How I Became an English Teacher

My last post was about how our English teacher has moved on to a new chapter in her life.  It happened rather suddenly, and we haven't found a replacement for her yet.  SO . . . in the meantime, I am teaching English!  I have ten students.  Since this is the end of the school year, all of them are functional in English now, but they need more help to be able to do graduate level work at the seminary.

For now I am focusing on building their vocabulary so that they can read their assignments and understand their professors.  We are doing this by listening to online sermons in English.  I've selected websites that also provide a transcript of the message, so they can read it as well as listen to it. I'm helping them "catch" the vocabulary words, as well as the idioms, and helping them find the main ideas of the message.  So far, we are having fun!

I am honored to teach this group of people.  Technically, they are not qualified to study at IGSL, because they couldn't pass the English requirement.  But the Admissions Committee felt that there were compelling reasons to accept them because of their background and potential for ministry in their home countries.  Three of them came from Muslim backgrounds, two were Hindu, three were Buddhist, and two were Communist.  I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life as an English teacher . . . but I am so happy that I can walk beside these students for this season and help them on their way.

A Happy/Sad Day at SSD

All of us who work in the Student Services Department have been wanting to visit Subic, a resort about an hour from Manila.  We decided to combine this fun activity with a sad activity that we were NOT looking forward to--saying goodbye to one of our colleagues. (We were thinking that combining the happy and sad parts would make it more bearable, because we were really sad to say goodbye!)
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So, off we went to Subic, and we did enjoy it a lot.  We took lots of photos, looked at exotic birds, watched tribal dancers, ate delicious food, and even took turns feeding an ostrich.
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Then we said goodbye to our dear Belle.  And yes, there were tears.  But she is leaving us because she believes God is calling her to serve Him in an unreached country, and we are SUPER proud of her.  It's just that we get the sniffles whenever we imagine her not being there in our office!  A happy/sad day indeed.
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The day Belle gave me her resignation letter, she said, "It's because of you, you know!"  She didn't mean that I'm such a difficult boss to work for.  She meant that in our office, we try to create an environment of excitement about missions, and bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  How could I complain if she decided to do exactly that?  Well played, Belle, well played!

Happy News

One thing that has brought great joy to our hearts recently is the decision of Jim and Michelle, (our daughter and son-in-law) to join the ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators. We are passionate about Bible translation! It’s our dream to see our world filled with disciples of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and that can’t happen until people have God’s Word in a language they can understand. So we are thrilled that they are on their way! They are in the process of developing a team of ministry partners now, and they hope to move to their assignment in Papua New Guinea by August. Yeah! We are passionate about Bible translation, but we are also very passionate about Jim and Michelle and Baby Danny! We can really connect with the apostle John, who said "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth!" (III John 4)

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Meanwhile, Matthew is in his first year of law school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. So far he really loves it. He does community service in a legal aid clinic in his spare time, helping people with immigration problems who cannot afford a lawyer. From the time he was a little boy we always said he would be a great lawyer because he loves to talk, and he loves to convince you to do things you thought you did not want to do! It seems he is on the way to finding his niche.