Joan of Arc

Given this week's topics of reading, John de Joinville and Joan of Arc, it didn't take much for me to decide which reading I wanted to focus on.  1. Joan of Arc was an amazing heroine in history, and I've been to the place where something happened that had to do with her, so I can kind of picture her story. 2. I really know very little about her (see phrase "where something happened that had to do with her") even though I have been to some historic sites in France.  I really haven't studied her much. I think the closest I have gotten to her is the tv show Joan of Arcadia. 3. My real reason for choosing Joan: I love the tv show. :P  While it's not exactly historical (it's about a girl named Joan in present-day who hears God in random strangers), and it probably doesn't have a whole lot to do with the actual Joan of Arc (girl who heard God in voices in her head, who helped lead a battle against the English and was really brave--something Joan of Arcadia is not!), that was really my reason for deciding to study her.  Callings includes some testimonies of and about Joan of Arc, all of which make me realize that perhaps this woman had a little more going for her than Joan of Arcadia does.

There are two different views of Joan in the selection--one from the trial testimony, and one from the summary of conclusions at the examination of Poitiers.  In the trial testimony, the language is very doubtful. The author is kind of just saying "she says this and this and this and we all know she's crazy but she keeps going on and on," or at least that's the tone I got from it.  The end has a similar tone, but much more formal.  At Poitiers, the language is very official-sounding, showing that they had tested Joan and they believe her to be crazy because of the tests, etc. Neither of the testimonies seems to believe that Joan really is hearing the voice of God.

I don't know that I have met anyone with quite the zeal and confidence of Joan of Arc through my project--I think this zeal is really special and the Holy Spirit has to give it to whomever he chooses.  This kind of ties in both with the verse we talked about in Spanish class about the Holy Spirit blessing people with spiritual gifts and with the mid-project evaluation that Rocio and I went over. Although boldness is not one of the fruits of the spirit that is mentioned in Galatians 5, I can see it working in a similar way. Rocio told me that I do a wonderful job with La Oportunidad, but I need to have more boldness.  I don't always speak Spanish to the kids, and I'm not always super-friendly (I tend to be a quiet person...boldness just doesn't come naturally). I know that the things on the mid-project evaluation are there for us to learn what to work on, and that's definitely the case with me.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will give me confidence like Joan of Arc had--so that not only can I speak Spanish more in the classroom, but I can lead by example and really make a difference in those kids' lives

.