Sunday School Teacher Training/Retreat January 2016

Here are a few photos from the most recent Sunday School Teacher Training/Retreat.  We met Saturday and Sunday at Sinoe, a retreat center in Ahuachapan, El Salvador.  The retreat center is located on Lake Espino where there is a beautiful volcano view.   There were around 30 teachers present, representing 10 of the 12 Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador.

Opening Prayer

Each teacher present received a book with 10 new lessons as well as a bag filled with resources to support the lessons.  The beautiful bags were sent with love by Central UMC in Laurinburg, NC.  The teachers LOVED them!!!

Our first activity of the weekend was to create this mural together as an example of an activity teachers can do with their students to help them learn Psalm 119:105.

During our relaxation time, we took a boat ride around Lake Espino.

This new unit of lessons is titled "Palabras Para Mi Corazon" (Words for My Heart.)  Each lesson centers around a particular memory verse and includes games and learning activities to help students plant the seeds of God's Word in their hearts so they are ready to face the good and bad days with God's help.

Lake Espino with view of volcano.

My mom attended the Training/Retreat also.  Isn't this place beautiful?

I never thought “hello” would sound so sweet!

Many of my family, friends, and supporters are wondering what in the world is going on with me lately.  I haven’t updated my facebook page in a while, I haven’t posted anything on my blog in a while.  I’m way behind on answering emails and facebook messages. 

I didn’t fall off the edge of the world.  I fell into teaching English at Colegio Metodista (the Methodist School.)  

Since mid January, I’ve been teaching English three days a week to 140 students grades Pre-Kindergarten through 5^th Grade.  It’s been a wonderful roller coaster ride that has jolted me right back into my second time around as a first-year teacher.  Back in early 2000s, I taught pre-k for 5 years and loved it!  I had forgotten how difficult the first year of teaching is…until now! 

But today I heard my first confirmation that all the effort is truly worthwhile as one of our 4 year old students walked up to me on the playground and said, “hello!”  After him followed almost all of his classmates, repeating the same sweet, perfectly pronounced (Eastern NC style, of course!) and appropriately used, “hello!”  

If only you knew how many fresh gray hairs I have from this group of 4-year-olds – you would fully understand how my heart leaped as they greeted me in English!  I thought I’d never accomplish anything with this youngest group…and yet they are the precious souls God chose as messengers to tell me “chill out my child…they are learning while they wiggle all over the place!”  

I’ll try to get some pictures soon to share with you, but for now, HELLO will have to do!