Second Language Acquisition Training (aka SLA)

Jim and I are in our last week of training here at the IT(USA) office. I've been home with Kaia and he's diligently been taking notes and briefing me on the sessions when he arrives home.

A big part of what he's been learning is that as English speakers we have a specific set of sounds that we are used to making. At a very young age we learned how to make these sounds, but the cool thing is that different languages have different sets of sounds. So, as native English speakers there are whole groups of sounds that we never even learned or were exposed to...all native speakers go through this process naturally...only learning the sounds that are relevant to their native language. So, when learning a new language we try to fit the sounds of that new language into the vocabulary of sounds with which we are already familiar.

In this course, Jim is learning how to expand his vocabulary of sounds. In addition, he has learned the phonetic alphabet (which is like learning a whole new language in and of itself) as well as received several tools to better understand his learning style and how to get the most out of studying a new language. For us, that will be Spanish.

So really, the end result from this two week course is that he will walk away with a much keener ear; he is now able to decipher how a sound is produced (i.e. what part of the mouth and throat the sound is made in, where the tongue hits, etc...) by a native speaker in order to better mimic the accent and sound being made.

The instructor who teaches the course shared two short videos with the class yesterday that I thought illustrated very well the concept that is being taught through this module of training and also highlights some of the pitfalls and struggles of trying to communicate in a new language.

German Coast Guard Trainee

Practicing English Pronunciation

Our goal is to be true students of Spanish...that we would be able to pick up on the nuances of the language and really be able to speak it well in order to have more credibility and to be able to speak to the hearts of our Ecuadorian friends. The skills we've been learning really will be invaluable as we step into language school and eventually begin serving in Ecuador...

...because you know we don't want to be like the guys in these videos...even if they do make me laugh every time I see them!!

- Suzy<><

Positivity and Vulnerability

It has now been a little over a week since Kaia's arrival into this world. In looking back at the week I can honestly say that it has gone 100% better than I could ever imagine it would have. I know I've mentioned this to a few of you, but in anticipation of her arrival, I honestly had more fear and anxiety regarding the first few postpartum weeks than for the actual labor and delivery! If you know me well, you know that me + sleep deprivation = bad news...I shut down pretty quickly. So, that makes me that much more appreciative and in awe of how God has blessed us with an incredible little child that sleeps 3.5-4 hour chunks through the night! I'd say that I'm getting a minimum of 6 hours of sleep per night and sometimes more (of course it is interrupted sleep, but still...).

Overall, the whole experience of having Kaia this far has been rather humbling. We have felt so supported in prayer, through words of encouragement, and in the arrival of unexpected gifts; in short we have really felt loved. In many ways, I keep waiting for the ball to drop and for all of this to suddenly get REALLY difficult...so I keep taking one day at a time, trying not to expect that it'll be the same as the day before, but it usually is; at least close enough. So, we continue to praise God for His goodness and provision, in blessing us even through the small details of life.

But here's what you all should know about me. Through our training here at International Teams we've undergone a series of assessments and I've found out some things about myself. First, a strength of mine has been labeled as 'positivity'. It's not that I sugar coat life, but I do have the ability to look beyond a present struggle I'm in and to focus on the hope of knowing that God is with me and that He has a plan for me; He is in control. This strength is especially apparent when I'm relating with others and the situations of their lives. You can find an example of how positivity played out in Jesus's life in John 16:20-24 when Jesus comforts His disciples: reminding them that the end of the story is victorious - "your grief will turn to joy," he says.

Another little tidbit that I've learned about myself is that I may have difficulty in being truly vulnerable in every situation. Hopefully some of you are thinking in your head, "huh, I wouldn't have guessed that about her," but the more I process it the more I find it to be true under the surface. I do highly value humility and the ability to be vulnerable with others and often times will choose to do so, but because I also score so highly in the "positivity" category you may not always hear me talking about the more challenging times because I usually jump to processing the hope the spurs me forward.

So, all that to say - I wanted to be sure to let you all know that I am human. I know you all know that, but I wanted to say it anyway. I confess that I do have difficult days and hard moments. I do let myself grieve when needed. I do allow myself to feel the full emotion of whatever it is I'm feeling, and everything isn't always rosy. In fact, I've cried at least once everyday this past week (postpartum hormones)!!

But, above all that I do have a hope and a peace that surpasses all understanding that spurs me forward...and that's the stuff that gets me excited and what I get excited about sharing with others. However, I don't want to lose sight of the Truth of my brokenness either. So there it is; my confession.

My desire moving forward is to balance positivity and vulnerability in a way that honors and glorifies our Lord. Feel free to hold me accountable and let me know how I'm doing on that...

- Suzy<><

The Newest Member to the Olsen Family!

     
      So, first off-- I'm not gonna go into too much detail here. I'm going to leave it to Suzy to elaborate on the birth, delivery, and first days with our new daughter; I feel like she deserves that!

     On February 3rd, 2012 at 3:49am we finally got to meet our little girl, Kaia Ruth Olsen. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Those are the facts.

     But on the other side of the spectrum, there sure were a lot of feelings and emotions! Suzy did a lot of reading regarding centering yourself during birth-- especially during contractions. The idea is to spiritually connect with God and be filled with peace and relaxation rather than giving into the hysterics and irrational emotions that are often portrayed to us on television. It was a very spiritual experience for us and through the pain she was feeling, I was amazed to see her calmly, slowly breathing through it and relaxing her body rather than tightening up.

    We experienced many emotions leading up to the birth, were encouraged and motivated through verses we read from the Bible, and when the last stage of labor came and we got to see our precious, little Kaia, we were simply overcome with the beauty of such a miraculous event ending with the most amazing gift we could ever receive!

   We look forward to introducing her to as many of you as we can before leaving the country!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, and celebrated with us throughout the whole process!

             -jim

Our Model of Missions: PART 2

I hope all of you had a chance to read part 1 yesterday! If not, take a quick second to skim it before reading this entry.


     As Scott Olson (the president of International Teams) was sharing with us the vision of ITeams, the following visual aid and approach really grabbed me. I decided it was certainly worth sharing!

        We characterize people in this world as the poor, the slave, and the blind. These are meant to be both literal and abstract. The goal is to bring food, freedom, and forgiveness to these individuals that we are ministering to. 

  Part of what Scott shared with us is their vision for the year 2020. Let me explain with more drawings:

         A missionary may be living in a country and this is what their walk looks like in the morning. They live in their house and walk to their 'ministry site' every day. Let's say it's a refugee ministry at the building on the righthand side of the drawing. 

         

The problem is that every day they walk by people in need on their way to work. But their ministry is to the refugees and they are already stretched thin in that ministry alone.

The 2020 vision is to identify 50 communities like this-- where needs exist-- and to develop a fully-integrated ministry where no one is invisible. We want to ensure that all of the needs are being met and that food, freedom, and forgiveness are readily being given and are available to everyone that is in that community.

         

            In these communities, the missionary is still doing his ministry, but ministry is taking place for the other groups in need additionally. This might come about because additional workers have been called to the field, or there are partnerships with local churches, businesses, or other missional organizations-- but IT missionaries will be involved in the work and in bringing those people together to help the oppressed. 

        

Pretty exciting stuff, right!? It's much more captivating when Scott delivers it.... but I thought it's worth sharing. This is who we are and will be part of what we're doing. I hope you can catch a glimpse of why we've been enjoying the training here at the IT ministry center!

I pray the Lord has been blessing you and your communities,

 -jim

Our Model of Missions: PART 1

      We are currently in Elgin, Illinois doing training with International Teams (IT), the organization that is sending us to Ecuador. There are 4 modules that comprise our training: Orientation, A2, A3, and A4: language acquisition. We have finished Orientation and A2-- today was our first day of A3. So technically, we're half-way done!

As pictured above, we have had the opportunity to lead worship a few times during training!

      I have enjoyed training immensely. Scott Olson, the President of IT led a few of the sessions and he shared the overall vision, mission, and values of International Teams, and I have to say that I was moved and inspired. He shared a couple of the concepts visually, so I decided to re-draw a couple with hopes that you can catch an idea of what he spoke about.



      In missions, there are generally 2 extremes. One extreme focuses primarily on bringing the Gospel to the world. They focus on the spiritual needs and want to 'save' people. This is the blue guy on the left.

Then there's the other extreme, which focuses on meeting the physical needs of individuals-- giving water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the poor. The orange person on the right represents those folks.


Now don't get me wrong-- both of these are necessary, good things! The problem is when the blue guy looks at the orange guy and says, "You focus too much on physical needs! We need to focus on the heart and on saving souls!"

And then there's the problem of the orange guy returning that same sentiment and saying, "You're too focused on what's inside-- we need to meet their physical needs before even thinking about addressing their spiritual needs!"

  You see, both focuses are good, but in most cases the extremes result quickly and frequently-- and they hold their opinion as better than the other. Most organizations out there have a much stronger focus on one over the other.

     What's pretty awesome and unique about International Teams is that our model looks like this:

     We genuinely embrace both. The ministries that IT has all over the world address both physical and spiritual needs. We fully integrate both of these views and are intentionally bringing people together with both views to help the oppressed: physically and spiritually.


     That is Part 1! I realize this is a little long... so, I'm gonna leave you biting your nails tonight  and will post Part 2 tomorrow!

 Blessing to you, friends,

 -jim

Measuring Time in Terms of Haircuts

I gave myself a haircut the other day. I've been cutting my own hair since my senior year of high school. I spent the summer before my senior year living on Long Island (where I grew up) with my cousin Jenny and her husband Brandon. Brandon cut my hair that summer and taught me how to do it myself. He had been cutting his own for years. I've cut my own ever since then.

I digress.

We have been in a  state of flux since August, and time has had a different feel to it ever since then. We've spent good chunks of time in 9 different states, stayed with dozens of different people, and the only constant has been that there is no normal.

But I recently realized that the most measurable passage of time has been when it's time to cut my hair. I cut my hair once a month-- it starts looking like it needs it at about the end of the first week of the month (typically). I started thinking about all of the different places I've given myself haircuts over the last few months. And I thought you might enjoy it as well.


August haircut: Our apartment in Brooktondale, NY-- a few days before heading to Ecuador

September haircut: T.J. and Kelly Ross's bathroom: Brooktondale, NY

October haircut: Hotel room in Iowa City, Iowa (2 days before Josh and Sarah Pederson's wedding)

November haircut: Piper DeLaPointe's apartment: Fargo, ND

December haircut: Bob Grabko's house: Stillwater, MN

January haircut: Apartment #272 at the International Teams Ministry Center in Elgin, Illinois


I expect the next 2 haircuts to be in this apartment, too. It's nice to know I'll have some consistency! The crazy thing was that every time I'd say aloud, "I'm getting a little shaggy-- guess it's about time for a haircut." Suzy would think that I'd just given myself a haircut a week or two ago. Yet every time, a whole month had flown by.

The really wild thing is: the next time I give myself a haircut, there's a good chance we'll have a daughter.

For those Lost fans out there: My constant is haircuts.

-jim

 Here's my most recent before and after haircut pictures:

A Baby Nursery

Jim and I arrived safely in Elgin on Sunday night. Upon our arrival we had a wonderful surprise! We were informed that a) during training we will only be sharing our apt with one other couple for the first 8 days* and b) the housing coordinator had cleared the beds out of one of our three bedrooms so that we would have the small luxury of setting up a nursery for our baby girl!!**

Both of these things were unexpected blessings and we are truly humbled by God’s continued provision to meet the deepest desire of our hearts - Praise God!!

It's been such a delight to be reminded this week that God has and will continue to go before us as a family; that He’s not only preparing a place for us in heaven, but in every step along the way in our journey…He even prepared a room for our baby girl!! It is this Truth that we will continue to focus on throughout these coming weeks and I hope you will for your life, too! 


May you be encouraged by these promises that God truly is who He says He is... also, we hope you enjoy the photos below of the nursery ...if you'd like to see more photos of our new apartment you can go to our facebook page: jimandsuzyolsen.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."  - John 14:1-4

"I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."   

  - Isaiah 41:9-11

The view from the doorway.

A close up of her books. 

Her car seat and bassinet. 

Baby clothes in the closet - she's all set!

*It is usually an intentional part of the training here at International Teams to live in community with one another and so they assign housing accordingly. However, with the news that we would be having a newborn they were able to make it work that we would have our own place once the baby arrives - this is a huge answer to prayer as Jim and I were a bit worried about inconveniencing others!

**Throughout the pregnancy we have been in so much transition, and will continue to travel throughout the first 6 months of our daughter’s life, that the notion of being able to set up a nursery and “nest” was never a realistic possibility in my mind. However, God is so good and has provided us with the opportunity to take the time to emotionally and physically prepare for the arrival of our daughter!