Teaching English

One way I can best help the team here in Russia is simply by knowing English. We work a lot with missionaries from English speaking countries and of course the language barrier always is a problem. Before I left for America I was teaching English, not only to the team, but to a group of people on Saturdays. But now on the visa that I am on I am not allowed to work and I have to wait till I get my temporary residency to be able to make money teaching. Because of this I was not able to teach the whole group, but I decided to teach just the ICM team for free. We have been meeting in the mornings twice a week at the Light of Hope Center. So far it has been a joy teaching this group. They all are eager and willing to learn, especially my newest student Sveta, not to be confused with my fiancé, there are enough Sveta’s in Russia to populate a small country. She is a little behind the other students, but makes up for it with excitement, eagerness to learn and fearless determination. I am confident that in a year or so the team will be able to speak English, at least well enough to hold a simple conversation. I might eventually start an English movie night club to help give them practice.

I would not say that I English is the reason I am here in Russia, but I do plan on using it to glorify God. When I can I would like to start working and use the money I make to live so that I can use my support only for ministry, to maybe try to start English outreaches, and help integrate ICM Russia with the English speaking world.