Well, here it is June 28th and our family is finishing our last night of language school at MTI (Mission Training International) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have been here for almost two weeks. We have had a tremendous time here. I have to admit that I wondered whether it was the best use of our time to come here for so long right before we leave for Albania. I couldn't imagine what they could teach us about learning a language that would take us two weeks. We weren't even going to get to start learning Albanian. I couldn't have been more wrong! This language acquisition training program revolutionized my whole mindset about learning Albanian.
MTI is committed to men and women and their families who are serving internationally. Their passion is the prepare them to integrate into their new home countries and give them very practical skills to learn their "target" language on a relationship and comprehension level as opposed to the traditional school/book memorization method. 
The facilities were very comfortable and we had a wonderful time getting to know 38 other adults and 31 children who are all headed to countries all over the world. This conference center is nestled into the mountains outside of Colorado Springs and we had a terrific time with the girls hiking and standing in awe at God's creative power. 
Here is Chelle pictured with her Mandarin language trainer and 6 other classmates. Can you believe that I learned some Mandarin? I am so thankful to be going to Albania. Kris was in the Hindi language class. The purpose of these classes was to give us practice in using our various language learning tools with a real language helper. I was amazed at how much Mandarin I was able to comprehend (not necessarily speak) after only 3 one hour sessions. It was a great encouragement that we will be able to learn Albanian if we utilize this program along with traditional class work.
This is Dwight Gradin. He is the director of MTI. He and his wife, Barbara, run the program, teach the classes and give us wonderful true to life examples of how this works. They served the Lord in Vietnam during the 1960's. We spent a lot of time teaching our mouths to make sounds that we don't make in the English language. 
We spent time working on homework in the cafeteria in the evenings. Well, we also had a lot of fun talking. We are sitting with two friends who will be going to Bosnia and Bulgaria. By the way, the food was really great. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at MTI, so we got to spend a lot of time with our co-workers in the Lord.
Our whole family had programs during the day - I will share about the kids later. The day began at 8:45 a.m. with devotions and then we had language drills, classes, and practical lessons from 9-4 with a 1 1/2 hour lunch break. Here we are in the classroom.
What is Kris doing? He is demonstrating the perfect pucker! Did you know that the human mouth can form 1 million vowels? We learned how to listen for and make more vowels than I ever hope to use. Kris is making the OOOO sound in the word hoot. Lip formation and tongue placement are very important to correct language speaking.
Chelle is watching her mouth and tongue carefully in her hand held mirror. They gave every one of us a mirror and we used them everyday to watch our pronunciation of consonants and vowels. I never would have thought that this was such an important part of language learning. However, as Dwight and Barbara shared the words in other languages I realized that a slight variation of sound will change the whole meaning of a word. If we can't hear and then mimic the correct sound we will communicating something different than we intend.
It wasn't all work though. Some dear friends from Denver, Kyle and Nicole Bryant with their boys Beau, Beck and Brody, came down to visit us one evening. It was a real treat to catch up with them. We have been friends since before any of us were married and we served on youth staff together in California over 14 years ago. The kids had a blast playing together, eating ice cream and watching a huge lightning storm.
Chelle had another wonderful gift. Her family form Denver came down to visit on Saturday afternoon. Here I am with my Grandma, Aunt Diane, Cousin Ruth and her husband Mark and my cousin Ross. It has been over 3 years since I have seen many of these dear family members and I was overjoyed to fellowship with them again. It was especially meaningful to see them because I probably won't see them for at least 4 more years.
The girls had a blast here at MTI! They had their own program called CHIPS. They were also taught some language acquisition skills. They can sing a few songs in other languages now and say hello in at least 6. I think the best thing for them was to connect with children who are going through some of the same transitions that they are encountering. Here is Whitney with her new friend, Kaitlyn Lovingfoss. Kaitlyn's family will be leaving for Guadalajara, Mexico in July.
Kaitlyn (our Kaitlyn) really made some sweet friends. Here she is with Elise and Corrine Samson. These girls will be going to Nigeria on July 18th with their family. They had some great field trips in the area and learned about working as a team. Kaitlyn especially will remember this time at MTI with fond memories.
Here are Sierra and Breanna with their teacher Miss Danielle. Danielle grew up in China and was able to help the girls learn some Mandarin and give them a special insight into growing up in another culture. We are so thankful to God for the incredible input that all of the teachers gave to our girls. Their love for the Lord and desire to see our children acclimate physically, spiritually, and mentally to the challenges ahead was a real gift.So here we are at the end of our training. What's ahead? We have only 13 days left in the USA before we begin the new journey of our lives. We are excited to see how God is going to prepare us for the great adventure He has called us to. Thank you for your continued prayers.
