Background!

About 5 or 6 years ago, God put a burden on my heart to minister to internationals in the Madison area. Since I didn't speak a foreign language, I didn't know how I was going to do that. My first thought was to learn Spanish, and I started to teach myself taking an online course and using materials at the library. I didn't get very far. Then in the spring of 2006, our Director of Missions shared an opportunity to attend an ESL workshop, where I could learn to share the gospel as I taught English to adults. He assured me that I didn't need to speak a foreign language and I didn't need to be a professional teacher. So I went. By the first break of that workshop, I knew this was the ministry that God was calling me to!

In the fall of 2006, we started an English as a Second Language ministry at Prairie Springs Church. Over the course of that first year, we saw 30-plus new students, and ministered to about a dozen each week. The next year, classes doubled in size...until winter hit. That's when I realized it isn't really about the numbers. In those smaller classes, our students really opened up with us and shared with us their struggles and my compassion grew.

With a need for more teachers, God showed me more of His plan...to help share this ministry opportunity with others and equip them to reach out to internationals in their communities. So this past summer I was blessed to attend the Literacy Missions Leadership Workshop in Oklahoma put on by the North American Mission Board. What a joy it is to be able to help others discover their calling and encourage them to pursue it!

This fall of 2008, we started our 3rd year of classes at Prairie Springs. I have students that I consider good friends now, and being with them is the highlight of my week! Over these past few years, we've had students from many different countries...in Latin America, as well as China, Thailand, and Laos. The world really is at our doorstep...what will we do?

I hope to share some of my experiences here, and pray that anyone who desires to find out more about literacy missions will contact me: cjette_esl@yahoo.com!