Sorry about neglecting you all.
I would say that I am now settled in. I´ve got the schedules memorized and and everyone´s names. We´ve had a Barnabas (encouragement) team come and go, and even a few unexpected visitors these past couple days. And tomorrow the Creative Ministry team will arrive bright and early tomorrow morning. If it sounds like we´re having a lot of fun, it´s true we are, but we are definitely working and seeing growth as well.
In addition to our 3 storying bible studies, and our many english classes, we are beginning our first VBS at Alianza Baptist Church. It will be four Saturdays, and we´re excited to be able to help the youth and the people of the church, through this endeavor.
We´ve also had our first women´s bible study today. The guy to girl ratio in all of our classes and bible studies average a lot of guys to one girl....if that. So, we though it would be a good idea to give the women a chance to speak freely and about more personal subjects. Today we had two ladies, and we all really enjoyed it. I´m excited to see how it will evolve, and to learn more about each of them, and their struggles.
Please pray for the many searching students in our classes, and opportunities for serious and indepth discussions about God. I´ve only been here two weeks, but I´ve already seen growth in several students. I pray that God will be our strength and nothing else.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
New Respects
What´s today? Saturday? I´ve almost been in Arequipa one whole week. I was wondering what´s been going on back at home, but seeing as how what feels like a month has only been a few days, I´m guessing not much.
I believe I left off from the beginning of my time in Arequipa, but I don´t really remember the day to day, so I´ll tell you what I´m most excited about.
Thursday night I taught my first English class. It´s a conversation class, because I don´t speak spanish, but it went well. Melissa went with me, because I was nervous (it was my first time teaching). We got to know each other. Which mainly means my class of 6ish questioned me. Then I thought it would be a good idea to play the adjective name game, for me to get to know their names.
The game goes like this (I´m sure most of you will recognize it): You think of an adjective to describe you that starts with the same letter as your first name. I used Dandy Dominique. "Hi, everyone. I am dandy Dominique." Well, that was the only word I could think of that started with D, so they got to learn what dandy means.
Everyone went once. Then Ramses (rigid Ramses), was sad to hear he didn´t get to go again, so everyone went again. Except, the second time we wrote several adjectives starting with their letter on the board. I´d say my first class was successful.
Well, last night was my first time teaching ALL BY MYSELF. We talked about everyone´s day, and then we played a new form of charades. I went first so I acted out Doctor. Ramses guessed it, and then we wrote descriptions and word associations of a doctor on the board. After that, (this is my favorite part), we built a story about the doctor. Everyone added a sentence in sequence. I started, "There once was a doctor who lived in Peru." Then Willy said, "There once was a doctor who lived in Peru. He went to school for 10 years, and now worked in a hospital." It was a good story. Then, since Ramses guessed doctor, he went next. He had to act out cow. That was a better story, because at the end Willy the wolf ate the happy cow. I think everyone enjoyed this class too.
Class went about half hour late until 7:00, which just so happens to be the time of our bible study. I´m very excited about our bible study sequence that we kicked off last night. We´re storying through the bible. Last night, of course, we went over creation, Genesis 1 and 2. Next, on Tuesday, we´ll do the fall of man, and so on and so on, hitting the major stories, until we reach Christ´s death. Then we´ll end the sequence going over the church. The whole thing will last until we leave, at the end of July. But at the end of June and July we´ll host a Jeopardy game over what we´ve storied up until then, and the winner will win a Spanish/English bible. I´m very excited about this, because most of our students are unsaved.
Well, I´ve titled this post "New Respects", because I now have new respect for people trying to learn english, and for teachers of all types. By teaching english I am a lot more aware of it´s difficulty and a lot more thankful that it is my first language. Also, teachers really do work hard. Not saying I work all THAT hard, because I only have two classes, but a teacher that works 9-5...that´s a lot of lesson plans. I already tread being creative for lesson plans. Hopefully, my creative God will just put those new ides in my head...that´s my prayer anyway. The good thing is classes will always be fun, because we´ll be learning about each other.
ok Toodles! I´m off to Cusco Café. It´s just as good, if not better than Starbucks. This is our preferred place to prepare for our classes and bible studies.
Also, next week I will start my spanish class, to improve my spanish. Hopefully, by next month I´ll be able to take on a little bit lower level english class. Wish me luck! Pray for me to learn fast.
Oh also, today we walked to Caymo (a different district of Arequipa). There´s a nice park and spot to over look the city. It was very pretty and I got to see more of Arequipa, like the Chili River. I´m still trying to force myself to take more pictures, but I think the more comfortable I get in this city the more I´ll just wander around with my camera. Adios por ahora. (this is my makeshift spanish)
I believe I left off from the beginning of my time in Arequipa, but I don´t really remember the day to day, so I´ll tell you what I´m most excited about.
Thursday night I taught my first English class. It´s a conversation class, because I don´t speak spanish, but it went well. Melissa went with me, because I was nervous (it was my first time teaching). We got to know each other. Which mainly means my class of 6ish questioned me. Then I thought it would be a good idea to play the adjective name game, for me to get to know their names.
The game goes like this (I´m sure most of you will recognize it): You think of an adjective to describe you that starts with the same letter as your first name. I used Dandy Dominique. "Hi, everyone. I am dandy Dominique." Well, that was the only word I could think of that started with D, so they got to learn what dandy means.
Everyone went once. Then Ramses (rigid Ramses), was sad to hear he didn´t get to go again, so everyone went again. Except, the second time we wrote several adjectives starting with their letter on the board. I´d say my first class was successful.
Well, last night was my first time teaching ALL BY MYSELF. We talked about everyone´s day, and then we played a new form of charades. I went first so I acted out Doctor. Ramses guessed it, and then we wrote descriptions and word associations of a doctor on the board. After that, (this is my favorite part), we built a story about the doctor. Everyone added a sentence in sequence. I started, "There once was a doctor who lived in Peru." Then Willy said, "There once was a doctor who lived in Peru. He went to school for 10 years, and now worked in a hospital." It was a good story. Then, since Ramses guessed doctor, he went next. He had to act out cow. That was a better story, because at the end Willy the wolf ate the happy cow. I think everyone enjoyed this class too.
Class went about half hour late until 7:00, which just so happens to be the time of our bible study. I´m very excited about our bible study sequence that we kicked off last night. We´re storying through the bible. Last night, of course, we went over creation, Genesis 1 and 2. Next, on Tuesday, we´ll do the fall of man, and so on and so on, hitting the major stories, until we reach Christ´s death. Then we´ll end the sequence going over the church. The whole thing will last until we leave, at the end of July. But at the end of June and July we´ll host a Jeopardy game over what we´ve storied up until then, and the winner will win a Spanish/English bible. I´m very excited about this, because most of our students are unsaved.
Well, I´ve titled this post "New Respects", because I now have new respect for people trying to learn english, and for teachers of all types. By teaching english I am a lot more aware of it´s difficulty and a lot more thankful that it is my first language. Also, teachers really do work hard. Not saying I work all THAT hard, because I only have two classes, but a teacher that works 9-5...that´s a lot of lesson plans. I already tread being creative for lesson plans. Hopefully, my creative God will just put those new ides in my head...that´s my prayer anyway. The good thing is classes will always be fun, because we´ll be learning about each other.
ok Toodles! I´m off to Cusco Café. It´s just as good, if not better than Starbucks. This is our preferred place to prepare for our classes and bible studies.
Also, next week I will start my spanish class, to improve my spanish. Hopefully, by next month I´ll be able to take on a little bit lower level english class. Wish me luck! Pray for me to learn fast.
Oh also, today we walked to Caymo (a different district of Arequipa). There´s a nice park and spot to over look the city. It was very pretty and I got to see more of Arequipa, like the Chili River. I´m still trying to force myself to take more pictures, but I think the more comfortable I get in this city the more I´ll just wander around with my camera. Adios por ahora. (this is my makeshift spanish)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Week of Wonders
Hola mi amigos! Buenos Tardes!
And that´s about all the spanish I know...so far.
So much has happened in the last week, I feel like I´ve been here a month already. I´ve yet to actually begin my routine and classes, but I did spend my first day in Arequipa. Oh yea did I mention I´ll be in Arequipa this summer, not Lima. There is greater need in Arequipa, and I am more than willing to visit another city. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. I´m very excited to be in Arequipa. EVERYONE says that it is the perfect city; always sunny, cool, 8000ft above sea level, and is overlooked by volcano El Misti.
Now that I am moved into my apartment (a former dentist office), and go to my first real class tomorrow, I should be able to communicate more often. About my apartment...I have two roommates, Melissa and Jessica. These girls as well as Steven are my partners. I´m pretty much jumping into help them with their English classes.
I wish I´d brought my computer or at least camera cord, so I could show you all that I´ve done and seen so far. Since I didn´t I´ll just give you a brief summary, and you can question me individually.
Monday: I arrived in Lima. The plane trip was wasn´t bad. I sat next to Maria Luis, and she told me about her family in the states and her children (my age) in Peru. When we got off the plane she helped me though customs and luggage. She was very nice and motherly to me.
Tuesday: Free day around Lima, waiting for everyone else to arrive. We, a group of about 8 Americans, went to a mall overlooking the Pacific. From there we walked back to our hostal. It was a good time to get to know the other missionaries working through ReapSouth, this summer. Most of them are traveling to villages all over Peru. Around dinner time we went to Papa John´s (and American classic) and walked down to the movie theater to watch the new Indiana Jones (en inglés). It was cool, because it takes place in Peru, and we´re going to Nasca at the end of June. Going to the movies might become a foreign country tradition. When I was in Mexico City, we watched the Good Shephard. I wouldn´t mind this tradition.
Wednesday: The Amazing Race. This was a great way for all of us foreigners to sight see Lima, and get a taste of the lesser visited side of the city. One of our challenges was to find and drink a full cup of jugo de rana (frog juice). We took it like champs, which was hard, because we watched Willy destroy the frog. The Amazing Race ended us up in Chosica, where we would be at for the next three days for orientation.
Thursday: Camp in Chosica began. Our schedule looked like this: worship, classes, food, worship, classes, food... But all were very fulfilling and interesting.
Friday: Camp continues (worship, classes, food, worship, classes, food...) Rick Shephard finish his teaching on the Tabernacle, and it was really interesting to see the relations between the old testament and the new testament. They´re so many references to Jesus. After these teachings were done we all sat down to an AMAZING Thanksgiving Day dinner. It was everything and more: turkey, stuffing, buttered rolls, gravy, green beans, (so much food!) and like six desserts! It was so hard to move we were all so full.
Saturday: We had an early breakfast and then traveled back to Lima. In Lima we had another free day. We used this time to buy our bus tickets to Arequipa and eat lunch at a really good seafood place downtown. I had fried shellfish, bery good, and tried the well known plate, ceviche. It wasn´t bad.
Sunday: Went to church. Many people in ReapSouth go to the Flamingo Road Church. They are in Cooper City, but have a campus in Peru and around Florida. It was in English, and I really enjoyed the message. The pastor spoke on our covenant with God. Then we got lunch and began our 15 hour bus trip to Arequipa. The bus ride wasn´t so bad.
Monday: We arrived in Arequipa around 7:30am and napped. Then, while Melissa was in class, Jess and I shopped in Arequipa. I had to buy a blanket. It´s coming into winter and it´s getting cold.
Well, obviously, I miss you all! I´ll try to update the blog more, as I began my classes.
Thank you for all your prayers!
Te amo
And that´s about all the spanish I know...so far.
So much has happened in the last week, I feel like I´ve been here a month already. I´ve yet to actually begin my routine and classes, but I did spend my first day in Arequipa. Oh yea did I mention I´ll be in Arequipa this summer, not Lima. There is greater need in Arequipa, and I am more than willing to visit another city. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. I´m very excited to be in Arequipa. EVERYONE says that it is the perfect city; always sunny, cool, 8000ft above sea level, and is overlooked by volcano El Misti.
Now that I am moved into my apartment (a former dentist office), and go to my first real class tomorrow, I should be able to communicate more often. About my apartment...I have two roommates, Melissa and Jessica. These girls as well as Steven are my partners. I´m pretty much jumping into help them with their English classes.
I wish I´d brought my computer or at least camera cord, so I could show you all that I´ve done and seen so far. Since I didn´t I´ll just give you a brief summary, and you can question me individually.
Monday: I arrived in Lima. The plane trip was wasn´t bad. I sat next to Maria Luis, and she told me about her family in the states and her children (my age) in Peru. When we got off the plane she helped me though customs and luggage. She was very nice and motherly to me.
Tuesday: Free day around Lima, waiting for everyone else to arrive. We, a group of about 8 Americans, went to a mall overlooking the Pacific. From there we walked back to our hostal. It was a good time to get to know the other missionaries working through ReapSouth, this summer. Most of them are traveling to villages all over Peru. Around dinner time we went to Papa John´s (and American classic) and walked down to the movie theater to watch the new Indiana Jones (en inglés). It was cool, because it takes place in Peru, and we´re going to Nasca at the end of June. Going to the movies might become a foreign country tradition. When I was in Mexico City, we watched the Good Shephard. I wouldn´t mind this tradition.
Wednesday: The Amazing Race. This was a great way for all of us foreigners to sight see Lima, and get a taste of the lesser visited side of the city. One of our challenges was to find and drink a full cup of jugo de rana (frog juice). We took it like champs, which was hard, because we watched Willy destroy the frog. The Amazing Race ended us up in Chosica, where we would be at for the next three days for orientation.
Thursday: Camp in Chosica began. Our schedule looked like this: worship, classes, food, worship, classes, food... But all were very fulfilling and interesting.
Friday: Camp continues (worship, classes, food, worship, classes, food...) Rick Shephard finish his teaching on the Tabernacle, and it was really interesting to see the relations between the old testament and the new testament. They´re so many references to Jesus. After these teachings were done we all sat down to an AMAZING Thanksgiving Day dinner. It was everything and more: turkey, stuffing, buttered rolls, gravy, green beans, (so much food!) and like six desserts! It was so hard to move we were all so full.
Saturday: We had an early breakfast and then traveled back to Lima. In Lima we had another free day. We used this time to buy our bus tickets to Arequipa and eat lunch at a really good seafood place downtown. I had fried shellfish, bery good, and tried the well known plate, ceviche. It wasn´t bad.
Sunday: Went to church. Many people in ReapSouth go to the Flamingo Road Church. They are in Cooper City, but have a campus in Peru and around Florida. It was in English, and I really enjoyed the message. The pastor spoke on our covenant with God. Then we got lunch and began our 15 hour bus trip to Arequipa. The bus ride wasn´t so bad.
Monday: We arrived in Arequipa around 7:30am and napped. Then, while Melissa was in class, Jess and I shopped in Arequipa. I had to buy a blanket. It´s coming into winter and it´s getting cold.
Well, obviously, I miss you all! I´ll try to update the blog more, as I began my classes.
Thank you for all your prayers!
Te amo
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