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July 23, 2010
| Vol. 2, Iss. 24
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August 1 Fellowship Meal
Next Sunday, August 1 after service will be a
true "potluck" style meal. Bring your favorites to share (i.e. main
dish, salads, desserts). Any questions, see Kathy Durkee or Kathy Wheaton.
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News from Tom and Nelda
Ongoing letter July 1, 2010
Another month has passed and we are settled into our routine of teaching now. Tom has five classes and they vary in size from 7 to over 90, and both classes meet in the same average sized classroom. Needless to say, when the class of 90 students meets in this classroom they are packed in tightly. His classes are Math 1 (algebra), Math 5 (algebra and trigonometry), Physics, Religious Ethics 1 (Life) and Religious Ethics 3 (Leadership). All students in CANDOR are required to be enrolled in a religious ethics class for the four semesters they are here. Fortunately, Tom and a co-teacher work together in both ethics classes. Having two teachers is helpful since the class size is over 60 for Ethics 3 and over 90 for Ethics 1.
I am teaching basic art and music to the students in the School of Tomorrow. These students are preschool, kindergarten, and elementary so the age range is from three to twelve. Four of the children who live in the orphanage attend the school so it's nice for me to have that additional interaction with them. The classes are small which makes teaching easier and lots of fun. I've spent hours on the internet searching for ideas and "free" materials. I'm also helping Tom with three of his classes by handing out the attendance cards (I'm finally learning to recognize names but still can't match the name to the face) and grading algebra and physics quizzes. I have no idea what I'm doing other than looking at the answer sheet and the students' paper.
Most of our time is spent preparing for and teaching these classes. Since we are new at teaching, we are finding it takes a lot of time to be well prepared. There is no curriculum or textbook to speak of, so planning is quite involved. Fortunately, Tom shipped several reference books for most of his classes. I was given several resource books by friends also. We are also finding that the language barrier can be a problem. We've learned that we need to speak slowly and enunciate clearly. We're hoping that the students can understand and learn from us. We're still studying with our language tutor but our comprehension and retention is very minimal. We're also discovering that there are many versions to the Cebuano language; so the way we learn a phrase from our tutor may be completely different from the way others would say that phrase.
We took two trips to Davao in June, both related to our visas. We now have I Cards (also known as alien cards), and these are supposed to make it easier to travel in and out of the country. Nelda acquired some sort of "bug" on the first trip to Davao in June and spent several unpleasant days recovering. On our second trip in June, we met with several of the folks from Cagayan de Oro who are affiliated with our denomination's work there. We always use these trips to Davao to shop for many food items that we can't purchase here in Mati.
Other than the things already listed, we always have household chores, shopping and food preparation to contend with. Tom has become proficient at baking in our oven that has no temperature settings; so we have a regular supply of something sweet and also our breakfast staple of bran muffins.
That's the latest from Mati - hope you are enjoying your summer!
Love,
Tom and Nelda
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Bib Making Day
A big thank you goes out to all 11 women who
came to Bib Making Day at the church this past Tuesday. We had a wonderful time
of working and sharing lunch together. Fifteen bibs were finished for the
Village, and many more are in the works. It was a very productive day!
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Let's All Go to Family Camp!
August
5 - 8 we will join the Willamette Valley AC Conference for family camp
in
Boardman, Oregon. Last year many of us attended and had a terrific time
of
worship and fellowship. We've been invited to join them once again, and
this year we will be responsible for hosting at least one meal. Please
plan to
join us!
Below is a link that will take you to a page on our website which has an
MS Word document with the information and registration forms. Please complete
your registration and reservations ASAP.
Click here!
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Men's Breakfast
Men's breakfast group continues the study of
Galatians at their regular breakfast time (7:00 am) on Friday, July 30 and Friday, August 13.
Come join us!
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 Happy Birthday!
July
25: Sherwin Flewelling
27: Stan Flewelling
29: Kalel Salcedo
August
2: Janet Erford
3: Anthony Gomez
6: Brandon Tonseth
8: Ian Post
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Mark Your Calendars- July 30, Men's Breakfast, 7 AM, Church
- Family Camp, Boardman, Oregon, August 5-8
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Classifieds
Listing items in the Classifieds
If you'd like to add items to a West Valley Classifieds list, please e-mail Tracey Coon in the church office (office@westvalleychurch.org) for items in the following categories. Please also include your contact information and a detailed description.
These items will be listed on a weekly
basis in our e-news. If you have recurring items, please keep the
church office informed on a weekly basis by the end of day Thursday.
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