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 1.       Kids – Group 1 (Preschool): Angel & Tzady are siblings who travel 45 minutes twice a week to come to class.

      They are my pastor’s children, and have been my students two school years.

2.       Kids – Group 2 (1^st & 2^nd grade): Enrique & Emiliano (who is not in the picture) are in 1^st grade. They just joined us a few months ago. Jorge, Beto, & Ximena are in 2^nd grade, and have been my students two school years.

3.       Kids – Group 3 (4^th & 5^th grade): Francisco & Sergio, who are in 4^th grade were the first two student int his group. Recently, Ana Paula, who is in 4^th grade, and Rodolfo who is in 5^th, joined the group.

4.       Teens – Group 1: Jaime is in 8^th grade, and has been my student for two school years.

5.       Teens – Group 2: This is THE girls’ group! Fernanda, who was in 6^th grade, just joined the group. Nora, Karla, & Daniela were in 7^th grade, and have been with me two school years.

6.       Teens – Group 3: This is a guys group. Arturo was in 8^th grade, and has been my student for three semesters. Marcelo and Jorge were in 10^th grade. They were my students for one semester.

7.       Teens – Group 4: Another GIRLS group. Cecy was my student for three semesters and just graduated from high school. Carolina was my student for two semesters, and is moving to the US for a year. Melissa and Ana are cousins. They were both in 9^th grade, and were my students this school year.

8.       Teens – Group 5: These are 8^th grade students.*

9.       Teens – Group 6: These are 10^th grade students. *

10.   Teens – Group 7: These are 11^th grade students. *

11.   Adults – Group 8: Sebastian, who enrolled in April, is the only adult I had by the time the school year ended. (No picture)

*Special Groups: Some of my regular students have asked me to open new groups to help them with their school work, explain what they didn’t understand well, and prepare them for their exams. They have also invited other classmates.

In my morning job, students got off in May, but even though classes were over, I was asked to develop and teach the preparation course for the newcomers. Although it was a lot of work to do in a week, God was good and everything turned out well. I was happy with the results, and the school was very pleased with my work, too.

June was a packed month:

It was almost 2 pm on June 1^st. I was on my way to work and a guy didn’t stop at a stop sign, so he hit me hard on the left side. Although my neck and back were injured, I was grateful it had not been anything bigger. I did have to wear a neck brace for 20 days though. It was such a pain! It was too hot here to wear something like that for so long!

A week before I was almost hit by a drunk guy, but thank God he saw me right before he was going to crash with me. I was about to go into the school’s parking lot, but I stopped to let one of my students go first. As I was waiting to turn, the guy threw out the window some beer bottles, and since he was so angry at my student, he wasn’t paying attention to the road while he was cursing at her. I got REALLY scared, because he was driving straight toward me and I wasn’t able to go anywhere. I was just waiting for the crash. Right before he was going to hit me, he looked ahead, saw me, and missed me.

Also in June:

Nicole was here for a few days in the beginning of the month. It was so good to have her! It almost seemed unreal though. It was something we had talked about so many times over the years that we couldn’t believe it was actually happening! We had a great time. She flew into Monterrey on a Thursday, and Dad drove her down here. God worked it out that I got off work early, so we were able to spend a few hours just talking. In the evening, Mom, Dad, Nicole, and I went to eat some really good tacos.

I had asked permission to take Friday off to go see a doctor to help with my neck and back pain from the crash, and since Nicole had been to Mexico before, but had never been to Monterrey, we drove up to Monterrey for the day. We stopped at a couple of places on our way there: the doctor’s, and another place along the highway where we bought Mexican souvenirs. We continued our trip, got downtown and shopped around. Later in the day, we met with my sister and went to the movies. After dinner we drove back to Linares.

In Linares, I took Nicole to my little ESL school so she could see what I do, and also to Sigi’s shop so she could meet him. She took some pictures of my place, which I don’t think I had done before. I had only taken pictures of my students, but I’ll take the chance now to show you what it looks like…

                                                                                        Sigi's shop is next to mine.J

Later in the day, our family had a cook out at the property where we are going to live, which is right outside of town.

End of June:

I wrapped up English Corner’s school year with a Parent Presentation on the 29^th. I rented a facility and fifteen students, including Preschool, Elementary, and some Junior High School students, had a part in it. The parents really enjoyed it.

July – September:

I quit my morning job as the school year ended, July 7^th. I enjoyed two months off work, which were really great because I was able to do a lot of wedding planning. I got back to work on September 4^th, with no students enrolled for the school year. I knew that 4 of them weren’t coming back because they had moved: An eight-year-old student moved because of his mom’s job; two high school students moved to the US for a school year; and another one moved to Monterrey after graduating from high school, but I had no idea about the other twenty-six.

God is good though. During the first week, seven new students enrolled, and thirteen alumni came back; three of the seven new students are preschool children who enrolled as a result of the Parent Presentation in June.

Final Words:

Thank you all for your patience in reading such a long update. J This is what’s happened in the past 7 months… I just hope it doesn’t take me very long to post my next update. God bless you all!