Icing on the cake!

Before I started this journey to a new place, where I didn't know the language and other aspects of the culture, I realized how hard I would probably have to look for a group of believers to encourage me and strengthen my faith. People back home are probably praying that I find a place of worship right away but what I didn't expect was for that prayer to be answered so quickly and unexpectedly.

Today, was a lot of fun because we got to go an a field trip into the cultural sites of Jeonju. We loaded big coach buses to reach the cultural building of Jeonju. There we divided into groups and enjoyed making a cell a phone charm, a photo frame, dancing a traditional dance done with character masks and witness a traditional Korean wedding.

But what I didn't expect was a a very brief conversation about God and religion. One girl from Chicago said that she didn't believe in God. Another situation was with another teacher from Oklahoma who said she used to be a very religious person when she was young but was pretty much done with it after college. She even specifically said that it was her philosophy class that really started her from fleeing her family's faith. So why do I tell you this?

It was during these conversations that I felt like I was going to really have a hard time. Just a hard time finding a community of believers. Believers that could encourage me and strengthen me.

But on the way back, after listening to the one sitting right next to me about how she didn't really want to have anything to do with religion-an announcement from our leader went like this: "For those of you who are Christians, there will be a Christian service at 7pm. If you are interested please come to the cafeteria."

WOW...Talk about God responding at just the right time!

We sang: Here I am to Worship, Your Grace is enough, and Jesus loves me. The Scripture was Psalm 23 and we prayed corporately and in our small groups. God used this to show me that there are others here like me who are seeking that connection with the Lord. And what a neat thing it is to see other believers here!

My prayer is that the Lord will continue to be my Shepherd during this time and that when those dark times come that I would continue to cling to HIS promises of comfort, peace and goodness. This truly was an icing on the cake!

My Arrival in Tanzania 2008

Jane Rose is Leading Us!
Aug. 31, 5:36 PM

We finally made it in Dar Es Salaam although the luggage did not show up for any of us. However, we are continuing on to Iringa early tomorrow without them. Hopefully, we see them again in four days or so.

Jane Rose was waiting for us as she held a sign. She has been waiting a long time and traveled ten hours by bus to meet us. She is a product of VSI's ministry and I am so pleased to see that she is leading us. What a great testament of what VSI is all about. It is really nothing about us. It is about the people of Tanzania that we empower to lead themselves.

Sorry but this update has to be cut short since we only get fifteen minutes each. However, I want to let you know that we made it safe. Pray for the next leg of our journey tomorrow on the road. Love you all…

Anthony Rosero

We are in Mafinga!
09/02/08

Hi All,

I have fifteen minutes. After a ten-hour bus ride yesterday, we finally arrived in a small town called Mafinga. We stayed in a guesthouse for the night and we will be at our final destination this afternoon. I have so many things to share with you, but with so little time. I might not be able to share then right now. I am keeping a journal log so when I am ready to share it; I just need to type them. However, if this is the only one you get, know that I am almost there. We already have a task this morning. We are to go to the market and buy specific items. I will try to do it alone just so I can get a good idea of how to communicate alone. Again, thanks for the prayers. I am almost there. You will not be hearing from me for a while, maybe two weeks or so. Know that I love you all.

Resting in HIM,

Anthony

EPIK Opening Ceremony 2010

Teaching in South Korea!

Picture someone running like an Olympic sprinter in an airport terminal, with a twenty pound hiking backpack and a 16“ laptop bouncing up and down with only fifteen minutes left before Singapore Airlines close the gates in San Francisco. You guessed it! That was me today at around 12:30 pm as my delayed flight from Kansas City, MO landed for my connecting flight to South Korea. I never would have made it if I didn’t make a run for it. I guess all the running I’ve been doing this past few weeks has been put to good use. Now it would have been a fifteen minute ordeal alone just to check in where you take off your shoes, pull out the laptop, take out your little ziplock bag, but thankfully the person at the Singapore Air ticketing service spoke Filipino and was extra helpful. She must have sprinted behind me too because once I reached the security check in line, she was there ready to let me skip through pass other passengers. I was literally out of breath and beginning to sweat as I handed my boarding pass.
Although I’ll be arriving without my luggage, I’m glad not having to miss the free shuttle service to the orientation site from Incheon. Just imagine me trying to communicate alone and not knowing Korean just to get to that Orientation site by bus. I don’t think I’m ready for those adventures quite yet. I’m hoping the luggage will come the next day however since I don’t have any other clothes packed in my carryon.
So why am I going to Korea? My main purpose there is to finish a one year contract with a government run program called EPIK. It stands for English Program in Korea. The people of Korea are really investing so much in their educational programs. You will find it the norm for students of all grade levels studying their lessons in after school institutes until 9pm and sometimes later. I’m glad I’ve decided to pursue EPIK since the government is behind the program-thus making our jobs more secure than the many private institutes or Hagwons. I will know more details about my placements after the orientation.
I’m eager to learn about Korean culture. I’m also thankful that I can also pay off some of my student loans. Please continue to pray for me as I desire to be in step with my heavenly Father. Pray also that I find opportunities to worship with fellow believers here and also find opportunities to share my faith.
Love you,
anthonyrosero

Amazing News!

On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 4:04 AM, Anthony Rosero wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve Vinton <steve.vinton@villageschools.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 3:00 AM
Subject: Every single one of our students passed!
To: Susan Vinton <susan.vinton@villageschools.org>

February 9, 2010 Two days ago Godfrey began getting messages of congratulations and phone calls from around the country concerning the rumors that were spreading everywhere about the national exam results for our Form 4 candidates. But it was not until yesterday that we were able to get the official results that indeed every single one of our students had passed! We've been holding our breath, hoping that the rumors might be true, but wary of celebrating because what people were saying seemed to be too wildly good to really be true. But now that it has been confirmed, it is with a great deal of thanksgiving that we want to share with all of you who have helped in this effort the great news that a rather extraordinary thing has indeed happened. The first of our schools to ever present candidates for the Form 4 examinations outperformed by wide margins every government school in our district and the celebrations going on everywhere are massive indeed. Had even a handful of these kids passed it would have been, by any standard, quite an achievement. After all, the government chooses all of the best students every year from among the kids who finish the primary schools. Our schools are designed to take all of the rest -- we take the kids with the Bs, Cs, Ds. We even take the kids who have failed and our doors are open to the orphans, to the poorest of the poor. Our schools are for those who have been rejected and passed over, those who are known here in Tanzania as "the unchosen ones" -- and we purposefully seek out the poorest of the poor, the kids who have lost their parents, those who are in the most difficult of straights, who have often been out of school several years. So when vast numbers of those in the government schools designed for the best of best end up failing, it would only be reasonable for most, if not all, of our kids to fail. As one government official said, if even a mere quarter of our students had passed it would have to, under the circumstances, be considered a real miracle. So what do we call it when every single last one of them passes? All you can do is laugh and cry and jump and dance and that's what everyone is doing, because it simply is unexplainably wonderful. I have often asked myself what it would be like if I had been born poor in a village, if my parents died when I was still young, if I weren't among the chosen few who would get to go to secondary school and I had to face a life with nothing more than a 7th grade education, with younger brothers and sisters to try to help survive. There are many times of course when I've asked God to help me, but I only remember twice in my life crying out to God in utter helplessness because I felt totally trapped with absolutely no way out. Once was during the war in Congo, and once when Jonathan was born with his heart problems that looked totally hopeless -- and I remember the exhilaration afterwards when God had heard the cries of my utterly desperate heart. I remember both times my whole body going hot and cold at the same time. Years ago at a conference I explained to people that one of the things I learned after living so many years with the poor of this planet is that they often cry out in utter helplessness somehow believing that God will open a way where there is no way, believing that God will somehow answer, because they simply have no other option. My faith unfortunately ends up by comparison becoming weak because I am so self-sufficient in many ways that just like muscles that I seldom use, my faith atrophies and I miss the exhilaration of watching God do the impossible. And so I imagine the cries of the poor in these villages who see no way out of their situation, simply no hope. And then out of nowhere, the bombs and the guns stop, the doctor tells us the surgery has been successful, the child sees his whole village work to build a school and suddenly he has a place to study. And so yes, our teachers do teach harder, we do have discipline at our schools, we do teach Christian principles, we do concentrate on English, we do do everything we can and more to help these kids. But just as there is something that changes inside of the man who doesn't die in a war, something that changes inside of a parent whose son lives, there is also something that changes inside of a kid who never believed he'd get to go to school and then inexplicably gets to go. Last night we slept in the village of Kising'a. Later this morning after the sun comes up we'll meet with the parents and the students and teachers at this school. But last night I got to meet with one of our students who is doing his internship at this school. I had of course seen the results, I knew that his school had beat out all of the government schools, and I knew that he was the one who had graduated first in his class. But I said nothing then of his results because we were here lost in the middle of nowhere and word had not yet reached this village and so he didn't even know that I knew. So I limited myself to just asking him how the internship was going. He beamed as he told me of how he loved to teach math. He told me how he had the students come after school to do extra math problems with them. He was clearly so excited to teach. Where do you come from son? He told me that the name of his little village was Ikwega and I knew it was quite far actually from our school at Sawala. Why did you come all the way to Sawala to go to school? I failed, I didn't get chosen, but I wanted very much to go to school. Your parents? They're farmers Mzee. I knew it was a huge sacrifice for them to send their son to school. He stared at me and I stared back at him. How proud his parents are going to be when they learn that their son, the boy who wasn't chosen to get to go to school, would end up confounding everyone with his amazing results! You could tell looking into his eyes that he was bright. He had that look. And how I wanted to blurt out the news right then and there and let the celebrations begin! Instead, we talked about what he wanted to do in the future. If I get to go to college Mzee, I want to study economics and then I want to help Village Schools Tanzania reach our goal. Our goal. How wonderful it was to hear that. You know over the last two weeks the results for the Form 2 exams have dribbled in and brought us all great joy. In Godfrey's home village of Nankanga, every single student had passed and the school had taken third place in the entire Rukwa region. Susan almost cried when she learned that all of our Form 2 students at Madisi had passed. Overall out of 516 Form 2 students in our 8 schools, we had 490 pass -- 95%. But those Form 2 national exams, as important as they are, are not the real benchmark. What schools are measured by are the results of those who finish -- those who obtain their Certificate of Secondary School Education -- and while the wonderfully printed certificates won't come for months -- the fact that 133 out of 133 of our students will receive their certificates is a matter to marvel at. So my friends, please know that your efforts in helping us build these schools, in giving so that girls, and orphans and the poorest of the poor in these villages get to go to school, have not been in vain, and I write to you all today with sincere thanks. Those who have a chicken will kill a chicken tonight, but even those who have no chicken will celebrate in their hearts tonight. For a great and good thing has come to the students of Madisi and Sawala. But as word spreads throughout all of our other schools, it is clear that this victory is the victory of all of those who were without hope, those in village after village who rejoice today with the knowledge that if the students at Madisi and Sawala could do this, then there is hope for them, there is hope for their children. So all of you who have had a part in this, sometime in the next couple of days, maybe you don't have to kill a chicken, but you can find something a wee bit more culturally appropriate to do to celebrate wherever you are -- celebrate and know that the Lord has taken what you did and blessed it and multiplied it and caused it to bear great fruit. You did something good for those who used to have no hope.

Steve & Susan Vinton

Village Schools International

Box 1929 Tomball Texas 77377

www.villageschools.org