Dear Friends,

The last time I wrote to you I told the story about my parents and how they learned English.  It was hard for both of them and it was their story that left a mark on my own story.  Stories are an important part of being human.  Recently, I was watching a fascinating video of the composer Hans Zimmer talking about how he composes stories.  He said,  “You want to invite your audience on an adventure. You want to invite them on a journey…You have to say it’s not going to be quite what. You imagined. It’s going to be different. It’s going to be interesting.”

If I had to sum up the stories of our ESOL classes this Zimmer quote describes it perfectly.  We have had our first three classes already and we are hearing some incredible stories.  Stories of perseverance, where one of our students whose family has only been in the country less than two months, walked two hours from work to his house and then walked with his entire family to our Ministry Center just to make it to class.  Stories of curiosity: where a student inquired about whether I went to church and where he could find one that values his culture and language. Or stories of the kids who attend with their parents, who hardly speak any English themselves. They told us funny stories and we laughed, played, and drew silly things together.

The stories came flying out and they were interesting, heartbreaking, and different.  This is what it is like to be an ESOL volunteer, but not only at ESOL, there are so many stories happening here at the Ministry Center.  Whether it is being part of our English classes, being a fellow, participating in our Conversations about Transforming and Malforming Christianity, our numerous offerings of working through race and reconciliation with the Repentance Project or working with us together with our partners to ensure the community in South Arlington is fed, led and known, stories are happening.

Will you join our adventures and be part of the journey? It may not be quite what you imagined it to be but it is so worth it.  If so, connect with me at chris@inthecoracle.org or let’s grab lunch.

In Christ,
Chris