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We joined Literacy Connexus . . .
In June, 51 teenagers and adults from Calvary Lutheran Church in Richland Hills traveled to El Cenizo, TX, a colonia just outside  of Laredo, for a mission trip. In addition to building projects, a community garden and day camp, members of the Calvary team built bookcases for our first ever family reading fair at Agua Viva Lutheran Church.
Families were invited to share a meal, paint bookcases and select up to 10 story books. They were also given an age appropriate bilingual Bible and the book, What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick--presented with instruction by Dr. Robert Machos on how to use it. Over 1,000 books had been collected through donations from individuals and the HEB Read 3 program.
The event was described as controlled chaos by Youth Director Janelle Miller. "I had one mother who was upset because we  gave each family only one paint brush . . . with the goal of them working together. The next day that same mother came up to the church and told Pastor Marianna that was the first time she and her children had ever worked on a project together." Many of the brightly painted bookcases were covered with hand prints from family members.
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"I've been around books all my life and love to read. My brother and I have special memories of Mom reading to us every evening before bed. And to see the joy of the kids faces as they were choosing their books . . . it was very moving," said one adult sponsor.
The following day, one mother came to the church and told Pastor Marianna, "I had to physically take that Bible away from my kids at 10:30 last night so they could go to sleep. It's the first Bible my family has ever had."
The family reading fair was hosted at Agua Viva Lutheran Church, but was open to the community and advertised through fliers. Fifty-five families from El Cenizo now have bookcases and books in their homes and five missionaries are equipped with Bibles to lead Bible studies in Mexico. With stories like this, plans are already underway to host a community literacy event on Calvary's 2014 Mission Trip.
Linda McMillan
Calvary Lutheran Church
Richland Hills, TX
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When: Oct. 4-5, 2013
Where: Dallas, TX
Cost: $50 (By Sept. 1)
$65 (After Sept. 1)
Designed for all volunteers working with refugee populations. Register today and look forward to: - Access to state leaders and practitioners involved in refugee resettlement
- Sharing practical ideas and resources
- Training on specific people groups
- First hand accounts from refugees
- Insight from a world renowned cultural anthropologist
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ESL Teacher Training Opportunities . . .
You still have time to register for Teaching English with Excellence (TEX) workshops offered in September in several communities across the state . . . but don't delay!
See literacyconnexus.org/events for details.
"Once the focus of learning a second language was on how many words or phrases one could master in a lesson. TEX focuses on helping learners use language in context through effectively planned lessons."
Lester Meriwether
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Lester Meriwether, Executive Director
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Trivia Challenge
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1. James A. Garfield was the first left-handed president of the U.S. He could simultaneously write Latin with one hand, and with the other:
a) write Greek
b) illustrate his words
c) perform calculus
d) skin a rabbit
2. Somos todos primos, in Spanish, means:
a) We're number one
b) It doesn't matter anyway
c) We're all cousins anyway
d) Some how, some way
3. A future U.S. president left college for a spell to head south and teach in a Mexican-American grade school. He wrote his mother: "They were mired in the slums, lashed by prejudice, and buried half alive in illiteracy." This future president was:
a) George W. Bush
b) Lyndon B. Johnson
c) Richard Nixon
d) Ronald Reagan
Problem accessing the answers? Reply to this email and we'll shoot them your way.
These instructional links may help:
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