Chapter List/Summaries (as sent in to Pacific Press)
Chapter 1 – Heading to Ebeye and the fear that came along with that
Chapter 2 – Arriving on Kwajalein and going to Ebeye; First couple of hours, discovering my new situation
Chapter 3 – Meeting my students for the very first time; doing placement testing and discovering what a challenge was ahead of me
Chapter 4 – The first day of school for me/ new start for my students
Chapter 5 – Facing the challenge head on by teaching the students how to “do school”
Chapter 6 – Adapting to life on the island inside of the classroom as well as out
Chapter 7 – Facing lack of sleep and peace, finding solitude in God in the loud and crazy world I was living in
Chapter 8 – The beginnings of true friendship with those around me; seeing the difference between the life I was in on Ebeye compared with other Americans with fresh eyes
Chapter 9 – Dealing with a student who got completely out of control and parents who blamed me but learning the value of love in the process
Chapter 10 – Asking the major question of “How did this become my life?” while being content that it was
Chapter 11 – Conflict and strife due to language differences between myself and another individual that led to a major meltdown on both sides
Chapter 12 – Deciding as a group that we wanted to do more for those around us and coming up with ways to meet the needs around us – right outside our door
Chapter 13 – Stepping up to meet the incredible needs of my students even though I had limited (or “no”) resources to my name
Chapter 14 – Bringing a little bit of home (America) to my life via food; Hearing how a young missionary impacted the life our principal when he was a young man and discovering the power of a life dedicated to serving Christ through this testimony; dedicating my work on Ebeye to be true work for Christ
Chapter 15 – Taking my students (all 31 of them) to the dentist and sitting through excruciating teeth extractions, and not just excruciating for them…
Chapter 16 – Finding shoes for one of my students, Phillip, who never seemed to have anyone else looking out for him
Chapter 17 – Through the hunt for a TV to watch American Idol, discovering the bond of friendship with my new friends was growing stronger than my bond with friends back home
Chapter 18 – Taking a blow when I, along with the other missionaries, were informed that we were not “true missionaries” because we were teaching math and science instead of walking door to door like the Mormons. Beginning to really question what I was doing out here…
Chapter 19 – Processing what it means to be a missionary, when God shows up with the answer in the form of a soaking wet, muddy baby found outside of my classroom doorstep
Chapter 20 – Now that I knew what my role was as a missionary, I needed to find my place as a teacher on a island that fought against education, not by force, but by incredible lack of structure; facing feelings of lack of purpose
Chapter 21 – Taking a break from Ebeye on the nearby Army base of Kwajalein for Spring Break
Chapter 22 – Spring break coming to a close and struggling with the idea of going back to Ebeye with its cockroaches and other life-frustrations; wanting to go home, but discovering home was now actually Ebeye
Chapter 23 – Allowing an inconvenient situation lead to a beautiful tradition; building relationships with my students that extended beyond the classroom walls
Chapter 24 – Coming face to face with the reality that missionary work is not as glamorous as it sounds when you are reading about it… fighting tigers may sound great, but actually fighting them is a different story. The same goes for cockroaches
Chapter 25 – An honest portrayal of success and failures of me as a teacher, and the lessons I learned from them
Chapter 26 – Through dealing with Phillip and his broken family, coming face to face with the understanding that as a teacher I have the power to make a huge impact in the lives of children
Chapter 27 – Going door to door to pass out invitations and understanding for the first time that all of my difficult moments on Ebeye were so small in comparison to the everyday challenges of my students’ lives
Chapter 28 – The last day of school which, of course, turned out completely opposite than I had planned… yet was the perfect ending
Chapter 29 – Wrapping up this segment of my life, saying goodbye to the children I learned to love in a way that could never be replicated, and heading out into the future
You're book should be read by all missionaries going out to the field and all those who wish they had but never got the chance. That's a pretty big platform if you ask me :)
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering how to list my chapters in my manuscript. Do you have names for them like published books have as well as what you wrote here - or have you just stuck with describing what's in each chapter like you posted here? Was there a suggestion to do this on the Pacific Press website (I haven't scoured their requirements for manuscripts all too thoroughly yet).
I like your idea! :)
ReplyDeleteFor Pacific Press (I don't know about other publishing houses) you have to submit the basic content of each chapter so they can an idea of the story with the query, so no chapter names yet. But they will come. Actually, I have always wanted to name each chapter after one of my students, but since I have to change their names most likely I don't think that would work. We will see.
Of course I never get notifications when comments are replied to on blogger. One of my biggest pet peeves. Thanks for the info! Good stuff :)
ReplyDeleteYou have to let us know as soon as you hear anything back from PP - I'm so excited for you!