Well, once again we are very behind on blogging, so, a week after the fact, I wanted to let you know how the CBSI (Community Bible Study International) seminar went. First, in case you don't know, we were asked by Margre, the regional director, to help her out with their bi-yearly?? conference. This originally meant that Heather was going to take pictures of the event. A little later, it expanded into Heather taking pictures and creating a collage while I ran the powerpoint. And, finally, we were both asked, along with our other duties, to run one of the workshop groups - in Dutch.
The pictures and the collage thing are second nature for Heather. And after the powerpoint was designed, the job consisted of pushing a button (a job even I am capable of dong). But running a seminar in Dutch? The idea of doing this was a little intimidating.
A couple of days prior to the event, Margre came over and helped us prep, explaining what she was hoping to accomplish and giving us the instructions in Dutch and in English. She even listened while I read over the the Dutch questions for one of the games and critiqued my pronunciation - there was a lot to critique! Then she left us with a list of tasks to complete before Saturday, (around our lists of tasks to complete for Kaylie's party) and we went to work.
When Saturday morning came and picked us up in the mini-van very early, we had everything ready, but we were still nervous. These weren't kids we were going to teach; they were adults - smart adults. We said goodbye to the kids and left them, barely awake, in Ms. Sonja's capable hands, hopped in the van, and took off. I think it was a pretty long trip, but I'm not sure how long because I slept most of the way - it was an early morning. Then we set up our classroom and the powerpoint projector and were ready to go.
The worship was beautiful, and the message was very good... I assume :) And then, after a little tea and coffee break, it was time for our class. Our "students" filtered in, and we welcomed them in Dutch. They were very friendly and encouraging as we tried to explain that we didn't speak Dutch very well but that we would try. It went great, mostly because one of the students helped to translate what we were telling the group - it was kind of funny to have our Dutch interpreted into Dutch! The second group was a bit smaller than the first and so there was a little more pressure, but it also went well.
Those who participated in our group seemed to enjoy themselves and get some new ideas, and the whole seminar was a great event. We had a great time, and we were so glad to have a chance to participate. The whole goal of CBSI is to have "Everyone in the World in the Word", and there was something exciting about getting to be part of it.
We headed home late that afternoon to find Ms. Sonja had planned dinner and the kids had a fabulous time with her all day, even venturing into town. Overall, it was a fantastic day but it left us exhausted, especially after Kaylie's party the night before, and we all were in bed by 9 :)
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