getting to the year's end

i am intending to take a few posts to send the typical Christmas letter that we all like and hate to get from friends and family.
this one is more about esl for the year.
many of you, know i took training for esl workshops and i love it. looking like 2 more workshops opening up for the first part of 2009. one will be at my church, the other may be in Fox River.
the karen people have been such an inspiration to me, spiritually and earthly. Many of them are Christians and their faith in God is awesome. Also, learning again and again, how blessed Americans are and how much we have. besides language and a some cultural differences, i have learned many other advantages we have. i never stopped to think that they had never worn shoes until coming here and so would not know how to tie shoelaces! i am planning an esl lesson on that soon.









this year i have been blessed by my students. the 2 photos at the top are a gift from paw shey. she gave me this bag for a small thing i helped her with. the fabric was woven in refugee camps in Thialand. this is the bag all the karen carry. i felt so honored to have been given one of these.

this scraf was woven by hand also in the Thailand refugee camp. last monday, my student, See Lah Paw, gave me this as a Christmas present.
it is really a mint green. i love it. it is wrinkled now as i have worn it in this cold weather. i know this is something from their home that they has send over to share with me.
they are constantly taken pictures. they download them and send them family in Thailand. i sometimes, wonder what they say about the American woman is in a lot of those photos. i think they tell those in Thailand that this is their crazy English teacher.
one monday during devotionals, Geneer Vee, shared that she was scared to come to the US. she was afraid to come to English class and afraid of not being accepted. she said then she got teacher Cindy. Teacher Cindy is always happy (i think she was being nice not to say crazy) happy. that made her happy and feel accepted. it blessed me to know that i am doing something for them.
when they first came, they did not laugh. in my class, that is almost immpossible. i made it my goal to love them, be cheerful and animated and to reach them. to let them see that we can still laugh inspite of being misplaced because of Christ. Now they know in my class, they will laugh, learn, and touch each others lives. Attending their worship services has helped also.
My friend and student, Su Na, misses her mother, if her mother is sill alive. She is 31 years old, married and has 3 daughters. She clings to me and always says I always remember teacher, all the time. her husband calls me his wife's mother. i had proud to be.
the one thing that i have not done that i am ashamed of is that i have not visited their homes. i need to make time, one day a week, where i visit them and spend time with them.
i always felt God calling me to foreign missions. i just never realized that that call would be in my own back door and i would never have to leave my country.