Teaching and Learning

                Our week is pretty much summed up in this picture. We started teaching a BSEP review class to soldiers here at Camp Casey and it has been a full week of learning on both sides. Discovering how these soldiers learn best has been key as we have made adjustments daily to our intended plans to adapt to the responses of the soldiers.

            

                We learned on Tuesday that the biggest deficit of the majority of the soldiers was in math so we adjusted the amount of time we devoted to math extending it to two-thirds instead of one-half. We’ve used the two-teacher model to monitor and answer questions of individual students. It is rough to see tough soldiers cower in fear when faced with a word problem. On the other hand, the smile of accomplishment after they push through the solution is awesome! Wayne is working them hard, pushing them beyond what they think they can do, and then they do it and we see their confidence grow.

                Only about a third of the soldiers have low scores in the reading and word recognition so I often face the challenge of selling why they want to follow along with my tutoring and participate in the drills. We’ve managed to keep them awake and engaged for three hours each day. That is no small feat when the Army tells them they only need four-hours of sleep and one meal a day in a combat situation. I don’t think they miss many meals, but they often are low on sleep. It’s amazing how much we love each of our soldiers and how much we want for them to really work at the drills we know can help them be successful. It seems like a bit of a parable or parallel with our Heavenly Father. I feel His coaching when I’m faced with a daunting challenge. He is the perfect tutor.

                We had three awesome stories in church that focused on being a light to others. My favorite was from our sister from Uganda. She recently took her children to see their grandparents and other family in Uganda. Her family are all Christians but had never heard of our church. On their way to church on the Sunday she was there, she passed a building she recognized as one of our chapels. There in her city in Uganda she found her church. Her family dropped her off so she could partake of the sacrament and worship with others of her nation. She is the only member of our church from Uganda in South Korea that she knows besides her husband and children. It felt good to her to know others from her country had also found the same happiness she has found in the restored Church of Jesus Christ.