Brazil Mission 2008 | Video

Teaching the Bible | Building Relationships

Hello, I hope that this finds you well. First of all, I want to thank everyone reading this for your support. It is encouraging to know that our loved ones back in the US are praying for us and want to hear what we have been up to. This last week we taught an English course at the "Escola da Biblia," or School of the Bible, which is a ministry that the church here is involved in. One of the directors asked us to do this a few weeks back. He wanted us to teach a week long English class using The Bible as the source of our class material. Brazilians are really interested in learning English as a second language, and so through this class we were able to make many contacts for the church in this city.

The week as teachers: After many hours of preparation and some advertising around the city, our first day of classes rolled around. I was nervous at first, because I have never done anything like this. Tyler who has teaching experience with students in the ESL program, took the lead as we taught about 80 students spread out over 3 different class periods. The second day we split the group into a more advanced level focusing more on conversation, and an intermediate level focusing more on basic things. I was able to focus with the intermediate level group. Here is a break down of how a normal class would go: We would start with teaching the students a new song like God is so good. After singing the song through a few times we would then have a game with a grammar exercise (one day it was prepositions). After that we would take a break for a bit for some coffee or some water. The second half of class we would go over vocabulary in the story we were about to read, and different verb conjugations. Then a native English speaker would read the Bible story out loud so they can hear how we pronounce different words. After that it was the students turn to read in smaller groups so everyone got a chance to read. This was followed by questions about the meaning of words they did not understand in the story and doubts about pronunciation. If there was time we would have discussion questions after that.

Lasting memories: After the week was over, I requested to write this blog entry, because this has been one of my favorite parts of the mission trip so far, the reason did not have anything to do with what happened inside the classroom; rather, it was because we got to know our students before and after class, and during our breaks which was supposed to be 10 minutes, but ended being more like 30. It was amazing to talk to people young and old about many different things. At first it was hard, because I wanted to practice my Portuguese and not speak English. But I knew it was not about me. The last day of class, the night class students made us a poster thanking us for our work and all of us received Brazilian gifts. The poster had a short paragraph, and one line stood out to me. It said "this week, you have taught us more than English".

After many pictures, exchanging of emails the week was over. Saturday night, we had an "English Cafe" with a coffee shop feel and the amazing Tyler Bethea providing the entertainment, and Mike Pruitt offered a word of encouragement to all the students that came. It was an amazing week for everyone. One thing I learned is that no matter where we are or what language we are speaking or are teaching, people have a deep desire to be heard and understood. I hope and pray that we can all continue to seek out the people who get overlooked and just need someone to talk to. I pray that God gives us the courage to talk to the people we come across in our lives.

So what is next? Tomorrow the teen camp will begin, with the theme of "The Apprentice". The goal is to become better disciples of Jesus. This is a great outreach to a lot of people who are not Christians. Please keep us, and everyone that is involved with camp in your prayers.

- Miles