Back to school

There is a concept in the teaching profession- for teachers to be lifelong learners. Well, although I am technically not teaching right now, I am still a teacher, and I am continuing my education. I am a student again!

This week, I started taking 2 classes.

Class #1- The first class is part of the Christian Education department at the church. Filadelfia Church offers 15 different courses for members to become more educated in their Christian faith and to develop their understanding of the fundamentals and the beyond- fundamentals (more advanced portions) of Christianity. Monday nights, I will be studying the History of the Church (Part 1). This course starts with the church immediately after the death and resurrection of Jesus and continues through the decades, teaching about the development and advancement of the church. I want to see how much I can understand in a classroom situation taught completely in Spanish and see what I can learn in the process. :-)

Class #2- The second class I am taking is a Spanish Sign Language Class. This class is offered through a school for deaf students in the city. On Tuesday mornings, they offer Sign Language and Language Therapy classes for the parents of the deaf children. These classes are open to the community for anyone who would like to learn. Since my minor in college was American Sign Language, the idea of learning Spanish Sign was intriguing. Spanish Sign and American Sign are as different as speaking Spanish and English- and I am trying to keep the two languages separate. When class started yesterday, the professor asked if everyone believed in God. She then lead the class in a prayer (Christian prayer- not Catholic). I was both suprised and excited about this. I am not used to anything outside of the church starting with prayer, but it was exciting that the professor is Christian.

The topic for instruction was learning the signs for the members of the family- words like Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, etc. In the process of going through these signs, we learned other signs. Some signs I learned were: dog, street, learn, understand, sad, die. I also learned "let's go to church on Sunday". I also know how to say "The son of God died for you". I am hoping that the aquisition of this new language will open up new doors of evangelism into the deaf community- especially since Filadelfia Church now has a Sign Language Interpreter on Sunday afternoons for interpreting the service.

So, it is back to school for me- with the possibility of expanding my opportunities to be used by God.