What a Christmas so Far!

It’s been a great Christmas so far at Spero:Voice!!  On Monday evening, we had a Christmas celebration with the families who we tutor.  They were invited to a nearby home to have Holiday desserts, hot chocolate, and apple cider.  We sang Christmas carols and Brad (co-founder of Spero:Voice) shared out of Luke 2.  It was a powerful time as Brad shared what a true gift the Christmas Story is to us.  It was an amazing glimpse of what an international church right here in OKC could look like!

Also this Christmas, we’ve given the framed pictures of families that Squint Studios took for us.  The mothers are especially excited when they see those!

Finally, with the help of some seriously generous donors, we’ve been able to provide Christmas gifts for families we work with.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see someone else so excited about receiving a new set of dishes!  And, the kids have gotten new clothes, toys, and educational materials–all VERY pleasant surprises for them!  

Thank you to everyone who contributed to any of these Christmas occasions.  We truly believe that we are honoring God in a beautiful way as we give to His creations whom He loves!  Blessings to all this Christmas Eve!

Compute This!

What difference can be made in the life of a family simply by giving them a computer?  There’s no way to do the math on that!  It’s just too big of an impact.  Giving the gift of a computer opens doors to consistent English learning through software and on-line programs, gives students in the families tools they need to succeed in school, and offers them some opportunity to connect with their much-missed home culture.  

Thanks to a generous donor, Spero Voice now has 5 computers ready to donate to families who can really use them!  We’re so excited to offer this opportunity to them and know it will make all the difference in the world!

Pretty as a Picture

Family Portraits for the families we’ve been tutoring!  What a fun idea!  Bryce from Squint Studios was amazing and donated his time to setting up a professional studio in walking distance to the families, so they could get a picture of their family.  Many families left all their keepsakes at home when they left.  And, most certainly don’t have the funds to buy a camera or go to get a family pic taken.  And, what mother doesn’t want to keep records of her kids growing up?  

So, thanks to Bryce and all the many other volunteers who made this day great!  All the families are SO looking forward to getting the framed family portrait that’s coming to them this Christmas.

Spice Up Your Life!

Spero:Voice is easing into it’s MicroLending Program this weekend, and we’d love your help to kick it off with a bang!  A few ladies are working on creating yummy spice drink, hot cocoa, and dip mixes perfect for you to use yourself or give as a gift.  And, we’ll be helping them sell these items at The Little Trunk Show on Saturday, December 6th from 9a.m. to 6p.m. at 2264 Lakeside Drive in The Village.   The Little Trunk Show sells lots of hand-made goodies in homes around the OKC area, and they’re being kind enough to let us in on the action.  Please consider coming to support these women as they work to start a brand new life in America!

Common Goal–Common Space!

We’ve really been blessed with favor from the owners and managers of the apartment complex in which most of the refugee population in OKC lives, and we’re blown away at how things are coming together for all of us with a common goal of improving the lives of these refugees through education and advocacy.  

By the end of December, we should be able to hold job readiness classes, ESL classes, tutoring sessions and other activities in a newly remodeled classroom space.  It will also be the site of a computer-based language lab so individuals can come in for extra help learning English.  

The apartment complex has been so generous in taking charge of all the structural needs in the classroom and all the churches who are working together in use of the space are coming together to paint, lay tile, and furnish the place.  

We can’t tell you how excited we are to have this resource!  It will expand our ability to serve those living in the apartments and will give us a common place to gather for all events, eliminating any miscommunications due to language barriers due about meeting places.  

We have a few needs related to this space.  If you are able to fill any of these needs, please email kim@thesperoproject.com.  Any help would be appreciated!

1.  Laptop computers

2.  An overhead projector and screen

3.  Help laying tile, painting, or decorating!

Zoo Friends

Thanks to OKC Zoo Friends!  They’ve donated two family passes to The Spero Project for our use.  That means families that volunteer with us can take families they tutor for some fun outings at the zoo to help build relationships and encourage conversation!  We really appreciate their gift and are looking towards having a large assortment of items like this we can offer our volunteers as resources.

Art+Cause

We’re excitedly awaiting Friday, December 5th for Art+Cause at Convergence in the Plaza District.  Please come by and check it out!  Nathan Gunn will be creating an original art piece inspired by Spero:Voice and we will be inviting people to volunteer with our organization.  We’d love to see your smiling faces there!

Christmas in November

It felt like Christmas tonight!  All of us volunteers were grinning from ear to ear–being there was seriously one of the greatest things we could have asked for.  Being dramatic, am I?  I really don’t think so!  

Tonight, we held our Thanksgiving dinner for all of the refugees we’ve been having Conversational English sessions with.  Because of the fancy cooking of all of our great volunteers, we were able to feed over 50 students from places like Burma, The Congo, Saudia Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  It was our own little multicultural fair!  The kids had lots of fun coloring and playing together and the adults and kids alike were mesmerized by the Arabic music jam session that occurred.  It was a huge success!  

Thanks to all the volunteers and especially to Paul and Jennifer Colley for offering their house for the event.  This year, we’re thankful for our new found friends from all over the world!

Girls (and boy) Just Wanna Have Fun!

Language barrier=plan loosely!  In such a short time of Spero:Voice existing, that’s a lesson we’ve already learned a time or two!  And, so it was with our All-Girls Sleepover.  First, there was a good amount of flu-like illness going around, so we didn’t get to have some of the girls we’d hoped for.  But, we did have two of the sweetest young ladies you’ll ever meet join us–along with their little brother!  At first we couldn’t tell if he was just seeing them off, or if he was coming with us.  But, when he followed us to the car, we realized that our all-girl night needed to be tweaked just a bit to be a little more manly!  And, it appeared, that parents might be thinking we were coming back at 9:30p.m. instead of 9:30a.m. the next day.  With no way to assure ourselves that they understood we really would bring their kids back the next day, we opted to take them home that night.  So, it turned into an all-around party night.  Which, really, is just as great as a slumber party for the girls!

With a smaller crowd, we got to make some more personalized plans.  Which was great, because the kids that did get to come showed up with sandals and no coats.  It was COLD Friday night.  So, the volunteers decided to pool together and take the kids on a trip to Ross for coats and close-toed shoes.  Such a little sacrifice on our part made such a HUGE difference for them.  We pray they feel loved and cared for and protected by these gifts and that the Lord was making Himself obvious to their hearts through the generosity of those giving financially and emotionally that night.

Speaking of–our volunteers are already shaping up to be a pretty amazing group of people.  Three gals traveled down from OBU and were the perfect entertainment as they openly danced in the middle of shopping!  Their joy reflected Jesus to the girls, I am sure!  And, all the other volunteers gave so generously with such little hesitation.  Spero:Voice is truly blessed to have people willing to give.  We thank everyone involved on behalf of those you served!

Girls Only!

A week from tonight, there will be an abundance of nail polish and lotion that smells like various fruits filling up our girlie night!  Some of us lady volunteers are inviting some of the teenage girls from the refugee group to hang out with us for the night.  I’m really praying for some great relationships to begin there.  I mean, a relationship is destined for greatness if it starts over a Freddie Prince Jr. movie, right?…well, maybe I need to ask someone with some teenagers which movies are a little more up to date.