Ponderings

Have you ever got the feeling that things just were not working out the way you thought they should, but couldn't put your finger on exactly how or why? If so then you know what I felt like Saturday night as I was teaching the youth group here. Now I understand that I am not a great teacher by any stretch of the imagination, but I have had a few years of experience working with youth of various ages and last night in the middle of my lesson I just felt like things were not working out as I believed they should have been after working with these kids for so many weeks. I think that working through a translator (which is mighty rough for those who have never had that experience) has definately slowed down the process of me getting to understand the personalities of these kids and how their minds work, but I just got the feeling last night that for some reason the lessons and teaching I have been presenting is just not reaching them. Now the missionary who is translating for me and his daughter keep telling me that the lessons have been really good and that I am doing a good job, but I definitely think things are going awry. the tough part is I do not know how to reach out to these kids and figure out what it is because I do not speak their language, in more ways than one. While the culture and language down here are much different than what I have worked with in the States before I think at a base level people are the same world wide, so I am struggling with what I can do to figure out first of all if what I am feeling is actually really happening, and secondly if it is what can i do about it. I could really use some prayers on this matter, because I do not want my time that I have with these kids wasted if there is something more I can be doing to reach them. I believe that some of them are not believers yet and several that claim faith are very weak and shallow in it. So I do not want to squander any opportunity I might have to help some come to see the truth or strengthen those that are still crawling into faith. I myself know what it is to struggle in faith and the difficulties in reaching out to others for help to work through those issues and I do not want to turn any of them away because I was unable to overcome something and therefore become a hindrance to their walk. Please if you have any ideas on ways of reaching out to Brazilian or Hispanic youth I would appreciate your insights and more so your prayers.