encouragement

dad wants to tell you about how he was encouraged by the students at the college...

The month or so of helping with the English program at the college has been a wonderful opportunity which we have been so glad to have been a part of. We had 23 keen students who were always keen to learn and grow. Each day was relatively full. The students led an English devotion each morning and then we split into small groups and spent time working through the gospel of Mark. We then spent some time talking together and learnt basic grammar. We then had a time were we read together some articles in small groups. The college provided lunch and dinner everyday so we didn't have to worry about food. In the afternoon we had a break and then usually played sport or had time in the library. At nights we had a series of bible studies from Mark which they enjoyed, but they particularly liked the games we played which would often end in chaotic laughter. We had to implement the 'silent clap' in order to try to keep the noise down so that Caden wouldn't be woken up! We also had a day trip to the local animal safari which the students loved! Squeals of delight as they saw animals and roaring laughter as we watched a show together - Caden as usual disappeared with the students throughout the day, he had a great time roaring at lions, neighing at zebras, being splashed by the seal at the seal show...
The most enjoyable part of the time was just being able to chat with the students and beginning to hear their stories. Many of them were from small islands with churches but no pastor to look after them. A few students came from an area where one pastor looked after 22 churches! Others came to be trained up for cross cultural ministries in their own country. One girl told us that she only goes home once a year, when we asked he why she told us that she lived a weeks travel away! She had to catch a boat for 2 days, then take an 8 hour bus ride, then catch a car for a while, then catch a small boat up a river for 5 hours and then a five hour trek over the mountain to her village! She was one of the keenest students we met. We were also greatly encouraged to see them growing in their understanding of English even in just a few weeks. Corinne and I helped the lower class and were greatly encouraged as all of them made great leaps forward in their confidence and reading and speaking! They were all motivated as they are aware that most of the books that they will need to use for their studies are in English, unfortunately if they want to study they have to learn English because the books are just not available in Indonesian!
I think that is enough for Caden's blog. We have had an amazing time and feel very blessed to have had this opportunity. If you are interested there are opportunities like this every year in many different towns across the country. We actually met 6 young guys from the UK who had done the same thing in another college and all came back having had great experiences (although some were difficult) and were seriously considering what their next step would be! It is amazing that they would travel some 18 hours at a large cost to come half way around the world - i was asking myself where are the Aussies? This is our closest neighbor and is so close for us and relatively cheap to travel here, C'mon Aussie!