Adventure is Out There Pt. 3

Alright fam, I’m not gonna lie, I really don’t enjoy blogging once a week, and tbh the blogging competition and not letting my team down is a big motivator (I hope this is what you wanted when you set that up, Morgan). So here we go.

I last left you just after they gypsy ministry on Wednesday. Thursday was our first busy day with English students. We finally had a steady flow of people to teach with minimal downtime between. It was a full day that I enjoyed, but it was also a little overwhelming. I got to teach two different groups that day. One, a set of siblings I had actually worked with before who were just beginning to learn, and two, a group of four friends who could hold a basic conversation. The new group of girls was harder to work with because I did not quite know where they were in their english knowledge and the book we were using was beneath their level. I also felt awkward every time they laughed cause I didn’t know what they were saying! I’m sure they weren’t laughing at me… but it’s still a little disconcerting. I actually had the opportunity to work with them again yesterday and I think it went better. Although trying to define a word using english to someone who speaks limited english is a struggle I am still overcoming.

Friday was our outreach day again. This time we set up a small table with free coffee and a few board games. We invited people to stop and talk, play, or even just grab a coffee. It was quite successful! I was surprised at the number of people who stopped and several were even interested in the center and english lessons. Two of the girls even came in a few days later and signed up! It was encouraging to see the fruits of that event.

Saturday we had intended to stay in the city and go to several museums. Unfortunately, two of our teammates were very sick (one with a stomach bug and another with a migraine). So, Saturday turned into an extremely chill day of reading, netflix, coffee shops, and a short shopping trip (I bought oreos and an oreo chocolate bar, so I would say it was a success). We actually spent most of the day with the lights off relying on the few windows to light our house. It was surprisingly relaxing.

Sunday was a big day because not only did we have the founders of the center visiting, we also had several missionary doctors visiting our church. We gave the house an extra deep cleaning, baked some fantastic chocolate chip cookies (Thanks Julia!), and set up extra chairs in the church room to prepare to welcome them. The service also ran in a special way featuring several people giving testimonies or stories of encouragement before the main message (including me! My teammate videoed it so I’ll try to post it, or just ask if you want to see it!). After, we had a short time of fellowship. It was very refreshing to the ears to be surrounded by native english speakers (and american accents!). We also met a man named doctor Tim who we hope to continue to get to know while we are here. The rest of the day was chill allowing us to prepare for the week ahead.

Monday I got to work with two new students, nine-year-old twins just beginning to learn english. They were so sweet! We also began building a full curriculum for the center we are working with. When our host asked us to build a five-level ESL course, I’ll admit I was pretty daunted. I’ve never done something like this and I didn’t know where to start. Thankfully with the help of a teammate (another shoutout to Julia (ps she is the other girl from Texas!)) we got an outline of what we would like to put in our curriculum. The next day between students we began compiling worksheets and lessons to begin building the first book (each level is a color so it’s red, yellow, green, blue, purple for future reference). I am excited to build this for them and am looking forward to the finished product (we have a loooot of work to do first). It’s now Wednesday morning, (this probably won’t be posted til Saturday… but this is where I’m leaving off) and I am about to learn Macedonian and Albanian. Wish me luck! Also if you could pray for continued healing and health for my team and our work on this new curriculum that would be greatly appreciated.

Blessings, Lillian Storm