Today was the final day of this year’s February intensive. Throughout the course of the intensive, we have been steadily equipping our students with tools needed to present a final project for each of the four classes: culture, writing, public speaking, and games. Each of our students did an outstanding job with their presentations and we are so proud of them! We are looking forward to continuing relationships with many of them, too. Thank you for praying for us during this time!

Out of the 19 students attending this year’s intensive, we have six different cultures and countries represented. It’s an awesome opportunity to be able to pour into the lives of locals AND foreigners as well. Pray for us as we continue to navigate across several different cultures at once, desiring not only to teach English with excellence, but also to show and share the love of Christ with each student.

Week one of the intensive is over! It’s been a fun week full of explaining new vocabulary, engaging in conversations with students, playing word games, working on pronunciation, and building relationships. We are eager to see what God will do with this time spent together. Please pray for continued stamina for our team as we look forward to all this and more in the week ahead!

We have 19 students coming to this year’s February Intensive. Some are students who have been around a while, attending other classes and events that our center has to offer. Some are newcomers; the first time setting foot in our center was the first day of the intensive. Whether it’s the longtime students and friends or the new ones, we enjoy the highly relational time we get to spend with them. Pray for good and lasting connections with our students as we get to know them better during these two weeks!

Our February Intensive begins tomorrow! Today, with the help of a short term team from the states, we prepared for the two weeks ahead and assembled folders and name tags for the students that will attend. We are eager to see what the Lord will do over the course of the intensive. Pray for good connections!

There are several things to do for fun here in the city where we live. One option is going to the local sulfur baths. This particular bath is a private room that includes a warm water pool (pictured above), a cold water pool, a couple of showers, a small sauna room, a private bathroom, and an area for personal items. Locals believe there are multiple health benefits to a long soak in the naturally heated water. Maybe they are all true, or maybe only some of them are, but it sure feels good to relax in the warm water.

The winter semester has begun at our Life Enrichment Center, complete with a whole new set of curriculum to be used in the English courses we offer. Please pray that every student that enters our center will not only develop further in their English ability, but also experience His love and desire to know Him personally. Pray we teachers can be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in our conversations and be bold in sharing!

Have you ever played the game “Mad Gab”? It’s a game where one team reads words that have been written phonetically while the other team sees the true words. As the first team is reading the phonetics it sounds like they are actually saying the true words, yet they are totally clueless.

Well, my kids were reading this milk bottle the other day, and it made me laugh because what they were saying sounded like “Soplees Nobody”. In our local language, “Soplees” means something from the village—so it seemed like it was meaning this milk was from the village of nobody. Who wants milk from there?? But the true meaning of the phrase is “a gift from the village”—fresh milk from the village—much nicer sounding! It was a good reminder that we need to listen carefully to the words spoken, and make sure we catch the true meaning of what is being said!

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” – Ezekiel 37:5

May God bless the people with a renewed hunger and love for Jesus.