Sunday, January 06, 2008
Major misunderstanding...>

On friday, I almost die of heartache with the possible loss of income from my tuition assignment. There was a major misunderstanding and arguement between the mothers of my students. The mothers are related to each other as they are sisters and I'm teaching their children.

The problem goes like this.....

Mrs Oh, the elder sister of the sisters, wanted to change the time slot of her chemistry tuition on saturday. Orginally, the plan was that I will go over to their place for tuiton in the afternoon after I was done tutoring the twins and secondary 2 girl of the younger sister at about 1pm. But then, the boy Kar Yeow (Mrs Oh's son) wanted to push the timing to morning because he wanted to go out with his friends to play. Mrs Oh called me to check whether it was ok for me to change the tuition timing.

I'm a flexible person... As long as I'm able to tutor them, I've no objection to the changes in time or venue. So, Mrs Oh made all the arrangement to change the timing by calling up her nephews to check whether they are able to change the timing. From what they understand, they thought that their english tuition was at 3pm which allow them to postpone their tuition to a later timing. Plus, they agreed to the changes. That was the plan at first till Mrs Ee ( the twins and sec 2 girl mother) called to complain that she can't change the timing at all because her sons' tuition starts at 1+pm and they had to end by noon.

That was when the major misunderstanding occured because both mothers called me to complain about their sister. One of them complained to say that why is it that she always have to give way to her sister's child that her children always get the last priority. Then, the other sister would say that the other person is petty. I tried not to judge the situation, instead I just kept quiet and let them speak their mind.

In the end, it came to the point that Mrs Oh wanted to pull her son out from chemistry tuition and get a new tutor for him. At that point in time, I was shocked because I was concerned for her son, worried that he might not be able to adapt to another tutor's teaching style. Plus, this is a crucial year for him, taking his Olevels at the end of the year. I didn't want him to change tutor at all. But Mrs Oh said that it was the best way out because she didn't want the situation to come to the point that Mrs Ee decide to pull all of her children out of tuition that I will have no more financial support from the tuition assignment. Mrs Oh was saying that there was a time when the same thing also happened and she just pulled out her children out from tuition and engaged a new tutor for them.

I felt very burdened about it because of the tuition misunderstanding... It's like both sisters are pointing fingers at each other, accusing each other of the situtation. From my point of view, if only Kar Yeow don't always insists on going out on saturdays, then the situation will not occured at all. It's like Mrs Oh accused that if Mrs Ee's daughter didn't take up the time slot after the twins' tuition, eveything will be fine while Mrs Ee accused that if Mrs Oh's son didn't always go out and stay at home instead, everything will be fine.

Anyway, it just came to the point that I just accept the decision, thinking that there was no way to salvage the situation. I just prayed for Kar Yeow in terms of studies and that he will come to accept Christ.
Then, a miracle happened... Somehow, Mrs Ee decided to let her twin sons' go for the 3pm tuition because there wasn't enough students for the 1+pm tuition. So, she agreed to push all of her tuition back to about 11+pm instead of the usual morning time slot. This means that I am able to take back Kar Yoew's chemistry tuition in the morning..

Wow.... It's truly amazing how God answered my prayers, easing the heavy burden that I have for the students.

Plus, I think I'm hearing God speak to me about giving.. It's like I was talking to Xinyi about the offering and said that I should have more faith when it comes to giving. To me, giving in terms of money is a great challenge for me because I see the importance of money for I've grown up in a fairly poor family where my mum struggled to bring us up. Then, during my QT, I was praying to God about this topic of giving and being a cheerful giver, asking for His divine help to overcome my weakness of giving. To give and not to tip Him... To give the best of what we have and not giving our leftovers. I was praying about it and asked for Him to give me confirmation through any medium, be it dreams, visions or people. Then, during service, Pastor How mentioned about giving which reflect the status of the people whom we are giving to. Placing our treasure with God instead of the earthly things we have for God will bless us with great abundant in life.

I'm truly struggling with this matter... the problem of giving because of the fear within me, the fear that I might not be able to repay my tuition loan within the time period without incurring huge interest. I need to overcome this fear...

God... Help me and hear my cries... This is my prayer to You today.. Speak to me more clearly and show me the direction in life that I need to go as I reached the crossroad in my life. I want to walk more closely with You, growing stronger in faith and in character.

# posted by Just Me!! | 4:20 PM