Learning Spanish at Rio Grande Bible Institute
Intercultural Studies
Whew! We’ve been making big waves in the deep end of the pool of Spanish language acquisition. We’ve been traversing through grammar, conversation, and phonetics classes at a supersonic pace to cover all the necessary material in a year. Our daily schedule is intensely-structured: 4 hours of classes in the morning, followed by an hour of lunch during which we practice Spanish in the cafeteria alongside Latino students. In the afternoons, the two of us alternate 1-hour tutoring sessions while the other parent stays home with Summer to focus on homework. After our structured learning time, it’s time to pick up the other kids from school, and occasionally finish the day with various Bible studies, dinners, sports, rounding out a full day of education and Joseph-level social fulfillment.
While most of our classes are separate due to being in different levels, there was one day we combined for Conversations class!
“El Nacimiento de Jesús” featuring Bryan as, indeed, Joseph
Life on Campus
Each week we feel more at home in our campus bubble. There are lots of social events and opportunities for us to connect with teachers, tutors, and other students, while simultaneously working our language-and-culture muscles. From birthday parties and sports tournaments to movie nights and prayer meetings, the time is filled with events and ministry work that help us practice Spanish and form friendships. Our kids cherish the newfound freedom to bike around the small, enclosed campus and relish playing on our quiet street with a dozen niños their age, kicking soccer balls and shooting water guns.
Rio Grande Bible Institute student body (plus kids) squeezing onto the chapel stage!
Kids’ School Update
After a rough start to the school year, we’re praising God for the giants our kids faced and have overcome. The first many weeks were a trial-by-fire for them, with struggles in rule-following, completing assignments, and finding a social footing. But they are now enjoying it more; they’ve made new friends, attended birthday parties, and are starting to spend time with classmates outside of school. Our daily 15-minute drive to and from school has also been a cool blessing in disguise, a routine chance for us catch up, practice Spanish, and pray with them.
Daddy-daughter(s) dance for Elia and Sophia
Kids’ School Year Changes
Nonetheless, we are planning to mix it up again in the fall. Bryan, who will graduate from the language program this May, will take a lighter course load of Bible classes next semester in order to homeschool the kids in the mornings. That will give us more flexibility, more family time, and a faster academic pace as needed. Plus, we are looking to have a native Spanish speaker to serve as a tutor for them each day since they currently don’t have any Spanish education. This should give them more language practice and time on campus with friends.
How to Pray
Thank you for your continued prayers, support, encouragement; it’s been a tremendous blessing every time we receive updates, see pictures, and hear voices from base camp. God is so caring and good and has made this transition to school really amazing. Here are some ways you can be praying with us:
Answered Prayers
The kids doing much better in school than before! This concern has waned a lot thanks to your prayers and notes encouragement to our kids.
We’ve had countless conversations in Spanish already, and now that we know a lot of names and basics about friends here, we’ve been able to talk about more and grow those relationships and our functional vocabulary.
Upcoming Petitions
The second half of our semester, to continue understanding as material becomes more difficult.
Good closure for graduation, and saying goodbyes to classmates for Bryan and for the older 3 kids in their school.
Our travel plans set for the end of May to spend 2 months of the summer in Mazatlán helping out our teammates with Shoulder to Shoulder.
Preparations at STS for a busy season of missions teams!
Preparations for the start of another chapter of STS in Tepic which is ~3 hours from Mazatlán.
More details to come once we get to Mazatlán, but you can keep up to date with our Facebook updates! Until then…
Grace and Peace,
The Josephs
