Edelweiss in Arabia

After my first class at the community center on Sunday, I was more than thrilled to go again yesterday (Tuesday) and see what fun and surprises awaited me. It would not be so scary if I was in the America or even speaking English, as I have volunteered often in elementary schools there and I absolutely love it. But being in charge for a rowdy class for two hours in Arabic is just a teeny bit intimidating.

This time, however, my friend and co-teacher Gretchen Belnap was there (thankfully, to help with crowd control). And, we were in another room, this time with a round table and plenty of room to get in and out of their chairs.

And the ones who didn't want to be in the Music class weren't there.

The whole experience was much better and made me feel so much better about my ability to control a large class in a different language (I have only been studying Arabic for a year, ok?!).

There was, however, one part of the class in which I felt that my entire purpose for studying Arabic was validated. Gretchen was teaching the class Edelweiss, the song from The Sound of Music, and she sang it for them before teaching them the words.

As she began singing in her beautiful clear voice, the whole class quieted down and sat mesmerized throughout the whole song. In the middle of her song, as the class sat reverently listening, I suddenly was overcome with a feeling of peace and comfort from the Holy Ghost. And I am sure everyone else in the class felt it too. It was as though a little piece of heaven suddenly became available to all of us through Gretchen's singing of this beautiful song about a national flower.

To some, it might not make sense. We weren't singing hymns, we weren't preaching the gospel, but the Spirit was present in a very beautiful way. As I sat thinking about why this moment was so significant, I thought of what the song meant to the Von Trapp family in the movie. The edelweiss was their symbol of hope and freedom and gave them comfort even while wars were swarming around them.

These little kids, even though they live in relatively safe Jordan, will most likely encounter wars in one way or another in their lives. They, too, will need symbols of hope and freedom and they struggle through difficult times in their lives...and although this is something probably none of them had thought about before, it was showed to all of us in a powerful way through Gretchen's singing.

This also gave me a greater understanding for why I am studying Arabic--it is for sweet moments like this. And I didn't feel quite so bad for my failure in class on Sunday!