I retired from teaching over five years ago. However, teaching is still in my blood. Since retiring I have twice gone to the African country of Malawi to teach in the pastoral training program there. At the end of August this year I went to another African country to teach, Togo. When I told people I was going to Togo, they would typically look a little confused. I would have to explain to them that Togo is in West Africa.…
Continue Reading “Teaching Leaders in the African Country of Togo”
During my time in Malawi I attended four different churches. Last week I shared about the first two churches I attended. The third Sunday started a bit earlier than the other two. That week rather than stay in Lilongwe, we went to a church in a rural part of the country. We also took along all the Bible School students to observe the church service. So 16 of us piled into the van and headed out. We didn’t get very…
Continue Reading “Four Sundays in Malawi, Four Unique Churches: Part Two”
When I visited Malawi in January of 2020, I was only able to visit one church, the one on the school campus. This time I wanted to make it a priority to visit different churches so each of the four Sundays I was there, my friend Bern and I visited a different church. Let me say some things in general about churches in Malawi. First of all as a visitor, the churches always treated me very well. They gave me…
Continue Reading “Four Sundays in Malawi, Four Unique Churches: Part One”
The first time I visited Lilongwe, Malawi was In January of 2020. I enjoyed my visit and had a great experience. This time when I visited Lilongwe, my experience wasn’t so great. It was not the people or the activities I had that made it less enjoyable. It was really aspects of the weather. In January I arrived during the rainy season, and it did rain. However, I am used to rain living in the Seattle area so it didn’t…
Continue Reading “The Challenges of October in Lilongwe, Malawi”
When I arrived in the Dominican Republic in 1974 to teach, I was able to get around pretty well with public transportation. To get to school and back, the school provided a van that picked up the teachers each morning. However, after two years, the school decided to leave the transportation to and from school to the teachers. That was a bit of a hassle. A motorcycle seemed the answer. I wished that I could afford to buy a car,…
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In 1974 I moved to the Dominican Republic to teach in a school. However, my presence there was under the guidance of the Free Methodist Church so being a part of the church was an expected part of my responsibilities there. It was in the church that I really encountered much of the cultural challenges that I had in the country. While teaching I worked mostly with American adults. At the church I was with Dominicans. I had much to…
Continue Reading “Church Life Challenges in the Dominican Republic”
I went to the Dominican Republic in 1974 to teach. Santiago Christian School (SCS) hired me to teach 5th and 6th grades. The school was an English speaking school that had been started to teach the children of missionaries in the area. However, over time that focus expanded, and the school admitted anyone who wanted instruction in English. It became an international school while maintaining its Christian perspective. The students at the school came from a number of different backgrounds.…
Continue Reading “Multicultural Experiences Teaching in the Dominican Republic”
In 1974 I moved to the Dominican Republic. I lived there for almost four years. The journey began when I graduated from college in 1973. I had a teaching degree but so did a lot of other Baby Boomers. Finding a teaching job was tough. I ended up subbing that first year out of college. What I really wanted to do was teach overseas, but every school I looked at wanted teaching experience which I obviously didn’t have. One day…
Continue Reading “Life Changing Experiences Living in the Dominican Republic”
Having left Hong Kong behind us, we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan in mid-afternoon. While we arrived in the capital city, we were not going to stay there long. We would be going south to the city of Kaohsiung for most of our time in Taiwan. Following a meal at the church in Taipei, we participated in a church service that evening. When the service was over, we headed to the train station. We would be traveling by train to the…
Having been in the ancient city of Cairo, Egypt and seen the rural center of India, we now headed for the big city of Hong Kong. Here was another opportunity to experience and learn about a different culture and peoples. In 1971 Hong Kong was in a building mode. Having been to Hong Kong recently, I saw the many apartment buildings which now look old and outdated. In 1971 it seemed construction was common as the population was growing. Because…
