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Service, Constancy, Love

January 01, 2020

Tutoring through the Peake Partnership program gave me two great insights into my life. First, God has not called me to be a teacher. Second, investing in someone, even thirty minutes a week, can really change their life for the better. I went to my first tutoring session really hoping that I’d be able to teach the boys I’d been assigned to about math and help them advance mentally. I was not prepared for the way that they would help me grow.

Every Wednesday afternoon I made my way over to Peake Elementary to see my two boys. At the beginning of my experience, I saw our time as just a tutoring session. I had a job, and that was to teach them long division or multiplication tables or whatever the task might’ve been that week. However, as we had more time together, our relationship grew into something that extended well beyond math. We became buds. Buddies talk about sports, movies, their families, and whatever else may come up. They were so good at getting me off topic. I knew what they were up to, but I decided that building a relationship was just as, if not more, important than lattice multiplication. As these relationships grew through the year, I found a joy in myself that came from serving them every week. Never had I felt that kind of joy from service, but those tutoring sessions became the best part of my week.

The best tutoring days were the days around holidays. I’d take them together for the whole hour, and they always knew it was going to be a good day when that happened. They’d work super hard on their assignments in the hope of finishing early. The few times we finished early, I took them outside to play basketball. It was during those minutes on the basketball court on the playground that I felt best. I saw them so full of joy, and I felt like they had accepted me into their group as a peer and equal. I flashed back to my time at that school, on that playground, and remembered how I felt when I found knew friends and the feeling was very similar.

This last year I found out that God can use whatever time I have for the betterment of his kingdom. Witnessing doesn’t have to always come through a gospel presentation, but it can come through service, being consistent, and loving someone like Jesus would. I made two great friends that really changed my life and showed me that service can bring joy that nothing else can. The tutor side of me hopes they learned enough math that they won’t need me as a tutor this year, but the side of me that became friends with them almost hopes they need me again just so that the hour a week I get to spend with them can continue to be my favorite.



Matt Savage, Junior Biomedical Science Major

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