“Bring the whole
tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house,” says the
Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and
pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it...”
-
Malachi 3:6
At the beginning of last month I began to
talk with our Spanish teacher, Eloisa, about starting a literacy class for
local women. Many women in Guatemala
have very little education, have children young, and are forced for work simple
jobs such as washing clothes or making tortillas to try to make ends meet. Often they are illiterate, and have little
hope to create a better life for themselves or their children. Eloisa had dreamed for years to start a
literacy class, and to use it as a platform to teach the Bible.
When she talked about it I began to get
excited as well... God had spoken to me last year during the DTS about how I
was to teach. I didn’t really know what
that would look like, since I’m not much of a student, and I really don’t have
the patience to teach either. God just
kept speaking to me about teaching, and during a worship session in our DTS a
few of the teachers from the Christian school on base laid hands and prayed
that I would receive the gift of teaching.
Eloisa and I have spent the month
brainstorming ideas, finding teaching materials and planning for the
class. We will have our first “Mujeres
de Cristo, Classe de Alfabetizar” (Women of Christ, Class of Literacy) on May
14th in my living room. I put
a sign on the door of our house, and many people have stopped to ask questions
about the class. Eloisa will be the
ladie’s teacher, while I will teach the children’s class (since most of the
ladies will be bringing at least one child).
We will be starting with just a beginner class for those who cannot read
or write at all, and plan to go to two classes a week so that we can have a day
for advanced students as well.
Dave, and the other staff at our YWAM
base, distribute Bibles into homes in our city every week. They are invited into people’s homes, where
they get the chance to pray for them, invite them to the weekly Bible class
held at the base, and share with them the love of Christ. It is a powerful time, and Dave always comes
home with stories of people who they encountered and prayed for. The problem is that in many homes only the
husband can read. The Bible is God’s
word, and is powerful and life-giving.
Eloisa and I’s goal through this class will be to equip the women of our
community to be able to read the Bible, and to teach their children the truths
and stories of Jesus.
Our class will open with a Bible lesson,
before the children break off into their program with me, where I will have
crafts, stories, and activities to support the Bible lesson. Eloisa is a trained teacher, and has found an
amazing curriculum she will use with the women to take them from learning to
hold a pencil to being able to read and understand the Bible for
themselves.
To get all this started, we needed some
supplies. The women coming to the class
can’t afford the necessary notebooks and pencils, never-mind a school table and
teaching tools. As we planned for the
class, Eloisa and I began to pray that God would provide financially for the
class.
God showed up.
I’m not going to lie to you; we ended
last month with less than the cost of a sub sandwich in our wallets. But God had provided enough for all the
supplies for the class. The table,
chairs, whiteboard, notebooks, poster board for making teaching aids, pencils,
erasers, pens, crayons, markers,... all of it.
Plus we hadn’t missed a meal, we’d been able to continue Spanish
classes, and we’d gained a little more faith in God’s provision.
Classes start next week!
 |
| Dave sitting at the awesome table! With chairs! |
 |
| A bunch of the supplies |
Please be praying for Eloisa and me as we
teach, and that the message of Christ would come through clearly. Please pray also for the women to learn
quickly, and that their husbands would be supportive of their attendance to the
class.
