Thay Tien and Linda
Translation
Letter to Teacher
Dear Teacher Tien,
I have not
seen you since my Confirmation. With
the New Year approaching, I write you this letter to thank you for
teaching and
believing in us. Thank you for
attending and participating in our Confirmation. That
day I will treasure for the rest of my life. Because
you had pain in your feet, and yet,
you still managed to go. I remembered
the first few weeks in school with you; I did not know you and I did
not like
you. But back then I did not know
anything. You have taught me about God
and you were so kind to me. I know I was such a troublemaker!
If
it wasn’t for you, today I would not be in Thieu Nhi Thanh The. Because you introduced Thieu Nhi to us. You required us to have 40 hours of
community services. Attending Thieu Nhi’s meetings for 30 minutes will
count as
one hour of community services. Without
you, I would not have the opportunity to join Thieu Nhi.
Another thing that I remembered was when the
class was overcrowded and had to split in two, Principal Tin said to
the
students who decided to stay with you, “You guys have made the best
decision in
your life.” Back then I thought “Yeah
right!” and I did not believe Principal Tin for one second. But now I truly believe his words.
Learning in
your class was fun. You were nice and
you understood us. If the day was too
hot, you would let us have the class outside.
But outside, very few students could hear you and people around
us were
planting flowers. Next time, you forced
us to bring our chairs outside and listen to you because you would give
us a
quiz after class. The picture that you
drew most is one that is not pretty but it has a lot of meaning. The first time you drew it, everyone laughed
because we did not understand the meaning; plus, the picture looked
funny. That picture has a person “stick
figure”
walking along one path. That path
represents our lives, and at the end of the path, there is a
cross. The
trinity
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In the middle of the cross, there is another “stick figure.” This person “stick figure” has been called
upon by God and is now living happily with God in Heaven.
Now I
understand the meaning of the picture. I see your picture more
beautiful than
artworks in museum that cost millions like Leonardo Da Vinci or
Michelangelo.
When I think of you, I will think of the picture with the cross and
everything
you have taught me. Every night before I sleep, I pray to God
that I
will be
inside the cross with Him when I die and I will not stray from the path
that He
wants me to follow. When you receive this letter, I want you to
know:
You did
not waste your valuable time with us.
Your Student,
Trinh Phi Quyen
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