Updates

Well, it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I’ve updated this blog!  So, I won’t spend too much time on each topic–just breeze through the past month at Spero:Voice.

1.  Our Summer Program to the children has been an unbelievable experience.  We’ve seen such growth in confidence, reading ability, and math skills.  Volunteers have been so, so, so faithful and have brought life to the program.  The kids have really been blessed and, of course, we have been blessed more than we can say, as well.  We’re excited to see the momentum from this program lead us strongly into the school year, increasing the number of kids in our Homework Assistance Program.

2.  We had a week-long visit from Lead 222 kids from Nashville, Chicago, Oklahoma City, and Deer Creek.  Lead 222 is a fantastic Youth Leadership Program and we were privileged to be a part.  Youth helped us with our Summer Program, engaged older kids from the Refugee Community in service projects in and around where they live, and delivered much-needed food and cleaning supplies to families.  It was such a joy to introduce youth to those in the refugee community we have come to love so much.  We truly, truly feel like a family.

3.  Thanks to everyone who have been praying for our friends in the car accident earlier this month.  Everyone is home from the hospital now and we’re working on the details for a benefit garage sale to help with rent, etc. while everyone gets back the strength to work.  More details will be coming soon.

4.  Our friends at Creative Intention had a benefit concert tonight.  Mark Ryan at The Edge Church was so unbelievably amazing and offered to create, promote, and manage the concert completely.  What a blessing to Creative Intention!  This organization offers free music lessons to children who could not otherwise afford them, and they are working primarily with International Refugees.  Paul and and Jennifer are great friends and we’re so happy to work with them so closely in engaging this population.  All of us were as proud of three young men from The Congo who performed as we would have been of our own children doing the same song.  We just can’t explain how much we love these boys and how much we believe God has purposed them to bring about significant change in their home country by speaking to Americans about what is occurring there every day.

We’ll try to be more expedient on our updates!  We just get so excited about what’s going on that it’s hard to stop ourselves long enough to fill everyone in.  We love the ministry that the Lord is building and we love our friends from all over the world!!!

Please Pray for our Friends

Hello, all.  Writing to share a prayer request for some of our Burmese friends.  A serious accident this afternoon left 4 in the ICU and 1 injured, but released.  This is a scary experience for anyone, but imagine navigating the process when you don’t understand what any nurse or doctor is saying to you.  

It’s  a blessing that the Burmese community is so strong, so there’s no lack of people there to help out.  But, there are only a few that can speak English well enough to translate so the burden on them is strong.  

Please join us in prayer  for the safety of our friends tonight and for the next few days as their injuries become less fragile.  And, pray for their families and friends as they endure the stress of the experience.  We’ll keep you updated.

Lost in Translation

It’s just the nature of this type of organization to ‘go with the flow’ of speech and not expect to understand every sentence 100%.  It’s pretty necessary to move on and catch the drift of the whole conversation if you want to get anything accomplished.  And, it’s just too often that you hear a comical sentence structure or a quirky word choice–you stop realizing that they are, indeed, kind of funny.  

But, sometimes, they’re just too funny to be looked over.  Like tonight, when my sweet friend from Iraq paid me a compliment:   “Why you not fat?  Next month you were fat, but not this month.”  

Why, thank you.  I have lost some weight since last month.  I appreciate you noticing

Women’s Conversational English Teacher Needed

We will provide you with the curriculum, the teacher’s guide, and the classroom space.  This is  a GREAT opportunity to meet women from all over the world and develop relationships with them.  They have some amazing stories of hope and determination and it’s fun to hear them as you help them learn English. 

Teacher is needed Mondays from 7-8:30.  Contact kim@thesperoproject.com if you’re interested.

5 Languages. One Dream.

Have I mentioned how in love I am with the newly-forming MicroLending Program at Spero:Voice?  I’m sure I have a time or two.  Here’s an example of why.  Monday night was a class mean to help finalize a few ideas for some of the ladies who have been working towards a specific crafting project for a while. But, as always, things were just a little different than I planned!  Two ladies who were new to the MicroLending Program came–two ladies who are also quite new to the English language!

SOOO, we tweaked a bit and the “veterans” helped teach the new ladies about embroidery.  Here’s the kicker:  I was there–I speak English.  Manzura was there–she speaks Russian.  Lah Nu was there–Chin is her language (from Burma).  Fatima was there–speaking Arabic.  And, Anna was there–Swahili is her mode of communication.  You can imagine how easily we were able to teach each other!  

But, it turned into the most fun I’ve had in Spero:Voice in a very long time.  We were laughing with each other, sometimes laughing AT each other, and mostly laughing at the fact that we had no idea what anyone else in the room was saying.  We did get a little language lesson in.  We all learned that I thought Lah Nu and Anna were the “sassy” ones of the bunch and then took turns walking “sassy”-like to demonstrate what I meant.  You would have thought we were a room full of 5-year-old girls they way we were laughing!  

And it just made me remember again that we all just want to live well and love others, whatever language we speak and whatever we’ve been through in life.  What fun to get to be one of their new friends when they arrive so we can work together towards living our dreams!