CLA and HSP

Last month when we wrote, our new CLA (culture & language acquisition) students were “warming up” to their new environment and getting ready to start into their stage 1 studies.  In the middle of April we gave them a kick-off and they started stage 1.  The first half (about 6 weeks) of stage 1 is spent continuing to get to know their neighborhoods and their new national friends, experiencing lots of daily life in the local culture, learning practical expressions (such as common greetings, ice-breaker questions, etc.) so that they can start communicating a little bit in the national language, and learning to comprehend lots of vocabulary (object and action words) through listening and responding to statements and commands that they get to hear over and over in language sessions with native tutors.

The second half of stage 1 will be really similar to what they’ve already been doing, but they’ll add in more speaking in their tutor sessions, mimicking and speaking from memory a lot of the things that they’ve already had time to hear and comprehend.  Taking the time during the first half of stage 1 to listen and understand before they mimic and speak very much in the new language helps their pronunciation to be better and encourages them to rely less on English thought patterns and direct translations once they do start speaking.  We plan to give them their “kick-off” class on June 1 so they can start into the second half of stage 1.  Please be praying for the Martin family and Rachael Nasiatka as they progress through stage 1, and for our team as we strive to answer their questions, give direction, and be there for them.

Our family personally would also appreciate prayers for our son, Tyndale.  About 3 weeks ago he started getting a rash on his lower legs that didn’t itch or hurt but kept getting worse.  About a week after the rash, he developed severe joint pain and swelling in his feet.  A local doctor diagnosed him with chikungunya (a mosquito-borne illness similar to dengue fever), but we still had questions since his blood test came back negative for chikungunya and some of his symptoms weren’t matching.  Finally some good friends put us in touch with a doctor in Singapore who is confident that Tyndale has Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP), an immune response somewhat similar to rheumatic fever that sometimes happens in young children.  The swelling, pain, and severe rash lasted off and on for about another week after the diagnosis, and then started to get better.  But the doctor tells us that those symptoms could come and go for a while.  The biggest thing we have to watch out for is bleeding in his kidneys, so he has to have a urinalysis done weekly to monitor that.  The last test showed that there is some blood and protein in his urine, but not enough to be dangerous yet. So we just have to keep monitoring it.  Please pray for the Lord’s protection for Tyndale’s kidneys. 

Thank you all so much for standing with us in prayer.