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I joined Literacy Connexus . . .
For a four year old who couldn't wait to go to school to learn to read, it was like going to Heaven when the first grade teacher let me join her class after my fifth birthday in October that year. Discovering Literacy Missions (now a part of Literacy Connexus) was the Golden Grail of that longing several decades later.
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Maurine as Director of the Baptist Literacy Missions Center, 1999
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After retiring from 20 years of teaching in Texas public high schools, the obvious place for my volunteer assignment was to the Literacy Missions Center at Baylor, directed by Lester Meriwether. Under Lester's tutelage, I became immersed in ESL and tutoring adults and children through video and conference training--and became acquainted with dozens of Literacy Ministries' volunteers across the state, and many from other states as well.
As I learned to become aware of adults needing assistance with literacy skills, I was struck with a startling fact--my late mother-in-law was one of those statistics. Pulled out of school in third grade to keep house for her dad and siblings after her mother died, she never had an opportunity to become proficient in reading. I had not questioned the help she required to write letters or to make a grocery list, thinking it was likely arthritis. Now the statistics that one in five adults in Texas cannot read well enough to help their children with homework or read the Bible became very personal to me.
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 | | Maurine's retirement from the Literacy Missions Center in 2000 |
For almost 12 years, I was blessed to be at the center of Baptist Literacy Missions activity across Texas--and often beyond. One big surprise was the day a Mennonite missionary in Alaska called seeking Spanish literacy materials for construction workers he was ministering to, which we were able to send. Having the opportunity to get to know and listen to the spellbinding stories of Lillian Isaacs, who was the "birth Mother" of Southern Baptist Literacy Missions thrilled me beyond words! And then there were other "giants of literacy missions" who expanded my knowledge and enthusiasm: National Literacy Missionaries Gayle Leininger and Kendale Moore; literacy expert and author of ESL texts, Glenda Reece, and many literacy trainers across the nation.
When my age and health led me to resign as Director of the Baptist Literacy Center at Baylor in August 2000, I could not detach from my obsession with literacy. I served two years as Secretary-Treasurer of Literacy Connexus beginning in 2004, and have continued to teach ESL in the Neighbors International Ministry at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, Waco. Recently I began as a KidsHopeUSA volunteer at a local elementary school.
 | Maurine with family, June 2000
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I am greatly encouraged by the continuing successes of Books for the Border and Beyond, the ESL and literacy training sessions across the state, and the growing cooperation between faith-based and secular based literacy programs.
I have literacy in my DNA and joining Literacy Connexus was just the treatment needed.
Maurine Frost
Hewitt, TX
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Congratulations . . . Texas Baptist Mission Foundation 2014 Innovator Award recipients: Neighbors International, Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, Waco.
Neighbors International was begun in 1970 by Ann Pitman at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco. Ann saw the needs of the wives of internationals who were in Waco for study or work, and began a ministry that included teaching English as well as classes in sewing, art, and cooking. Seventeen international wives participated that first year. Ann Oui (left) was one of the first participants; Diana Browne (right) was one of the first volunteer teachers.
Forty-four years later, more than 2,300 internationals--men as well as women--have found neighborhood at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church. Like Maurine Frost, a total of 452 volunteers have provided leadership through the years. Most of the teachers are Columbus Avenue Baptist Church members but volunteers from other churches serve as well. This year, ministry director Glenda Weldon reports that up to 50 volunteers serve 180 adults from thirty countries.
Pastor Emeritus Ron Durham introduced the Neighbors International program yesterday at the annual awards luncheon of the Texas Baptist Mission Foundation. He said the Neighbors International ministry is an answer to the question, "What do you do when the world comes to you?"
Across Texas more than 250 churches are answering that question by providing classes in English and addressing other felt needs of internationals, immigrants, and refugees. Literacy Connexus helps churches help people with literacy needs. How is your church answering the question, "What do you do when the world comes to you?" Let us help you answer that question. Contact us at info@literacyconnexus.org.
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Just 10 weeks away . . .
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Lester Meriwether, Executive Director
Offices at Henderson Hall - Agape Baptist Church
3954 Southwest Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76116
817-696-9898
lester@literacyconnexus.org
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Trivia Challenge
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1. In Danish, it's Jeg elsker Dig; in Navaho, Ayor anosh'ni; and in Chinese, Wo ie ni. These expressions mean:
a) I love you
b) Happy Thanksgiving c) I'm hungry d) What's your name?
2. The word Tisquantum refers to:
a) certain interactions of energy and matter
b) another name for Squanto
c) a traditional Bolivian feast
d) the Navaho season of harvest
3. A word that carries within it a synonym of itself--such as observe (see)--is called a:
a) kangaroo word
b) palindrome
c) anaphoric word
d) catenative word
Problem accessing the answers? Reply to this email and we'll shoot them your way.
These instructional links may help:
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