Mark 2 class

Hello!

I am posting a little late on this.  I had two weeks back to back teaching and am just now getting around to doing other things.  So, this post will be about the second half of Mark that I taught at our Turkana Bible Training Institute (TBTI).  It was the 13th through the 17th.

The class went very well.  We had 14 students this month and we covered Mark 9-16.  We spent the first day on Chapters 9 & most of 10.  It made me a bit nervous as I only have 3 teaching days and the last hour of the third day is supposed to be for reviewing the material.  We had some very good discussions about how to "earn" eternal life.  We concluded that it can't be earned or bought no matter how hard you try or how much wealth you have.  You have to receive it like a child receives a gift.  It can only be given by God.

Wednesday we did much better.  We went from the end of chapter 10 to the middle of chapter 13.  Explaining about the two events (destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome and the end of days) talked about in chapter 13 was interesting.  They had some problems understanding how the withered fig tree that Jesus cursed in chapter 12 was a picture of the religious leaders of the day.  So, we spent a good bit of time on that.  Then a fig tree is mentioned again in 13 so they wanted to know how it fit.  I had to explain that it was an example to show how we can know when the two events of 13 will be.  We look for the budding/ flowering of the tree to show when the fruit will come.  The same is true for the last days.  We look for the things Jesus talked about and we will know the time is near.  This was especially true for those living during the time of the fall of Jerusalem and is even true for us today.

So, Thursday we finished up with Chapters 14-16 and had time to review.  The students and I enjoyed lively discussions the whole week.  I reviewed for the test with them and then went and wrote the test.  I am happy to say that they studied better this time.  Since none of them have formal schooling, it is easy to see how they really don't know how to study.  So, this time I had 72% of the class that passed.  There was only 50% that passed when we did Mark 1-8.  I was happy with the progress :).

Next month they will have a different teacher.  I only get to teach a couple of times a year as I also have to teach the English class.  Usually, they meet the same week.  When I am teaching the TBTI class I have to have the English class another week and this increases the costs of both since they would normally share cooks, food, water and other such things.

So, that is a glimpse of a TBTI class.  I hope you had a wonderful September!