Training

I have gone through two weeks of training at William Carey International University here in Pasadena, CA and am working my way into week three of four.

My average days are like this:

7:00 wake up and go to breakfast

8:00 Discovery groups - where I am talking with my country team or do a devotional... depending on the day.

9:00 Teaching English as a Foreign Language session. In this we learn different styles and options for teaching a lesson effectively.

10:45 Split session with my region (Commonwealth of Independent States) where we talk about culture, history, language, dealing with specifics, how to teach lessons, manage classrooms and develope ideas for in class activities.

12:00 Lunch

1:30 Big session: discuss Team dynamics, culture shock, personality variances and unity

after this, we meet back with our regional team and figure out who is teaching for the night.

The CIS region teaches in real conversational English classroom settings at a Mandarin Baptist Church about fifteen minutes down highway 210. Those who are teaching have from 4:00 to 6:00 to develop a 45 minute lesson plan for the night. After this, we eat dinner and head out to the church.

In the first two weeks, I only taught two times. I was fine with that. I just taught tonight and will be teaching again on Wednesday.

My city team consists of Bill Rice, Jillann DeVries and Amanda Snider. We have been getting along great and are all very very excited about what is in store for us this year in Baku. Jillann has some EXTRAORDINARY STORIES to tell from her past year in Kazakhstan. Let me know if you'd like to hear them and I will tell you.

On the weekends, we get to have some time off to spend together as a regional team.

On our first weekend, we hung out at a Dodgers game in LA on Friday. On Saturday we hung out in Old Town Pasadena and had a great time. Sunday we played wiffle ball and went hiking in the San Benito Mountains in the afternoon.

This weekend we got to go to Zuma Beach in Malibu on Saturday and Sunday we went to Ventura Beach in west LA. It has been an fantastic time and the people are great. I have been getting along with everyone wonderfully.

Requests:

There is alot going here in California and I would greatly appreciate prayer for focus and also for the other teachers who are leaving soon to set off for North Africa, Central Europe and Vietnam. Pray against homesickness and focus on God. Pray that he might be our treasure!

Let me know through facebook if you have any questions.

God Bless and love you all.