Well, we did it! We held an English as a Second Language Tutor Training Workshop. That's a mouthful, but it just means that we trained people who speak English to use our Bible-based materials for teaching others to speak English. So now they are all ready to start teaching English.
This was the first workshop that we coordinated and taught by ourselves, and we were so happy to be holding it right here in our home church. We really have a heart for our neighbors and friends in Russellville, Arkansas, and teaching English can open doors to minister in our area. There are many international students attending the local college as well as a significant Spanish-speaking population that are interested in learning English . We can minister to these and others by teaching them English and about Jesus Christ.
Brad had everyone interested in how to relate with other cultures.
Amy talked about learning by doing with Total Physical Response.
We enjoyed teaching together.
We had seven students graduate with their certificates. They all learned so quickly and asked great questions.
Lydia was a smart and sweet student.
The Scott family: Lydia, Lane, Marcia, and Abigail
Teresa was a great student.
Teresa and John
We gave everyone a chance to teach one of the eight steps. It was great practice for everyone to see how a lesson would look from beginning to end. They all did a wonderful job!
John entertained us teaching the "Vocabulary" section.
..."These are cats!"
Abigail tackled some complicated rhythms with "Clap the Stress."
Lane taught "Pronunciation."
Brad and Amy demonstrated how to teach a conversation.
Marcia taught "Activities."
Then we gave everyone a certificate and discussed where they can use the training. We are starting a new ESL class here at our home church, so many of our students plan to join us in that ministry as teachers.
Do you speak English? Can you spare an hour a week? Are you in the Russellville area? Well, you should consider being an English tutor. We're starting some ESL (English as a Second Language) ministry right here in the Russellville area!
We'll be doing a training with the ESL curriculum that we use at LEI next week, so this training should give you plenty of teaching tools to get started as a tutor. The schedule for the sessions is as follows:
Tuesday, October 26th, 6:30-9:30pm
Thursday, October 28th, 6:30-9:30pm
Saturday, October 30th, 8:30am-12:30pm
Location: First Freewill Baptist Church of Russellville 1103 East L Street
So call us or contact us at bmymeans@gmail.com if you're interested in coming. The cost is $35, to pay for the cost of the books and materials. As soon as the training is complete, we'll work on helping to pair you up with a student as soon as possible. Or if you already have someone in mind, that's great, too. You and your student can meet once a week for an hour, or whatever the two of you decide.
What's going on with us right now?
We've decided to focus on things closer to home. We've had a lot of people asking about ESL ministry because of the growing needs and opportunities right on our doorstep.
What's our current goal?
Our goal is to establish a flourishing ESL ministry in the Russellville area.
What's our plan?
Our plan is to train tutors, partner them up with a student, and support each of these partnerships to become a long term learning relationship and friendship.
We feel that our current vision follows the LEI motto:
"Each one teach one and win one to Christ"
I guarantee you that as a tutor, you'll get just as much out of it as your student will. I know all of you can speak English and can spare an hour a week, so you're all set to become a tutor. No, you don't need to have any foreign language to become a tutor. Please ask us any questions you have if you're sitting there pondering this opportunity. You can even leave a comment on this post, and we can do a follow-up post for frequently asked questions (choose 'Anonymous' and you won't need any account to comment).
That's what's going on right now-- so help us make this vision happen!
IF YOU CAN'T WATCH THE VIDEO:
For those of you who can't watch the video, this is us doing our best to do an honest presentation of ourselves as missionaries. We are hoping to pursue a career in helping people by taking short-term teams to work with Literacy and ESL ministries going on through LEI, beginning in Central America. But to do this work, we need ongoing financial support from people that believe in what God can do through us. We would be honored to have your support as we work for Christ in literacy ministry. No donation is too small, but a regular donation is better than a one-time gift. If you want to support us, a $10 donation every month for a year is better than a one-time gift of $120.
Beyond financial giving, we really need your prayers. Please pray for us as we are going and doing. There's nothing like the power of prayer to fuel our ministry.
If you have any questions or just want to sit and chat, we are happy to meet with you in person to talk with you and answer any questions you may have, even if you decide against supporting us in the end. We just love telling people about what God is doing in our lives. Sharing this vision and heart is a joy for us.
Whatever you decide, please contact us if you're interested in joining us in our ministry. Our email address is bmymeans@gmail.com.
OPTIONS FOR DONATING:
1. Send a check payable to 'Literacy & Evangelism International' to
Literacy & Evangelism International
1800 S. Jackson Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74107
and include a separate note that says "for Brad & Amy Means" to designate your donation for our account.
3. Most donors choose the option of having us electronically charge your account the amount you specify each month, quarter, or year. We can use an automated bank transfer to do so. You just have to fill out a form which we can mail to you or email to you for you to print, and then send it to LEI. Or we'd be happy to come to you in person and go over everything with you. These transfers can be stopped at any time.
CURRENTLY PLANNED MODEL FOR OUR FUTURE WORK:
I) Internationally
A) Short-term missions (beginning in Central America, with hopes for the
rest of the world some day)
1) Find an LEI literacy or ESL class in need
2) Find a short-term team interested in literacy or ESL ministry
3) Train the short-term team as literacy or ESL tutors via Tutor Training
Workshop (10 hours of class spread over 3 days)
4) Go ahead of the team to prepare the way (housing, transportation,
etc.) at the target location
5) Bring short-term team to the literacy classes and pair each team
member with students from the classes to tutor in 1 on 1 sessions
B) Planting literacy classes abroad with Teacher Training Workshops
1) Hold a Teacher Training Workshop in a target country to train native
literacy teachers
2) Help the new teachers get their own literacy class started
3) Come back with a short term team to help their class later on
II) In the United States
A) Promote literacy ministry & LEI among churches, conferences, and
events in U.S.
1) Present literacy as an urgent and overlooked need for Christians to
focus on
2) Plant seeds of the vision that may grow into:
a) A ready and willing short-term team
b) Church members that want to start their own ESL/Literacy ministry in
that church
c) People who want to support this ministry financially
B) ESL/literacy ministry in the United States
1) Help to train and pair up ESL/literacy tutors in our own home town
2) Help those interested in starting their own ESL/literacy ministries in
their own home towns
C) Help teach/host the annual ILTI (International Literacy Training Institute)
at LEI each summer in any capacity needed/requested
1) Serve as teachers and dorm managers
2) Build relationships with the students as potential future teachers of
classes that we will visit with a short-term team
Each summer, LEI hosts its International Literacy Training Institute (ILTI) in Tulsa, OK. Students come from all over the world and live in the LEI dorm for five weeks while they attend classes about everything LEI has to offer. Many different professors come to the ILTI to teach its courses: ESL (English as a Second Language), English Literacy, International Literacy (in the language of the student's choice), Literacy Primer Construction (learning how to design an LEI curriculum in a new language), Leadership, and more. We do our best to teach them everything we know, so that each student is fully equipped to build their very own literacy program in their home countries and beyond.
Students taking notes during class
Last year we had students from the United States, India, Kenya, the Sudan, Brazil, Korea, and Burma. This year, we had students come from the United States, Canada, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Guyana. At LEI, we want each country to have a growing and thriving literacy ministry, so that each and every person will be able to read-- not just well enough to write their name, but well enough to read their Bible. So, the ILTI is all about sending out people with the power and passion for literacy ministry to every group of people in the world.
These 11 students come from 8 different countries
Brad and I have both attended the ILTI training in the past, and this year we were invited back to be teachers and to help out at the dorm as "house parents." Amy taught English as a Second Language during the first week. Brad led the inductive bible study each morning and taught English Literacy during the second week. The teaching was so fun and gave us great experience for when we will be teaching these things overseas.
Amy teaching about how to teach a conversation for ESL
A group of students learning to teach English conversations
Brad teaching about supplementary materials for a literacy lesson
The students working together and learning from each other
When we weren't teaching, we were "parenting." Our duties as dorm parents included preparing supper, buying groceries, driving the "kids" where they needed to go (walmart, the doctor, the airport, etc.), celebrating birthdays, and making sure that all the household chores got done. We loved being parents! Granted, we had great kids who did everything we asked with a joyful attitude and as true Christ-like servants. It was hard work, but so rewarding. We built wonderful relationships with the students, teachers, and LEI staff.
They're glad to have finished the dishes...
It's not easy cleaning up after 25 people
We're ready to say our mealtime prayer
We loved the fellowship with the students
The beavers at the Tulsa aquarium were really fun
But Amy's favorite were the playful otters
Our time in Tulsa flew by, and before we knew it, graduation was over. We were so blessed by our summer at LEI and the people we met there. Please pray with us for our brothers and sisters who attended the training to be blessed as they begin their literacy and ESL ministries. Praise God for their calling to share His love with LEI!
The team spent their second night in hammocks at the church in Likia.
The villagers had a lot of fun showing us how to ride their horses...
... and we had fun learning from them.
We'll miss Velloso, our trusty, loving, and protective companion.
Scott was a great ESL student and even better friend.
Heidi was another dedicated ESL student and such a sweet friend.
Our goodbye dinner with the team's host families
Everyone shared their stories of living together
Relaxing and reflecting on the experience at debrief
Amy with Ana, one of the team members
Wherever we went, we tended to attract a crowd, so the teams were prepared for the kids with bubbles..
Saying goodbye to our youngest ESL class
There's often a shortage of pictures of all the hardest work, because there's a shortage of time to take them..
The second short-term mission team in Nicaragua went really well! We taught literacy, ESL (English as a Second Language), helped build a church, and taught community health with educational skits. The team also had a great mimed drama that the locals really connected with.
It was really amazing to see the team bond with their host families that they lived with for the duration of the trip. By halfway through their trip, they were a real family. They were calling each other "mama" and "hijo/hija" (son/daughter), and the siblings grew to be real brothers and sisters as well. The impact that the mission team had on the people of Rio Blanco, Nicaragua amazed us.
This trip has dissolved all the skepticism I had about short term missions. Prior to this trip, I (Brad) didn't have much international short-term missions experience, so I still didn't know what to think about them. Short-term missions can sometimes catch a lot of criticism for not being cost-effective. Some people say why pay to send your own people to help, when you could just send the money in the mail so that the people there could hire their own help and buy their own things. However, this trip has blown that viewpoint out of the water. This trip showed me first-hand the unseen personal impact of a short-term missions trip that is never to be underestimated.
Short-term missions fill work with love. With love, they are worth well beyond the good work they accomplish. God could have sent us a letter from heaven to say "I love you", but He knew how much more effective it would be to come here in person as Jesus. We would do well to follow that same example.
Well, we did it! Our first short-term missions team just left. They were 16 college students and 2 leaders from Purdue University, and they were such a blast to work with! We had so much fun and learned a lot about God and each other in the 10 days that they were here. We started their experience in Nicaragua off by taking them for a two hour ride in the back of a milk truck out to a rural village called Likia. There we taught a literacy class. The whole village seemed to gather for the night. 23 gringos makes for a real party out there. They had a long church service and even killed the fattened calf for us...literally! We spent the night in hammocks in their one-room church and got up at 5 a.m. to watch the sunrise and milk a cow. Then we made some fresh corn tortillas and had some tender cow heart for breakfast! The group embraced rural life like pros! They were eagerly helping them cut grass with a machete and planted yucca and corn with the farmers. They rode horses...and one burro, and overall had a wonderful experience.
Brad teaching in Likia
Then the real work started! We came back to the bustling city (not really) of Rio Blanco and started working on helping a local church build their new building. All I have to say about that is...MUD MUD MUD! Mud is lodo in Spanish, and we sure did have a load of it! We were put to work leveling a floor, which basically means shoveling mud all morning for four days, but the group had an amazing attitude and worked like true loving servants all week!
They also did a great job teaching four nights of ESL classes. We taught them conversations and games and Bible verses, and the students really enjoyed having them here.
Oh yeah, and did I mention there was a mariachi band? (We had a fun night to celebrate three of the team members' birthdays that happened while they were here. So fun!)
The team did a wonderful job. Rio Blanco will not soon forget them. And I'm sure we won't either!
And the next one arrives in a week. Wow! We'll be leading that one, so keep us in your prayers, and we'll let you know how it goes!
Have you ever tried llama meat? We have! Our trip to South America was full of new experiences. During our two months in Bolivia, we were able to explore and learn many new things. We took some Spanish classes, and our tutors helped us catch up to the language and culture of Bolivia. They helped us out a lot, and our knowledge of Spanish has improved in leaps and bounds. We also enjoyed learning the local foods as well. We will not quickly forget the taste of llama meat and freeze-dried black potatoes!
Ah, Bolivian hospitality. Every church we visited fed us a delicious meal.
We met with a leader of the Quechua people to discuss literacy. They're always so friendly.
We also learned a lot about the literacy situation in Bolivia: After investigating the need and possibilities for establishing our own literacy ministry in Bolivia, we have decided that, although we love Bolivia and its people, we are not going to move there to begin a full-time literacy ministry at this time. We may return to hold a training workshop, but are not planning to live there long-term as we had thought possible. Here is what is going on with literacy in Bolvia:
● The government is funding a literacy program that offers payments to their students, such as supplies of food. They also lend a TV/DVD combo to the students for use with their educational DVDs, and they get to keep it for the duration of their classes. This is very difficult for literacy ministries like ourselves to compete with, because we simply don't have the resources to pay our students.
● There are literacy programs already present in Bolivia who are already struggling to compete with the government's program, despite being established for many years.
●The need for literacy in Bolivia is mainly in Quechua and other tribal languages, not Spanish. We do not speak these languages, only Spanish. We may be able to return and train in Quechua with a translator, but we could not lead our own ministry there. To meet this need, there is currently already a Bible-content literacy program working in Quechua.
●The Quechua culture is a very oral culture. In fact, the written form of their language did not exist until the Spanish came over and wrote it. Therefore, there's not much of a passion for literacy to work with, which is why the government is offering payments to their students in the first place.
Thanks so much to all who prayed for us and gave towards our trip to Bolivia! We know that God has a perfect plan for us, and He will continue to open the right doors to lead us to His will!
So, what now? Well, good question! We have been asked by the LEI staff to consider becoming a contact for their short-term missions department. So, we are now in Nicaragua for six weeks to help host two short-term teams. We have joined an LEI missionary couple, our good friends Tedd and Emily Lodes, who are already in place teaching literacy and English classes in a village called Rio Blanco. When the teams arrive, they will assist with teaching these classes as well as doing some church construction work. We are very excited to be here learning more about how to plan for and host short-term teams. Please pray for us as we go and live in Rio Blanco. We know God has another great adventure planned for us there!
Brad with three boys from one of the Lodes' ESL classes. They all greeted us in English: "Hi, I'm James. It's nice to meet you" "It's nice to meet you too, James."
We're really looking forward to helping out with Tedd and Emily's classes and working with the teams when they arrive on May 9th. It is so exciting to see the Lord working all over the world!
