Updates Galore!

Hello Dear Friends,

We have been bad about updating you on the events of our lives.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, it is because there are just too too many great things going on to find time to write about it all.  So, today we are stopping for a few minutes (national holiday here tomorrow - glad for the Monday off!) to share with you about a few things we have been meaning to tell you.

 

Let's go back to February!  Yes, Feb.  We had the most wonderful time in New Jersey speaking at New Hope's Mission Service (Faith Promise weekend).  This is the 4th time David has gone to Denville to speak and Shelley's second time.  But it was Kayley's first time!  It was fun for her to be in cold weather and see snow once again.  Joshua did not get to go this year, but he went to Panama two times last summer - so it all evens out!  We had a wonderful time there with Pastor Ken Morrision and his wife Carol and all their congregation.

The International Dinner at New Hope with food from all parts of the world.  YUM!

Then we had a great time in March with the West Virginia teams - one from the north district and one from the Pierpont church.  There is lots to tell about that...so next week we'll focus on that ministry.

David has taken a few trips in between, mostly to Nicaragua.  Shelley has kept the home running, kids fed, laundry done, homework completed, taxi service to BB games going and amid it all, God has blessed greatly her ministry in these days.  She has just started a short 5 session course in ESL to an intermediate group of students to gain experience and to complete the research for her ESL master's program at MNU.

 

We are loving using the new computer lab for the ESL class.  You would not believe all the free resources online for learning Spanish.  (We still need more computer work stations - $500 a pop if you want to help.  Or you could buy some chairs -we are using green plastic ones for now, but the new ones are $30 each).

And to top it off, God is leading more and more students to the CALL Spanish language learning program.  We have 4 students now (The Tooley family), two more arriving in May, at least one more for the fall and we are preparing for three families to come in January of 2011.  All of these students will study for an average of 3 months.  AWESOME!  We now have a dedicated classroom for CALL that we are busy buying furniture for and decorating with lots of Spanish posters and words.

The Academy (like a GED preparation program) is also getting underway here at the Seminary.  We are waiting for some final approvals but classes should begin in the areas of Math, Science, English, Spanish, History, etc in May of this year.

So, lots happening around here in the area of Education.  It is a privilege to work with the Seminary whose goal is to educate pastors and leaders in all of the Spanish-speaking world. And all of these other educational programs help to support the theological ministries. We have had students in the online theology classes from Africa and from the very tip of South America.  Technology is amazing!

And to end this blog, we want to share our experience at a nearby orphanage.  It is run by the Costa Rican government, but our youth group was allowed access to the kids for an entire Saturday to hold a special show and game day.

The group from El Alto just before leaving for the orphanage. Notice Joshua in the back (jester hat) and Kayley in front (purple hat). 

We sang songs, presented a VBS, played games, showed the Jesus Film, and had a piñata.  It was lots of fun, but hard to see kids who have no parents to care for them.  This little guy latched onto Joshua.  Another little one asked one of the youth to be his Daddy.   It was a hard but great day and we look forward to continuing the ministry there with the 88 kids.

 Well, it is time for Sunday School.  Shelley has really enjoyed teaching the children (ages 6-11).  They are a great group of kids and Shelley learns a lot too.  She now knows all the parts of the armor of God - in SPANISH.  Have a great Lord's Day.

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley