The Graduates

   Four students have  graduated on this First Trimester 2016. Phil and Mia Gendreau- El Salvador; Kiersten Hakes- Nicaragua; Beth Shaffer- Ecuador

     The last 8 months have gone by so fast. Graduating from CINCEL has truly been life changing. Not only did we learn to speak Spanish, we also learned the importance of culture and community. The friendships we have made in this country are so precious. Despite the language barrier, we somehow were still able to make meaningful and genuine connections with both the missionaries and the locals.  We wished we could have stayed another semester to further our knowledge and spend more time with our new friends, but we trust that God will use whatever we learned so far once we get to El Salvador. Knowing that we were able to thrive in a different country in such a short period gives us hope that we can do this all over again in a different place. 

     A special thanks to the directors,  teachers, and staff for giving their time and skill to help us become the people who we are now- a family who is willing to lay aside their own cultural upbringing to better adapt into a new surrounding in order to serve in whatever way possible.

     As the staff mentioned in our last days at CINCEL, "Graduating does not necessarily mean we are able to speak the language very well...it only means that we are finally ready to learn Spanish. This idea may seem discouraging, however we  have found that this whole experience has been a huge blessing. It is not about who has had the best linguistic ability, it is all about cultural integration and the willingness to reach a culture in all forms of communication...that includes emotional and spiritual connections with each other. What good is a language if we are not able to communicate to the culture in the appropriate way? We came with hardly any expectations of what we would get from this school. From living a busy life in California to going to a country where all we had to do was go to school allowed us to have an attitude of thankfulness and humility. We are grateful that our friends and family have partnered with us on this remarkable journey!

    Thank you, CINCEL! It has been an overall positive experience.  We hope to see you again very soon.

Graduation Day