Before lernu.net was updated, a large part of the material was corresponding courses: Ana Pana, Ana renkontas and so on. In each chapter one would read a text, complete a numer of exercises and then write some sentences and send them to a "language helper". This is where I got started with Esperanto. I found it amazing that someone would work voluntarily as my teacher. On top of that she spoke my native language! She didn't just correct my writing. She anwered my questions and introduced me to the community.
The new content on Lernu is great, but it's a pity that they've removed the language helpers. Is there somewhere else one can find a teacher willing to help the way mine did?