Music hath charms...

This culture may fall short on some things, but when it comes to celebrating Mothers…they do it up right! Of course, there is a Mother’s Day but more than that, the entire month of May is dedicated to honoring Mothers. It’s a big deal, believe me.

The school is having a big celebration for their mothers the end of May and Pastora told me she wanted all the children to sing a song in English at the program. She said it was a tradition, that all the other English teachers had done it before me (at that moment, I wondered if that was one of the reasons I was teacher number 5…) and that I could choose any song I wanted. Sure. No problem. I still haven’t gotten over the shock that God has me working with children in this capacity…now I have to teach them a song in English!?!?!? Trust me when I say that’s a head-scratcher…

There are definitely problems with this whole scenario. To begin with, a dog howling at my vocals sounds better than I do when I try to sing. The closest I come to playing a musical instrument is pushing the buttons on my MP3 player and speakers. Plus, the kids are not super motivated to learn greetings in their English classes…I can’t imagine how this is going to fly. Then, there’s the logistics of trying to get all six classes to sing together when three classes attend in the morning and three in the afternoon.

God patiently listened to my whining…once again…and then told me to get with it. So, I did a lot of internet surfing trying to find the perfect song for the kids. I finally found a very simple, basic song for “M-O-M-M-Y” using the tune to the children’s song B-I-N-G-O. I thought it would be fun for the kids to sing and I thought it was simple enough that they could learn the words. The kids in first, second and third all seemed to catch on to it pretty well the first time we went through it. Now, it’s just a matter of enunciation and timing on the clapping…these kids abound with enthusiasm so they’re a little hard to restrain when it’s time to put their palms together! It’s too fun to be frustrating.

But, it’s a song for little ones…how were the bigger kids going to react to it? I decided if I was going to go insane over the next few weeks, I might as well do it in a big way. I took a vote in the 3 older grades, asking them if they wanted to sing with the younger kids or if they wanted a more grown-up song. Well, duh… So, the next vote was they had to choose between a song for their mothers or a song for God. Surprisingly enough, a song for God was the winner and the kids all seemed really excited about it. That was going to make it easier. I have Christian music on the MP3 plus several CDs that had been sent down as gifts. I was starting to be a bit encouraged…maybe this could actually happen. So, by my own doing, I’m trying to teach two different songs in a “foreign” language to these kids. Did you hear that? I thought I heard a heavenly chuckle…

One of my favorite songs is a song written by a contemporary Christian band out of Belfast, Ireland called Bluetree. The band is not that well-known, I suppose, but one of their songs is a tremendous hit, thanks to Chris Tomlin. “God of this City” is a song that touches a part of my heart that just goes raw every time I hear it. Of course, it’s a perfect “missions” song as it applies to every mission field there is. The message of the song is that God is God of “this” city, King of “these” people, Lord of “this” nation. That truth is the truth Jim and I hold on to at our darkest times here. If we didn’t believe that, we couldn’t stay here. But we do and here we are. We know that song is every missionary’s song for their people group in their nation. It’s so great that God’s Truth is big enough for us all to claim…

There are two versions to this song. Bluetree’s version is amazing and I love the complete lyrics but Chris Tomlin’s is much shorter and that is the one I have on CD. So, I thought I would play it for the kids and see what they thought. I translated the lyrics in to Spanish and printed them off in both languages for the 3 older grades. Although they have to sing the song in English, I want them to know the significance of what they’re singing.

I took the cd player and the cd with me to school on Thursday. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive as to how the kids would receive it. My first class in the afternoon is 5th grade. There are 25 students in this class, ages 10 – 16. The kids liked it okay…and made a fair attempt at trying to sing along….all wanted to sing it in Spanish. I think they’re missing the idea that the English teacher is supposed to teach them a song to sing in English…oh, well. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great, either.

Usually, I have a break and then go to fourth grade but because it was Book Day, the school schedule was not as normal. As a result, as soon as I finished with fifth grade, I had to go over to the sixth grade. When I walked in, they were pretty high energy. But, Douglas, my beloved pain in the neck, saw the CD player and immediately wanted to be in charge of it. He was determined to figure it out himself and didn’t want much help. I passed out the lyrics and explained the song to the kids while keeping one eye on Douglas growling at anyone else who dared to come near the CD player. I worried about how it was going to fare and even more so, how the CD would survive. But, I was so encouraged that he wanted to be helpful that I just prayed God would protect the fragile little disk and the player. As always, God was faithful and Douglas managed to get it going without my feared catastrophe.

You know that saying, “music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” that has been revised to say, “music hath charms to soothe the savage beast”? Well, whatever bent you prefer, it’s true! Within seconds after starting the music, the kids were quiet. Some of them came up close to better hear the music. They listened carefully to the song and when it came to an end, I asked them if they liked it, yes or no. I received a resounding yes. And then, Tony, the other ringleader of the class, said softly, but firmly, that it was beautiful. My heart almost leapt out of my chest! These kids liked it…they really liked it! So, we played it again…and again…and again…and again…and again. We talked about the pronunciation of the words, the significance of the song, the beauty of the music and I was assured by that class, hands down, that they could learn it and were excited to sing it.

During one of the times we played the song, I realized almost every student was on the floor, around the CD player, singing the lyrics as best they could at that moment. Jim was taking some pictures of them when all of a sudden, they were singing in perfect harmony. It was absolutely beautiful…and unbelievably stirring. My eyes filled with tears and I looked at Jim just in time to see him wiping his eyes. Tony and Douglas looked up to see us both overcome by the beauty of that amazing moment and all I could do was smile…both smiled in return. I started to say the moment was magical…it was better than that…the Holy Spirit was filling that room and we were acutely aware of His presence. The kids that have absolutely run me ragged were singing praises to our God…I don’t know of any better way to bond hearts than in worship to our Almighty Lord and Savior.

Our time in that class ended way too quickly. Wow! I never thought I would say that… It was time to go to 4th grade. As we were going in to the classroom, I realized Douglas was walking in with me and taking the CD player out of my hand. He and Tony had come with us to the 4th grade class. Tony helped me explain how the lyrics were repeated while Douglas got the CD player plugged in and ready to go. I was just in awe at the transformation of those two boys. I am not so foolish as to think that behavior is permanent, but neither am I not going to cherish those moments of cooperation and assistance. I love being on the mountain…

How quickly those mountain tops can flatten out and you find yourself feeling like Gumby down in the valley. The 4th grade class is a large class like 5th grade. The kids were excited initially but the novelty of having music in class quickly wore off. Luis, the 6th grade teacher evidently realized that Tony and Douglas were missing and he came and retrieved them for his own class. I hated to see them leave…at that moment, they were the proverbial wind beneath my own raggedy wings.

There were some in 4th grade who were interested but most preferred to play their air guitars or wail sounds at the top of their voice. Volume evidently trumps clarity. When I asked if they would prefer to do the M-O-M-M-Y song with the little kids, I got a resounding “NO!” Oh, well. We have a month and if we get to have all our classes, that means we may get 10 more opportunities to practice. We’ll see what happens. This may be the year that tradition changes.

I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that if I can get the 19 sixth graders plus the few in the 4th and 5th grade that are really interested, to learn the song well, that maybe that will be enough to carry the others through. Besides, Moms don’t really care if little Juan Carlos or Maria José can carry a tune or remember the lyrics. They just care that it’s evident to everyone else that their child is the star performer. That’s a fact. It’s true with my grandchildren, it was true with my own girls and I’m sure it was true with my mom. That’s why Nicaragua has it right in regards to Mothers…they deserve a month of their own to be honored.