Joyful, All Ye Nations Rise

Today was The International Baptist Church ESL Christmas Program. Our class sung Hark!, The Herald Angels Sing. I got tears in my eyes as I sang with the students, "Joyful, all ye nations rise!" Though our class only represents 5 of about 200 nations, I couldn't help but think of the day when heaven will be filled with the voices of men and women from every nation on earth. Hopefully, when that day comes, I will hear the familiar voices of my students in that choir!

Because my students are in Level 1, most of the words to this beautiful song were new to them. We spent the last 6 weeks practicing the song and talking about the meaning of each line. We could have mastered the singing with just one or two practice sessions, but it takes a long time for English sounds to form into distinct words, and then for those words to carry meaning. Because the lyrics are essentially poetry, it was difficult to "translate" (can you translate from English into English?) word by word, so I tried to take the meaning of each phrase and convey it in words that they could understand. As I translated, this already-favorite Christmas Hymn became even more precious. Perhaps next year, we'll get to do more than just the first verse.

Hark! The herald angels sing, Look! Listen! The angels with a message are singing. . .
"Glory to the newborn King! Worship the baby--Jesus-- who is the King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild, The King will bring peace and kindness to the world.
God and sinners reconciled." The King will make God and people friends again.
Joyful, all ye nations rise, Happy because of the good news, people from all over the world should stand up and. . .
Join the triumph of the skies. Sing with the angels who are cheering in the sky.
Hark! The herald angels sing, Look! Listen! The angels with a message are singing. . .
"Glory to the newborn King!" Worship the baby--Jesus-- who is the King!

Pancake Day

During last week's class session, my ESL students and I took over the church kitchen and made pancakes. The students brought all the ingredients necessary to make their country's traditional pancake. We had a wonderful time doing mini-cooking demonstrations and taste testing each other's pancakes. We were able to sample traditional pancakes from Taiwan, Tibet, Korean, Japan, and America. The students wrote up their recipes for me (in English) and I will post them as I have a chance.

My Students

We moved to Singapore with the expectation that Josh would be "the teacher" in our family. Little did I guess that God would open up the door for me to teach as well. But, the door was not only unlocked, it was wide open.

The church we have been attending, International Baptist Church, sponsors an ESL (English as a Second Language) ministry that reaches over 250 women in the community. The first week we attended a Sunday service at IBC, there was an announcement from the pulpit that the ESL ministry was in dire need of teachers. . . immediately. Josh nudged me and whispered in my ear, "I think you should check into that," which was exactly what the Holy Spirit was whispering in my other ear. It seemed as though God had prepared me for this ministry years ago, before I ever would have imagined being in this place at this time. My undergraduate studies were in Education and I was required to take several TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) classes. Not only that, but one of my part-time jobs during college was as a private tutor for a Korean-run tutoring center where I had the opportunity to tutor non-English-speakers. And, most importantly, God had been preparing my heart through prayer as Josh and I asked God to provide an opportunity for us to serve the community here. Less than a week after the announcement was made, I was sitting in an orientation class for new teachers!

Top Row(L-R): SoYoung, Tomo, JinJu, Chie, Miki, Joyce, Janet
Bottom Row: JongHwa, Emiko, YanShi, Me, ShuHsien

I have 16 students (though, as you can see from the picture, attendance usually hovers around 12). We meet once each week for about 2 hours and spend the first portion of our time going over basic English skills. The last part of the class is dedicated to Bible study. Many of my students (most, in fact) are not Christians, nor are they even familiar with Christianity. We went over the Creation Story and several of them had never heard it before. . . same goes for Noah's Ark, The Exodus, and The 10 Commandments.

Pray that God would help me be an effective ESL teacher (if they aren't learning English, they won't be motivated to come to class). Pray that God would allow me to present the truth of Christianity to them in an easy to understand way (this is a Beginner class and most of my students have very limited English skills). Most importantly, pray that God would soften the hearts of these women toward the truth of His gospel.