Yesterday I met with our language consultant and he said that I have reached the needed level of French! Woot!!!!
After 2 years of work it was kinda surreal to hear these words. There were moments on this journey that I thought this moment might not ever come and yet it was finally here. This of course doesn’t mean that I have finished French, as I will always need to strive to develop my French, but that I am no longer required to keep up a certain number of language sessions and we can move on into ministry together. It is true that ministry has already begun for us, but without 5 hours of language sessions a day, this opens up a whole new world of options. Together, we decided that I will do some language session in February to strengthen some aspects of grammar (specifically gender…whose great language idea was that anyways :)), but after that I will stop official sessions. It works out great as it will give me a month of recovery time and time to pray and seek God as we have some decisions about our ministry to start making alongside our leadership team. We have an idea what is ahead around the corner, but there are still many questions left to be answered. We are trusting God to reveal those answers in time and for the moment we are all enjoying the time of calm after some draining months.
Conference
Last week Joel and I helped in the organization of a mini field conference. It was a week of training on Curriculum development and it was so great to see so many members of our field all together, which rarely happens. Becca, Joel’s sister, came to run the kids program. It was hard work, but the kids had a blast. Here are a few pictures of the fun me had.
Congratulations woman! I’m so proud of you! That is some awesome dedication!
Way to go Andi! That has been a ton of work!
I couldn’t help noticing all the hoodies and long sleeves in the 9th picture down! Amazing how one acclimates! What a great time for the kids.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Andi,
It’s strange that I think it’s strange to notice that all of the kids in these photos are white. I’m used to seeing you post pictures of the beautiful children from the villages and peoples you minister to. I’m delighted to see that there are other kids around whom they can speak to in English and that share somewhat the same culture. What a joy that your kids are having these multi cultural experiences. Blessings to you all.
Carolyn
“Well done, My good & faithful servant….”
I am so thankful that you have made such progress in French. I know it has not been easy – thank you for the example of persistence and determination. What a joy it will be for all to hear of how God uses this for His glory! May He continue to use you as an encouragement to us but especially for His Kingdom in Senegal.
Congrats on the language eval!!! I know you put a lot of hard work into it! Good job! I dream of this day for me!
Very heart warming!