Day 4 of English Class. We had finished the material that we used the first 3 days, so I took the book “Chicken Soup for a Woman’s Soul” to share some stories. They LOVED it! It was a tough 2 hours of study, but they took notes and were very happy with all they learned.
First I had to explain about “Chicken Soup” meaning more than just the food. I explained it as something that is: good for you, makes you happy, makes your life better, etc. They also learned a lot about how people write in different ways. The phrasing was difficult sometimes to grasp and the idiomatic phrases were challenging. The class leaned lots of new things and absolutely loved the 3 stories that we shared. They want more of it!
We also took turns adding to a collective story in English. One person would give a name for a character, then the next would say something about him/her, as so on. This would continue until we had a very interesting story going on. The only rule was that what you added to the story, you had to be able to write it in English. What fun! This make-believe person was named David, was married, had 9 children, owned a store, his favorite color was blue… When we got to the part about him going to the grocery store, we veered off of the story and decided to write up a grocery list. They could only add items that they knew in English. Another thing we did was list the names of musical instruments in English after someone said the word orchestra. Lots of good stuff!
They keep telling me that they want more of Vickie and no more Pacheco. Haha. I told them it’s because he is teaching them the important grammar stuff and I’m teaching them fun things. Anyway, we love spending time together and learning.
They are encouraging me to speak Spanish, too. At the end of each class, they have me talk in Spanish. We had discussed what a “spelling bee” is. Someone had seen it on tv. So they started giving me big words in Spanish to see if I knew what they meant. It wasn’t too hard because the words they chose, even though they were big, were closely spelled to the English words. So I could guess pretty well. One time Arrón said the Spanish word for extraterrestrial and they all cheered when I knew it. Then I handed Arrón the marker and told him to write it on the board in English. We all laughed at his face! What a fun class!
When time to leave, I walked more into town and made a few stops along the way. I was hoping to find a printing place that could print a large file for me from my USB drive. But I didn’t find anyplace that could do it. On the way, I stopped at the House of the Bible to see my friend Linda and to see what kinds of specials she had going on. I also stopped at a few Nica souvenir stores that have nice pottery and wooden items and such. I bought a hotpad for the Sewing class to try to make and also a handpainted Christmas card of the nativity.
It was very hot, so I tried to get a taxi. I saw a red one parked on the corner and asked the driver if he was working. He said that he was waiting for his customer to come back out of a store. I noticed while talking to him that he was missing a hand. If you have read my old blog posts (2010) you might remember the funny incident that Mary, Sherry and I had with getting into the wrong taxi and this was the driver. It’s a long story, and one of those that you had to be there to appreciate. Just know that it made me smile to see him and when I told Mary and Sherry about seeing him, they broke out laughing, too. Small world. The next vehicle to come by happened to be German and Mike in one of the vans, so I got a ride back to the team house with them! God sure is watching out for me and providing unexpected rides this week!
After lunch, I got on the computer for a marathon time of Feeding Center files and other communication. Lesly left me with some pants to shorten for her. I’ll have to get those done in the evenings after guitar practice!
Mayela called Teresa for me so that I could set up a time to chat with her about the new way that we will do the Sewing Classes/Co-op for January.
Estefanie’s great-aunt passed away and the funeral was today. Estefanie texted me to say that they were getting ready to pass by the team house on the way to the cemetery. (the casket is carried either by horse and cart or a vehicle and the family and friends walk behind it from the service was held at the deceased home to the cemetery). They hire musicians to play as they are walking along. When I heard the procession coming by, I opened the little gate and watched for Estefanie. When she saw me, she walked over and I got to give her a hug. It was a special moment for me to be able to reach out to her. She’s a sweetie.
We took the team to worship service at Jericho Baptist Church. They got the experience of hearing ‘Nica’ singing. The team gave 2 testimonies, Katty played a couple of worship songs and Pastor Jamie brought the message. It was a good service. At the end, after the invitation and all, Pastor Jamie asked everyone who would like to have prayer to come forward. I noticed the young lady who led their music up on stage kept looking at her young son (probably about 5 years old) and motioning for him to come forward for prayer. He did budge. She then looked at me and motioned to him and put her hand on the top of her head. I motioned to ask if she wanted me to pray for him and she nodded yes. I prayed over the little guy, who I found out is named David, and was very blessed to do so. Afterward, while the mamá was still singing, she mouthed ‘gracia’ to me. After the service she told me his name and that he has been sick. I told her that I didn’t know what she had wanted me to pray, so I asked God to protect David’s health and help him to grow up strong in body and in spirit. For God to draw David to Jesus at an early age and to watch over his family. She was pleased that I covered everything. It was a sweet moment for me. Our God is faithful!
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