And so it begins...

We are so excited to share with you what God is doing in our lives! Since Brad graduated with a Nursing Degree from ATU in May, we have been pursuing God’s calling on our lives to become missionaries to Latin America. After much serious prayer, God opened the door for us to join with a mission called Literacy and Evangelism International (LEI) whose mission is to teach the illiterate world how to read as a means of evangelizing and church-strengthening. We had always taken the ability to read the Bible for granted until we learned that so many Christians cannot turn to the Word to seek comfort, guidance, and spiritual strength because they cannot read. We stepped out in faith and spent June and July in Tulsa, OK training with LEI. Since then, we have been accepted as LEI missionaries and are ready to take the first steps toward building our ministry.

Check out LEI at their website: http://www.literacyevangelism.org/

Our ministry vision includes teaching in the areas of:

• Literacy
• English Language
• Basic Health

To teach literacy and English, we will be using LEI's excellent materials. Each lesson of these materials has Bible content. Brad will use his training as a nurse to help meet our community's basic health needs once we are in Latin America.
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This September, we taught a Literacy Workshop in Tulsa to help us gain experience teaching with LEI's materials. A workshop includes:

• An introduction to the problems and causes of illiteracy.
• The Biblical basis for a literacy ministry.
• Training adults who can read to use LEI's materials.
• Teaching students how to tutor a non-reader.
• How to begin a church-based literacy ministry.

Amy demonstrating a portion of a lesson during the Literacy Workshop.
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Brad simulating the experiences of a non-reader for our students.
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Teaching at this workshop was a great experience, and we learned so much that will help us to establish our own literacy ministry in Latin America.

Our next step is to take a two month trip to Latin America. We plan to visit Bolivia and Nicaragua because these countries have some of the lowest literacy rates in the region. During our stay, our goals are to:

• Assess the needs of each region. How much do they need literacy, English, and health instruction?
• Learn more about their cultures.
  
• Determine what country God is calling us to work in, and for how long.
• Make connections with those working in literacy, English, and health in the area.
• Assist the area in any way possible.

We greatly appreciate your prayer and support as we follow the Lord's guidance in every step of beginning our ministry!