Back To School

Stories from the school year, told by those who know it best.

• "Keep in Step" - Se Bin began the school year the same way as always: decorating her classroom. But an accident caught on camera made the start to this year anything but normal. (7 minutes)
• "Back to School" - A lot can happen in a school year. We sit down with some of the experts to hear their favorite moments, what they've learned, and how they've changed over the past ten months. (23 minutes)

Photos from our classroom interviews will be posted on our Instagram page.

To learn more, including guest profiles and episode transcripts, visit our website adventiststories.buzzsprout.com, or follow us on Instagram @AdventistStories. Thank you to Blue Dot Sessions, Stellwagon Symphonette, the Pacific Union Conference, and Growing Young Leaders. Please subscribe to our show and leave a rating and review to help us reach more people. We appreciate your support.

Transcript

“Keep In Step”

Se Bin was in tenth grade when she made the decision. It happened after a classmate returned from serving as a student missionary.

Se Bin She came back from an SM trip and she was telling us about it, how she was a teacher and how she's becoming a teacher. And that really like solidified like, oh, this is what I want to do.

After spending a year in the Marshall Islands, then getting her degree, Se Bin was hired by an Adventist school in Hawaii. Her grade level? Kindergarten and first. Which, she discovered, is an interesting age group. Funny remarks. No personal space. And…

Se Bin They wanna talk with their friends in the bathroom, but they don't pull their pants up before they start their conversation. And they're so okay with that. That's the thing. [LAUGHS]

This was just one example of how Se Bin’s students seemed immune to embarrassment. Because they just don’t know. But  sometimes, it’s not the students who do the embarrassing thing at school–it’s the teacher.

Like this moment last summer when Se Bin was preparing for the new school year. She had created an Instagram page to share her teaching journey with friends. On this day, the camera was rolling as she decorated her classroom. You can find a lot of teacher content like this on social media. But almost nothing like what Se Bin was about to capture.

It started with a clock. Her classroom theme for the year is Snoopy, so she wanted to replace her old boring clock, with a new Snoopy one she had found.

Se Bin And, um, I get really brave in my classroom. I can step on it. I think I can step on anything to do anything. And so I have this bookshelf in my classroom that's attached to the wall.

Se Bin And so I set my camera up and then I got my chairs. I don't have big chairs in my classroom because I teach kinder and first grade. [LAUGHS] I got my little chair and I got up pretty, pretty easily. And then I took down my clock, my clock that was already on the wall and I wanted to set it down so I could put up my new clock.

Se Bin And I was going down and I kind of miscalculated how–first of all, tall the shelf was, and second of all, how short the chair was. And I slipped right through and I tumbled over, hit my head. 

[VIDEO PLAYS]

Se Bin The clock shattered. And that was what happened. [LAUGHS]

Aren I will say, I, I, um. I've seen this video and you, you didn't just tumble. I mean, you crashed hard.

Se Bin I did. And the, the clock crashing with me didn't sound like much better.

Aren When you fell where was the impact? What did you hit first on your body?

Se Bin Um, the floor. 

Aren Uh, right. [LAUGHS] Sorry. I mean, what part of your body hit the floor first?

Se Bin Oh. I think my head.

Se Bin I immediately felt blood. That's when I kind of, I, I didn't panic when I fell, but when I saw the blood dripping down my face, I was like, oh my goodness.

This wasn’t a little bit of blood. Se Bin says it was pooling in her glasses so much that she had to take them off to see. And yet her biggest concern in that moment…was not staining the carpet. 

Se Bin I got my phone that was filming and I called my principal. I called her very calmly. “Hey, I just fell and my head is bleeding.” 

The principal runs over as a staff member calls 9-1-1. Paramedics arrive. Turns out the cut on her head was not from the clock, it was from her hairclip. They clean her up and give her some ice.

Se Bin My principal made me go home, but after like an hour, I came back and I started working again.

Aren An hour?

Se Bin Yeah, like I was just, I just like iced my head. And then I didn't feel any like any other symptoms, so I just came back to work. 

But, during that hour at home, Se Bin posts the video on her teacher page. Of course, she thought…

Se Bin You know, who's gonna see it? Like 10 of my close friends. [LAUGHS]

Aren And then what happened?

Se Bin And then I, there was just so many comments and views and follows. Like, I was like, what is going on?

Se Bin’s reel had gone viral. Within a few days, it hit over one million views. When I spoke to her, three weeks after the fall, it was up to 6 million. It also had several hundred thousand shares. All of this led to two responses she did not expect.

First, the comments. What she saw as an innocent mistake, others saw differently.

“I would NOT trust you teaching my kid,” one user wrote.

“Are you slow?” said another.

The most popular comment on the video, with over one hundred thousand likes, just said: “Survival instincts of a hamster.”

Aren How did you feel when you read some of those comments?

Se Bin I really took it personally. I'm like, like, dang, like, am I not really a good teacher? Or like, you know, all of that because that's what the comments were saying. And like that made me really, really sad.

But then there was the other response: support. For every negative comment, there were also positives ones. One user called her “teacher of the year.” Another wrote, “This takes dedication and a good heart. It shows she cares.” She also saw people she knows, including co-workers, defending her in the comments.

Se Bin Knowing that I have a community that knows me and that sees me in the classroom and that cares about me, like I decided to put that in the forefront, then those people that I don't know that have their own opinion about me that’s just seen just 15 seconds of who I am, I guess. 

But it didn’t stop there. She started getting requests for her mailing address. Se Bin posted her classroom wishlist link to her page. The gifts began pouring in. 

Se Bin So many people have sent me stuff, one of which was a ladder. 

Aren [LAUGHS]

Se Bin So I have my personal ladder and all my, like all these school supplies and books and these people, like my followers are buying these for me. And so I'm still getting packages to this day. I just opened one today.

Aren And these are being sent by people you don't know?

Se Bin Yeah, all my, just like people that, all my followers.

Aren How many followers do you have now? 

Se Bin I have 4,500. 

Aren And before the fall you had…? 

Se Bin Like, 10. [LAUGHS]

Se Bin says the accident was a blessing in disguise. Though, not one she would recommend. And what I’m left with after hearing her story, and the different responses to it, is how she embodies so much of what we love about our teachers. Because this whole thing started with a decision, however short sighted in the moment, to go the extra mile for her students.

Aren You were literally taking the extra effort to try to get that clock up there and that's why it happened because you're a great teacher. So just thank you for who you are, how you care for our students, and thanks for sharing your story with me today.

Se Bin Yeah, of course. Thank you. It means a lot. Thank you, pastor. [LAUGHS]

Se Bin Bong is a kindergarten & first grade teacher in Hawaii. If you would like to see the video for yourself, you can find that and her other teaching content on her Instagram page, at “saybeann,” that’s “s-a-y-b-e-a-n-n.” Se Bin was also a Growing Young Leaders scholar, that’s the program I direct for our Union, and she created a Day in The Life video back in January that shows what a day of teaching looks like for her. You can find that on our Instagram page, at “Growing Young Leaders.”

Well today on our show, we keep it in the classroom for more school day stories. With some storytellers unlike any that we’ve had before–with an important reminder or two along the way. That’s coming up next, right after this.

Ad 1: Pacific Union College

Ad 2: Summer Camp

“Back To School”

Welcome back to Adventist Stories, a podcast that shares the moments that shape a community. Each week we hear from a variety of storytellers who recall for us their favorite, or not so favorite, memories, and the impact they had on them. Thank you so much for being here.

And, if you’re a Day 1 listener–and by that I mean, since the beginning of this month, you remember meeting…this person.

Mrs. Matsuda My name is Denine Matsuda and I started teaching in 1986. I was 22 years old.

Aren So how many years would that be?

Mrs. Matsuda Wow. So like 86 to 96…40 years. That's four decades. 

Mrs. Matsuda is a lifelong Adventist educator. She’s also my mother-in-law. And she shared a story in Episode 2 about the scariest class she remembers teaching, back when she taught sixth grade. Now she teaches 4th grade–and she still has stories from inside her classroom. Which made me think about the Adventist storytellers we often overlook. The ones who are experiencing defining moments in their lives everyday.

And so, as another school year heads for the finish line, I asked Denine to survey her class on their favorite moments of the year, and what they’ve learned along the way. And then, we got permission from their parents to interview them about those moments and lessons. We spoke with five students about their answers, each of them incredibly brave to sit down with me in front of a big microphone and tell their stories. If you want to see pictures of this, by the way, and you should, we’ve put a link in the episode description.

Okay, so let’s kick it off with our first storyteller.

Aren Alright. Can you tell me your name, your grade, and your favorite animal? 

Mateo Um, my name is Mateo Lucenara. Um, I'm in fourth grade and my favorite animal is an octopus.  

Aren What? Why? 

Mateo Because they have like a lot of arms and like it's very unique.

Mateo’s moment happened early in the year. Mrs. Matsuda invited a guest, Aunty Cathy, to come and teach them a new skill. And life would never quite be the same.

Aren You said your favorite moment of fourth grade was when Auntie Cathy first came and taught us how to crochet animals. Can you tell me about that moment? Tell me the story of when Auntie Cathy first came. 

Mateo So…She came into our classroom and told her what we might create. It was like this big snake and like a lot of cute animals.

Aren Mm-hmm. Why did that look fun to you? 

Mateo Because I wanted to get some people, some of my creations. And I thought it would look really nice. 

Mateo decides he wants to learn this, so he can give people some of his creations, and picks up the yarn and needles. Many other 4th grade students have done the same in this classroom over the years. It’s almost a rite of passage.

Aren Yeah. So what was it like when you first started doing it? Was it hard? Was it easy? What was it like?

Mateo It was medium. They started out with an easy chick. I, um, I think I finished it for like. Before, like two weeks passed and yeah.

Aren What was it? 

Mateo It was a chick. 

Aren Oh, like a baby chicken. 

Mateo Baby chicken. 

Aren Whoa. What color 

Mateo It was, I think green. 

Aren And tell me about Auntie Cathy. What's she like? 

Mateo She's, um, I think she's Japanese. She's super nice and always jolly. 

Aren Is she a good teacher? 

Mateo Mm-hmm. 

Mateo and his jolly teacher kept working together. After the green chick he made a pencil, a bumblebee, a scarf, and a jellyfish. He went from needing two weeks to finish to one day. He says his favorite creation is a turtle…which he named Porpoise.

Mateo Whenever I was bored, I used to do it. So it was fun. 

Aren How much time would you spend doing it?

Mateo I think about like the whole day until I had to like eat and, you know. 

Aren So if you weren't eating, you were crocheting? 

Mateo I would be crocheting.

Mateo Every time I did it at home, my mom would yell at me for not doing other things. 

Aren What would she say? “Put that crochet away!” 

Mateo Yeah, she would always say that. 

Aren And what did you like about doing it?

Mateo That we could like. If so, we could do it when we're like sad having emotions or like when you're, something bad happens.

Aren You mentioned your favorite animal is an octopus. Did you ever make an octopus? 

Mateo Yes, I actually did. 

Aren You did? 

Mateo I did. 

Aren Are you gonna keep crocheting? 

Mateo Yeah. 

Aren What's the next thing you wanna make? 

Mateo The next thing I'm trying to make, I think I'm right now doing pillows…um, I'm working on a lot of pillows. 

Aren Mm. 

Mateo I've already given my friend one for her dog. 

Just like he said, he’s giving his creations away…to pets and people.

Aren If you were to make something for me with crochet, what would you make for me? 

Mateo The first thing I'd wanna ask, what's your favorite animal? 

Aren Ooh, wow. You know, probably an elephant. 

Mateo Mm. I try to make that then. It’s not too hard. I think I can look up how to do it. 

Aren Well, you've got some other important projects first, but maybe one day. 

Mateo I can start doing it actually now. I'm not really working on anything.

Aren Oh, well listen, Mateo, only if you've got the time, but I don't wanna get your mom mad at you. 

Mateo Okay. Well, she doesn't get that mad anymore sometimes. Um, she actually encourages me to do it. 

Aren Hmm. What does she say? 

Mateo He said like, every time I make a new one, he's like, good job. Oh, that looks so nice. 

Aren Well, Mateo, I think it's super cool that you love crochet and you're so good at it. Thank you for telling me about it. 

Mateo No problem. 

Audrey My name is Audrey. I'm in fourth grade and my favorite color is like a reddish pink. 

Aren Like the color of your glasses is kind of reddish pink, right?

Audrey Yeah, I like this color a lot.

Aren That's awesome. Have you enjoyed being in fourth grade?

Audrey Yes.

For her favorite moment, Audrey wrote down the same answer as several of her classmates. A funny memory from way back on the first day of school. When a critical mistake was made by their teacher that they still haven’t forgotten about. I asked her to tell me what happened.

Audrey On the first day she was like teaching us about the classroom and all that simple stuff. And then when it was recess time she was like, “Okay, it's recess time!” 

Mrs. Matsuda excuses the students for their first recess of the year. But as soon as they go outside, they notice something is not right. Typically they would have recess at the same time as the grades immediately above and below them. But now, they’re on the blacktop with kindergarten, first, and second graders. What…is…happening?

Audrey It was like all different kind of grades. And I was like, isn't it just supposed to be like fifth and third or something? 

It should be, Audrey. If not for their teacher letting them out at the totally wrong time. Giving them a recess they didn’t actually have. After about five minutes of bonus play, Mrs. Matsuda realizes her mistake. From her classroom she yells out…

Audrey Hey! I, I got you out on the wrong time. And then everybody was like, nooo…

Aren [LAUGHS]

Audrey When we got there, um, she was like, “On the first day of school, I get something wrong. I thought I would get something. I, I wouldn’t do this, but I did.” And then everybody was like, it's okay. We got extra recess. So we don't really–it's okay.

Aren Yeah. What is it like when your teacher makes a mistake? Is that a weird thing to happen?

Audrey No, it, it's very common, I feel. 

Aren Oh, really? How come? 

Audrey I feel like it's just people make mistakes. Even adults. Like a teacher. 

Aren Adults make mistakes too?

Audrey Yes. 

Aren Do you think I make mistakes? 

Audrey Sometimes. Probably. 

Aren Wow. Audrey. [LAUGHS] Guess what? I make a lot of mistakes. Yeah, we all do, right? 

Audrey That's just part of the world.

For the rest of the year, the students loved bringing up the time their teacher let them out early for recess. Because, that’s what people do. Mrs. Matsuda embraced this, of course. When a teachers conference later provided pins saying“Woo-hoo, I made a mistake,” she proudly wore it, to the delight of her students.

Audrey Because, because you learn from your mistakes and it's like, “Woo-hoo!” 

Aren Mm-hmm. And sometimes you even get extra recess from your mistakes. 

Audrey Yes. [LAUGHS]

Aren Audrey, thank you so much for telling me that story. 

Audrey You are welcome. Anything else I could do? 

Aren Um. What is one thing you're gonna do this summer? 

Audrey Uh, I think I wanna have a play date with my best friend.

Aren Oh.

Audrey I really wanna have one. 

Aren Mm, I hope you do. 

Audrey Mm-hmm. 

Aren All right, Audrey, thank you so much. 

Audrey Okay. 

Coming up, more students step up to the mic and share their Adventist stories. Including a new classroom record, and some 4th grade drama. That’s right after this, don’t go away.

Ad 3: La Sierra University

Ad 4: Adventist Education

Aren So you guys are gonna rock paper, scissors, and whoever loses…

Kids No win, wins go first.

Aren Whoever wins has to go first. Okay.

Nolan Okay. I go first.  

Nolan My name is Nolan. I'm in fourth grade and my favorite animal is a dog.

Just a heads up as we get into Nolan’s interview…things are about to get serious.

Aren And you're wearing blue, so that works. All right, Nolan, I have some questions for you, okay? We asked you to fill out a sheet about some of your favorite moments and the things you've learned in fourth grade, and, uh, I wanna ask you about one of your answers. Okay?

Nolan Okay.

Aren We asked you what is one thing you learned this year that you'll never forget and you wrote Nolan. You can't trust people 'cause people are mean. What happened? 

Nolan Okay, so this started like two weeks ago and then a bunch of the girls in my class were like telling me that I was like fat and stuff.

Aren They said that?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren How did you feel, Nolan, when they called you those names?

Nolan Uh, angry and upset. 

Aren Mm-hmm. Yeah. Why? 

Nolan Because it's not kind.

Aren What did you do when they said that?

Nolan Told. 

Aren Yeah? Told who?

Nolan Um, Mrs. Matsuda. 

Aren And what happened? 

Nolan Uh. She talked with them and then now we're like, fine.

Aren Okay. Did they apologize?

Nolan Yes.

Aren So when they apologized to you how did you feel?

Nolan Better.

Aren Are you friends with those girls now?

Nolan Mmm. I was really never friends with them.

Aren Have you forgiven them, I should say?

Nolan Yes.

Aren Okay. Why did you forgive them? 

Nolan Mm, because if I don't forgive them, then it's just gonna be a mess.

Aren Mm. It's better to forgive, right?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren And you know, sometimes people say things that aren't true, just to be mean, huh?

Nolan Yeah.

I’m not a parent and I’ve never been a children’s pastor, but I have to say, I was really impressed with Nolan. The character to forgive these girls, who weren’t his friends, and then tell me about it. And so I wanted to see if I could find out where that came from.

Aren Have you ever said something to somebody that you wish you didn't say?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren Yeah. Do you remember what you said?

Nolan Uh, I, I booed someone. 

Aren Why Nolan?

Nolan Uh, I don't know.

Aren What game was being played?

Nolan It wasn't a game we were in music class. 

Aren Music class?

Nolan Someone was saying something and then I booed them. 

Aren How did you boo them? Was it like boo? 

Nolan I was like boo.

Aren Did that hurt their feelings?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren Did they talk to you about it?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren Okay. 

Nolan And then I apologized. 

Aren You did? What did you say when you apologized?

Nolan I wasn't thinking straight. And I'm sorry. 

Aren Did they forgive you? 

Nolan Mm-hmm. 

Aren Nice. Was that in fourth grade also? Yes. Wow. Did that happen before? The situation with the girls happened.

Aren So do you think maybe that, that first, the experience where you booed somebody, did you learn from that experience and that helped you in the next experience? Yeah. Wow. Nolan. So what are you gonna do next time that somebody says something hurtful to you? 

Nolan Um, tell them, no, that's not cool. 

Aren Mm-hmm. That's right.

Aren Mhmm. Wow. Nolan, you've learned a lot in fourth grade, haven't you?

Nolan Yeah.

Aren Is there anything else you've learned in fourth grade besides this? What's another thing you learned this year? 

Nolan Um. That my friend behind me can say 159 digits of pi.

He’s pointing to our next guest, Patrick. Who made big waves this year when he set a new classroom record. He also wore a tie for our interview.

Patrick My name is Patrick Skasetti grade, fourth grade. And, um, my am--wolf. 

Aren A wolf? What kind of wolf?

Patrick Mexican wolf. 

Aren Mrs. Matsuda has this thing called Pi Day. For those who don't know what that is, can you tell us about Pi Day? 

Patrick We all, um, try to memorize, uh, like a lot of digits of pi. And then whoever wants to, they get a paper and they get to like practice and then on pi day, then, uh, they, um, say all the digits they memorized in front of the class. 

You got that? Pi, that’s the number you always get when dividing the distance around a circle by the distance across, 3.14. It actually has an infinite number of digits after. So, every March 14th, Mrs. Matsuda holds a competition to see who can recite the most digits. The stakes are massive. The winner takes home an apple pie.

Once the competition was announced, Patrick knew he wanted to go for it. Not just this year’s record, but the all-time record: 139 digits. He figured he likes math, he likes numbers. And there was one more thing.

Aren  Why did you wanna try to do this? 

Patrick Because. I didn't have any, I didn't have like that much goals in this year. So I could just have that as a goal. 

Aren So once you found out, how did you start preparing for this?

Patrick So once I got it, I spent like, um, the whole day memorizing, just like reviewing, reviewing, reviewing until I memorized the whole sheet.

Aren But that sounds really difficult. Was it difficult? 

Patrick Yes. Very difficult. 

Aren How do you memorize so many numbers?

Patrick Well, um, I use all my, most of my time at home, most of my time at school and once I got one line down, I just, um, say it like a few times and then go to the next line. Mm-hmm. And then I, until, um, the end of the day, each time I memorize, I say the whole thing. 

And, he had someone else in his corner. Nolan and Patrick would spend their recess time going over the numbers. Patrick reciting digits, Nolan looking at the sheet and correcting where he’d go wrong. All leading up to the big day.

Aren Were you nervous?

Patrick Yes.

Aren What did that feel like to be nervous? 

Patrick Oh, like, um, I'm afraid I'll, I wouldn't like mess up on like the first row. 

A few students go before him. And then it’s Patrick’s turn. He starts saying the numbers.

Patrick 3.1415926535…

Aren How did it go? 

Patrick It went good. I did some pauses, but I didn't, I didn't make any mistakes. I memorized 159 digits.

Aren That is so good, Patrick. How did you feel when you did that many digits? 

Patrick I was proud of myself.

Aren Yeah. 

Patrick And excited. 

Aren How did the class respond? 

Patrick Um, they were all cheering. 

Aren Yeah. How did that feel? 

Patrick Great. 

Aren What did you think when you saw him do that? 

Nolan I was so like, I impressed with him.

This is Nolan again.

Aren Did you also memorize some digits for pi?

Nolan No.

Aren [LAUGHS] You didn't even try? 

Nolan No. 

Aren Why not? 

Nolan Because I was helping this guy. 

Aren And then when he did it, you were really proud of him, huh?

Nolan Yeah, I was really proud of him. 

Aren Did you give him like a high five or anything?

Nolan Yeah, I hugged him. 

Back to Patrick.

Aren He's a good friend, huh?

Patrick Yes.

Aren So what is it like to know that you've done the most of any fourth grade student? 

Patrick Well, I, it feels like I know that, um, that I could accomplish things. When it even it, even though it's very hard because nobody's done it.

Aren So you got to take an apple pie home. Mm-hmm. How was it? 

Patrick Delicious. 

My last interview was with Elyse. Who had a moment from 4th grade to share that, frankly, just felt a little bit different than the others.

Elyse My name is Elyse. I'm in fourth grade, and my favorite animal is koala. 

Aren I read this sheet about your favorite moment of fourth grade. And this is what you wrote. You wrote about a moment you had with a pen pal.

Elyse Mhmm.

Aren Can you tell me, Elyse, what is the pen pal program?

Elyse Well, like pen pals just means you, you don't really know what you look like or you do, but you write letters to each other and you know, like you who they are, but you just write letters to each other to kind of know them better.

Mrs. Matsuda arranged the program with another Adventist school 90 minutes away. Elyse had been randomly paired with a fellow 4th grader named Hope. Every month, Elyse would write a letter to Hope, and then receive one in response. 

Aren And what are some of the things you would write in your letters to Hope?

Elyse  Like, I have black hair and blonde highlights. Do you have any highlights? Where are you from? Like, yeah. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? 

Aren And how did it feel when you would get a letter from Hope?

Elyse I felt light like a cloud again. Like really happy. I don't know how to explain it. I just felt really, I, I feel really, really happy because like, I still don't know what she looks like, but it just means so much to me.

Elyse began to wonder if she would ever meet Hope. It seemed improbable. Until the day her teacher announced they would be going on a field trip to a park halfway between the two schools for a pen pals picnic.

Aren How did you feel when she told you that you were going to meet Hope? 

Elyse I felt like I did the shocked face, like, gasp! And I felt like really happy again. Like, “I'm gonna meet them. I'm going to meet her!” 

The day of the field trip comes. They arrive at the park. Elyse is so excited, and starts reading the name tags on each of the other students. None of them say the word she’s searching for. So she begins to ask the adults:

Elyse Do you know where Hope is? I, I don't, I don't see anyone with the name Hope on their. Um, name or sweater, shirt, or any of that? 'cause I looked at all the girls, 'cause I know she's a girl. But I couldn't find her. And they just said, “Oh. She has to get surgery.” 

It just so happened, on that same day, Hope was at the hospital for a scheduled procedure. Elyse was crestfallen. Not only for herself, but for her friend. She was told that there was a slight chance Hope could still come, but it wasn’t likely.

Elyse I was so excited to meet her, but then once I heard that news, I was so like depressed and like sad because. What if she doesn't come? Like what if she, the doctor says she can't go because she has to rest? 

Everybody else had paired up. Elyse just joined another friend and their pen pal as they played together. But then, Elyse was told that Hope was now on the way, after insisting they let her come.

Elyse I felt like really happy. Like, I have another chance. I have another chance. I could meet her again. I can meet her again. And I just felt really happy again, like light, like a cloud. [LAUGHS]

Some more time passes. Elyse wonders if something might have changed. And then, she sees her. For the first time. But, she knew.

Aren Do you remember what you said to her?  

Elyse I was like, “Gasp, wait, are you Hope? I, I think you, you're my pen pal, right?” [LAUGHS]

Aren And did she say… 

Elyse “Yeah. Are you Elyse?” [LAUGHS] 

The two ten-year-olds who had been writing each other letters all year, were now kids on the same grass. When the group began a large game of tag, and Hope couldn’t play because of her operation, Elyse stayed with her. 

Elyse It was like having a stepsister because she's not actually related to me and like I don't have to worry about my friends. I already have one right here in front of me.

When students began to pack up to leave, Elyse and Hope continued playing together on the jungle gym.

Elyse The best thing was like when I had to leave, but it's not that it was because I had to leave, but it was that we were the only ones playing and I felt like we had this like the most friendship. But not saying I'm like judging. No, not that. It's just like I felt like we loved each other the most, like friends. 

Aren Oh. So you guys were still playing when everybody else was leaving? 

Elyse Mm-hmm. Because we were like, I don't wanna leave you. 

Eventually, Hope and Elyse did part ways. But their monthly letters have continued. There's even been talk of a reunion this summer. Because it turns out, the very best things we learn from school, don't have to stay at school. We get to carry them with us, for another year, and sometimes much longer.

Aren I hope you and Hope get to see each other again.

Elyse Thank you.

Aren Thank you, Elyse. 

Elyse Oh, you're welcome. 

Episode Outro

[“I’m Gonna Sing” by 4th grade class]

Adventist Stories is a production of the Pacific Union Conference and Growing Young Leaders. It is hosted and edited by me, Aren Rennacker, with the support of many. Cover art designed by Taji Saleem. Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions, Stellwagon Symphonette, and Mrs. Matsuda’s 4th grade class. I had the privilege of joining them for worship recently and recording some of their favorite songs. It was a lot of fun. Great job, 4th graders.

To learn more about the show, please visit our website, adventiststories.buzzsprout.com, which now includes episode transcripts and guest profiles, and follow us on Instagram @ AdventistStories, where you can see posts and photos related to our episodes. Most importantly, please subscribe to the show on your podcast app, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can discover our show. That really means a lot.

Thanks as always to our union president, Mr. Bradford Newton, for his support of this show. The other day we were on a walk, and I asked him, “What character from the Bible are you most excited to meet in Heaven?” And he thought about it and said “Noah.” And I asked, well what would you say to him? And he said…

Mateo The first thing I'd wanna ask, what's your favorite animal? 

Thank you all so much for listening, we will back in one week, next Sunday night with a brand new episode, and we hope you join us then for more Adventist Stories.

End