O.k wait a min. Your son speaks Japanese? Now I am interested. Expect noisy follow up questions in future.
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O.k wait a min. Your son speaks Japanese? Now I am interested. Expect noisy follow up questions in future.
Yes. The youngest son speaks English, Spanish, Japanese, and some Portuguese. He also studied four years of Mandarin in college. Which is hilarious, because he was barely speaking English when he graduated high school. :) Okay, that is somewhat of exaggeration, but he was not into school that much at all. But he served a church mission in Japan, where he also ended up speaking Spanish and Portuguese in addition to Japanese, so he had a pretty distinct cultural and language learning experience and came back with a love of languages. He'd love to learn more if he can.
He'll be starting his second year as a bilingual assistant at a middle school in a neighboring town and has been trying to get hired on as a Spanish teacher, which means he's getting a Master's in Education, too, and has to pass a certification to teach the language.
How long was his mission? That sounds like the kind of experience he can carry with him for a lifetime. I am sure he has many stories to tell.
Middle school huh? He is brave that age group always did perplex me even when I was one of them.
I agree. He's either brave or crazy. I hated middle school with a passion until about eighth grade. Too many bullies and too many hormones.
I think he wants to get to the high school level as quickly as he can, but ultimately he wants to end up in college somewhere because he'd like to coach football, too.
No ambitions whatsoever this kid. :)
re: the mission
The mission was two years, and yes, it does a lot of things for young men and young women. Gets them out on their own, away from home, with only weekly contact via email and the opportunity to call twice a year (Mother's Day and Christmas). When you're out, they want you out and as much of your mind on the work and less on what you left behind. I think it works for the most part. There's always going to be exceptions of one kind or another.
re: stories to tell
Oh, he certainly does. He happened to be in the mission field for around two weeks when the big earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan and knocked out their nuclear reactor happened. He was in the Tokyo area at the time, but they moved all of the missionaries from Tokyo west, so he actually worked in another mission for a month or so, then went back when they were given the all clear.
He and a large group of missionaries did actually go and work in the Sendai vicinity to help with cleanup, so he got to see some of the devastation and try to provide service for a day.
So, yeah, lots of stories (though most not nearly as scary as that one was).