Overwhelmed

“Can we talk to you?” they said. 

“Of course,” we replied, moving to the other side of the large classroom.

“We’re overwhelmed,” they confessed.

These are the two who have trudged to the supermarket with me twice in two days, hauled jugs of milk and yogurt, cleaning supplies. The two who have asked me multiple times if there is something more they can do to help me because they are afraid my part of the team is overwhelming. This is the two who have been sailing, but after all, they have only been here 36 hours. Their plane arrived in the wee hours so their first night wasn’t even a real night.

Overwhelmed.  Not with China, not with the fact she has never been on a subway system before and she’s started with one of the world’s most complex, not with new food at every turn, not with finding supplies in a grocery with no English, not with fixing breakfast with no cooking facility and all new foods available.

No, overwhelmed with the thought that in one week they will have a class of students eagerly awaiting them and they just aren’t sure they can pull it off. Overwhelmed because the training today was excellent, but it served to show even the most experienced team members that ESL is messy and one never quite knows what will happen in the classroom. Overwhelmed with the thought of planning each night for the next day.

It is good to know that you are overwhelmed. For these two, life will improve and they will find each day gets easier in the training program, but being overwhelmed just makes us lean harder on the only One who can give us strength.

He is never overwhelmed.