Introducing the New Volunteers

Last week our two new WELS Kingdom Worker volunteers, Tim Patoka and Ryan Kolander, arrived in León. They'll be here for the next year, teaching English and carrying out evangelism efforts. Here's a little more info on Tim and Ryan:

Tim (pictured above interviewing a student signing up for English classes) comes to us from Stafford, Virginia, a suburb about a half hour south of Washington, D.C. He's currently studying to be a pastor at Martin Luterha College in New Ulm, MN, and will be a senior when he returns next fall.

When he heard about the WELS Kingdom Worker program here in Mexico, Tim's interest was piqued. "I wanted to learn Spanish, experience exploratory mission work, see another country and get to know the people there," he says. When he first arrived in Leon, he notes: "it wasn't what I was thinking of at all - no drugs, violence, pollution, etc. Leon is a nice, simple town where the people are proud of their heritage."

After spending nearly a week on the field, Tim says, "I'm super excited to be here! I can't believe I'm a teacher, as my mom is a teacher and I never thought I'd do it too. Now I'm in the classroom and loving it (also, teaching is harder than you think!)."



Our second volunteer, pictured above helping a student choose a time for classes, hails from Brookfield, WI. Ryan just graduated from Martin Luther College and will continue his studies to be a pastor after finishing his year in Mexico.

What brought Ryan to Mexico? "I wanted to do something in a Spanish-speaking country to work on my language skills for a year," he says. "I've thought about being a missionary, and wanted to see how things work in a mission field."

Ryan's first impressions of León have been positive. "I love it," he says. While he admits his first time teaching English in front of a class of 15 students was a bit nerve-wracking, he's confident things will get easier (also random note from Rachel: he's 6'5". To put this in perspective, I'm "tall" here and I measure just 5'7").

As you may know, English classes are a key part of the outreach efforts going on in León right now. We're very thankful to have Tim and Ryan here to help out with the teaching and mission work. Here's a to another fruitful year in Mexico through the WELS Kingdom Worker program!