Teaching the Word

Teaching, its what Jesus spent His whole ministry on. Teaching and preparing His disciples to take the Word to all men in all nations. It is The Great Commission, it is given to all of us who are called by His name.

For several months Sandy and I have been praying that the Lord would provide us with a compound for teaching  our children . We  have our Saturday program but now that it is summer and school is out we were in need a place where we could hold classes for the break. We are about to lose the church compound we have been using since our arrival in Burayu. That compound has been available to us only on Saturday and most of the time we have held our classes outdoors because of competition for the few rooms  available. Now that it is full on rainy season we were at a loss for what to do. If the Lord didn’t provide us a compound we were faced with the sad thought of leaving this ministry before our 1 year had been completed.

I am so pleased to say that we have been blessed with a compound for the months of July and August. We will be sharing it in order to afford the space but we will have it for our childrens classes 5 days a week. I don’t know all the particulars yet but we have walked through the compound and it is really very nice although the construction is not quite finished. We will manage. There are 4 class rooms for teaching and a good play area. I am hopeful we will also have running water.

I mentioned the need to share the compound. Pastor Amanuel has enlisted a volunteer teacher of theology to train evangelists for the 2 month summer break. These students are each paying for their tuition and are helping to defray the cost of supplying our school . What will happen in September is up in the air but at least for now we have found an amicable solution to all our needs. Our covering organization has payed the rent for  2 months this summer and some of the cost of supplying chairs etc. God willing we begin holding classes on Monday of next week, possibly as early as Thursday this week.

It is our desire to find a sister Christian school in the U. S. to share curriculum with our school, that we can have translated into Afaan Oromo. The teacher of Theology has volunteered his services for the time being to translate the curriculum for the school. This is a tremendous blessing for us . He speaks fluent English and we are so grateful for his help. We will employ 2 teachers for the summer to teach the basics , reading ,writing and math and Sandy and I will  be teaching spoken English mainly through bible stories and Christian values and principles with the help of 2 interpreters. One is a volunteer who has younger siblings in our Saturday program and the other will be payed.

It is a small start on a much larger vision, we will see how the Lord blesses our efforts and if He will continue to open doors for future expansion of the school. It must become self supporting very quickly. If the summer program is successful then more parents will want their children to be enrolled for the the fall and winter semester. Perhaps in few years we will be able to offer KG through 8 th grade.  For now we will have to be content with only the lower grades.

By teaching in Afaan Oromo and English we can attract more students than if we offered  Amharic only. There is a strong desire in Ethiopia to teach English in the schools, but sadly very few teachers actually speak fluent English. Also the best teachers tend to end up at private Amharic schools. Pray that the Lord will call American  volunteers to pick up where Sandy and I will leave off. Our time here is rapidly passing and we so want to see the teaching ministry carried on.

Today Sandy and I had the pleasure of meeting the 15 theology students who will be sharing the compound with us. What an amazing group of young men. One of them was a muslim  that was called out of Islam and into Christ. He speaks fluent Arabic and Oromifa. Now he will also be learning English. What a tool he will be in the Lords hand.

So much to give thanks for and to praise God for!  Who knows , maybe some of our kids will graduate this school and then attend the theology school and become Evangelists and Pastors too. Nothing is impossible for the Lord.

In Christ, Carole

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