Janet Kues is a Grade 5 teacher at Carr Memorial Adventist Primary School in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. While teaching, she has begun keeping Sabbath and shares how the Bible summary reading program has helped her and her students walk closer with God. This is her testimony.
When I first came to Carr Memorial, it was totally different from the government school that I taught at before. The atmosphere, the environment, and even the smiling faces of teachers and students welcomed me to the school.
I joined Carr Memorial in the middle of Term 2 in 2018. I am happy and blessed to serve in a Godly institution like Carr. To live and work in a God-fearing institution and living in Christ is the only way to experience true happiness.
Throughout my time serving at Carr Memorial, I have been through many struggles, but God has been good and turned all my struggles into possibilities. My daughter, who is in Grade 2 now, was in Prep when I transferred her to Carr Memorial in 2018. When she came, all her classmates were ahead of her in phonics. The thing that really helped her to catch up with her friends was reading the Bible. Now she can read confidently and fluently and also pronounces difficult words. That’s the greatest thing that God has ever done for my child and it has been a blessing to me.
I see that the effort we put into our work with the Word of God will have great impact and will make a big difference in our lives and the lives of others as well.
In early 2019, we began teaching Bible summary lessons, as well as Bible lessons. As a teacher rolling out the Bible summary program, it helped me a lot as well as the students. A handful of students in my class come from non-Adventist backgrounds. Teaching this was like a discovery lesson for me and it really taught me the hidden meaning of the scriptures as I was going through each chapter of the Bible with the students.
Bible summary also improves the students’ performance academically, in their hand-writing, reading skills and ability to summarise main ideas when reading.
Bible reading also had a great impact on students’ behaviour and attitudes. The students are well disciplined and well behaved both outside and inside the classroom and this makes the class much easier to manage, as I have more than 50 students in my class. Sometimes I find a few students who are naughty. These are the students who are sent to the prayer room to pray and say sorry for what they have done wrong. Then they, by themselves, identify the commandment they have broken and write it down so that next time they wont make the same mistake again. By doing this it really helps the students to be obedient, respectful and God-fearing.
I am always blessed with the wonderful messages received during teachers’ fellowship and the Bible reading helps me draw closer to God. To know God and His miraculous ways is to study His Word daily. Feeding daily on God’s Word is the only armour that can be used to defeat the devil in our daily lives. I am very happy and grateful to roll out this Bible summary program at Carr Memorial. A very special thank you to my Adventist family for the privilege given to me to teach at Carr Memorial, and my special request is that you will please pray for me and my family.
May God bless,
Janet Kues
