A Day Off!

Today, we made sure the students had an official day off from all their hard work!  We loaded up a few cars and school vans and drove 30 minutes north of town to the beach.  It was great to hang out with everyone as I(KaraLyn) don't see as much of the students on a daily basis as Ryan does, but it was also good to see them relaxing and perhaps thinking of something other than all their homework!!

Two weeks ago we had a special speaker named Mark Smith teaching on Acts.  He is a historian, professor and Vice President of a Bible College in Idaho who is well versed in early church history and archeology.  Ryan always enjoys his teaching and is very interested in some of the digs he is supervising in the Holy Land.  Mark's teaching on the book of Acts definitely broadens one's understanding of the early church.  He also taught on both the Old and New Testament Canons.

This past week we finished Ephesians and Philemon.  The students seem to be getting into more of a groove, however many of them still seem overwhelmed at the amount of work.  Ryan is learning how to encourage and motivate them, and I am doing my best to help Ryan help them!  It's fun to see him in this role, and difficult to see him frustrated over some students' lack of motivation.  A huge praise item is that all our students have all their funds in for the first quarter!  We hope some will look ahead to start fundraising for second quarter early, but we know they are focused on homework with little time to coordinate other big things like fundraising just yet!

On my part, I have become involved with a campus preschool program for 2-3 year olds.  I am putting in a lot of hours teaching, organizing, preparing materials and writing curriculum for this.  Henry is attending this three days a week, and on the days I am the teacher the girls come too. It has been a good way for me to get involved on campus!

I hope to update this blog a little more regularly and Ryan has said he wants to contribute too...I will encourage him to that end.  These days he is busy preparing his lecture on Philippians, so thanks for praying for him in that regard.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support!