CELTA

(This is Byron writing - if you want to see what Emily wrote, click HERE)

Wow. It's been a long month in some ways, but in other ways it is hard to believe that July is already finished. The Lord blessed us with a busy, fruitful, and encouraging month. As many of you know (and thank you for your prayers), we took a four week course to become certified English teachers. The certificate is called CELTA which is issued by Cambridge university. This certification is recognized worldwide by language schools and universities. A few months ago we began to pray about taking this course as we have been thinking about how we can reach more people in Ukraine. English, being an international language, is a huge tool we can use to meet new people and pour into their lives and being CELTA certified will give us many open doors. 

Teaching Group #1

So, in May we registered for a CELTA course that was taking place at a private language school (International House) in Kiev during the month of July. As July 1st approached, we began to prepare for a month of school (we never thought we'd be going back to school). Some of our good missionary friends in Kiev offered their apartment to us for the month on the condition that we watched their cat while they were gone for a ministry camp half the month. What a blessing! There would have been no way we could afford housing for a whole month in Kiev on top of the course fees. 

Day 1: This was the scariest day of my life! There were 12 candidates and 2 tutors. Of course the 10 Ukrainian candidates had an amazing grasp on English grammar and structure. I remember within the first hour of the orientation, one girl asked some type of question about grammar that I couldn't even comprehend what she said. I just kept thinking to myself "I'm in way over my head, what am I doing." The only thing I had going for me was that I was a native speaker. But The Lord is faithful.

 

 
 
 

Our American Tutor

 

This class was very demanding. We were at the school 8am-6 or 7pm five days a week. The daily schedule usually had 2-3 sessions where the tutors would teach methodology etc. We would have teaching practice daily, where we would get to improve and implement our new knowledge on English students. We also had lesson plans, language analysis, self evaluations, and papers due almost everyday. 

Teaching Group #2

The first few days were a huge struggle. The end was so far away and I was getting exhausted already. But again, The Lord is faithful. 

God gave both of us strength to complete everything that was asked of us. God gave us knowledge so that we could effectively teach. God gave us energy to study and learn. And by the end of the first week both Emily and I were really loving the course and enjoying our time. 

We had two amazing tutors walking us through the course. One American man and one Ukrainian man, both very nice men and extremely knowledgable. We also made some good friendships with our fellow classmates (They are all Ukrainian or Russian girls who are English teachers).



Our Ukrainian Tutor

By the middle of week two we both began to really hit our stride and began to thrive in the class. I (Byron) gained so much knowledge as well as confidence and practice teaching English. I didn't think that this class would benefit my personal growth so much. It was such an amazing month for us.

Praise The Lord, we both passed the course! Thank you all for your prayers

We had an amazing month that The Lord blessed us with outside of CELTA as well. I few things I want to highlight briefly.

1) Emily and my's marriage. We had so much fun living in Kiev, commuting on the metro, going to class together, and studying together during this month. God has blessed us with such an amazing marriage. All glory goes to Him. We are so thankful that, even though this month was super busy, we have this accomplishment that we achieved together and many memories that came along with it. 

2) Friends in Kiev. The friends whose home we stayed at really blessed us and encouraged us. They are such a good friends and really refreshing to be around. There is also another missionary couple that we have known for number of years that we got to see. They are a little older than us and have more ministry experience, so they are extremely encouraging to see and talk with. We also got to reconnect with a number of Ukrainian friends that we have made over the years from our short-term trips before we moved to Ukraine. We are so blessed to have these friends that we still have a relationship with. We are praying that our friendship encourages them to seek after Jesus. 

3) Calvary Chapel Kiev. We fellowshiped at CC Kiev while we were living in Kiev for the month. It was so refreshing for Emily and I come and simply worship and get into the Word with this fellowship. We love our Calvary family, that wherever we go, we know we will get solid verse by verse teaching!  

4) Ministry opportunities. We met a lot of people because of the CELTA course. From tutors, classmates, and students, we now have new friends to pour into. The Lord told us to be bold and honest about why we were in Ukraine with these people. Through small talk and during breaks we were able tell them that we are here because of Jesus. Thanks to Facebook and Skype we have the unique opportunity to continue friendships with these people and point them toward Jesus!

We are praying that your lives reflect the Lord's faithfulness and goodness to those around you.

God Bless you all, 

Byron