Are you smarter than 1st and 2nd year secondary students?

See if you can answer these multiple choice questions (answers at the end of the post):

1. By God's command, the prophet Hosea had to marry...

A. a prostitute

B. his sister-in-law

C. his sister

D. an Egyptian princess

2. Who took a burning coal from the altar of the temple to cleanse Isaiah's lips?

A. A seraphim

B. The high priest

C. King Uzziah

D. Jeroboam

3. From where were the men who conspired to kill Jeremiah because he prophesied in the name of God?

A. Jerusalem

B. Tekoa

C. Anathoth

D. Jericho

Why the pop quiz? 

The facility adjacent to Iglesia Luterana Cordero de Dios in Licey that formerly housed a parochial preschool now houses preteens (I'm not sure how the grade levels correlate, but they're 12-14 yr. olds). Attendance dipped so dramatically at Concordia Lutheran School on account of COVID that it was forced to fold, but God opened literal doors for a public school in need of a new facility to move in. Part of the agreement is that Rev. Yban Navarro retained his role as chaplain. He teaches Christian formation classes, leads weekly chapel services, and on occasion, is asked to help with special undertakings. Case in point: the Bible Olympiad. 

The Bible Olympiad is a Ministry of Education (MINERD) event set up like a spelling bee. Classroom champions compete to see who will represent the school at the district level; district winners will compete at regionals, and the best of the best will travel to Santo Domingo for nationals. 

Yban asked seminarian Rafael and I to serve as jurados (jurors) on Tuesday, helping determine who the district rep would be. Based on their round 1 scores (a 15-question written test), there were six classroom champions vying for the opportunity. First, they took a second written test - 12 questions this time. In both cases, the students had seen and been able to study the questions in advance, but the question bank consisted of more than double the amount that appeared on the test. As if that weren't enough pressure, the director and a couple of MINERD reps looked on in addition to Yban, Rafa, and I; I would have been intimidated!

Yban gave them 15 minutes, but they all finished in < 5. Afterwards, Rafa and I each got to sit down with two students to "interview" them. We could ask anything - round 2 questions that didn't appear on the test, round 3 questions, general biblical knowledge questions, or anything to get to know them as people. Our goal was to arrive at an interview score of 0-100. All six students were also interviewed by the director and scored according to the same scale. 

Our final task was to help score the round 2 tests. The student with the highest test + interview scores would advance. 

Both of us had to look up some of the answers! Later in the day, Yban shared photos of announcing the winner; she was crying tears of joy. Praise God for the relationships Yban is building amongst these young people. One of his goals is to start a choir that would sing in Cordero de Dios's Divine Services from time to time. Lord willing, some will become part of our growing family of faith!

Until next time, blessings in Christ!

P.S. The correct answers are 1. A (Hosea 1:2-3); 2. A (Isaiah 6:6-7); 3. B (Jeramiah 11:21-23). Comment how you did!