The first phase of my journey has officially come to a close. Today was my final day of my first segment of Spanisb school.
This week has been incredible and I have learned a lot. I mentioned in my last post about the struggles of feeling that my classes were too slow. I found myself in a dichotomy because I was not sure if I should trust my teachers more or trust my instincts more. Well, I decided that I should at least consider my instincts, so on Monday, I talked with the director of the school and explained my concerns. I explained that my hopes for this final week were to learn as much as possible and that I understand that I will need more practice with it later, but for now, my priority is to learn what is left to learn. Three hours later, the coordinator of the classes handed me a paper with a new schedule with new teachers for the week. At Instituto Jovel, there are some teachers that are accustomed to teaching only beginners and others that teach all levels. Since I wanted to learn more advanced grammar, I worked with different teachers this week. I learned a ton and thoroughly enjoyed the different teaching styles and personalities of my new teachers.
The names of my new teachers from this week are Laura, Gabriel, and Berenice. I continued to have Sergio in the afternoons. I enjoyed working with each of them. Gabriel is a lawyer and a professor of law and has taught Spanish for more than twenty years. My classes with him are always interesting. He enjoys talking about religion and politics.
Hence, I learned what I had hoped to learn this week. I now have all of the grammatical structures that I need and I just have to continue practicing and learning new vocabulary.
I have also enjoyed my time with Ricardo and Mariana this week. They wanted me to make another cheesecake before I left, so I made another one last night. It turned out well. I am glad that they enjoy cheesecake.
Today at lunch, they asked me to play a song for them on the ukulele. This was a bit awkward for me, because I can not sing well at all (yes, I can play instruments, but singing, not so much) but I wanted to honor their request. I sang “Mighty to Save” for them because I have some of the Spanish lyrics memorized, so they could understand what I was singing. They really enjoyed it.
I have finished my pre-mission-season “training.” I have now built up to running at Guadalupe for an hour. I started a month ago at twenty minutes. I have adjusted to the elevation.
Church on Sunday was a really cool experience. The Christian Education time was an hour and a half of prayer this past week. Different people throughout the church prayed for various needs. It was also nice that I could understand the sermon, more or less. It was about how the chief purpose of the church is to glorify God (sound familiar?). I really enjoyed it. The people are extremely welcoming there, too.
Therefore, as one chapter ends, another begins. Tomorrow I head to Ocosingo for the start of the mission season. Ocosingo is the location of the medical clinic of Hebron USA. A medical mission team from Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Illinois will travel to work in Manos de Cristo (Hands of Christ), the medical clinic. I look forward to seeing how God will be working in Chiapas this week. I also look forward to applying both the Spanish that I learned this month and hopefully some of what I have learned about working with groups in my studies of Adventure Education.
Please pray for an incredible week in Ocosingo. Pray also for safe travels for the group, as well as for the JMPC group that is coming next week. Until then, ¡Adiós! and feel free to say hello below! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.
This week has been incredible and I have learned a lot. I mentioned in my last post about the struggles of feeling that my classes were too slow. I found myself in a dichotomy because I was not sure if I should trust my teachers more or trust my instincts more. Well, I decided that I should at least consider my instincts, so on Monday, I talked with the director of the school and explained my concerns. I explained that my hopes for this final week were to learn as much as possible and that I understand that I will need more practice with it later, but for now, my priority is to learn what is left to learn. Three hours later, the coordinator of the classes handed me a paper with a new schedule with new teachers for the week. At Instituto Jovel, there are some teachers that are accustomed to teaching only beginners and others that teach all levels. Since I wanted to learn more advanced grammar, I worked with different teachers this week. I learned a ton and thoroughly enjoyed the different teaching styles and personalities of my new teachers.
The names of my new teachers from this week are Laura, Gabriel, and Berenice. I continued to have Sergio in the afternoons. I enjoyed working with each of them. Gabriel is a lawyer and a professor of law and has taught Spanish for more than twenty years. My classes with him are always interesting. He enjoys talking about religion and politics.
Hence, I learned what I had hoped to learn this week. I now have all of the grammatical structures that I need and I just have to continue practicing and learning new vocabulary.
I have also enjoyed my time with Ricardo and Mariana this week. They wanted me to make another cheesecake before I left, so I made another one last night. It turned out well. I am glad that they enjoy cheesecake.
Today at lunch, they asked me to play a song for them on the ukulele. This was a bit awkward for me, because I can not sing well at all (yes, I can play instruments, but singing, not so much) but I wanted to honor their request. I sang “Mighty to Save” for them because I have some of the Spanish lyrics memorized, so they could understand what I was singing. They really enjoyed it.
I have finished my pre-mission-season “training.” I have now built up to running at Guadalupe for an hour. I started a month ago at twenty minutes. I have adjusted to the elevation.
Church on Sunday was a really cool experience. The Christian Education time was an hour and a half of prayer this past week. Different people throughout the church prayed for various needs. It was also nice that I could understand the sermon, more or less. It was about how the chief purpose of the church is to glorify God (sound familiar?). I really enjoyed it. The people are extremely welcoming there, too.
Therefore, as one chapter ends, another begins. Tomorrow I head to Ocosingo for the start of the mission season. Ocosingo is the location of the medical clinic of Hebron USA. A medical mission team from Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Illinois will travel to work in Manos de Cristo (Hands of Christ), the medical clinic. I look forward to seeing how God will be working in Chiapas this week. I also look forward to applying both the Spanish that I learned this month and hopefully some of what I have learned about working with groups in my studies of Adventure Education.
Please pray for an incredible week in Ocosingo. Pray also for safe travels for the group, as well as for the JMPC group that is coming next week. Until then, ¡Adiós! and feel free to say hello below! Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.
In case you were wondering where Chiapas is located; image from http://www.map-of-mexico.co.uk/map-of-chiapas.htm
Mariana and Ricardo have an Old Testament picture Bible; I have enjoyed looking through it this week
Manos de Cristo (the medical clinic in Ocosingo); image from https://hebronusa.org/what-we-do/
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Disfruto a leer tus aventuras en Chiapas.