I have been teaching a group of ladies for 3hours every Saturday since January. This small group of women have been a blessing and a challenge. Most of them can not even read or write properly in Spanish and many have not made it past the 3rd grade. The majority of them are Nicaraguan and are living illegally in this shanty town (This is very common in La Carpio). They currently all work as daycare workers for several daycares set up by the Humanitarian Aid Foundation.
I was asked back in January to teach English to these women. I am sure you can imagine the difficulty it has been. I have found myself not only teaching them English but also teaching them fundamental skills such as telling time. My academic year with them is coming to an end. My goals for these women started out simply being to teach them English, but as our understanding of La Carpio and their role in it as daycare workers has grown so has my desires for them through this class.
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As any leader or teacher, my foundational desire is to duplicate myself. In other words I hope to be able to touch their lives and in turn they may be able to touch the lives of others. The best way I felt I could do this was not only through education in the English language but much more importantly with Biblical education. Luke and I have found that there are several churches in this shanty town. Many of the people we have met claim to be faithful members of these churches yet, it seems that their knowledge of the Scriptures and of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is lacking. (Many of the churches we have visited in Costa Rica do not place focus on any strong discipleship, leaving their members quite malnourished of the Scriptures and there applications.) It has been my desire to try and fill these voids in education through my simple class every Saturday. This has been a challenge as I have had to fit many different subjects into a short amount of time every week. Throughout this class I know I have grown a great deal as an educator and I hope my students have grown as well.
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| FROM LEFT: Gloria, Jorling, Yessenia, Summer, Yessenia's daughter, and Emilce |
I ask that you keep these women in your prayers as we gear up for the end of this class. I also pray that their interest in the Scriptures will continue to burn within them and they may continue to study the Bible and develop deep relationships with a personal Savior.They will be working the next several weeks on their final project. For their final project I have asked them to properly prepare and deliver a class to a group of children Luke has been working with on Saturdays. Our desire is to be able to have others take over these tasks so that we may be able to reach more with both Education and hope and salvation through Jesus Christ.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
-Proverbs 1:7 NASB
2 comments:
That is so encouraging that the ladies are faithful and wanting to better themselves. Will you start a new class with them sometime in the future? I know that you love them and care about them and I am thankful that you are there for them.
God Bless:)
I am not sure yet what we will be doing in the next couple of months. What I would really like to do is start a Bible study with them. The issue with this class is always location. Several classes have already had to be canceled throughout the year because we have nowhere to meet. The buildings we borrow are not always available and I feel they might become less available for a Bible study.
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