Final English Class in Part One

On Monday night, our English students successfully completed their English Course Part One (12 classes) and they all did so well. They all got good grades on their final written and oral exams. To celebrate, we invited everyone to our houseafter class for American snacks and to receive their final grades and completion certificates. I felt so bad when everyone left that I had not gotten a group picture of the class. Oh well....

If all goes as planned, we are beginning our second round of English Classes on Monday, August 24 for 8 weeks. We will be offering Part One (for new students) and Part Two (already have 10 pre-registered for this class). We believe this is an open door that God has given us for ministry to our people and also for evangelism in the Saltillo church community. We are, of course, not "making money" on this missionary ministry - only calculating the charge of the instructional materials we've purchased and dividing that cost among the students who are asking for the classes. Any excess registration money goes for buying and reproducing English practice CDs that go along with the course and printer cartridges for producing each week's worksheets.

We are also praying and thinking about beginning English classes in our colonia...several mothers on my street have talked to me and asked me to teach English to their children (and them, they add shyly). This would be a significant time commitment and with me beginning my homeschool responsibilities again soon (with a high schooler in the bunch this time), we're not sure if this is the right time. Please help us pray about that ministry. I believe God would use it as an open door to evangelize our community but I also want to stay true to the priorities He's given me as a mom and a wife. My children will soon be grown and gone, and I can teach English the rest of my life! :-)

The students taking the written part of their final exam.

The littlest English student, Kenya...she's not really enrolled in the class, just occasionally comes in, brings her little notebook and pencil, sits on the bench and copies the English words I write on the white board.

The American snacks I served at the party. (an extra cheese plate was making its way to the table to fill the empty spot)

And we weren't done yet...the twins Christy and Kenya love looking at my English/Spanish pop-up flaps book and were having me say EVERY English word in the book so they could repeat it.
If I got distracted talking to someone else in the room, their taps on my arm would bring me back to task. :-)

Mom Sylvia looking on - Sylvia does so well in English - such a quick learner! And such a good friend of mine...I thank the Lord constantly for her. She's my current "bridge person" - you language/culture learners know what I mean.

Helping the girls with their "th" sounds - these are very difficult for our English students. Three sounds like tree...but we're working on it!

I don't know if loving the people you're called to minister to makes you a good missionary, but I tell you - these people have my heart - every bit of it. Being with them, cooking with them, singing with them, crying and laughing with them, serving God together...nothing fulfills me more.