Now this is dedication!
- submitted by Bruce Lyman, ESL Trainer
On the first week-end in January, Bruce Lyman (MNA ESL Trainer & CMA Pastor) did an ESL Training in Olmstead Falls, Ohio. It was very cold that week-end (remember the bomb blizzard) and the heating system broke during the training on Friday night and yet they completed the training, even though the heat was still off all day Saturday. The comments below are from a text Bruce sent me afterwards. I am sharing this with his permission.
“These brothers and sisters in the battle for the souls of immigrants from all over the world represent a whole new breed of ESL Teacher.
They came from Altoona, PA and Atlanta, GA . . . from Clarkston and Cleveland . . . from Stone Mountain, Parma Heights and Olmstead Falls . . . from PCA and C&MA and NEO House churches.
And where did they come? To the coldest ESL Teacher Training Workshop ever held . . . in the brutal frozen wastelands with the bleakest chilliest classrooms and bathrooms totally devoid of heat . . . where the glorious hot food for breakfast and lunch were the only momentary reprieves from the agonizing arctic temperatures inside the frosty facility we called the training center.
Yes it was extremely challenging and demanding, but these 29 brave new teachers endured what seemed to be hour upon hour of training techniques and idea after idea after idea . . . All designed to make their own churches ESL classes the very best they could be . . . that is should they survive this ordeal???
Was it worth the hand cramps? Yes!
Was it worth having to roll up in blankets and wear hats with ear-muffs in the classroom? Yes!
Was it worth fighting thru the frigid night shivering in the cold? You bet!!
Just ask the team from Atlanta who courageously braved the elements to take this new found knowledge back to the refugees who so desperately need what they had learned!
Congratulations to the 29 of the frozen Olmstead Falls . . . you have persevered. . . you have triumphed . . . “ Great is your reward.”
••••••••
Wow! That all sounds pretty dramatic, but it really was COLD, but no one left . . . no one quit . . . They all survived to tell the tale and to teach ESL another day!!
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And, no this picture was not taken right before everyone left but on a break. The furnace died at about 7:30 pm on Fri and was not revived by the end of the Workshop on Sat. at 5:30pm.”
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