Center Trip

At the center last night Claire, Jackson, Micah, and Luke continued doing oral assessments to place students. The classes are all full. We will teach 7:00 - 9:00 PM (19:00 - 21:00 as they say here) . We will teach two levels of beginner levels, an intermediate level, and an advanced level. The lower levels have 15 students, and the advanced class has 18 students. We haven't decided yet who will teach which level. Two classes will have one instructor and two will have two of us teaching. Please pray as we decide how to split up the classes. Since the classes are conversational, large classes make it hard to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.

Also, I (Michael) have an additional task. Another college student, Micah N, is doing a business internship for his degee program at University of Wisconsin. He is setting up a coffee shop in the center that will be open during class hours from 4:30 - 9:00 PM, Sunday through Wednesday. He needs help with the coffee, and I am the only person on our Simpson team who really likes coffee! Bummer ;^) So I spent part of the evening with Micah N getting the espresso machine to work, and other coffee-related tasks.

Kim spent most of the evening working on lesson plans She has a better idea of what the students are like now, so that helps. The picture is Kim workingon her eee Machine in the coffee shop.

All of except Kim had great opportunities to put our cultural orientation into action. Micah, Claire, Luke, and Jackson were more comfortable doing the oral assessments, and got into more significant discussion with students. For me, I was talking to (bothering?) Kim and she pointed out three men sitting on sofas. "Why don't you go down and talk to them?" I was nervous, but said one of those under-my-breath "Help me, Lord" prayers and approached them. Soon the three grew to six (all men, of course) and a fun conversation developed.

After the registration closed, and the students left, our team went outside to visit with some members of the Amman Alliance church. I got choked up when I introduced myself to Pastor Youssef. I had seen this precious man on Alliance videos. For me it was like meeting one of my heros. A faithful pastor in a country that is 98% of another faith.

We taxied back to the Guest House, had a great team debrief led by Jackson, and got to bed at midnight. Several of us popped awake around 3:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, so we haven't fully overcome the jet lag yet.

Today we are getting a tour of Amman by a Jordanian brother.

We'd love to hear from you!

Grace and peace,

Michael

Our First Day at the Center

Marhaba,

In our first day at the Center, we met the other team that will be teaching an early class, received orientation and spent two hours doing oral assessment to place students in English classes. We ate dinner at 10 PM at a lebanasnack restaurant. The chicken schwerma sandwich several of us had was great! Today we got another cultural orientation from one of the workers here. It's now 5:00PM and we're about to leave to do additional assessment tonight. There are about 60 students signed up now, many are advanced. That is exciting because we can engage those student deeper in conversation.

Peace and grace,
Michael

We're Here!

Hi friends!

We all arrived safely last night, the apartment is very nice. Here is a photo of us at breakfast.

We're leaving for the center in a few minute to see it for the first time.

Grace and peace,

Michael

A Week to Go

Hi friends,

All of us except Luke will meet at the San Francisco airport a week from tomorrow! (Luke is flying directly from his home in the UK to Amman.) It doesn't seem real yet. Thursday we talked to the short- term host in Jordan. We made plans for getting picked up, and the first couple of days. We are very excited. A Safeway grocery store is two blocks away, so we will be on our own to go shopping. We'll have to set up a schedule for cooking, cleaning and the like. We'll let you know what our schedule is like once we get there and get settled in. The short-term hosts live across the hall from the guest quarters, so they''l be close to help us get started.

Kim and I packed up four large bags our team is taking with us for workers there. Two are going on to Iraq! I think we take for granted how easy it is to get things here and the amazing variety of goods we have available. We packed lots of baby things, "HappyAnniversery" napkins, Peet's coffee, books for a women's study, and more. This has made me stop and confess how attached I am to "things." We have so much more than what we need in the this country. I remember that Jesus did not even have a place to lay his head! Wow.

Grace and peace to you!

Michael

Update - 2 1/2 Weeks Before We Leave

Hi friends,

I owe you all an update on my mother. She was diagnosed with diverticulitis. It should not be serious, but she has to watch her diet & drink plenty of fluids. (Don't we all?) Her doctor also has to adjust some of medications that thin her blood. I am very thankful I was there to help and encourage my parents. I also spent good time with my sisters and their families.

Luke finally got to go home to the UK. He left the 24th. Right now everyone on the team is at home.

Kim is working on the English lessons we will teach when we are there. We will teach two 2-week sessions, four days a week. Some of the students will take both classes. We are all excited about going. Some friends who work in the Middle East gave each of us a book to read as some background for visiting Jordan. It is an amazing story of one man's quest to simply help the Christian church be light and peace in the Mideast. I recommend it for a different perspective on the political situation in Israel and Palestine. It is helping me understand the conflicts from the point of view of the ordinary Arab. This is important for us because we will be developing relationships with these people. E-mail me at mhuster@simpsonuniversity.edu and I will tell you the name of the book.

Pray that God's peace will come to the men and women of Jordan.

Michael