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One of ACCTS' ongoing ministries is AELT, in which ACCTS' staff and volunteers teach conversational language, with optional Bible Study to help the students put their lessons into practice. The week-long sessions are held in China, Ukraine, and South America, often in cooperation with other military ministries in a summer camp setting. The following God Stories come from the director of AELT. (For more information, go to www.accts.org.)
1. In June 2011, I led a team to support the Ukrainian MCF's Conversational English/Bible camp. There were sixty campers mostly military dependents in their teens and early twenties. The majority were non-Christians at the start of the camp, but many made decisions for Christ and others grew in their relationship with the Lord. The campers' morning routine for the six days of camp began with PT followed by chapel, breakfast, two hours of English classes and two hours of
Bible classes focused on the seven "I Am" sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John. Afternoons and evenings included team competitions, skits, talent shows, or campfires with gospel music and messages.
Our camp chaplain, a retired Colonel in the Ukranian Army, emailed us afterwards: "I would like to express my gratitude to God and to you. Thanks to all the people who took part in organizing the camp, through prayer, finances, personal involvement and just sympathy and understanding. It was a big job, but also a great blessing and satisfaction from the fact that we are in this work together! ... Thank you for this unique opportunity that we all gave God to be together, see each other's faces, and pray for one another, to rejoice and enjoy each other in Christ Jesus. I remember you, you are very dear to me, you're in my heart.... You saw how many people were praying to God for the first time! I read that two girls from Zhitomir after the camp have written on the internet that they want to be baptized in the church. Some parents called me and said that their children after the camps have changed a lot, become better. Glory to our God! It changes people and their lives. One girl said, 'I've always believed in God, but now I know I'm saved.'"
2. In July, I led a team to teach methods of teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to over 200 Chinese teachers in Chang Sha (Hunan Province) China. Our first day of class was Friday, July 15th. We took Sunday off to attend an excellent Chinese church service joined by a few of our Chinese friends from this year and last. Otherwise, we taught straight through, six hours per day until closing ceremonies on Friday, the 22d. We provided each of the Chinese teachers with hardcopies of our text, Handbook for Teaching EFL, along with a digital copy on a flash drive including the Cartoons and Activities. At the closing ceremonies, each class sang a song or two as we provided each student a certificate of participation and exchanged gifts with our hosts. While not specifically a military ministry, this program supports ACCTS' work in China and advances our objectives: to listen, to learn, and to love. One of the students wrote this poem for us:
Love U, Love the World
[ACCTS Name in China]
Thank God, for letting us get together.
U are teachers, u are my friends.
U are my examples showing love!
We smiled and we acted,
We've shared happiness and excitement.
The gifts God has sent to us are love and friendship.
I am so grateful to have you here
From the bottom of my heart.
U are the angels from the heaven.
U give us knowledge and spirit.
Look out the windows.
There's no shadow and no sadness.
The sun is shining on you.
The flowers are blooming for you.
Oh, my teachers, oh, my friends.
We'll never be apart,
I'll keep Ur smile and voice in mind.
Love is a tie, U give me love,
I'll never let it die.
I love U, love the life
Love the people around us,
Love the world where I live!
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