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.