Grace and peace to you from Him who holds the seven stars in His hand and walks among the seven lampstands,
I suppose this post doesn't actually fit my profile as I'm no longer in Asia, but I wanted to get one more post in before I get home (plus I'm sitting in the airport for the next couple hours with nothing to do). I have made it to Seattle from Beijing, although it was quite a bit of work, not to mention a bit stressful. Hopefully all my things will be in order when I arrive in Chicago a few hours from now.
During my travel there have been a few things of note. I suppose our heavenly Father is trying to teach me patience. On the day I left I was in a bit of a hurry, rushing in taxis, buses, and motorcycle taxis to make it home from buying a few last-minute gifts, and then I rushed to the railway station in a taxi to leave. I would at this point like to thank Miss Ivy for putting up with me in the daze and confusion of it all. She has been tremendously helpful to me, even though I have certainly been a little impatient. She took me to the train station, and that was the last I saw of my Wuhan friends before I left.
It's been an emotionally draining time for me as of late. I know I will be going back to China soon, but it strikes me that I'm leaving some people there who are also very important to me. I know I want to come back and see my friends and family, but there are still things tying me down to China too. I suppose it's a good thing that I have decided to return in a couple months. It will be nice to see all my 中国朋友 again.I got to go out with Jerry, one of my close co-teachers, my good friend William, and the beautiful Miss Ivy (all on separate occasions) before leaving. We also had a last hurrah on Friday; we went to see the new Star Trek movie. A bunch of friends and I got together to see it. A few of my dearest students came to visit me at our meeting place on Sunday; I was very pleased to see them, too.
My voyage home was not at all uneventful, either. I took an overnight train to Beijing (and I heard all the Chinese people talking about how one person could need so much luggage; little do they know that I'm loaded with gifts for home). I arrived in Beijing Tuesday morning, then, and took the subway from there. I was on the subway for about two full hours (three lines with one line lasting over an hour), and then I finally made it to the airport. I still needed to check in, but seeing as how I was about 7 hours early or so, I figured I had plenty of time. I went to the kiosk for ticket information, only to find that, after waiting behind one person for over an hour, I could not get my ticket there. They told me I could get my ticket at the baggage drop no problem, and I would have to wait until four hours before my flight left. In retrospect, perhaps it was good that I had to wait in line so long; it certainly helped kill time.
I had some brunch and waited to check in. I get in line early, but even so I was only the third person in line. I checked in and, at first, everything was okay, but then they checked my big suitcase and found my gift for Ben (a sword). They asked me if it was mine, to which I responded that it was. The security officer inspected it and decided that it was okay. (It's not actually sharp enough to hurt anyone.) So, Ben, I almost lost your gift. I was a little worried it wouldn't make it through Seattle, but it seems to have gone through just fine.
After that, I went through security and almost forgot my jacket (which had my wallet in in), but fortunately I remembered in less than five minutes and went back for it. It was still just sitting right there. From that point on it was smooth sailing until I boarded the plane. Aside from being on the same airplane for 13 hours with little leg space, my flight was delayed almost two hours, so we literally just sat there and waited for the weather to get better. It never did improve in my estimation, but they still let us fly out a couple hours later. That had me concerned that I might miss my connecting flight from Seattle to Chicago, but, as it turns out, my flight from Seattle has been delayed, too, giving me plenty of time. I can see no apparent reason that my flight here has been delayed--the skies are blue with only a few, ordinary clouds in the sky. I arrived in Seattle at about 2 pm (which is actually four hours before we took off from Beijing, having crossed the International Date Line), so it seems that I would have arrived on time to catch my flight in the first place, but maybe this is also from above. He works in mysterious ways.
Please pr@y for my continued safety, that He would lead me home, and that He would also bl*ss all I do this summer. Pr@yers go out to all of you in America, and to all my friends in China.
The peace of the L-rd Jes-s be with your sp+rit.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Overdue
Grace and peace to you from G0d our Father and our L0rd and S@vi0r Jes-s Chr*st.
I know this post is at least a month overdue, but I've been busy (I promise I've been up to know good--or something like that), so I have had little spare time to sit down and gather my thoughts into a blog post. Please accept (or reject, if you prefer) my sincerest apologies.
As I write this post, it's already 11 in the evening, but the temperature still feels like it's about 90 degrees inside and outside. It's getting hot in Wuhan, lending credence to its title as one of the three "furnaces" of China. As one of my Chinese friends told me this week, Wuhan has 6 months of summer, 3 months of winter, and 3 months to split between the other two seasons. I have been sweating bullets all day, but not to worry; I've been drinking lots of fluids to re-hydrate myself, too.
Last week I was once again privileged to join in ALSS classes. Our s*min@ry students studied homiletics for a week; I was able to study with them for a day and a half, and I think that even that was very beneficial for me. I wish I could have studied with them for the whole week, but I think a large portion of their classes were actually taught in Chinese, so I probably wouldn't have understood much anyway. Still, I think I have grown a bit even from my short time with them, and it is very encouraging for me to see my Chinese brothers who, like me, are preparing for the holy m*n*stry. For security reasons, I will not post any pictures of their classes online, but I would ask that you please pr@y for them. We currently have six young men training for the m*n*stry in the mainland, and they are all wonderful young men; two of them are from right here in Wuhan.
This week was Dragon Boat Festival in China. For Dragon Boat Festival the Chinese traditionally hold dragon boat races, which are literally just boat races in boats that look like dragons. David and I went out to watch the dragon boat races on Wuhan's East Lake along with Jess Gierach, another FoC teacher here in the middle of Wuchang (my section of Wuhan) and visiting p@stor Samson Wong (although I can't guarantee the spelling of his name is right) from Hong Kong. We took a boat out to watch the races up close. It was interesting to see that every boat had one person on the rudder to steer, one person on the drums to keep the beat for the rowers, and several rowers. Some boats were, naturally, more impressive than others.
We had visitors from America this weekend as well. Project Titus from MLS came to visit. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of the young men who came along as well as VP Kock, who pre@ched for us this Sunday. It was kind of neat to show them what China is like. I hope their stay can be a bl*ssing for them in the future.
This week was not all fun and games, however. On Monday I tripped and spilled milk all over my keyboard. I managed to wipe the greater portion of it off, but the keys were a little sticky. Later on in the week I discovered that the "f," "y," "q," and "esc" keys were not working. At first it seemed like it wasn't a big deal, but it quickly became frustrating after I realized how frequently I use the "f" and "y" keys. (Try not to read that last phrase too quickly, and definitely not out loud :P) I tried to unstick them, but it became pretty obvious by the end of the week that they weren't going to start working again of their own accord. I went to get my keyboard fixed, and I ended up getting a whole new keyboard for 100 RMB or about $15. Now I'm just happy to have a keyboard where I don't have to copy and paste every time I right words with "f" and "y" in them.
Recently I have also been finishing up my semester exams. Entering grades into the gradebook is tedious work and not much fun, but unfortunately it's necessary. Opposite of last semester (when I had many visitors to my class), this semester many of my students have skipped my class almost entirely. Since I am basing 70 percent of their score on participation, those students are sure to fail. (I don't think you can really participate without being in class.) Unfortunately, in China I have little to no power actually to fail my students. If the teachers don't fix the grades I assign to my students, they will simply let the families of their students know how much money they have to pay to receive a passing grade (kind of like a bribe), so these students may actually never learn. Either way, it's my students loss, not mine.
Speaking of class, this week will mark my last week of all my classes. The countdown is down to 14 hours of classes before I'm done for the whole semester. It's hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. Very soon, I will be returning to the States for two months. To me, this is a difficult concept to wrap my head around. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon. I hope to post one final blog post before I leave, but my track record isn't looking so good right now. We'll see how prepared I am to leave a week from now. For now, I have my final week of work ahead of me, and there's excitement in that, too. One of our good friends will be washed this Tuesday, and I'm very excited for it.
平安 (Peace)!
G0d's grace be with you all.
I know this post is at least a month overdue, but I've been busy (I promise I've been up to know good--or something like that), so I have had little spare time to sit down and gather my thoughts into a blog post. Please accept (or reject, if you prefer) my sincerest apologies.
As I write this post, it's already 11 in the evening, but the temperature still feels like it's about 90 degrees inside and outside. It's getting hot in Wuhan, lending credence to its title as one of the three "furnaces" of China. As one of my Chinese friends told me this week, Wuhan has 6 months of summer, 3 months of winter, and 3 months to split between the other two seasons. I have been sweating bullets all day, but not to worry; I've been drinking lots of fluids to re-hydrate myself, too.
Last week I was once again privileged to join in ALSS classes. Our s*min@ry students studied homiletics for a week; I was able to study with them for a day and a half, and I think that even that was very beneficial for me. I wish I could have studied with them for the whole week, but I think a large portion of their classes were actually taught in Chinese, so I probably wouldn't have understood much anyway. Still, I think I have grown a bit even from my short time with them, and it is very encouraging for me to see my Chinese brothers who, like me, are preparing for the holy m*n*stry. For security reasons, I will not post any pictures of their classes online, but I would ask that you please pr@y for them. We currently have six young men training for the m*n*stry in the mainland, and they are all wonderful young men; two of them are from right here in Wuhan.
This week was Dragon Boat Festival in China. For Dragon Boat Festival the Chinese traditionally hold dragon boat races, which are literally just boat races in boats that look like dragons. David and I went out to watch the dragon boat races on Wuhan's East Lake along with Jess Gierach, another FoC teacher here in the middle of Wuchang (my section of Wuhan) and visiting p@stor Samson Wong (although I can't guarantee the spelling of his name is right) from Hong Kong. We took a boat out to watch the races up close. It was interesting to see that every boat had one person on the rudder to steer, one person on the drums to keep the beat for the rowers, and several rowers. Some boats were, naturally, more impressive than others.
We had visitors from America this weekend as well. Project Titus from MLS came to visit. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of the young men who came along as well as VP Kock, who pre@ched for us this Sunday. It was kind of neat to show them what China is like. I hope their stay can be a bl*ssing for them in the future.
This week was not all fun and games, however. On Monday I tripped and spilled milk all over my keyboard. I managed to wipe the greater portion of it off, but the keys were a little sticky. Later on in the week I discovered that the "f," "y," "q," and "esc" keys were not working. At first it seemed like it wasn't a big deal, but it quickly became frustrating after I realized how frequently I use the "f" and "y" keys. (Try not to read that last phrase too quickly, and definitely not out loud :P) I tried to unstick them, but it became pretty obvious by the end of the week that they weren't going to start working again of their own accord. I went to get my keyboard fixed, and I ended up getting a whole new keyboard for 100 RMB or about $15. Now I'm just happy to have a keyboard where I don't have to copy and paste every time I right words with "f" and "y" in them.
Speaking of class, this week will mark my last week of all my classes. The countdown is down to 14 hours of classes before I'm done for the whole semester. It's hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly. Very soon, I will be returning to the States for two months. To me, this is a difficult concept to wrap my head around. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon. I hope to post one final blog post before I leave, but my track record isn't looking so good right now. We'll see how prepared I am to leave a week from now. For now, I have my final week of work ahead of me, and there's excitement in that, too. One of our good friends will be washed this Tuesday, and I'm very excited for it.
平安 (Peace)!
G0d's grace be with you all.
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