A teaching opportunity for Brittney

God has blessed Jeremiah and I with teaching opportunnities in local schools while we are prayerfully planning to start our own. In our last blog Jeremiah talked about where he was teaching and some of our goals. Now I am going to share with you a little bit about Afro American School where I have been teaching.

These are the Afro American staff and students. Aren't these children precious! :-D

I have an hour to teach a Bible class with them on Wednesday and Thursday.

Just like Bible Club I read Bible stories, teach them songs, play games and have fun arts and crafts for them to do. The teachers circulated and made fun of the pictures the kids drew- mocking is a common method of "teaching" in Cameroon. Rather than correcting the teachers I encouraged the kids as I told them their pictures looked great and all you have to do is try your best. Often an example speaks louder than words.

What's your favorite animal God created? Hannah's is the giraffe!

I home school Hannah and Jonathan so it is especially nice for them to be able to be with other children during this time.

On Fridays I help coach P.E. :) On Tuesdays and Fridays Hannah goes to French class at the same school. Jonathan and I sit in on the class and pick up some basic French too.

I am so thankful that the head mistress said yes to my offer to teach a Bible class at her school. I know that as we spend valuable time planting seeds God will cause growth.

Reaching Out to Give a Hand Up

I'm opposed to hand outs- giving something that at best solves only a temporary problem and creates dependency. Our aim to help provide a hand up- to lift people up on their feet and help them have the skills and abilities to accomplish great things without having to rely on us... we want to make ourselves redundant. This is why our primary goal here in Cameroon is to start a unique school which will be a center of excellence in its Spiritual focus, character development and academic quality. Many have started Bible schools, but these often result in a hireling class of preachers, and face immense challenges of trying to teach someone to decipher scripture when they can't tell you the difference between a verb and a noun. We envisage a school that will provide not only a high caliber academic education, but at the same time will turn out students with great Bible knowledge and understanding who also have the character it takes to get the gospel out.

This process is going to take considerable finances, time and personnel, and may be some years in the making. As we continue to make preparations for this, raise finances, and also wait upon the Lord to provide teachers, curriculum, approval and more, we both love to teach. SO, I have started volunteering at a local Secondary School, Baird Memorial "College" where I teach remedial English classes twice a week and do the chapel services on Fridays. While the impact of this may be minor compared to when we start our school, it is a place to start, and so we have. Brittney also started teaching in a primary school around the bend, but more about that from her later.

The kids I teach are supposed to be in 6th to 8th grade, but I have found their English level to be around 2nd and 3rd grade. They were marched through the programs whether or not they actually comprehended what they were taught and so have massive gaps in their learning- such as knowing that a sentence ends with punctuation.

I was given around 20-25 students who were identified as struggling with their English this represents a good portion of those in Form 1 as well as many in Form 2. (Form 1= 6th or 7th grade, Form 2= 7th or 8th: the system varies from that of the United States).

I give them photocopies from a 2nd grade book to work on. It is sometimes overwhelming to see how much needs to be done, the gaps in their learning. I am only given 2 hours a week, and know that I won't be able to make up for years of poor learning, but hopefully I can help them make at least some progress and see them improve.

This experience has re-affirmed the need for a true Christian school which will excel. It will be a big challenge, but will be worth it. There is only so much Brittney and I can do, but if we can train up young people from a tender age and help them have the skills, abilities, character and the Spirit to make an impact in Cameroon and all of Africa, then we'll see real change.

Meet This Beautiful Bundle of Blessing, Baby Brittney

What joy a newborn baby brings! This sweet girl is named Brittney. She was named after me :) We have been studying through the Scriptures with Brittney's mommy (Rosette) and daddy (Frederick) for 9 months now along with their other 3 children (Yanick, Maya, and O'Nana). Giving birth to a child is a big deal in any country and I am so happy that I have been able to show the love of Christ by helping her with a few meals for her family, babysitting, and visiting her home to pray together for her and her newborn...

Brittney Takem the day after she was born.

Mommy Rosette and baby

Aunt Brittney and baby Brittney

Hannah LOVES to hold babies

This is the room Rosette and baby stayed in directly after delivering

The 2 younger Takem kids spent a night with us so Rosette could rest so we made... COOKIES!

After doing the fun part of getting your hands all sticky the boys left the girls to do the cookie cutting- the girls didn't mind

The finished product turned out great and we took them to the hospital the next day to share with the other mommies.

She is so innocent and sweet. It reminds me of how we are supposed to be in Christ: "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1 Peter 2:1-3

Please join us in prayer for the Takem family to continue to be faithful with our Bible studies and for the health of baby Brittney and mommy Rosette. Also pray that God will continue to give us opportunities like this to show the love of Christ to others.

Rejoicing in Him.

The Happy Hostetters