (especially from the sign on the top of the building...we young male staff members daringly climbed up some ladders on top of the building until we we standing in the massive sign at the very top...boy is it ever windy that high up!) Pictured above are Jeff and Shelley McGuire. Jeff is the school's director, and Shelley is the registrar, both of them are a great encouragement and inspiration to me.

To round out the country reports, my students celebrated with the Eastern Hemisphere Food Festival last Friday. Each student made a dish from the country he/she reported on, and then they shared it with each other, their parents, the 4th graders, and other staff members. Delicious!

There are only five weeks of school remaining, and I want to make the most of that time. Please pray for me in the following ways:

• For wisdom and endurance to finish the school year well as I teach and mold the lives and dreams of my 5th graders
• For one of my students who is seeking to grow deeper in God and whose mother has just encountered some serious medical issues.
• For the English Cafe, which I co-lead. We have three meetings left before the end of May, and our next is this coming Saturday. We will be openly discussing Easter. Pray that our Russian friends who attend would encounter the truth of the risen Christ!