Practical Skills
The purpose of this class was to learn and apply practical skills that are utilized overseas in areas with limited resources. Topics included how to build a house, cook from scratch, various knots, car maintenance and how to regulate a gas stove.
This class included a Thursday - Sunday camping trip in the woods on campus. For this camping trip, we had to construct a shelter without using tents that was both waterproof and warm for the nights which dipped into the 30's every evening. Obviously, we survived and Cameron and I enjoyed building our shelter which we nicknamed our fort as it more closely resembled a structure we would've made when we were children. We hung our double hammock inside of our fort and laid our one sleeping bag below us and then we each wiggled into two other sleeping bags. Needless to say, it was quite comical trying to get into our hammock without tipping the other person out or losing our sleeping bags!
I also made homemade ravioli with two of my friends during simple living when we had to cook from scratch! I was given my great grandmother's ravioli maker as a wedding present and it was so much fun to actually use it and they turned out delicious!
Phonemics
How do you create an alphabet? When the "t" in the English words "stop" "top" "the" and "bought" are really four distinct phonetic symbols and sounds what do you do? Do you create four different "t's" for English speakers to use? How do you know if the English speaker thinks of all those sounds as one or if they hear it as four separate sounds? That is when the science and art of phonemics comes in to play. We only got to dabble a little in this skill but it was really interesting seeing how linguists take all the phonetic sounds of a language and boil them down to create an alphabet.
Grammar
This class was very amusing for Cameron and I because this was actually our third time taking grammar. We started out taking the linguistics grammar course but then jumped out because we decided not to pursue it further. However, halfway through our grammar class last spring, we decided to jump back into linguistics. Then, having decided not to take linguistics, we were placed into grammar class for the third time. This was our last class we took at MTC which seemed fitting since we had taken half of it so many times! Also, we got to end with one of our favorite teachers which made it all the better.
GRADUATION!
Having successfully finished all of our classes at the MTC we graduated with our
fellow classmates on Friday, April 22nd! Both of our parents came
including my brother who surprised us the day before as we didn't think
he would be able to come. Also, one of pastors from Villa Ridge came to
support us as well! We felt so loved by those both there with us
physically and those who sent us congratulatory messages and cards. We
were so excited to graduate and conclude this chapter of our lives at
MTC. It was a long road and we are so thankful for all of you who came
alongside of us in prayer, encouragement and financial support. We
literally couldn't have done this without you! If you're interested in watching the six minute video I put together for graduation, you can check it out here.
Thank you all for walking with us!
United in Christ,
Caitlin and Cameron