Amy Medina

Legacy

On September 1, 2012

Yesterday was Gil’s 35th birthday, and so I emailed dozens of his current and former students and asked them to write notes of appreciation to Gil, especially considering this is his last year at HOPAC.

There is no better way to honor my husband than to let you read some of their words. This is his legacy:

The reason Christianity makes the most sense, why I view the world and life the way I do, are thanks to your teaching and time at HOPAC, and Youth group. There were other influences but you’re likely the person with the biggest impact.

Thank you even more for introducing me to my best friend–God. Truly, if it hadn’t been for you, I do honestly shiver at the thought that I may have never been able to hold His hand as TIGHTLY as I yearn to do, today.

You have no idea how much you have prepared me and others who have graduated from HOPAC for college, and
even more, for life.

To be honest i feel like am talking rubbish right now because i cannot express how much of an impact you have made in my spiritual life! …God has put something in you to impact teenagers! even though we might slack off, we do remember what the Bible and your advice says!

You are not only a good teacher but you are also a greater person. People could always talk to you and you were a great listener.

Your classes were never boring!

Gil made Bible my most enjoyable class, one in which we argued about
apologetics and tried to get our minds around pre-determinism v free will. Gil
always played the devil’s advocate, getting his students to break their comfort
barriers and engage in discussion….

Gil is certainly a talented teacher, able to hold his audience captive and plant seeds in minds that grew into understanding. …

However, Gil the teacher is not the reason I appreciate Gil the most.

To me, Gil was and is a mentor and confidante. He has given me advice when I’ve needed it and most importantly told me I was wrong when I needed to hear it. He has shown me how to live with integrity and values….Gil has a gift for drawing the best out of the youth and I owe him much
gratitude for the major role he has played in my development from boy to man.

Unlike most teachers, you never made anyone feel like you were always right, and we were wrong to have an opinion. You simply challenged us. Good challenges. We needed that, because at
the end of the day, it makes what you stand for firmer!….I loved the visits to your
office this year. Always so much better than having to go to class 😛
And annoying you has to be the funniest thing!

Thank you for challenging me and pushing me to my fullest potential. Thank you for your wisdom and advice for life after highschool and into college.

What makes you special than most teachers is that you don’t only teach them, coach them or do the bare minimum, but you aim for friendships, which is one of the hardest things to accomplish if you are an adult trying to befriend a teenager. What is even more significant than that is that you stay in touch even when they have left Hopac. You stay involved, you really care, and your time and energy is limitless when someone needs you, your heart to connect and reach out to young adults is an amazing gift and your passion for it is rare. …

Teenagers are terrible at showing appreciation…but don’t give up on us just yet…all teens need a Gil Medina in their lives. ;).

I was recently asked to give my life story in a college small group that I was in, and I told the people listening that my middle school years were among the most important of my life. It was during that time that I was challenged to LIVE out my faith and to be different than the rest of the world. I was inspired to actually think about what it means to be a follower of Christ and implement that into my daily life. During my middle school years I laid down a solid faith foundation for the rest of my life – and that was solely because I had a incredible Bible teacher/youth leader/friend who challenged me to be more than what I saw around me and above all, love Christ with my entire heart. I honestly do not think that I would have the relationship with Christ that I do if it had not been for Mr. Medina’s intentional input in my life.

I still talk to my friends about what I learned about dating in your classes (I have been saved from a lot of heart break thanks to Gil), I still make it a point to read “Passion and Purity” once a year (and I have his personal copy), I STILL have my apologetics notes which I look over when I need them…..Mr. Medina is still the first person that I want to come to about questions with faith or just life in general even though I haven’t been to Tanzania in over 5 years. I know that he is always willing to hear my thoughts and is genuinely concerned about me.

Anniversaries

By Amy Medina

On August 30, 2012

In Other

Grace had her first day of first grade last week. Her second top tooth fell out just in time. After all, everyone knows that first graders should not have their two front teeth.

We also just passed the fourth anniversary of Josiah coming home to us, and the day after that, the first anniversary of Lily coming home to us. And as I sit here watching them, I think about how far we’ve come since that day last August.

The war between Josiah and Lily has come to a peaceable end. Of course, there are still battles–there always will be, but Josiah has not slammed the door in Lily’s face or done any kind of bodily harm to her for at least 8 months now. Now….Grace did tell me the other day that Josiah peed on the trampoline and then tried to get Lily to step in it….but we’ll just chalk that up to being a four-year-old boy instead of evil hatred. (But yes, he did get consequences all the same.)

It is now 9:00 am, and Josiah and Lily have been playing together for the past two hours and there has been no screaming. That would have never happened a year ago. They are both dressed in Spiderman costumes and playing with legos. Yesterday, they were both Jedi knights. It’s kind of funny, actually, since Lily is quite the girly-girl who loves her dolls and dishes. But since Josiah is her playmate most of the time, she has become quite adept with a light saber. And I just heard her mutter something about The Dark Side.

When he is not trying to make her step in pee, Josiah now takes his role as big brother quite seriously. It has been a long, long road of discipline and discussions to get him to this point, and just as much work to get Lily to stop screaming. It took months of telling them, “You are best friends!” before they finally starting acting like it.

I think the worst is over. Sigh of relief.

The Year of Lasts

By Amy Medina

On August 23, 2012

In Other

The first time I stepped foot on the campus of Haven of Peace Academy was August 2001.

I was 23 years old. Gil and I had been married all of 9 months. I had two years of experience teaching second grade in California.

HOPAC was only 6 years old. They had just added grade 10; they had one administrator for the whole school. They had just moved to their new campus on the edge of Dar es Salaam. And construction was certainly still happening.

I arrived on campus in August to get my classroom ready. 5th grade–that’s was I was assigned to teach. My classroom was an empty shell. No bulletin boards, no white boards on the walls. Everything was in chaos. My books were piled in boxes in the middle of the room.

There was no teacher orientation. The only administrator arrived only three days before school started. The only copy machine was broken until the day before school started. I eventually got my bulletin boards nailed to the wall, but I couldn’t find butcher paper. I scrounged around to find some poster paper on which to write my class rules. I had no idea what I was supposed to teach, except for what I could figure out from the textbooks in the middle of the room.

I was entirely overwhelmed. I was suffering from panic attacks, and I had no idea how I would make it through the first day of school, let alone the entire school year. The only way I made it to school on that first day was by the grace of God.

The students arrived, and on that first day, we fell in love with each other. So much so that we stuck together through 6th grade too. That first day was the beginning of the best two years of teaching I have ever had.

(Roman Day)

Gil had come to Tanzania to help with church planting, but he had some hours available during the day and HOPAC sucked him in. (In those days, they sucked in anyone who breathed.) He started teaching grade 7 & 8 Bible classes, and suddenly realized that not only was he really, really good at teaching Bible, but that he loved it. The director started recruiting him to be HOPAC’s chaplain.

We returned to the States for 2003-2005 while he finished his seminary degree (and I taught kindergarten), and came back to HOPAC in August of 2005, this time full time at HOPAC–he as the chaplain and Bible teacher, and me working part time. And for the past eight years, that’s where we have been.

For 10 of the last 12 years, HOPAC has been our life and breath. Almost all of our married life. A third of our entire lives.

HOPAC is now a K-12 school of over 300 students, ASCI accredited, and with an administrative team of 6. They just completed over a week of teacher orientation. A pool, science building, administration building, kitchen, and soccer pitch have been added in the years we’ve been here. HOPAC has come a very, very long way since August 2001. I have come even further. And it has been pure joy to be a part of it all.

Our hearts and our God have let us know that this is our last year. Our last first day of school was yesterday. The last time Gil will give the opening talk at the all-school assembly. The last time I will get the banner made for the all-school theme. The last time we attended the teacher orientation.

I know I will tear up many times this year. This place and these people are incredibly dear to us, and have been an incredible gift.

It will be a busy year. Gil and I will be attempting to write everything down for the next guy, organize anything we ever coordinated, try to make sure that nothing we’ve started drops off after we leave. But in the midst of it, I want to reflect as well, to record my stories and memories of these ten years.

To have the privilege of living a life that is meaningful and purposeful, to do what you love every single day–this is significant. We don’t want to forget. And we want to finish well.

Two Worlds

By Amy Medina

On August 18, 2012

In Other

So even though I didn’t post any pictures of Walmart, I did go. In fact, one day my Mom took Grace to play minature golf and dropped me off at Walmart, and I walked down every single aisle. If someone from marketing had seen me, they would have wanted to use my awestruck face in a commercial, certainly.

I did, however, take a picture of this:

Because Olive Garden’s breadsticks and salad deserve to be immortalized.

It was a wonderful two weeks. Or rather, 12 days. Plus 4 days for traveling. Grace and I soaked up all the hugs and memories and fun that we could possibly squeeze into those 12 days. And that amazing man of mine, who genuinely enjoys being Mr. Mom, took Lily and Josiah to the pool, kept up their routines, declared a Star Wars day, and even re-organized various sections of the house while we were gone. Of course, they did also eat a ridiculous amount of bacon. Thankfully there were no heart attacks as a result.

But it was still hard in a lot of ways. All the happiness with our families just serves as a painful reminder of what we have given up. All the memories we create just seem to prick me in the heart of all the memories we could be having.

And every time we go back, I feel more distant from American life. Every time we go back, it seems to get harder. And this time was especially hard because my daughter gets it now too. We said good-bye to my Mom at the airport, walked through security, and she burst into tears. I pulled her aside and put her head in my lap while she wept. Why do we have to live so far away from them? she said. Why do we live in Tanzania when all the rest of our family lives in America? Why couldn’t I give Babu one last hug?

And how can I explain it to a six-year-old? Because Tanzania is where God wants us to be, my Sweetheart. Because we love it there. Because we fix our eyes on things above, on That Day when there will be no more good-byes.

But my words sound hollow, even to myself, because I know my heart is breaking as much as hers is.

This is our last year at HOPAC. Next summer, we will return to the States for a whole year before returning to Tanzania in a different ministry. So Next Year was a big topic of conversation with everyone we talked to. Next Year we’ll have time to get together. Next Year we’ll be able to go to that place. Next Year I’ll be able to do more than just hug you in the church foyer.

And I am simultaneously excited and terrified. Excited for obvious reasons, and terrified because I just don’t how much more of this my heart can handle; this living in two worlds.