In-services

There are so many wonderful stories about in-services and so much to share about our time in the school. Things went really well and the teachers were receptive to the things we had to say. There is a lot of work to be done in order for these children to be receiving a good education, but the teachers and making improvements and working hard to implement new teaching strategies.

Our team

At the beach our last day in Sierra Leone. We went to the most beautiful beach in Sierra Leone and did debriefing. It was a nice relaxing day.


This is on our way to the village of Mokpangumba, where COTN has a school. We hiked through the jungle and then took a canoe across the river. The school here is small, but has wonderful teachers who are really trying.

Our welcome sign when we got to the school in Mokpangumba.

Funny story

So when we were getting ready to leave Sierra Leone, I asked Quami, a Sierra Leone man who facilitates for our team while in country, what we could do differently next year.

Our feedback was that the team was too late to everything. We always arrived late. Now, this is funny because this was coming from a man whose culture is to be late to everything. Apparently, my teachers had no problem adjusting to what they call BMT (Black Man Time). We adjusted so well that we were late even by Sierra Leone standards!

Our "FL"

This year we taught an inservice on the importance of teaching blends such as /fl/ in fly, flock, or fearless leader.

Sarah, our "FL," did an amazing job of leading our team. Our immediate reception in Banta is a result of the several years she has taken to be a part of the teachers there. In Sierra Leone, the nationals say she is one of them; and she is. Our team is grateful for the way she led us and supported us during our time there.

Processing

Pray that we would be able to have good conversations with friends and family to share our experiences with them.

Thank you so much for covering us with your prayers.

We are back

We arrived safely back to Denver this evening. So side trips to Nairobi this time. It amazing to me the drastic switch of cultures and attitudes that we find ourselves in when we travel back home. One minute we are in a village in the middle of Sierra Leone and the next back in the hustle and bustle of Western society.

We have many stories and pictures to share with you and over the next few days will try and share those with you. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We hope that our stories can be an encouragement to you as well.

Back to America

Pray that we would have good closure as a team and that this experience would truly impact the way we live our lives.

Back to the airport

We leave Freetown tonight. Wow. How quickly the time went by.
Pray for safety in our travels.

Debriefing

Today we will spend the day at a beautiful beach debriefing our experiences. Pray for good time together as a team. Pray for wisdom on how we can allow this trip to change our lives once we return home.

Back to Freetown

We will be traveling back to Freetown today. Pray for safety on the roads in those good ole poda-podas.

The last day of in-services

What! How can it already be the last day for in-services.

Pray that we can leave a lasting difference in the education system. Pray that we would be an encouragement to the teachers on our final day with them.

Topics:
Fractions, Letter writing, Nursery Rhymes, Higher Level Science

Pray that today we would have at least one good conversation with a national to help us connect and understand their culture in a deeper way.

Topics for today:
Grammar, Business Studies, Hands on Science Activities, and Guided Reading Groups

How does time go by so fast?

Join us in praying for the children of COTN. Pray that they would know the love of the Lord in a deep and tangible way. Pray for their futures that they would be godly leaders in Sierra Leone.

Topics for today:
Classroom assessment, Religious and Morale Education and Reading Comprehension

Week two of in-service training

Pray that the National teachers would be challenged and confident to try something new in their classrooms.

Topics for today:
Educational Songs and Educational Games

The Day of Rest

We will be attending church again in different villages. Pray that God would bring many people to church to hear his gospel and to come to know and understand his truth.

A hike to Mokpangumba

Today we will be hiking through the jungle to the village of Mokpangumba where we will visit another COTN school. Pray that we will be an encouragement to these teachers.

Also pray for good conversations as a team as we are processing the things that we are experiencing.

A whole week has gone by!

Pray for grace in the small stuff. That we would be patient with each other and not the heat (This will not be a problem for Sarah), the bugs, and feeling tired overwhelm us or cause us to have a bad attitude.

Topics for today:
Reading Comprehension Strategies and Creativity in Education

More in-service training

Pray that there would be ownership of these new teaching styles by the local teachers. Pray that they would get excited about these new strategies and really take a hold of them.

Topics today:
Reading and Word Families and Education for all children.

Update from Salone

Hello all! This update is coming from the chiefdom of Banta Mokelleh. I am sure that you have heard our crazy story of actually getting here, but in case you haven't heard, let me give you a brief update. We left Denver, no problems, no problems in Chicago. We had a nice posh airline to fly over to London with: movies, blankets, toothbrushes- we were doing great! Then we get to London have to to book it over to our next terminal to catch our flight to Freetown. The problem is that, we only had an hour and a half to get to our gate. We arrived at the gate, 17 minutes before the plane took off, and they wouldn't let us on the plane. Tehy told us that we were too late. What! Back to British airways to figure out what to do. They tell us that the next flight to Sierra Leone is via Kenya airways. But first we would need to fly to Kenya. Now, if you don't know your geography of Africa, Kenya is on the East side of Africa and Sierra Leone is on the West side of Africa. So we flew to Kenya, then back to Freetown, where we arrived without any of our bags. It turns out that no one knew where to send our bags.

I was amazed with how flexible everyone was. We had to share everything from shoes to dresses to towels. Everything. It was was great to see how everyone had positive attitudes and just rolled with what was given to us.

Our bags arrived 6 days later. We have to admit that we were excited to be able to change into clean clothes!

We have greatly enjoyed our time here. The people have welcomed us into their school, their homes, and their lives. We have all enjoyed spending time with the children, visiting villages, being in the schools, and starting our in-service training.

The in-services are going really well. I am excited about everything that has been prepared and we have done our best to give it a professional feel. The Sierra Leone teachers are excited to learn alongside us. We also are learning from them and they have allowed us to be in their classrooms with them.

We are thankful to be here and we are learning so much. We can't wait to share with everyone the stories and to let you see the faces of those that we are blessed to meet.

Thank you all for your prayers.

In-services

Join us in praying for clarity in our in-services. We want to present information that will be culturally appropriate and understandable.

Topics for today:
Reading: Word Families and Learning Styles

Keep on prayin!!!

We will continue in-service training today and co-teaching in the classrooms.
Pray that we would have attitudes of humility as we are presenting our in-services.

Topics for today:
The reading process and different styles of learning.

Our first in-service

Today will be our first day of in-service with the teachers. Pray that we would be able to clearly communicate our hearts with the teachers.

Topics for today's in-service: Introduction of teachers and Brain Research

Church in Salone

We will be attending church services today. Pray that we may experience God in new ways as we worship with brothers and sisters from a different culture. What a great chance to see the body of Christ at work.

Day 13

Please join us in praying for open hearts and that we would be listening to the voice of the Lord.

Day 12

Today will be our first interactions with the teachers. We have some fun team bonding with them and are planning on them giving us our orientation and teaching us about Sierra Leone.
Pray that we would have open relationships with the teachers and that we can develop a trust among us. We want to be able to partner together to best help these children learn.

Lost Bags!!

The team made it to Sierra Leone--via Kenya--but without their bags. Their plane into London was a bit late, which made them late arriving to the gate. Even though the plane hadn't left, the gate was closed and the attendants wouldn't let them on the plane to Sierra Leone, so they were rerouted via Kenya. They made it to Freetown, but their bags didn't make it. Sarah asked that everyone pray that their bags arrive today. It's going to be a long three weeks without fresh clothes to change into! I'll post another update if we receive one today. (Posted by Sarah's dad.)

Banta here we come!

We are traveling to Banta today. We will be leaving super early in the morning to make the trek up to the chiefdom area of Banta Mokelleh. This is where we will spend the majority of our time in Sierra Leone. The trip can take anywhere from 6-12 hours. Hopefully it will be around 6 hours. We will be traveling in public transport, which sometimes are not the most reliable. Pray that our vehicle doesn't break down and for safety on the roads.

We have arrived

Hopefully we have arrived. Since I am writing this before we actually leave, I don't know if we really will have arrived when you are reading this, but we should be in Sierra Leone. Pray that we would adjust quickly to the different time zone in Sierra Leone.

We leave today!

We leave for Sierra Leone today. Our flight leaves at 3:00pm and we will travel to Chicago, then onto London, then finally to Sierra Leone. We arrive in country Wednesday night at 7:00 pm. That's a lot of traveling, but it is actually the best flight plan that I have ever had.

Pray for safety traveling, that we would make all our connections, that our bags would make it (bags tend to grow legs at the airport in Sierra Leone and they just walk away).

On our way!

We leave tomorrow for Sierra Leone. That is crazy to think about. All the months of preparation, fundraising, planning, and prayers have led us to this point. We are excited! Excited for what the Lord has in store for us! Excited to interact with a different culture!

We also know that we will be challenged by what we see. We want to take all of these emotions and give them to the Lord: to let him work and move in us as he sees best.

Every day our prayer request for the day will be posted here (as long as blogger works the way I think it works) Please pray with us. We know that it is only by the goodness and power of the Lord that we will be sustained while in Sierra Leone. Thank you for partnering with us in this way.

We hope to be able to post a few times to let you know about our experiences in Sierra Leone. If not, when we return we will have lots of stories and pictures for you.