Thursday, November 02, 2006

Adventures with a Two-edged Sword


Two years ago, a lady in our church started an ESL program on Wednesday nights. (English as a Second Language.) The church gave her a musty little room behind all the other rooms and four or five people showed up. Last year, fourteen people showed up. This year, seventy people showed up! And many of them brought small children to the nursery and children’s activities.

What’s the secret to this tremendous influx of ESL students? Thinking outside the box; plain and simple. A few months ago, the nice lady who started the program stuck up home-made fliers in some nearby hotels. She got a response from the workers. Boy, didn’t she! She (and the church staff) wasn’t expecting such a hungry crowd, but… Apparently, if we can’t be missionaries in Mexico, the Lord will bring Mexico to us. Yee-haw!

So now our church is desperate for people to help with the children of the ESL grownups. So desperate that they even let me help.

Well, guess what! I get to work with some third grade Spanish-speaking eight year old boys and help them learn Bible verses—in English y EspaƱol. (Yes, there is a Spanish-speaking teacher.)

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So, stay tuned. I may have some interesting stories as the weeks go by. I’m looking forward to several Wednesday nights of good things.
Uno, I get to help out with kids. Dos, I get to share Bible verses from La Santa Biblia. Tres, the kids will help me improve my own Spanish. Quatro, maybe a kid or two (and their parents) will get to know Jesus personally. I heard he’s bi-lingual, too.

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