​Prayer Cuts Heart of Toughest Sixth Grader

The First Nations children never listened to the teacher, but they closed their eyes for Trina.

By Andrew McChesney, adventistmission.org

Sixth graders can be a tough bunch, but one teacher found her class of 28 sixth graders especially challenging.

The children didn’t trust Gail Wilton when she arrived at Mamawi Atosketan Native School, a Seventh-day Adventist day school for First Nations children in the Canadian province of Alberta.

The children were old enough to be in the eighth grade, but they were in the sixth grade because they had missed many classes. The children didn’t seem to want to listen to anyone except a 14-year-old girl in their class named Trina.

Shortly after the school year started, Trina grew furious when Gail asked her to sit down. She picked up her chair and angrily threw it at the teacher. Fortunately, the chair missed.

Every morning, Gail started her class by reading a Bible story and asking whether a student wanted to pray. Nobody volunteered. So, she asked the children to bow their heads, fold their hands, and close their eyes as she prayed. Nobody did.

For six months, Gail read Bible stories and asked for a volunteer to pray. For six months, nobody wanted to pray. Every day, she asked the children to bow their heads, fold their hands, and close their eyes as she prayed, and nobody did. But the children were quiet as she prayed for God to keep them safe and bless their families.

One day, Gail asked as usual, “Who would like to pray?”

Trina’s hand shot up. “I will,” she said.

The teacher was surprised! She thought Trina might be joking, and she waited for the girl to add, “Cha,” which means “just kidding” in her native Cree language.

But Trina didn’t say, “Cha.” Instead she stood and turned around to look at her classmates.

“All of you guys have to bow your heads, fold your hands, and close your eyes,” she announced.

The students obeyed. They had never listened to the teacher, but they closed their eyes for Trina.

Trina also closed her eyes. But then she opened them and said to the teacher, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Talk to Jesus just as you would your best friend,” Gail said. “Jesus is your best friend. You can tell Him anything.”

Trina closed her eyes again.

“Dear Jesus,” she said. “Thank You for today. Thank You for everyone here. Help us to get our homework done — cha!”

Trina threw in a “cha” — a “just kidding” — because she and the other students didn’t do their homework. She was making a joke, just as she would while talking with a friend.

After Trina finished the prayer, the children went back to their normal activities. They acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

But Gail’s heart was pounding. She couldn’t speak. She knew that if she tried to say something, she would start to cry. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. She had just heard Trina, the toughest sixth grader in school, open her heart to her Creator!

Everything changed that day in the sixth-grade classroom. The children began to trust the teacher, and they spoke openly about Jesus, forgiveness, and many other things.

Two months after Trina prayed, Gail had another surprise. Trina asked whether they could speak in private. In another room, Trina told the teacher that she had been feeling sad for many months and had thought about committing suicide.

“But I didn’t follow through with my plan because you didn’t give up on me,” Trina said.

Gail reached out and gave Trina a big hug. She knew that God had saved Trina’s life. Even though the girl had been unkind and angry, she had listened to Gail pray every day for six months, and her heart had been changed. That is the power of prayer.

“I thought that they weren’t paying attention. but the prayers were sinking in,” said Gail, 51, who is now the principal of Mamawi Atosketan Native School.“It was prayer that changed everything.”

Part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in second quarter 2018 will help Mamawi Atosketan Native School grow so it can teach more children like Trina about Jesus. Thank you for your mission offerings.

The girl’s name has been changed.