Finishing our first courses

Last Friday and Saturday, respectively, we managed to finish the first two courses (Introduction to New Testament/Wendy, and Introduction to Christian Theology/Adrian), with students at the Gambia Theological Institute (GTI).

Our GCC classroom

Wendy teaching

Praise God with us, as everything went smoothly, and we have not found it difficult to translate skills acquired in teaching in Nigeria, for this new setting in West Africa. And thank you to all who prayed with us; the Lord heard and answered us!

We have enjoyed working with the GTI students, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds! Although some have barely finished high school, others have finished teacher’s college and are working as teachers; most are pastors or working in some kind of Christian ministry, though we also have two lawyers.

Three students

We have discovered that they are not shy in class, and ask lots of questions, just like our students in Nigeria. That is a blessings, for we quickly got a sense of whether or not what we were teaching was helpful and appropriate.

Mary

Room overview

By God’s grace, we hope to begin the second set of courses (Augustine’s Confessions/Wendy, and Christology/Adrian) by mid-November, when we return from Nigeria.

So we would ask you to pray with us for safety in the travelling planned for the next two weeks, as we hope to visit Nigeria (leaving November 4, to return to the Gambia on the 16th). Our main concern is to work with our Unijos graduate students.

Please pray for constructive sessions as we help them more effectively than just by email. Pray also for colleagues at the University of Jos, both our IICS colleagues who continue their ministry in that context, as well as our Nigerian colleagues, who carry on their work under considerable obstacles, whether provision of light, water and internet, as well as ethnic/religion tension, which can still so easily erupt in violence.