(In class for way too long! =) Good stuff though.)

Training has been going well. For the last three weeks my weekday schedule has consisted of about seven hours of classroom learning. Some of the material we've concentrated on include culture shock, our gifts, working in teams of internationals, spiritual warfare, and much more! We have spent some weekend days experiencing and learning about other religions. One day we visited and observed Ms worshipping at a Msqu, another day we had fellowship at a Chicago Inner City Church, and lastly we visited a beautifully ornate Hindu temple. In the afternoons we make dinner together and enjoy each other before we get to our homework =)

This last Monday we started our phonetics session (FYI-it's the study of sound and speech classification) and so far it's going well. Our instructor flew here from France to teach us what we need to know about learning another language for the next two weeks. She said we are one of the best groups she's ever had, it's encouraging especially since we sometimes feel like we make baby sounds hehehe! I am enjoying this portion but it can be difficult and a little frustrating, overall... I'm having fun! We are gonna learn how to apply our acquired linguistic skill/knowledge to learning Korean. By the end I should be able to speak Korean! We'll see. It'll be about a week and a half worth of Korean.

Please continue to pray as I learn phonetics. As I told you, it can be frustrating and I realized it a week ago even before class started during our 10 hour prep homework. Please pray that I will understand (keen listening skills, please!), retain and use this well when I leave to my host country in August. Also continue to pray as I prepare for support fundraising, I plan to focus on this once I return to California. Thank you again for being here! These last three weeks have been wonderful specifically on just everything I've learned, and that I count as a praise report!

Below are a few pictures. I know, finally!

(Me, Beckie, and Jennifer)

This last week my flatmates and I volunteered/participated in the Ride for Refugees in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This event took place in various cities to fundraise for organizations helping refugees nationally and internationally.

Ugandan refugee, an ex-child soldier

So many were a part of this! Kids, teens, young adults and older adults. Amazing!

Future workers abroad in training at our Inner City Church Experience.