This was from awhile ago, but it keeps reoccurring. My wonderful roommate will often tell me at night “I go shower my teeth.” I laugh every time. Yesterday she said she was going to shower her face too. That’s a funny mental image…

This past weekend, Marichka’s mom came to visit. I tried to put my Russian to use, but I failed miserably. I was telling her “I like verenky, semki, borsch, and boys.” Boys? She sort of raised her eyebrows a little when I said this. Of course I did not mean to say boys, I was trying to say holoptsie which are the cabbage rolls. The difference between the word for boys and the word for cabbage rolls comes down to a hard ‘h’ or a soft ‘h’. Small things that make a big difference.

So our first two week of English for Missions are finished and we still have all 12 students! It has been quite a packed two weeks, but God was in all of it. I am so amazed at God’s faithfulness and seeing His hand in everything.

The School

Our first week was mostly spent in assessing where the students where in their language ability. This put a few people in tears, but we have been reassuring students that we simply need to know what they know. There is no way around it. Tough love.

We explained most of the procedures and expectations, gave lots of handouts, and just spent time together. Joanne started out our first week with several lessons on who God is. It was fun learning English while also learning about who God is. The students did lots of activities to bring out their expectations of the school and teachers and what their dreams and nightmares were about learning English.

I also taught a lesson on different learning styles and Allison did a lesson on devotions. We had a class picnic on Wednesday, did a craft on Thursday, and had a game night on Friday, we like to do fun stuff through out the week. Our week ended with a class covenant. We went over what we felt were important points to cover and put into practice, and ended with students signing a poster together agreeing that they would follow the covenant to the best of their ability. And week one was finished, and it was good.

Week two went much the same, except that we put students into groups based on their abilities. This allows us to focus more on what they need, they are also in multilevel groups, and then there are also writing groups. Lots of groups. We also implemented a fasting day on Wednesday. Every Wednesday we will be fasting breakfast and lunch together, instead of eating we are going to be praying and worshiping as one group! I love spending time with God with others who enjoy the same thing. Week 2 finished, and it was good.

Who knows what next week will hold!

First day of teaching!

This was the theme of the conference I went to in Kona, Hawaii. It was jam packed with so many good things. Just to set the record straight, this was a business trip, not a vacation!

Start of the Day

Our days started at 6:15 (if you weren’t jet lagging that is, I woke up between the hours of 2 and 5 generally.) The whole conference had worship and devotions together. We did a study on Colossians. I highly recommend the devotional which you can find here. We always had a morning session which lasted until lunch, then after lunch there were different breakout sessions that lasted until 4:30. Dinner ended at 6 when the evening session started.

Me in front of the main center of the University of the Nations

I had a wonderful time understanding the University of the Nations and all that they do. Students who complete the English for Missions school that I am starting, will receive credits with this university. The university’s goal is to start more schools to allow students to get degrees. The big thing with these schools is to equip people to make disciples. It is very reassuring to know our English school falls into this easily!

Watching the waves, the one time I got to see them

I was able to meet with other English teachers from various countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Azerbijan. Many of these teachers have been in YWAM for 20, 30 years and have taught English for a large portion of those years. I definitely felt like a youngin amongst them! I attended a session for English teachers too so we all got to share ideas.

Last evening session standing on a giant map!

The ESL teacher in Kona, gave me many free books and materials that we needed in Ukraine. My suitcase was filled with books and supplies for the trip home! I was able to network with many other people. Any free time was largely spent meeting with people. I am so glad I was able to go just to meet people and understand what the University of the Nations is all about.

I just thought I would add some of my favorite questions from English club this week.

1) What do ballerinas where while dancing?

a. tutu                  b. toga                   c. tuxedo

My group got a good laugh out of that one. They had no idea what any of those options were.

2) Maria put cookies in the oven to __________.

a. burn                    b. bake                     c. boil

At first my group thought boil was really bowling. Once we got that straightened out, we decided this question depended on how well Maria cooked. I still had to explain what bake and boil were.

3) In the last month, the company suffered a ________________.

a. lost                       b. loose                           c. loss

I am sure you know the right answer, but can you explain why?