Yep. That’s right. I’m an English teacher. Have I ever taught English before? Nope. Do I even know what I’m doing?…not really. But that’s my ministry for these next two months in Managua, Nicaragua.
My team of 6 is working with a local pastor and providing free English classes to our community three days a week. When I first heard that we would be teaching English, I was pretty nervous, because none of us have any training or experience. BUt I have taught for over a month now and it has actually been incredible! I have learned so much Spanish, our students have actually learned a lot of English, and much more importantly, we’ve grown together in friendship and love.
So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:30 my teammate Lexi and I go to our contact pastor’s house for our morning English class. (Somehow my phone won’t allow me to upload pictures of my morning students, BUT they are on facebook)
We have class for about an hour and a half, and then we usually spend 15 or 30 minutes just talking and having fun.
In the afternoons, I return to pastor Eliab’s house to teach these awesome people!
Meet Denzel, Scarleth, Rosa, Arleth, and Lilliam. We do about the same thing as in the morning. These students LOVE to just talk and have conversation. Sometimes I think we learn more just from conversation than from the lesson!
In the evening, after dinner, I go to our church to teach a class of adults. This is our biggest class, and they are our quickest learners. This class studies hard but also likes to have fun. We have taught directions and commands by teaching them the “Cha Cha Slide” and the “Cupid Shuffle.”
On other days of the week we try to connect with our community in different ways, such as playing soccer and basketball, going to church, watching movies together, and just having conversations. We live in a fairly small community, and virtually every time I walk around, I run into someone from class wanting to practice their English!
There’s also one more very important person who is always in and out of class. Meet pastor Eliab’s 3-year-old daughter, and probably my favorite Nicaraguan, Keren.
At first she was scared of me, now she is best friends with me and everyone on my team. She is often telling me things in Spanish that I can rarely understand, but somehow we are friends despite the language barrier. My friendship with Keren has taught me that language, and language barriers, aren’t always so important. It’s all about sharing friendship, love, and joy together. I realized that in a new way about a week ago, and it has changed my classes so much. I don’t really think about the people in these pictures as students. I know them as my friends.
I have one month left in Managua, and I’m excited for all God can do through these relationships I’ve built! Pray for opportunities to rise up to share the gospel with these people, and pray for courage and insight for me to take those opportunities and use them to build His Kingdom.
