Titus week one

I cannot believe that the first week of Titus is complete. It was a jam packed 5 times will classes that started at 8 am and ended around 5pm. The Titus staff is amazing and really supportive-they come to class prepared with informative lessons planned as well as great stories from when they did titus. They have endless examples of what to do in situations, and there hands on experience helps so much. Some of the lectures that I had this week were: heart of a teacher, how to teach the inductive method, how to prepare a lecture and presentation, how to mind map, how to use verbal and non verbal communication as well as oral communication and finally the vision of Titus. The Vision of Titus comes from the book of Titus--there are many great parts of that book here are a few key verses:

"Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour."

Titus 1:1-3

"For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus CHrist, who have himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Titus 2:11-14

Just reading these verses--and the whole book of Titus and seeing how Sound Doctrine is so important and how I am an ambassador and need to go out and share that with the people of the world. And in this instance that is Nepal. We have had a few team meetings and its been so good spending as a time praying and working together as a team. We are really unified already and we bring lots of different things and skills to the table. Wednesday was a creative day and everyone made teaching tools to teach the inductive method-so lots of cutting, coloring, gluing, laminating took place--of things such as what is Observation, Interpretation and Application. As well as pictures to use for different illustrations and what is means to study in a deductive and inductive manner. Today (Friday) my Nepal team shared in front of the SBS about Nepal--here are some fact that you might find interesting:

--77% of population live on less then $2/day

--1/4 of population lives below the poverty line

--52% of the people are illiterate (this will cause us to use much oral communication when teaching)

--in 2008 the unemployment rate was 46%--compared to Canada and USA which is between 8 and 9%

Religion

--Majority (about 80%) are Hindu

--Christianity is between .5 and 2 % of all people.

Government

--Just in August 2011 a new PM was elected and he is a Maoist communist-so there are lots of riots and outbreaks.

These are just a few things about Nepal that I researched and I hope it gives you a better understanding of what Nepal is like. I am getting excited to go--my team leaves on the morning of Sunday Oct 9th and return back to MT on the 7th of December. Also the two main places my team will be is Katmandu and Pokhara

Prayer Requests

-my teachings (I have 4 teaching between now and the time i leave for outreach)

-unity within my Nepal team

-energy and hardworking ethic especially during these two weeks before i leave. I will be teaching a lot of Old Testament (Num, Deut, and 1-2 Kings) so lots of reading and prep comes with that.

-confidence-realizing that i am here for a reason, that I am a servant to Jesus and i need to go and be His hands and feet in Nepal. That i will be confident in my teaching

Thanks so much for you prayers--please send me and email at breclaassen@gmail.com I would love to hear from you and how you are doing. Love you all.