Ira and I are celebrating our 4 year anniversary in ministry at Pan de Vida. It has been quite the journey and God continues to teach us new things. While Ira's ministry through maintenance, work projects and teams has basically been consistent, I have bounced around in various activities within the Orphanage but mostly I am referred to as "The Reporter", due to the updates and photos I share. This last year we really felt God challenging us to grow more in the ministry and that has led us to finally take the in depth Spanish courses to improve our language.
I was helping the younger boys with homework and while I could help in some of the basics of math, I was struggling with certainty of grammar, spelling, pronunciation etc. Also, several of the other boys were wanting help with their assignments and I quickly found out that I wasn't much good to them in my current level of Spanish. Ira had his own set of obstacles in working with the kids to do various projects.
One of the boys, Luis, loves to work with Ira. Everyday after school he is immediately at the workshop. He is the boy who does not learn well academically but is very eager to help in any way he can. Ira realized that this was an opportunity to teach Luis some basics in math and other subjects through vocational training. He has already learned how to solder and this has boosted his self confidence as well. So Luis, who is 15 and has a grade 1-2 education and felt defeated in learning, will now become Ira's apprentice in the fall when Ira finishes his Spanish school. We are also hoping to become more involved with devotional time and being spiritual mentors.
We are attending Harvest Language Center in Guadalajara. It is Christian Language school created by and for missionaries. So in addition to the Spanish language, we are also learning Biblical vocabulary, doing devotions and Bible studies in Spanish. We both feel very blessed by the directors, teachers and fellow missionaries in the school. Next week we will wrap up our 1st session and take our exams, then have a break and start our next semester. We have wanted to do this the whole time we have been here but until now, the timing just didn't work out. Now looking back, we can see how God used the past 3+ years to prepare us. We look forward to how God is going to use this to grow us in His service.
Post a Comment