Thursday, February 14, 2008

It's Greek to me...part II

It was in November of last year that I embarked on an ambitious language course in Greek. The class was 5 days a week for 3 hours/day. As it turned out, this was way "too ambitious" and they were moving too fast for me. I lasted for "2 days" before, as they say, "I saw the writing on the wall" and realized I needed to go to plan B.

So, as of mid January, I have now been enrolled in the same Level I Greek class but it meets MWF for 7 weeks. I must say, it is still challenging, but I have been able to manage it better. I now have 6 more (out of 20) classes to go before I'm done! Yippee! I'll have to assess at the end (they'll test us to see our level of proficiency) whether I'll go to Level II, or repeat Level I, or just take a breather. I must say that learning a new language at 56 is not the easiest thing I've ever done. There are much younger students in my class that are picking it up much easier, but Greek is also their 3rd or 4th language. That is such a European thing.

Speaking of language classes, Claudia, Guenter & Donna Wadewitz now are taking Greek lessons with a private tutor that comes to the apartment. It's a much more relaxed pace and is totally geared to their level and pace of learning. They meet on Tues/Thurs for an hour and half.

Gary (Γκαρυ)

The Latest BSF Women's update: Waiting on the Lord

I'm sorry we haven't had any new updates in awhile, but for the last month the status of our work really hasn't changed much. The women have 60+ women registered, but the key now is to find enough qualified and willing women to start the class. Donna Wadewitz (the women's teaching leader) has an interview on Tuesday with a young woman for the children's supervisor position. Pray that this interview will go well and that she will be qualified and willing.

The positions yet to be filled are:
1 Children's supervisor
1 Assistant Children's supervisor
1 Secretary
2 Discussion leaders

The weeks are running by fast and we have been praying diligently for the Lord to bring forward the right women who can and will serve. Once the leaders are in place, there is 4 weeks of training of the leaders before the 5 week pilot class in Philippians can begin. And, the pilot class has to be finished by the middle of May so that leaves us with a potential deadline of middle March to have all the leaders in place.

We could use all the prayers we can get. This certainly has not caught the Lord by surprise and I know he his always working. We pray for his will be done and for his perfect timing...even though it may not be within our time frame. So, our job now is to trust in the Lord and wait!

Thank you for your prayers,

Gary and Claudia