Dancing Queen

This week has been crazy. Since last Monday I have had 16 piano lessons, 4 group guitar lessons (with 6 students), and one individual guitar lesson. My students have become extremely fond of me and the entire church has welcomed me with open arms. At any given point during times with my students, there can be three completely different conversations all directed at me all happening at the same time. It can be completely chaotic! Even though it has be overwhelming at times, I have enjoyed every second of it.

My students are a group of the most diverse, comedic, loud, rambunctious, loving, and joyful people I have ever met. Every time I say something remotely Texan or American we have to stop everything and talk about it. They are constantly mimicking my “ya’ll” in their best Texan accent. Every moment is filled with laughter because they are constantly finding something to joke about. Group guitar lessons are my most challenging lessons of the week. Because there are six chatty girls and one music teacher, it can be difficult to accomplish anything. They do not always have a long attention span. This is why I have introduced them to the land of line dancing. All week long we have clapped, shuffled, and kicked to line dances. Being a Texan, I had to introduce them to the country style line dances as well as the christian music line dances. So far we have learned six line dances and I have nine students expecting to learn more! Seriously ya’ll I have been dancing so much this week… I guess its time for me to brush up (and learn) my line dances! These dancing moments have been a good way to take a mental break and also to show them upbeat Christian music. I have shared all my playlists with them and watching them start to sing the words of the songs I play has been amazing to watch.

On Sunday, the guitar students were able to have their first performance. We sang and played “You Are My Sunshine” in the evening church service. Everyone was so excited to see how much progress the students have made in a week! I was so proud of them. I cannot wait to see what they continue to accomplish. The next song we are trying to learn is a much more difficult song. It is called “Lord I Need You”. I introduced this song to the congregation last Sunday when I led worship and played it again yesterday. When the students learn this song, they will be able to begin leading the congregation in worship! God is using these lessons to build a group of students who can lead others in praising the Creator!

My cousins came to visit us this weekend. We had lots of family time and on Saturday, I had my first trip to the sea where I was able to go to the Roaker Lighthouse! It was an amazing experience and I loved seeing the old lighthouse! I also was able to ride a double decker bus which was really cool! Today I went to a place called Cragside which was the first house in the UK to have hydroelectric power! The house was enormous and was stunningly beautiful. In one section of the house they had an art gallery hallway with an old grand piano in it. There was a sign on the piano saying that people who could play the piano were welcome to play it. It was such a cool moment for me to be able to play on such a beautiful (and old) piano.

This week has been beautifully busy with music lessons. God is teaching me that relationships are often more important than getting a task done. Even though I would like to stop chatty conversations that interrupt the lessons, it is better for me to listen to those conversations because they could impact someone’s life. Doing His work while I am in school has been amazing. Not only am I earning a degree in Christian Studies and Global Ministry in a classroom, but I am also learning hands on. School certainly adds to the busy schedule, but I am learning to balance everything. Even though I am exhausted, it is my joy to be here doing His work. My prayer request for this week is this: I am starting to get a little sick and I really would prefer to be in good health to continue teaching. Also please pray that God will use me to show His love to the people around me. My final request is for my guitar students. Please pray that they will have an easy time learning the new songs and that they will be patient with the process of learning music.