News Bits

Great news: Little Andrew led one of his classmates to Christ yesterday. How exciting!  I'm not sure of all of the circumstances, but part of me wonders if it was prompted by the question of the week: Have you ever asked Jesus in your heart?  Yes, I have or No, not yet.  Pam wrote on her Facebook that Andrew has been praying for this friend all year, so how cool for God to use him in this little boy's life!  What a faith experience for Andrew!



Daily Things: One of my new teacher friends invited me to spend the last two evenings with her in preparation for her friend's baby shower.  Last night we ran errands--she picked out presents for the baby, we talked a lot (in English), and I worked with her older daughter on making a poster.  This morning I had my first "shower" without a shower--the ol' bucket (or in this case, bowl) system. 

This evening, we enjoyed celebrating the upcoming arrival of her friend's baby on a covered porch.  We ate kabobs and coffee and cake and just enjoyed talking. 

School Things: Conversation Cafe has gone well thus far.  I have enjoyed getting to know the younger kids through their participation earlier this week--I think I can handle them for fifteen minutes at a time. :)  Tomorrow I will work with the older kids.  The World Cup will probably be the main topic of discussion.

In English classes and one-on-one assessments, there have been two major speaking principles I have covered this week: the difference between -teen and-ty as suffixes on numbers, and the "th" sound in words like the and seventh.  My sixth graders greatly enjoyed sticking their tongues between their teeth to get that th sound (instead of a d sound), and our recitation of Psalm 139:9 turned into a game of who could pronounce the with the most emphasis--recurring four times, they had ample opportunity to practice the sound.  So much for the phrasing we had practiced minutes earlier. :)

On Friday, we are having soccer and pizza day.  Every hour we are having a fifteen-minute soccer game between two grades.  I haven't decided if I'm going to try to play--teachers play junior highers, and some of those kids are pretty phenomenal...I really don't want another broken leg...Maybe I'll just stick with selling concessions with Pam.

Other news of note: Steve heard today that they are stopping Americans here in Guatemala and asking for proper documentation given that Arizona is doing the same thing with Hispanic people.  A bit of retaliation, I guess.  One of Steve's missionary friends was detained for five hours because he didn't have his passport with him--a common thing to leave the passport locked in a safe since a stolen one sells for lots of money here.  So, tomorrow I think we are getting certified copies of our passports which we can keep with us when traveling.