Missionary Kids say the darndest things

I have been here for a month and a week, and have been teaching for 2 1/2 weeks; and I am exhausted but absolutely loving it. The kids are amazing - hard working, thoughtful, and so fun - and the other staff and faculty here are so supportive and encouraging. My schedule is a little hectic, but I am starting to get into the rhythm of this life. And I am starting to learn what these missionary kids are like.

Since term has started, I have decided to keep a list in my notebook of all the things the kids here at RVA say to me. The Titchies (elementary school kids) say some really funny things, and if I don't have them written down somewhere I'll completely forget. Here are a few examples for your enjoyment:
"That lipstick is really bright! ...It's distracting." - 3rd grader
[after politely raising their hand] "Did you just have a baby?" - 1st grader
"Your face is really white." - 1st grader

The Junior High and High School students also catch me off guard with what they say, but in a very different way. As a few people have said to me, the kids here at RVA like to go deep right away. When my friend Cassandra and I had our first Caring Community - seven 9th-grade girls - we had a time where they could ask questions to get to know us. I was expecting questions like "what is your favorite color?", "where are you from?", "who's your celebrity crush?". That is not what we got - well, we had a few of those questions. However, the girls asked questions like "Do you vote Republican or Democrat?", "What you believe about abortion rights?", and "Do you think America is going to fall like the Roman Empire fell?". 9th grade girls asked these questions! To say this surprised me, is an understatement.

These girls are just trying to figure out their worldview, and they are searching for opinions from all the Christians around them. They are trying to find the "right answer", however, the world is too complicated to have one right answer, and these issues themselves are complicated.

My prayer is that I may be able to engage in conversations with the kids here honestly, but carefully, so that they are seeing my heart and my relationship with Christ at the center of my answers to these questions. This will probably be something that I am learning from and growing in the entire time I am here. I know it won't always be comfortable or easy, but God will be working in every one of those moments.