I am currently writing you from a cafe in Vinh, Vietnam! After all of our prayers and planing, I'm finally here! It was an interesting trip. It went faster than I expected that it would. We arrived on Wednesday, and got moved into our place. We're staying in 4 separate rooms on one floor of a building, and we share a kitchen and a common area.
We've visited the markets and gotten some supplies together. We made our first few meals at home, and we eat out a lot. The food is great. One of my favorite foods is eel soup.
The people here are really nice. Our administrators are easy to work with and very helpful. We start teaching on Wednesday, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Thank you all for your prayers and your continued support. I'm looking forward to continuing to tell you all about it and how faithful God is to us.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Now it's time to say goodbye to friends and family...
This is it! The big day has arrived! We're leaving tonight for Viet Nam!! I'm very excited, but at the same time, I'm going to miss everyone. Training has been excellent. I've learned a lot about myself and my team and my God. I know that I can do this, not by my strength, but by His.
I'd like to mention a few prayer requests before I head out:
1) Travelling Mercies
2) I'm still about $7000 behind in my account. I know God will provide what I need. Pray and see if He might be trying to use you to bring that about. I'd love to share that with you.
3) My degree still isn't finished. I've hit another roadblock with getting it done, but I was given a good idea as to how to get around it. Please continue to pray that my professor will show grace in this.
4) Team Unity
Thank you all for supporting me with your prayers and your gifts. God is blessing me through you, and will bless my students, too.
I look forward to sharing my first impressions of Viet Nam with you by the end of the week!
I'd like to mention a few prayer requests before I head out:
1) Travelling Mercies
2) I'm still about $7000 behind in my account. I know God will provide what I need. Pray and see if He might be trying to use you to bring that about. I'd love to share that with you.
3) My degree still isn't finished. I've hit another roadblock with getting it done, but I was given a good idea as to how to get around it. Please continue to pray that my professor will show grace in this.
4) Team Unity
Thank you all for supporting me with your prayers and your gifts. God is blessing me through you, and will bless my students, too.
I look forward to sharing my first impressions of Viet Nam with you by the end of the week!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
TEFL is Over!
I took my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) final today! I think I did very well and will pass easily. This will earn me my certification as an EFL teacher! It's been a very busy month, and everything is winding down to our departure Monday night. I've recieved my itinerary and thought you would all like to know the details so here they are:
We're leaving WCIU Monday night, but our flight doesn't leave until 1:15 AM Tuesday morning. We'll be flying to Taipei, Taiwan then on to Ha Noi, Viet Nam. One of our administrators will be meeting us in Ha Noi to escort us to Vinh. It's going to be a 2-3 day journey, and while I'll probably be tired, I love to travel, so this will be great.
Please pray for our team as we depart, and that we will be able to handle the culture shock well. I am still about $7000 in the hole, but I know that God works in His time, not mine, so please continue to pray that He shows Himself in my support raising as well.
Now, as promised...
PICTURES!!
This is Joel. He'll be my roommate this year.
This is Mary. She was our temporary regional director for training, and the only person to stay in Vinh the entire year. She's a wonderful soul, and quite the lady for sticking it out like that.
Here's a fun picture of Lisa (on the left) and Adrianna (on the right). They're both going to De Nang. They're real fun-lovin' gals!
This Tyler with the hatchet. He was doing a skit about differences in beliefs among Christians and what people find essential vs. negotiable. I had to put it up here for all the ladies to see.
We're leaving WCIU Monday night, but our flight doesn't leave until 1:15 AM Tuesday morning. We'll be flying to Taipei, Taiwan then on to Ha Noi, Viet Nam. One of our administrators will be meeting us in Ha Noi to escort us to Vinh. It's going to be a 2-3 day journey, and while I'll probably be tired, I love to travel, so this will be great.
Please pray for our team as we depart, and that we will be able to handle the culture shock well. I am still about $7000 in the hole, but I know that God works in His time, not mine, so please continue to pray that He shows Himself in my support raising as well.
Now, as promised...
PICTURES!!
This is Joel. He'll be my roommate this year.
This is Mary. She was our temporary regional director for training, and the only person to stay in Vinh the entire year. She's a wonderful soul, and quite the lady for sticking it out like that.
Here's a fun picture of Lisa (on the left) and Adrianna (on the right). They're both going to De Nang. They're real fun-lovin' gals!
This Tyler with the hatchet. He was doing a skit about differences in beliefs among Christians and what people find essential vs. negotiable. I had to put it up here for all the ladies to see.
Here's a picture of my team going to Vinh. We painted our faces like the Vietnamese flag for Team Unity Day.
This is Su Cheng. She's one of our practicum students. Even though she still wasn't fluent after our class, I'm really proud of her. She is hard of hearing and has very poor vision, but she tried her hardest to learn English. She's always so happy and she brought her 3 grandchildren with her to practicum.
Speaking of her grandchildren, this is Clarence. He was a very energetic kid (read: crazy!), and it was hard to find a good fit for him in practicum. He speaks English pretty well, but he wasn't very comfortable in the class setting, so he liked to have fun (read: cause trouble ;-D) He could be a nice kid though, and hey... at least he's cute. ;-D
Here's a video of what the culture is like in Viet Nam as told by our returning alums Mary, Tyler, and Dawn.
Ok, so that's all I can put up right now, but I wanted to show you all what we've been doing this month. God is molding us into the teachers he wants us to be, and I know that we'll do our best to do right by Him.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Things are a-brewin'!
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to put something up here to let you know that things have been really busy here. Training is winding down, but our "team time" is becoming more important than ever. Please keep praying for my team and all the other groups going out around the world.
I should have some pictures up here soon. I've taken so many that getting them online is quite the task.
I'll post more details as I can.
I just wanted to put something up here to let you know that things have been really busy here. Training is winding down, but our "team time" is becoming more important than ever. Please keep praying for my team and all the other groups going out around the world.
I should have some pictures up here soon. I've taken so many that getting them online is quite the task.
I'll post more details as I can.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Great is His Faithfulness
Hello to all my friends and family!
I wanted to take a moment out of this busy training schedule to tell everyone a little more about what's been going on the last two weeks.
My experience here with TeachOverseas is like nothing I've ever done before. It's an intense program. They're training us to be excellent English teachers in just 4 weeks, and if that weren't a big enough task, we're also being taught things about how TeachOverseas works, what will be expected of us in our countries, about the culture and language (I can count to 99 in Vietnamese), about each other, and about ourselves.
God has taught me a lot about who I am, who I am capable of being, and who He wants me to be in Him. The entire process of preparing to go, then being here has been one that has stretched my faith. I got into the game really late. I got signed up in May, and decided to go in June, and as training started at the end of July, that has not been a lot of time to raise support or prepare myself emotionally and spiritually, but God has guided me to being a part of an organization that truly exemplifies the meaning of grace.
"We are a grace organization." That's a phrase we hear a lot here at training. There are teachers here that have served with TeachOverseas for at least a year, some more, that have fallen. They've given in to temptations and struggles, but rather than cut their ties, this group takes these people in. They show forgiveness, mercy, and grace like no other organization I've ever seen. Whether it's being short on funds (me) or falling in sin, TeachOverseas extends as much grace as it can to anyone that it can. On top of that, this is the type of grace that resonates with the Holy Spirit in my heart. Rather than feel that one can take advantage of this grace to do the minimum or to run off and do wrong things because you know you'll be forgiven, this place makes me feel like it would hurt them so very much to be taken advantage of. It's a feeling of true grace that exemplifies Christ's heart for us.
My teammates and I have been growing even closer together over the last two weeks, as well. They go out of their way to be encouraging and uplifting, and it's not some fake thing either. I really feel like these people care. Everyone is acting on God's call to their life.
I feel that I've truly been called to this year of service overseas, too. God has given everyone gifts, and He's guided me to a place where I have found a fit unlike any I've tried in recent memory. I'm being given the opportunity to flex my teaching abilities, and it turns out that it's a pretty natural thing for me to be doing. I feel confident and comfortable in front of my classes, (we've been teaching since our first real day of training) and everyone that has been observing me has made comments that I'm very professional and a natural. That's not to say I'm perfect, though. I'm still learning how to relate all sorts of concepts to these students and to my students in Vinh, but it's a great opportunity and I really enjoy being able to teach. All of your prayers have really helped me through.
That being said, I do have an urgent need that I'd like to pass along. I still need $8400 to cover my year teaching. There is a bare minimum that TeachOverseas requires to have been raised before we leave, but they don't tell us what that is, so I can't say whether I'll have reached that or not before it's too late, but I believe that God is faithful in everything, and having called me to this, He will complete His work in me. I'd like to be able to partner with you in this dream. Please pray and consider whether or not you would be able to help. Any amount, big or small, would be an answer to prayer. If you want to help, but are unable to right now, pray and ask God if He is leading you to pledging a monthly amount. Small amounts over the 10 months of service can add up, and I'd be so grateful if you'd take the time to pray to see if God might be calling you to share in this with me. If you want to support my teaching in Vietnam, please do the following things: 1) PRAY, PRAY, PRAY 2) Send any gift that the Lord may lead you to give to:
I wanted to take a moment out of this busy training schedule to tell everyone a little more about what's been going on the last two weeks.
My experience here with TeachOverseas is like nothing I've ever done before. It's an intense program. They're training us to be excellent English teachers in just 4 weeks, and if that weren't a big enough task, we're also being taught things about how TeachOverseas works, what will be expected of us in our countries, about the culture and language (I can count to 99 in Vietnamese), about each other, and about ourselves.
God has taught me a lot about who I am, who I am capable of being, and who He wants me to be in Him. The entire process of preparing to go, then being here has been one that has stretched my faith. I got into the game really late. I got signed up in May, and decided to go in June, and as training started at the end of July, that has not been a lot of time to raise support or prepare myself emotionally and spiritually, but God has guided me to being a part of an organization that truly exemplifies the meaning of grace.
"We are a grace organization." That's a phrase we hear a lot here at training. There are teachers here that have served with TeachOverseas for at least a year, some more, that have fallen. They've given in to temptations and struggles, but rather than cut their ties, this group takes these people in. They show forgiveness, mercy, and grace like no other organization I've ever seen. Whether it's being short on funds (me) or falling in sin, TeachOverseas extends as much grace as it can to anyone that it can. On top of that, this is the type of grace that resonates with the Holy Spirit in my heart. Rather than feel that one can take advantage of this grace to do the minimum or to run off and do wrong things because you know you'll be forgiven, this place makes me feel like it would hurt them so very much to be taken advantage of. It's a feeling of true grace that exemplifies Christ's heart for us.
My teammates and I have been growing even closer together over the last two weeks, as well. They go out of their way to be encouraging and uplifting, and it's not some fake thing either. I really feel like these people care. Everyone is acting on God's call to their life.
I feel that I've truly been called to this year of service overseas, too. God has given everyone gifts, and He's guided me to a place where I have found a fit unlike any I've tried in recent memory. I'm being given the opportunity to flex my teaching abilities, and it turns out that it's a pretty natural thing for me to be doing. I feel confident and comfortable in front of my classes, (we've been teaching since our first real day of training) and everyone that has been observing me has made comments that I'm very professional and a natural. That's not to say I'm perfect, though. I'm still learning how to relate all sorts of concepts to these students and to my students in Vinh, but it's a great opportunity and I really enjoy being able to teach. All of your prayers have really helped me through.
That being said, I do have an urgent need that I'd like to pass along. I still need $8400 to cover my year teaching. There is a bare minimum that TeachOverseas requires to have been raised before we leave, but they don't tell us what that is, so I can't say whether I'll have reached that or not before it's too late, but I believe that God is faithful in everything, and having called me to this, He will complete His work in me. I'd like to be able to partner with you in this dream. Please pray and consider whether or not you would be able to help. Any amount, big or small, would be an answer to prayer. If you want to help, but are unable to right now, pray and ask God if He is leading you to pledging a monthly amount. Small amounts over the 10 months of service can add up, and I'd be so grateful if you'd take the time to pray to see if God might be calling you to share in this with me. If you want to support my teaching in Vietnam, please do the following things: 1) PRAY, PRAY, PRAY 2) Send any gift that the Lord may lead you to give to:
Harvest Bible Chapel: Rockford
4320 Spring Creek Rd.
Rockford, IL 61107
Attn: Mike Warren
Please make any checks out to: Harvest Bible Chapel: Rockford
Please put 207159 in the memo section or it might not be tax deductible, but otherwise, all donations are tax-deductible.
To those who are my prayer warriors: thank you; thank you; thank you; from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Your faithful prayers have enabled me to get to this point, and I look forward to being able to rejoice with you about God's further faithfulness.
I love you all and look forward to sharing more about how God has been able to work in my life though this experience with TeachOverseas soon.
In Christ,
Kenny Warren
To those who are my prayer warriors: thank you; thank you; thank you; from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Your faithful prayers have enabled me to get to this point, and I look forward to being able to rejoice with you about God's further faithfulness.
I love you all and look forward to sharing more about how God has been able to work in my life though this experience with TeachOverseas soon.
In Christ,
Kenny Warren
Only $7000 to go! :: EDITED:: $8400
Hey everyone!
I just wanted to let everyone know that due to some generous gifts, I'm down to$7000 $8400 needed to cover my TeachOverseas costs! God is truely faithful, and I know that He supplies all my needs. Thank you all for supporting me with your prayers. I love you all!
Edit: The total is $8400 because I forgot to include the airfare to Viet Nam. Sorry, everyone!
I just wanted to let everyone know that due to some generous gifts, I'm down to
Edit: The total is $8400 because I forgot to include the airfare to Viet Nam. Sorry, everyone!
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