Intro. and Outro

From Global Lutheran Outreach missionaries Aaron and Yeni Farrow (Serving in Valparaiso, Chile):

This month, I will as usual tell you about the last few weeks, but I will also be speaking about the much more important transition for myself and family. In addition, I will be introducing you to Axel Eliel Farrow.

My 2-year commitment will be over at the end of August. This means I will be coordinating all the logistics, documentation, fundraising to get my family back to Texas, safe and secure.

I want to thank you all for walking with me for the last two and a half years of this journey from the discovery period, language school, and my time here in Chile.

Introducing Axel Eliel Farrow

May 28th, 2020 Axel was born here at around 5 a.m. at Van Buren hospital here in Valparaiso, Chile. He weighed in around 3260 grams which if you are an ‘mercan like me means absolutely nothing (7 lbs. 2 oz). He is healthy, active, and strong willed.

Yenifer is doing good as well. She had a C-section which has its own challenges. Her pregnancy was not easy, with her on bed rest going back to February. As you might expect the last month has been a journey. My wife and I are learning and finding our rhythm.

I used to wonder what people meant when they said it changes your life. I’ll be honest, I haven’t laughed much in the last 20 years. I find myself looking in his eyes and doing so for no reason. He probably thinks I am a jerk for laughing while he wines.

Yeni and I are truly thankful for everyone’s support in Facebook, the kind messages we received, and support for our family and mission.

Participation Integration and Collaboration

Back in March when I was setting up our individual workshops to develop the professors, I created an accompanying document titled P.I.C. as a document that clearly defined the broader vision of our Faith Formation programming.

A brief synopsis of P.I.C. Participation, Integration, and Collaboration) Participation, has to do with our pedagogy. Participatory lesson planning revolves around creating activities exercises that involves students in the learning process. Instead of question and answer sessions, students are challenged to synthesize their learning into a poem, song, or a diagram that correctly proves their level of understanding. It is a great way to show ourselves and our community that we are learning.

Integration on the other hand is how we share our resources and creativity. This occurs during planning for the most part. In our context, becoming acclimated with using a cloud drive with shared documents, using forms and rubrics etc. Furthermore, knowing how to navigate and interpret them.

Finally, Collaboration is the goal of connecting the Church and our Pastors directly with our families at the school.

Thanks to a gift from one our partners, (James K). we were able to get a good camera and Pastor Juan Pablo is producing videos like this to include in our home study curriculum. The mission of our church is to deliver people to the altar so that they can know the Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is not going to happen if our students haven’t familiarized themselves with their Pastor. Having a system where the team can Integrate and collaborate digitally makes it all possible. This might seem like second nature to many of you. Here, this was a dramatic shift in thinking.

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