Communication and Romans

Here's the last update on our classes and you'll be all caught up! First, we began the semester with our Communication Skills class and its practicum which will continue for the rest of the semester. We went through Dr. Howard Hendricks' "Seven Laws of the Teacher" video series. Let us just say, though it may have been recorded a long time ago, as one classmate said, "The principles are timeless. The hairstyles, not so much." Yes, we had a few laughs as we are sure people two generations from now will when they see images of us. We certainly enjoyed the seven-part video series and, if you have not seen it, we highly recommend it to anyone.

As we are going into the "business" of communication as missionaries, if you will, then it is imperative that we become good communicators. We have heard it said repeatedly that we as believers ought to be some of the best communicators and be able to communicate not only the Gospel but also our vision for where we see the Lord leading us. Therefore, each student will be giving a total of three speeches that are intermittently scattered throughout the semester. The first speech was seven minutes and was about our story and what we are training to do. The second speech was a short devotional ten minutes in length. Our final speech will be a fifteen to twenty minute speech more suitable for a church service. Cameron and I already gave our first two speeches and really enjoyed the opportunity. Our first speeches were obviously very similar but Cameron's second speech was based off of a post on his personal blog about the supposed "blame game" of Adam and Eve. My second speech was about how our fears can stem from doubting God's character while our confidence and courage can stem from knowing God's character. As for our third speeches...those are several weeks down the road so we have no idea at this point.

We have also just completed a class on Romans 5 - 8 that focused on teaching this pivotal section of Scripture to those who are hearing it for the very first time. The emphasis was more on how to teach these principles to a shame-based culture such as those in the east as opposed to our guilt-based western culture. We learned many excellent illustrations from our fellow classmates as each of us took a turn presenting our group's conclusions to the class.

So that is all the classes we have taken or are taking so far this semester! Phonetics will conclude on Friday and tomorrow we start our Culture Language Acquisition: Theory and Methodology class. That's a mouthful to say! We will be learning the TPR technique which Cameron refers to as "Toilet Paper Roll" but it's more common name is "Total Physical Response" and is a method of learning language.

Thank you all for your support and prayers!

United in Christ,

Caitlin and Cameron

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