Tim's blog

Today we started working on a presentation about a character of The Sorrow of War , I chose to do it about Kien; about what 10 things I would find in his trash can. While reading today, I learned more about what Kien's relationship with his parents was like as well as he and Phuong's relationship right before Kien went off to war. What Phuong said about Kien's dad impacted me, I did not expect her to say that.  I liked this class period. I got a good amount of work done and I have been slowly progressing in my google slides since we ended class. It's surprisingly hard to come up with more than 7 things I would find in Kien's trash can. Today, I am feeling good. I went to sleep earlier last night at about 10:30 (still not early enough) so waking up at 6 was not hard. My goal is to be in bed by the latest 9:30 every day. I was pretty productive today so I feel fulfilled in that sense. Still, nothing makes me feel any more fulfilled than being filled with the triune Go...

Today, we finished up our work with the quotes. I learned more about the story. I got help from Wednesday and my other group members from yesterday to have all 5 quotes ready by the end of class. I liked this class period. I am glad that I finished my 5 quotes on time before the bell rang. Today I am feeling great! My mom and I were driving to school and there was a lakeside student at a crosswalk about half of a mile away. We told him to hop in and took him to school. After getting our passes, I caught up to him as he was walking down the hallway and I shared the good news with him (that's what "gospel" means). He said he had recently been reading the bible and that his brother is a Christian, and I told him about our human spirit and how we can contain and contact God at any moment by using it. We confessed Jesus is Lord and called on the Lord a bit. I hope and I am praying that he texts me from my number on the little trac I gave him. Thank You Lord for a great start t...

 Today, we started to go further into The Sorrow of War and did an activity with getting quotes and writing about them. I learned about the mute girl in the story, but I didn't get that far. I will read the pages assigned today. I hope Mr. Rease posts the pages on canvas soon so I can read the pages when I have free time during this school day. I also got a bit better at analyzing the deeper meaning in quotes and finding a theme associated with them.  I feel indifferent about today's lesson in regard to liking or disliking it. I came pretty late, but I was there for the instruction, so getting started was easy.  Today, I am feeling good. I learned how to play some new chords on the guitar recently and I can now play some really cool songs that Ms. Arzabe's husband, Carlos, wrote about the Lord with inspiration from a bunch of verses. I love singing to the Lord in the morning and waking up earlier to have a time with Him.

 

Today, some students presented their literature circle assignment and we had a great discussion. I learned a bit more about The Sorrow of War 's story .  In the discussion, a question was asked along the lines of "How do you deal with past negative experiences?", and I shared that I come to God to get over past experiences, and I read to the class  Philippians 3:13b-14: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward. I shared again later but from a different prompt, about how vaping and smoking was negatively affecting me but I had been in denial of it for a while. I didn't bring up anything about the Lord when speaking of this, but my sharing brought Jose, someone sitting next to me, to tell me he liked it, so I told him about how it was all God's work. I then shared the gospel with him and I'm glad he seemed very interested....

 Today, we took notes as we read pages 79-108 (we only got to page 94) and took notes, so that we could fulfill our role of the literature circle assignment that we were given. I came to class late, so I had to catch up with the notes on every two pages that my group got through. I am the "summarizer," so I will need to read these pages and catch up for an accurate summary. I learned that Phuong and Kien met again and things didn't work out between them. I liked class today, because despite arriving late, I got somewhat caught up before the bell rang. My whole group has work to do at home, so I wasn't too behind by the end of class. Today I am feeling good. I am striving to get all of my homework done by the end of the day, which is very possible. I just need to keep coming to the Lord and drawing from the springs of salvation by calling on His name. Isaiah 12:3-4:  Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation , And you will say in that...

Today, some of us presented our one-pager on The Sorrow of War. I learned more about the story by listening to my peer's presentations. What impacted me was the reality of the one situation in the recent reading.  I enjoyed this class period by seeing how my classmates have viewed the recent reading through their one-pagers. I hope I get to present mine because I worked pretty hard on it... this morning. (just finished it up) Today I am feeling good. I need to drink the living water a lot more, though. OH LORD JESUS!

 

 Today, we worked on our one-pager. I didn't learn much, just worked, but I did learn how to draw an R in bubble letters. I'm having somewhat of a hard time coming up with my last two questions and their answers, but I'll figure it out.  I am planning on working on the one-pager throughout the day as much as I can, so that when I get home I won't have too much work to do. Today I am feeling great. I woke up at 5:55 (but went to sleep last night at 11:45...) and I have been quite productive. I love the verse Nehemiah 8:10: "The joy of the Lord is my strength", because it is so easy to experience. Enjoying the Lord is fundamental for us Christians, and its as simple as calling on Him and eating Him up in His word as much as we can (even asking the Lord to remind us to do so). If we didn't enjoy the Lord, what reason would we have to contact Him or care about Him? Just by breathing in the life-giving Spirit, we realize there is a divine enjoyment (He Himself)...

 Today, we were assigned a one-pager on a topic of our choosing from pages 63-85 in The Sorrow of War, and took notes on these pages as we read to help us when we're creating the one-pager on Monday. I learned a bit about Kien's personal past experience and saw more in the general ways that he views things. When reading this book, I sometimes have a hard time being sure of what I'm reading, if it's a flashback or the present moment. I liked this lesson because the directions are very specific in regard to what we are going to be graded on, so I should be able to get a good grade as long as I follow the rubric and don't leave anything out. Today, I am feeling great. I could have been more productive so far school-wise, but besides that I've been coming to the Lord and reading the word, where He's brought me some light in different matters. I've also added more verses to my "verses to memorize" notes page on my phone. I'm so glad that I have ...

 Today, we read an article about an interview done over 50 years ago with Martin Luther King Jr., and also watched the interview that the article is based on. The interview shows King's view of the at-the-time situation of racial inequality in America, three years after his famous "I have a dream" speech. I learned a lot about MLK, as well as a different view of how he was working things out back when (illegal yet present) segregation was much more prominent in society. This impacted me by King providing a lot of deeper insight on the problems of society at the time, ways I hadn't looked at it before. I liked what King brought out about the emancipation proclamation being "freedom yet famine." I have a much more detailed appreciation for MLK now after this lesson. I liked this lesson, because it was a change-up from what we are usually doing every day now. There wasn't anything to dislike about the lesson, other that its a long block day, but that's ...

Today, we played Kahoot to review what we read for homework. After this, we read pages 33-44 of The Sorrow of War and as we read we answered 8 comprehension questions. I learned more about Kien's character. The scene with the young catholic man begging for his life and Kien's reaction impacted me. The situation is very conflicting.  What I liked about the lesson was that I got to school (for the most part) on time, so I got to actually experience Mr. Rease's class from the beginning to the end for once. I didn't like how hard to answer some of the questions were, but I suppose it's good that the questions make me think deeper than if they were easy to answer. Today, I am feeling malnourished (spiritually). I didn't read the Bible or sing to the Lord this morning and the first thing I took in (besides calling on Him in the shower) was The Sorrow of War. I don't necessarily have a personal problem with the book, but put simply, there's two things we can ta...

 Today, we read more of the book together in class and answered 5 questions about Kien. Then, we had to give three traits of Kien and to back up each trait, three cases of evidence. I learned of a new side of Kien that hadn't yet been revealed, by reading the segment of his conversation with Can and the events thereafter. It impacted me to see a remorseful, damaged side of Kien that was previously hidden, how Kien cried over Can twice. This changed my previous concept of who Kien was, which I will use to have better insight as we read more of the book. I liked this lesson overall, but what I didn't like was that I barely had enough time to submit my paper assignment by the end. We probably could have finished it by the end of the day and I was taking my time, though, so I can't blame anything but me. I'm just glad I turned it in on time.  Today, I am feeling good. I have gotten into somewhat of a routine of playing guitar and singing to the Lord every morning before sch...

I only caught the very end of class today, but I came in while we were finishing up listening to the first 8 pages of The Sorrow of War.  I learned about a part of the story, that someone went into an old village and shot an orangutan, then it became a kind of "curse" that was blamed the cause of Kien's entire squadron eventually being killed. (all except him) This impacted me because this isn't how I imagined that the story would start out. I didn't know what to expect, and to get up to speed tonight, I have to read what I missed as well as the assigned homework of pages 8-16. I liked how we were listening to the audio book in the lesson. There wasn't anything to dislike about today's lesson.  I am feeling in-ascension-with-Christ today. I was really late because I kept forgetting stuff at home and this kept frustrating me. I let the enemy get to me about the rain and how many times I was turning around, but then on my third trip to school this morning, I...

 Today, we began the unit on a book about the Vietnam War. We watched a video going over the general timeline of events in the war.  I learned a lot about the Vietnam War that I hadn't already known. It impacted me because I thought I knew more about the war. I couldn't imagine being on that battlefield and fearing hitting a trap or someone running up on me with a knife, it must have been horrible for those in the army. I liked the short but packed video about the war. I struggled with keeping up in writing things that I learned and have questions about as well as the public customs we have in the U.S., but I got the paper turned in at the end of class. I am feeling good today. I have some resolutions this year to be at school on time more often and to do all of my homework here throughout the day, before I even step foot in my house, so that I can spend my time to become much more constituted with the things that I love and matter to me: The truth revealed in the Bible, unvei...

 I was absent on the first two days that we had class this semester.