5/25/09
Family and friends,
Greetings from Chile! It has been about a week since I last reported and it hardly feels like we’ve even been here for a few days. The week passes quickly with our Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays filled with our six hour teaching schedules while Tuesdays and Thursdays are utilized for shopping, lesson planning, touring Temuco, and doing a few various chores. Saturday we generally relax or visit the different places in Temuco. On Sundays we try to visit a different church each week and spend the rest of the afternoon in fellowship and relaxation with other Chilean brothers and sisters.
After a somewhat stressful first day of teaching, we were able to gauge the students’ various levels of skill in conversing in English. We then divided them into three levels; beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The students all come from a wide variety of backgrounds. I have met an electrician who was let go from his job and wishes to improve his resume by learning English, a taxi driver studying to be a missionary who wishes to witness to English speaking foreigners like myself, and a pastor/psychiatrist who wants to learn English so he can go to America as a missionary. Whatever their background, all are eager to learn and most wish to use their skills to serve the Lord. After every conversation I am encouraged by their desire to learn in spite of financial difficulties or overwhelmingly busy schedules. (more…)