Elizabeth Baley

ESL Class

This month I began teaching an ESL class at the Facultad Teológica Bíblica Bautista (the Bible College founded by ABWE in Santiago).  When the school administrator first approached me about taking on this class I was a little apprehensive, but now I am so glad that I accepted the challenge.  Yes, it makes for some hectic days…I hand my 1^st and 2^nd graders off to the school administrator, run across the field to the college, teach the class, and run back across the field to meet my kiddos as they walk back into the classroom from lunch…But it is worth it!

Each ESL class is filled with laughter.  My 16 adult students get to laugh at my attempts to explain English grammar and vocabulary in Spanish and I get to laugh at the crazy phrases they say to me in English.  (Let’s just say…don’t learn another language from watching movies!)

Field Trip

Hurray!  We got to go to the zoo!  Yes, I was more excited than the kids.  I love going to the zoo!

Buin Zoo is south of the city.  It is a very nice, small zoo-much like Erie Zoo.  They even had a marine animal show.

Biggest laugh of the trip…Each habitat had signs identifying the animals, their native habitat, their diet, and other details.  The signs also had a traffic light icon to identify whether the animal was endangered (red), vulnerable (yellow), or in little danger (green).  Apparently my students did not understand the code…They thought that it was telling them how dangerous the animals were or were not.  Our writing reflections about the field trip are rather amusing!  According to my class bears are not dangerous, but watch out for the Pygmy hippos!

Chilean Wedding

Naldy (my friend and Pastor’s daughter) and Jared (ABWE missionary) were supposed to get married in December, but due to complications withpaperwork between the US and Chile their wedding was postponed multiple times.  This month-they were finally able to get married!

People kept warning me that weddings here are different.  Honestly, I did not notice very many things that were different-except for waiting for the wedding to begin.  The invitations were for a 4PM wedding, so that the ceremony would actually begin at 5PM (this is Chile).  Sadly, Naldy’s grandmother had passed away the day before the wedding and the grave side service was at 1PM the day of the wedding.  So instead of a 5PM start, the bride walked down the aisle at 6:30.  Due to all of the other circumstances, they had not been able to take the wedding party pictures before the ceremony, so…the reception dinner began somewhere around 9PM.  Otherwise, it was the kind of wedding I am used to attending.

It was a beautiful wedding and I’m so glad Naldy and Jared are finally married!

What Else…

We have completed the third quarter of the school year!  It is exciting to see the students progress each week. 

My new ELLs are talking!  Yes, even raising their hands to answer questions in class!

I have completed the 6^th graduate class and begun the 7th (out of 8).  Ahh, ESL certification is in sight!

I am posting my resume, filling out applications, and praying for the future!

This week was “Spiritual Emphasis Week” at SCA.  Cheryl Fawcett of 4:12 Generation Ministry (ABWE) was with us for the week.  Cheryl spent Monday-Wednesday working with our high school students.  The Lord used Cheryl to help build unity among the student body and to encourage Christian leadership.

Thursday and Friday the high schoolers were challenged to put some of these new skills into practice by putting on a mini VBS (or School Bible School) for the elementary students.  Each student was assigned a task:  leading music, teaching a Bible lesson, teaching a Bible verse, sharing about a missionary, praying, explaining about a snack and its country of origin, or planning a craft.  The high schoolers were very nervous, but they rose to the challenge and did an excellent job.  The elementary student had a great time and learned many things.

As a teacher, it was amazing to watch the relationships form between the high school and elementary.  By the end of our SBS they were all “buddies.”  I pray that the high schoolers truly understand what an influence they have upon the younger ones and that they will allow God to work through them and use that influence for Him.

Many people have been asking me what the plan is for the 2011-2012 school year.  Am I staying in Chile?  Am I returning to the US?  Am I moving in with my parents and working at Starbucks? 

No.

Yes.

Maybe.

I have spent many hours considering and praying about this decision.  I love it here at SCA.  I have enjoyed my time in Chile.  It has been an amazing experience thus far and I greatly anticipate all that God has in store for me in these remaining months.  That being said, I will be returning to the US in July.

So what’s next?  Living with my parents and working at Starbucks?  Well, it sounds good some days…Moving closer to a sibling?  Well, they are already sending me web links to schools in their cities and talking to all of their teacher friends on my behalf.  (I must say, I love my siblings and their support for every step of my journey!)

Basically, the next step is still a little blurry.  I am filling out applications, sending out my resume, posting my resume online, and waiting.  (Oh and spending a few hours a day working on graduate classes so I can complete an ESL certification program by the time I return to the States.)

I ask that you would continue to pray for me (and with me).  Pray that God would reveal the next step of this journey and that I would follow Him diligently.

So the 102^nd day of school began with my wonderful first graders spilling all the beans to the 2^nd graders.  Again, the 2^nd graders entered the classroom with all kinds of accusations which I would neither confirm nor deny (except for the evil-eye cast in the general direction of the 1^st graders).  I think that the 2^nd graders were convinced that I was just horribly mean.  They did not think that I was going to throw them a party as well.  So all was not lost!

Morning break rolled around and I allowed the 1^st graders to go out to play but made 2^nd grade stay in their seats.  Again, affirming in their minds that I am horribly mean…until I pulled out the cake!

They were so excited to have their own celebration!  And once again I was “the best” because I let them have chocolate chip cookie cake and ice cream in the morning.

Little side story—one boy decided that our party was not cool enough so he “ate and ran” on out to play with the rest of the kids.  Well, in his haste he missed the 2^nd grade “dance party.”  After morning break ended said student came running back into the classroom bragging to the rest of 2^nd grade that he got to go outside and play when all they did was sit around and eat.  The rest of 2^nd grade quickly countered that he had missed out on the fun because he left before the “dance party” and they all got to see Miss Elizabeth “dance.”  Oh, 2^nd grade bragging rights!

Today was the 101^st day of 1^st grade.  I decided to throw my 1^st graders a little surprise party to celebrate.  (This could be a little tricky with two grades in one class, but I figured out how to pull it off-party while 2^nd grade was off at Spanish class.)

As soon as 2^nd grade left I told 1^st grade that I had a secret to tell them. 

“What was yesterday?”

 “The 100^th day of school.” 

“So what does that make today?”

“101?”

“The 101^st day of 1^st grade.  So I think it calls for a little celebration!  Here’s the secret though, you can’t tell 2^nd grade…”

So some fun pictures, chocolate chip cookie cake and ice cream later…I was informed that it really was not a party.  Why not?  We didn’t have music and dancing.  So I said OKAY…1 song!  (You can check out the pictures of my boys “awesome moves.”)

We, of course, had everything put away and were back to doing work when 2^nd grade returned.   One “lovable” little guy immediately piped up, “No party in here!”  (Thankfully, only one 2^nd grader heard him.)

1^st grade left for Spanish and immediately 2^nd grade was all over me…”WE HEARD THE MUSIC!  WHAT WENT ON IN HERE?”

“What do you think went on in here?  We were doing work when you left: we were doing work when you got back.”

“Stop trying to hide your smile and tell us what went on in here!”

Well, we will see if the “Surprise Party for the 102^nd Day of 2^nd Grade” is any surprise at all…

There is a very important holiday that is often forgotten on the calendar-DR. SEUSS DAY!  For those of you who do not know March 2 was Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday, so many people celebrate this day as “Dr. Seuss Day.”  Let’s just say, I for one get very into this holiday!

I debated whether or not to do anything this year for “Dr. Seuss Day” because it was the second day back to school.  Common (teacher) sense told me that I should bypass my usual insanity and stick to the schedule.  But my own craziness won out and I went for an all out Seuss-tastic day!

We began the day with “The Cat in the Hat” and making our own stripped hats to wear throughout the day.

Then we had a guest reader!  My dad Skyped in to read the class “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.”  The kids were so excited to meet my dad-that is after I clarified that it was my dad and not Dr. Seuss back from the dead!  (I later read in the journal of one student that he liked “Dr. Seuss Day” because he got to meet my dad.)

Then we had another guest reader.  Jennifer Rubin (one of the moms) came to read us “Green Eggs and Ham.”  Then she helped us with cupcakes.  Each student got to decorate their own cupcake with fabulous sprinkles that some friends in the US sent me!

After that the students worked in pairs to solve some Dr. Seuss themed math word problems.  (Do you know how many people could ride on Mr. Gump’s seven hump Wump if there were 2 people on each hump?)  Each pair was also asked to illustrate their solution.  I must say-it was rather entertaining!

Later in the day we read “Horton Hears a Who.”  The students were then asked to write a letter to Horton telling him how they each had helped another person just like Horton had helped the Whos.

And of course, what “Dr. Seuss Day” would be complete without the teacher trying to read the most tongue-twisting Seuss book around “Fox in Socks.”  We got a lot of laughs out of it.  (And I think that your tongue really does feel numb at the end of the book!)

We are back to school in Santiago.  Summer was great, but it was time to get back at it.  Starting back to school after summer vacation in the middle of the school year is a little different.  It was hard to figure out how much you should review or if you should just jump into the next chapter.  With a few adjustments to my plans we made it through the week just fine.

So what is new?  I have a few new students.  We had a boy from the US, a girl from Korea, and a Chilean boy join our class.  Sadly, two students also left our class.  So that leaves first grade with one girl and six boys and second grade with three boys and three girls.  Another way of looking at our class would be…4 from the US, 1 Australian, 1 Mexican, 4 Koreans, 2 Chileans, and 1 Turkish-Chilean.

What else is new?  Reading curriculum!  I am now (very happily) teaching the Bob Jones reading curriculum.  It was a much needed change.  I am very grateful that the school board approved an overhaul of the curriculum (and I got to help pick out all the new stuff).

Anything else new?  I have ESL support this semester!!!  Two mornings a week a teacher will be taking my three students who do not speak English.  She will be working with them on conversational English, building their vocabulary and phonetic abilities and offering any additional support these students need.  Again, a much needed addition to the program here.  We pray that there will be enough staff to keep it up!
Overall, we are off to a great start.  I can already see some improvements in my students.  Isn’t it great when they mature a little?! 

Loving being back with them!

The beginning of February was filled with the ABWE Chile field team retreat.  All of the ABWE Chile missionaries came together for 5 days of refreshment and fellowship.  (Oh and also the annual business meeting that lasted over 8 hours.)  The retreat was rather like family camp: breakfast, chapel, games, lunch, free time, chapel, dinner, games…you get the picture.  I played to roles at the retreat: “auntie” and score keeper.

My sister, Heather, came down to minister to our field team at the retreat.  She and I were the “aunties” that took care of all of the itty-bitties (8 children 3 and under) during the annual meeting and chapel services.  It was lots of fun!  I know you think that I am crazy, but really, it was fun.  We got to sing and dance, have craft time, play with balls and blocks, and I even had my own beauty salon for a week. 

Heather and I loved spending time with the itty-bitties.  They were always making us laugh.  Even during meal times the kiddos were running over to give us hugs or calling out to us “Te amo tia” (Love you, auntie).  It was great!  (Can you tell that I love being an aunt?)

As far as the score keeper thing goes…think fantasy football meets random party games.  There were a few random games played each day.  I kept track of the winners and then tallied up the points for each person’s fantasy team.  Confusing?  Okay, most people were a little confused, but it was fun and I understood what was going on:)

Heather was able to spend a few days before and after the retreat with me in Santiago.  I got to play tour guide and show her some of my favorite spots in the city (which mostly consisted of food and shopping).  She was able to visit my Chilean church too!  It was great getting to introduce her to all of my friends.

I am so glad that her husband is a softie and booked her a ticket as soon as I asked him if she could comeJ  We had a great visit!  And saying good-bye was not as terrible as I expected it to be.  Oh, I cried, but I know that I am where I am supposed to be for this time and I will be hugging my family very soon!

The Rubin (Mark, Jennifer, Matias, Micah, Juliana, and Kendra) and Garcia (Pedro, Stephanie, Eva, Isabel, Owen, Ian, and Alec) families invited me to join them on their vacation to Pucon in southern Chile.  I went back and forth for weeks over the decision.  It sounded like it would be a lot of fun to join them but I had so many things to do and what would people think of the missionary taking a second vacation…In the end my student for the summer requested the week off so he could go to camp with his youth group, so at the last minute I decided to go to Pucon.

I won’t “bore” you with the crazy story of acquiring my ticket to fly to Temuco (a city an hour and a half north of Pucon), but I will say-be thankful you can book and pay for a ticket online…So on Monday I flew to Temuco to meet up with the Rubins and Garcias, who had driven to Pucon (about 9 hours driving time) the day before, for a little vacation.

“Anyone who hasn’t been in the Chilean forest doesn’t know this planet.”

(Pablo Neruda-The Chilean Forest)

Southern Chile is astonishing!  I just kept thinking…I could live here!  This region of Chile is called the lake region.  Unlike the Finger Lakes in New York, where I grew up, these lakes are surrounded not only by forests, but by mountains and volcanoes too.  Everywhere you look it is absolutely breathtaking.

We stayed in a cabin about 30 minutes outside of Pucon.  It probably wasn’t very many miles outside of Pucon but when you have to drive off the main road down a dirt road to another dirt road and then down a tractor path to get to your cabin, it takes about 30 minutes.  We were in the country-no other houses in sight.  Next to the cabin was a cow pasture.  Behind the cabin was a river for fishing and swimming.  Surrounding us was the Chilean forest just waiting to be explored.  I could live here!

Tuesday was “girls day out.”  Jenn, Stephanie, Eva, Isabel, Juliana, and I headed to Pucon for some shopping.  We enjoyed the day wandering the quaint streets of Pucon and checking out all kinds of the artisan shops.  I could live here!

Wednesday, all 14 of us took a trip up Volcan Villarrica (Villarrica Volcano).  We drove as far up the volcano as we could and then got out to hike a little.  I asked the older kids if they thought we could make it all the way to the snow.  Apparently they liked that idea too because we did hike all the way to the snow.  (Now keep in mind that these kids have not seen or touched snow in years.)  We had a bit of a snowball fight and even got to do some sledding with a make-shift sled someone had left there.  I don’t know who had more fun-the kids or me!  Once we descended the volcano, we went back into town for lunch.  We stopped at a little hot dog stand.  I doubt that this hot dog stand ever had so much business in one hour.  I also doubt that many people on that street had ever seen children from Haiti or the Sudan.  Let’s just say-our group made quite a commotion, but every second of it was enjoyable!  I could live here!

Thursday was cooler, so we all decided to head to Termas de Quimey Co.  Termas are hot springs.  This particular terma had three different pools: each pool was a different temperature.  I was even treated to a chocolate facial.  Some might doubt it, but even with nine children, it was a fun and relaxing day.  I could live here!

Friday, the guys let the ladies go out again.  This time Matias was the only kid that joined us.  We went to the town of Villarrica.  Villarrica had many artisan shops as well, particularly those selling items from the Mapuche Indians.  There were so many beautifully handcrafted wood items that I could have very quickly furnished several houses.  (Don’t worry-I kept in mind that I do not have a house to furnish and I do have to figure out how to get all of these things into two suitcases and a carry on for the flight back to the States.)  I could live here!

Saturday, it was time to head back to Santiago.  Pedro, Stephanie, Eva, and Isabel got up before the sun to take me to the airport.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and volcanoes as we drove to Temuco.  Unfortunately, the closer we got to Temuco, the harder it was to see the sun due to the fog.  You guessed it-my flight was delayed, and delayed, and delayed for 3 hours.  The Garcias dutifully stayed with me through all of the delays.  (At least the café was open and had free wifi!)  Eventually, we were able to take off.

I’m so glad that I went to Pucon!  It was a great time relaxing and enjoying two great families!

Warning-I am about to commit a missionary faux pas.  No, this is not going to be one of my humorous stories about bumbling things; it is going to be a post about my present struggles.

I love Chile.  I love the people of Chile.  I love my Chilean church and all of the believers that gather at “El Bosque” every week.  I love the ministry that God has called me to here at SCA.  I love my teammates on the ABWE Chile field team.  I am blessed by God to be here and to have the privilege to serve Him in Chile.

I do love it, but I’m not going to lie…it is hard.  It is hard to be so far away from my family.  It is hard to be so far away from my friends.  It is hard to live life in a haze of confusion-not understanding what is being said or how you are expected to act and respond to things.  Some days it is just plain hard!

Sunday can be the most anticipated and the most dreaded day of my week.  I love being with the other believers.  I find great joy in seeing them worship, bare one another’s burdens, and rejoice in one another’s victories.  I appreciate so many in my church who try week after week to talk with me, those who help me learn more Spanish, those who correct my grammar, and those who encourage me to keep trying.  But Sundays can be very hard.  It is a struggle to sit through church week after week, unable to truly sing the songs, understand the praises and prayer requests in their entirety, or even get the point of the message.  About half way through the service I find myself wavering between wanting to cry in frustration or to start laughing at my own inability. 

It is a huge struggle to not be able to truly take part in corporate worship.  I miss singing.  I miss praying with others.  I miss being able to give God the glory for what He has done in my life.  I miss learning from His word.  I miss being able to share what I have learned from His word and encouraging others with it.  So often, I just feel trapped with no way to express myself.

I am very thankful for online Christian radio and my churches that post the weekly sermons online.  It is very helpful.  But it can never replace worshiping with a group of believers.

I’m struggling with not having a good friend here with me.  It was such a blessing to have Bethanne just a few steps away whenever I needed to talk to someone.  She was going through the same things I was going through, she understood me, she listened to me, and she encouraged me.  She was the “sister” I needed here with me.  It has been really difficult without her.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I miss my family desperately.  I am so excited that my sister, Heather, will be coming down in a few weeks to visit me and to minister to the ABWE field team.  I can’t wait to show her around “my city” and let her see why I love it.  But I pray for the courage, strength, and grace to say goodbye to her at the end of the visit and not get on plane with her.

Please, don’t misunderstand this…I do not regret in anyway following the Lord’s leading to come to Chile.  I could not image a better choice for my life than being here where He wants me to be.  He is growing me through this experience and using me here.  There is great joy in it!

 So why would I post this?  No, I do not want your pity.  I pray that my honesty will help you understand what missionaries go through and that this understanding will help you become a more committed prayer warrior for me, for other missionaries, and for all of your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.