One Month!

One month ago today I arrived at El Monte. The time is flying!  I am feeling more comfortable each week as I continue to “learn the ropes” and get to know my students better.

A Taste of Class Time

In grammar class we were discussing words with different degrees of meaning from ”like” to “dislike” and from ”mad about” to “can’t stand”.  One of the students said, “I can’t stand squish.”  He even demonstrated by pushing his finger on the table.  ???  Then I realized he was confusing “squish” with “squash”!  🤣 

Mexicans can have a lot of trouble making the “th” sound.  (I struggle with the way they say “r”.)  My director Katrina has our students keep a running list of “th” words to practice. This week she made sure that when they say “tooth” it doesn’t come out as “toot”.  If those two words got confused, it could be quite embarrassing! 

We also talked about certain noun-verb connections such as farm–farmer, teach–teacher, heat–heater.  We got blank looks with “heater”.  Then Katrina explained what a heater is and what central heating is with pipes in the walls.  More blank looks.   There is no need for heaters or furnaces here!  Our students were really surprised to learn about putting heating pipes in walls.

We stopped for ice cream on the way home from church last Sunday.   I tried a cone made with pitaya, a red fruit with a taste of its own.  It was delicious!  Mexican ice cream is not quite as creamy as what I'm used to, but it is still excellent.  I would say it is more of a cross between flavored ice and ice cream--yet the flavors are distinct and wonderful.  The place we stopped at had the sweetest children serve us.

Tonight Paul and Roxanne treated me to tacos at their favorite place.  Oh my! It was the best ever!  It was a street taco stand with inside (sort of) seating.  September 16 is the Mexican Independence Day so the town and some business places are decked out for the big celebration.  It doesn't get more authentic than this!

                                         Look at these pretty weeds from my morning walk.

Would you please pray for my energy, stamina, and God's guidance especially for the next two weeks?  Katrina will be leaving for ten days to attend her sister's wedding in the states.  She teaches Vocabulary, Spiritual Development, Phonetics (an extension of phonics), and a section in our textbook called Video Journal.  I teach Grammar, Reading, and Writing.  While she is gone, I will be teaching her classes as well as mine.  I have been sitting in on her classes since I have been here, and she will leave me plenty of materials and directions, but it is still a lot to prepare for and be responsible for.  

Praise and Prayer Requests

• I am thankful for all the prayers you are saying.  God is answering!
• I am grateful for all of my new experiences.  I hope my students learn as much as I do!
• I am thankful for all the joy the students and staff have, but please continue to pray for them and their workload.
• Always please pray for the students.  This week I learned about a student here who is a physical therapist now studying to be a missionary.  He wants to go to Iraq.
• Pray that what we do here at El Monte would honor God so many will come to know Jesus.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid or discouraged.                                        Deuteronomy 31:8