The leaders of this Journey Corps team are pretty awesome. We have five leaders over the age of 35 and four (give or take depending on the week) leaders who are our age and have just done a year or two in the program.
Our French teacher is amazing and very good at what he does. Timothé is Ivoirian, has a pretty cool wife named Leah and they are both only in their late 20’s. We actually had two french teachers for a while; Timothé has been my teacher. One class is for those who knew a ton of French already and the other is for beginners. The second teacher is a Frenchman named Benjamin (also late 20’s), but he will only be staying with us for a little while longer. They are both doing a great job of immersing us into French so that we can learn the language well and quickly. I really look forward to being “comfortable” in French as Steph put it once. I had French many years ago in High school, but most of what I learned then has been completely forgotten. It is not that amazing remembering things and expanding on that. I have been truly amazed, though, at how quickly the other Americans have been picking up the language. I was the only one who had any French at all, and yet in just four weeks they are understanding whole sentences, telling whole stories in French and learning a ton every single day. They inspire me to push harder to advance in French as do the Ivoirians living on campus with us.
Rod Ragsdale, kind of the chief of Journey Corps, has been in this country for a very long time. He actually grew up here for the most part as a missionary kid. He knows all of the ins and outs of the culture, is fluent in a couple of languages spoken here (there are 66 in all) and has a wealth of knowledge that he imparts at just the right time. But don’t let all of this fool you, he loves to tease and joke around. It is so funny when he does too. Sometimes you can’t tell whether he is being serious or joking, except for that little twinkle in his eye, as he is joking. When people fall for the joke he gets this look that is just priceless, I don’t think I could describe this look though. Angelika, his wife is really awesome too. She is German, a nurse and has a “we can do this” attitude about just about everything. She is a total sweetheart also, she loves people and truly cares about us doing well here and staying healthy.
Phil Bjorklund was a missionary in Rowanda for many years, once he and his wife moved back to the states they worked with college students all over the country. He has also taught at seminary and is a very knowledgeable and effective teacher especially when it comes to the bible. He has a real heart for helping and guiding the next generation. He also enjoys jokes, funny video clips and listening to and telling stories. Phil is about the same age as my Dad. Mimi (short for Miriam), is his wife. She also has a heart for the next generation and preparing them for the work that God has for them in any context. She has training as a counselor and truly just wants to be there for us through the good and the tough things alike.
I feel that this blog is getting a little too long, so next time I will introduce our peer leaders, (although one of them is leaving just next week :( and share what we do on a typical week day.
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