Our Personal Commitments

2010 ‘PRAYERFUL’ PERSONAL COMMITMENT

Today is Pledge Sunday. You have heard from many people about the importance of pledging both your time and money to increase the life of the church and the power of its congregation. I ask you to consider the Time, Talents and Energies booklet. A pledge of assisting the Karen community in their English classes would be most appreciated. Next year, starting in January, we will embark on an improved program of ‘Play, Pray, Hello USA!,’

I would like to thank those of you who have already been involved in the program. Would the following please stand up: Victor Agosto,  Joan and Bruce Davidson, Amy Endler, George Grisevich, Kari Miller, Norma Sproul, and Cheryl Ziegler.

Joan, Bruce and Amy came in to assist with a class.

Cheryl came in to assist with a meeting.

Victor, Cheryl, Amy and Kari taught classes.

George will teach next Saturday.

Norma and Joan will teach two weeks after that.

Eight people have been involved. Next year we can do much better with more people and offer a program that far surpasses anything done in any other church in Hartford. We will meet next January for a presentation about the new program. God bless you all!

guest presenters...

Looks like the every other week guest presenter format is going well.

Amy Endler was the guest presenter today and I will hear about her class tomorrow in church. She was going to work with descriptive words and prepositional phrases. Will post on the details.

Last slot Kari Miller took on the subject of knitting and worked with colors, clothing, body parts and measuring. The class really enjoyed it. Pastor John used a Bible story for his presentation. Cheryl Zeigler and Victor Agosto talked about job skills and preparing for the job market.

George Grisevich will be the next presenter and wants to talk about Hartford and its history; good subject for the newcomers. The last slot for guest presenting will be Joan Davidson. She is scheduled for early December and will work with the words to Christmas music. That's a good idea as she is an alto and mentors some of the Karen young women in the choir.

blognote: The Fall session ends on December 19th with a Certificate Party at 10am. Everyone is welcome to attend.

first double class day...

I am so blessed to be able to work with the Karen community.

Today was the first Saturday of our new double class schedule. The beginners met at 9am. We studied the family and learned about my family tree. This seemed to be very successful. The class was spirited and lively with the beginners feeling at ease without many of the advanced students present. Then at 10am the intermediate/advanced students met. We devoted most of the time to the vocabulary in the first practice test for the DMV. Then we discussed the stories that the students are writing. They were pleased with the reformatted stories and most will continue their writing. The stories are very interesting and I will put them together in a booklet for our last class.

After class I joined the students in eating sticky rice and crispy chicken wings. As I was leaving, the group started their choir practice. What a wonderful day!

blognote: Next week Kari Miller, our Director of Music, will be the guest presenter.

Pastor John's class

Today Pastor John Endler was our guest presenter. He is very familiar with the Karen community so this was a great opportunity to get to know them even better.

Pastor John worked on story telling using the Bible and continued the grammar work on the past tense stressing the differences between the regular and irregular forms. The verbs in English will take many lessons as this is a difficult area for second language learners.

schedule change...

Classes have been going well on Saturdays. We are averaging 18 students. But they feel they want to change the format. Originally the students wanted one class with varying levels. The beginner students now feel the need for a class of their own. So we will offer two classes on Saturday mornings: a 9 o'clock for beginners and a 10 o'clock for advanced learners. The beginning class will focus on oral skills and the advanced class can do more reading and writing. Even though this is a lot more planning on my part, it will better meet the needs of the Karen community. The guest teacher classes will remain at 10. These classes focus on a theme that can be interesting and useful to the entire group.

Benediction Prayer

as we leave this hall today
do not leave the message here
make it clear, take it home
shine the light, keep it bright
the message of Jesus is dear
to our hearts, bless those who
were recognized today, those
absent, those of us who will
take on the struggle, the fight.
Lord, show us the light; amen



blognote: This is the Benediction I will use as Master of Ceremonies at the conclusion of the Membership Recognition Dinner today at Central Baptist Church.

a simple memory...

This is the town of Manaca, Santí Spiritu, Cuba where I bought the 'campesino' shirt I wanted to wear for the Recognition Dinner on Sunday at CBC. It has gotten so cold here it's definitely not anything like Cuba. So maybe I can wear it for the slideshow presentation I plan to do later.

I rode a 1940's steam train from Iznaga to reach the small town of Manaca. The train used to bring workers from Iznaga to work in the sugar cane fields. This simple short-sleeved white shirt made here of local 'linen' with wooden buttons cost 6 CUP [$7.20]. Jokingly I was told it was made of washed rice sack material with lots of starch. It has laundered beautifully and embodies so many of my memories of rural Cuba: pristine, honest and pure.