He Is Risen!

Grace and peace to you are yours through our L0rd J*sus Christ, who has conquered death and gives us the victory.

I admit that I am getting rather bad at posting on time. I am going to quit apologizing, because I doubt that my posts will become much more regular, considering that my schedule this semester. I am teaching 24 hours a week with about 5/6 different lessons a week, not to mention the other work that I'm doing. Additionally, I am teaching CSI (Chr*stian Studies Institute) classes, the equivalent of BIC classes, on Saturdays. I'm swamped.

Then again, there is not that much of note to post this time, either. I have been getting into the swing of things. I returned to school and have been teaching for about six weeks now. I have some of the same students and some new students. The students that had me last semester told me that they were surprised to see how much more handsome I am. In fact, at school my students have told me that I am "tall, wealthy, and handsome"--the Chinese equivalent to "tall, dark, and handsome." Although they don't realize that I am not exactly what they consider wealthy, I still take it as a compliment. Miss Ivy tells me her students, who were my students last semester, all seem to be in love with me. Her classroom is right outside mine; she tells me that the girls often look  into my room through the window. (This is what's exciting in my life, I guess...not too promising.)

In my CSI classes, I have taught through the books of Matthew and Mark, Luke and John, Acts, and Romans (separated into lessons) in the New Testament Overview course. This is by far more exciting than teaching English. I've tried to break up the books and read the more important parts, but that still leaves a lot of the book unread. With Romans it was especially difficult because most of the book is the important part. I managed to get about half-way through in my two-hour time slot. On a regular basis I've had about 3 or 4 students, which is good from my point of view. Pr@y that G0d would bring us more students.

We celebrated the R*surrection of our L0rd this week. During H0ly Week we held services on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and two on Sunday. I was privileged to pre@ch for the Chinese service on Sunday, and I boldly proclaimed the resrrecti0n with vigor and passion--so unlike me, as you may know. I was very excited to pre@ch etern@l life. David informs me that my voice was so loud that he thought I was going to make the building fall down. Miss Ivy also served as my translator--one of her many talents.

Throughout the week, I have been teaching E@ster as an American holiday, but I spent about half the class period explaining the real meaning of the holiday. I am sowing the seed in the hope that some may hear and believe it. I also held an E@ster egg hunt, in which I hid eggs with my vocabulary words around the room and made my students hunt for them. I gave a prize to the winners. Today, however, I was very disturbed to find that some of my students actually stole some of my eggs. I couldn't believe they had the audacity to do that! I guess they weren't that expensive, and I won't be needing them in future classes, so it makes little difference, anyway. I was simply caught off guard. I am glad that I didn't yell at my students over it.

Today I also learned after I arrived at school that my course load will be down for the next month. My second-year education majors are out student teaching this month, so I will not be teaching them until May. That frees up six hours a week for me--three classes and one whole prep a week. The problem with this is that the school failed to inform me of this until class had started today. I thought something was up when none of my students showed up for class, so I called the secretary. Apparently she forgot to tell me because she was so busy. This school has never been good at communicating with me, so I am not surprised. Still, I would like a little more notice so that I can plan my classes. Now I need to adapt my entire course structure so that I have four fewer weeks of lessons.

It's the time of year when the cherry blossom trees blossom. They are beautiful, so Ivy and I went to see them last week. We went to Wuhan University, one of the biggest and best universities in Wuhan (and one of my schools, Luo Jia college, is also affiliated with it), where they have an entire block of them. Unfortunately, they charge for visitors to see them during the day, so we went during the night and were unable to get good pictures. We also visited some friends of hers, whom she calls her g0dparents (although they are not Chr*stians at all, only good friends who are old enough to be her parents). We ate a meal with them that night, too. They were interested in getting to know me and asked me many questions about my culture.

I also visited Wuhan University last week to meet with two of our 'Chinese friends. Six of us in total went to do some campus ev@ngelism, establishing connections with our friends there in the hope that, in the future, we may be able to hold some small studies on that campus, too. Four Chinese, including one p@stor-in-training, and two FoC teachers (Stephanie Humann and myself) went together. Pr@y that the L0rd might open that door to us, too, and that more and more s0uls may come to hear this g0spel and believe it.

This week is a short week in school for me. The Chinese are celebrating Qingming, or Tomb Sweeping Festival. That means that many of my students will go home for a short vacation. I also will take the opportunity to travel. The Chinese ch_rch is having a retreat in Beijing, and I will be going up with them. I hope to see many of the capital's famous attractions in the short time I get to be there. But that will be the subject of another post. Until then, G0d be with you all!

Pr@yers for all of you. Please continue to pr@y for me, that G0d would work even through my m!n!stry and bring more s0uls to J*sus.

Peace be with you.

Spring Festival

Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come!

I have returned from my travels to Thailand and Hong Kong safely. I would like to begin this post, first of all, by wishing you all a Happy New Year! I know that our New Year's comes in January, but Chinese New Year takes place on a lunar calendar, so it varies from year to year. This year New Year's came on February 10, which incidentally is also my nephew Elijah's birthday. He should win a prize, or at least a Chinese present or something.

We left for Hong Kong the same night that I last posted, so I have been traveling for about three weeks. I said farewell to Miss Ivy, and then my roommate David, Lisa Nickle and I all got on the train together. Our train took us as far as Shenzhen, a city on the border of Hong Kong. We went through customs and changed our money; then we went to the Avenue of the Stars, where we stayed by the harbor for a while. It is a beautiful place to look at the sea, not to mention that many Chinese movie stars have a place for their names and hand prints there (similar to Hollywood in the States). I personally got pictures of Jackie Chan's and Bruce Lee's stars.

From there, Lisa, David and I met up with fellow Wuhaners Kelsey Steffens and Hannah Klusmeyer. We went out for lunch. It was hard to find an affordable restaurant where we were, so we decided just to splurge a bit. I got a steak for about $15 (or around 120 Hong Kong dollars). After that, we returned to the harbor and watched the sun set.

After that, all five of us went to the Hong Kong airport. Somewhere between the security check and our gate, I lost about $250 Hong Kong, or closer to $35 US. I'm not sure exactly what happened to it. As it turns out, I could have used that later on in the trip, but I will manage just fine without. Our flight was from Hong Kong to Phuket, Thailand. We gained an hour traveling west, but we still arrived in Thailand very late. We also clearly had no concept of Thailand money. When we arrived, we were only about 10-15 minutes walking distance from our hotel, but it was late and the girls especially did not want to walk in the dark. After changing my money, we agreed to a taxi ride from the airport that charged us 200 Thai Bath (that's the currency in Thailand) for each taxi, making it 400 Bath total, as we needed two taxis for 5 people. We later learned that is terribly expensive and we should have left the airport and hailed a taxi on the street, but we didn't know any better. In the grand scheme of things, it is still a very small amount. To give you an idea, 100 Bath equals about $3 US.

The next day our trip took us back to the Phuket airport. We flew in to Chiang Mai, Thailand. At the airport, we were greeted by Lisa's grandfather, who met us apparently by chance since Lisa had not contacted him since before we left China. He was very kind to us and bought all five of us lunch. He also drove us to the bus station. There we met the rest of our group for our first major stop in North Thailand: the Cave Lodge. We added Eric Melso (who at the time was afflicted with dengue fever), Michael Marsh, Nate Reich, and the Roberts family (Matt and Jody, Joshua, Caleb, and Kyrie); they are all FoCers from different cities. It was good to see so many people again and share the results of a semester in Wuhan.

We took a bus to Soppong Mapha, Thailand, the closest city to the Cave Lodge. We took a minibus to the actual Cave Lodge. We had very comfortable accommodations there, and we got to enjoy the beauties of the creation there, as well. We arrived late at night, but it was nice to breathe some clean air and see so many stars after suffering through Wuhan's pollution and being unable to see the stars because of the city lights. We spent our first full day hiking. We climbed some small mountains/large hills, explored a cave and visited a local village. 

The second day our group split up. One group did some easier caves and took the day easy. I was in the serious spelunker group. It wasn't so grueling as it was simply difficult to squeeze in tight spaces. I suppose our time in the caves was bad on our knees--and on our clothes. We hiked to three caves: Fossil Cave, Waterfall Cave, and Christmas Cave. A young Australian man named Lambert (who was of Chinese descent) and a German woman named Sonya joined our group for the trek. There were, of course fossils in Fossil Cave, which was probably the easiest cave that day, with only a few tight squeezes. Waterfall Cave culminated in a waterfall, but a barricade had been put up at the end so that no one fell off the waterfall; apparently a couple years ago someone died exploring that cave. We did quite a bit of crawling around on all fours in a little river that flowed through Waterfall Cave; I definitely think that was the most difficult one. Christmas Cave is likely so named because it's stalactites and stalagmites are as white as snow. Some almost give the illusion of winter with snow-covered trees and mailboxes. (My condolences to those of you who read this in the middle of winter and snowstorms; my vacation was spent in very comfortable weather--mostly in the 70's or warmer.) Christmas Cave was probably the prettiest. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 

The next day, our last full day at the Cave Lodge, we went whitewater rafting. This was also a new experience for me. We had two-person kayaks, and I got paired up with Michael Marsh; the two of us were easily the heaviest pair on the adventure. We kayaked for quite a distance. That day our Australian and German friends joined us again, as well us another American named Paul. At first, it seemed that I was not made for kayaking. Mike and I had trouble with going straight; when I was in charge of steering, we also discovered that I was not good at turning, either. After we figured out that he should be in the back to steer us, we did a little better. We still fell far behind the group in the first leg. After lunch, though, our guides noticed that our boat was quickly taking on water. We had to switch boats, and we did significantly better after that. Eventually they put us in an even bigger kayak, and then we got the hang of things. We ended up being the second group pair in, after one of the guides.

The following day we took a minibus to Chiang Mai, and our group split up. The five of us from Wuhan stuck together--David, Lisa, Kelsey, Hannah, and I--as well as Eric Melso. We had a few free hours to kill before our flight, so we fulfilled one of Hannah's lifelong dreams: we went to Tiger Kingdom. There they let us into a cage with trained tigers, and we got to pet them and take pictures with them. I was still a little leery taking my picture with a wild beast that I knew could kill me so easily, but I came out of it no worse for the wear.

That night we flew back to Phuket, where we stayed the night. In the morning we walked back to the Phuket airport. We caught a shuttle bus from there to the pier in Phuket; we had tickets for a boat to take us to Koh Phi Phi Don, a popular vacation spot in Thailand. (A friend described it as "the place that happens when parents aren't around.") Unfortunately, when we arrived at the pier, my roommate David realized that he did not have his wallet, which was holding all his money, his passport, and credit cards. He went back to the bus to see if he had left it there while we waited at the harbor. When he came back, he did not have good news to report. He determined that his wallet must have been stolen by the ticket man on the bus, who had sat down next to him apparently to show him something on the map. So we lent David some money, and he had to fly to Bangkok to get a replacement passport, or else he wouldn't be able to travel anywhere. That made me a little sad because David was really the one responsible for planning the trip, so I felt like, of all of us, he was the one that should go the most.

After that whole ordeal, the remaining five of us boarded the boat and spent the next couple hours in transit to Koh Phi Phi. The water was absolutely beautiful, and the sun was strong and warm. I can see why it would be a vacation spot. We arrived and had to split up our rooms. Since there were now only two boys, I ended up sharing the honeymoon suite with Eric Melso. That was also a new experience for me; a new bromance has been born. I never shared a honeymoon suite with anyone before, but the island did have a bit of a romantic feel to it. We spent about three days there, but they were mostly uneventful. We slept in in the morning, with just enough time left to eat our free breakfast. I divided my time relaxing with the internet, reading, swimming, and shopping around for souvenirs. I also got to enjoy some delicious fruit shakes and drink some decent beer, although towards the end of my time on Phi Phi I realized that my money was starting to get tight.

David returned for our last night in Koh Phi Phi. He decided to go out clubbing, which is a bit different on Phi Phi. At night, most of the clubs in Phi Phi have fire shows. People twirl fire batons and dance and twirl around. We also got a bucket mixed with rum, Coca-Cola, and Red Bull to share when we went around visiting such shows. On this particular night, David decided to jump a fire jump rope. He jumped successfully, but in order to avoid the fire he landed somewhat awkwardly on his foot. At first he thought he had just strained it, and he hobbled back to his bed that night. The next day we went to the clinic, and he after an X-ray he discovered that his foot had a fracture, and he had to get crutches. Needless to say, this was at the very least a memorable vacation for David.

The next day we took a boat to Koh Lanta, another island in the same general vicinity. In Lanta, like in Phi Phi, we took it easy. Now David couldn't travel so much because he couldn't put weight on one of his feet, so we spent quite a bit of our time relaxing. That was easy enough to do because we had a wonderful view, a beautiful beach, a good Wifi connection, and cheap beer. The highlight of our time there was probably the one day that we spent doing something. We took an hour-long elephant trek in the jungle (during which time we were, of course, riding on the elephant), and we watched an elephant perform with a hula hoop and a harmonica. It did a little dance and even gave a massage to a couple visitors. It was quite the spectacle. 

My last day in Lanta was easily my worst. Eric led a devotion (because it was Sunday) and then he left. I planned out the rest of my day. I had breakfast late because I had decided to skip lunch so as to save money. In the afternoon, I decided to go for a swim and then bask in the sunlight until I could watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the last part never came to fruition. I did go for a swim, but after maybe 15 minutes or so, I got some water in my ears (as I am prone to do these days), and I spent the next several minutes standing in one place trying to shake the water out. At the end of that time, I felt something bite my big toe on my right foot--or at least, it felt like a bite. I swam away quickly in case it was a shark, because I knew I was bleeding and that would only encourage it. Of course, after I calmed myself down, I realized that, if it had been a shark, I would be missing at least my toe right now, if not more. I walked myself up the beach in pain and went up the stairs to the resort where we were staying. I realized then that I was very tired and in great pain. The rest of my day was spent trying to relieve the pain in my foot, which persisted for about 6 hours or so. I took several Ibuprofen and elevated my foot to try to take away some of the pressure. The pain went away just in time for me to go to sleep, which was especially good considering that we were traveling again  the next day.

We took a boat taxi back to the dock on Koh Lanta early the following morning, and from there we took a couple of cruise boats back to Phuket. We took a minibus to the airport and flew in to Hong Kong that evening. In an effort to save money (as I was down to about 2000 Thai Bath at this point, or about $60 US with about a week left to go), I forewent both breakfast and lunch that day, making my supper the tastiest I had eaten in a long time, considering I went a day and a half without eating. (Sorry, Mom.) When we arrived at the airport, we stopped at McDonald's, and the cheapest thing on their menu in Hong Kong is the Big Mac meal, which costs $21 Hong Kong, or just a bit under $3 US. Seeing as food is generally quite expensive in Hong Kong, this is a pretty good deal. All my FoC friends tell me that's the cheapest meal in Hong Kong. After going since breakfast the previous day without eating a meal, a Big Mac was absolutely delicious. Because we were both on a tight budget--David didn't have so much money after having his wallet stolen, buying airplane tickets to and from Bangkok, and paying for a new visa--David and I went on a Big Mac only diet for the next couple days. That is, we skipped breakfast every day and ate the Big Mac value meal whenever our meals weren't already provided for us. In the end, I easily ate six or more Big Mac meals over the course of about four days. (Sorry again, Mom.) However, I do have some good news to report; I have weighed myself since coming back to Wuhan, and over the last three weeks, I have actually lost about five kilograms, or about 11 pounds! I am below 200 pounds now for the first time since my freshman year of college, I think. Maybe I should eat Big Macs more often in the States...

Anyway, we went to Hong Kong for the Friends of China retreat. I got to see a number of people that I have not seen for a long time and enjoy the fellowship of the FoC family of believers. It was very encouraging. I also had the opportunity to talk to a number of people about returning for a second year or returning to China at all. That was very helpful for me, too. Anyhow, the retreat itself took place over three days, and we had presentations about a number of different things. I even had a chance to speak more or less effectively for the entire Wuhan team, really just going through the highlights of our work in the last semester. We heard presentations about the recent history of the Chinese ch-rch, about personal dev0tions, a Chinese perspective on ev@ng*lism, and much more. We also had w0rship services for Ash Wednesday and a regular service on Saturday night before we left. Most of the Wuhan team also attended a service in Cantonese on Sunday morning as well, myself included. It was truly an uplifting experience, and I am thankful for the time I got to spend there.

One thing to highlight about the Hong Kong retreat is that, traditionally the men have grown out their facial hair over the course of Spring Festival for a competition at the retreat. Those of you who have been following this blog know that I had not shaved my beard since around September or so. To join in on the brotherly love, I also participated in the festivities. I had far from the most impressive beard; I would probably say Micah Ricke or Adam Limpert had the best ones, but all the men shaved various patches off throughout the retreat. I also did the same thing, giving myself at times a somewhat silly look, but I suppose that was all part of the fun. On the last night of our retreat, P@stor Rob Sirila was appointed judge to comment on all the men's faces, as well as to determine the winner. Doubtlessly out of pity for my lack of facial hair, and probably because we had shared both happy and sad memories with each other as part of one of the day's activities, he chose me as the winner. The photo above and to the right is a picture of my award-winning face. I was described, in the words of Rob Sirila, as having a sort of "French philosopher" look.

After the retreat, David still had to get a new visa worked out because he did not have a visa in his new passport. So we left him behind, and a new small group of us from Wuhan was the result. Six of us crossed the border back into mainland China at Shenzhen and took a train to Guilin together: Brian Gephart, Nicole Lehman, Kelsey Steffens, Nathan and Sarah Koerber, and I. We arrived in Guilin the following morning and spent the day exploring the city and mostly window shopping. I did end up buying a gift or two, even though at this point my money was incredibly tight; I used up the rest of my money the second day in Guilin, and we still had a third day left to go. Fortunately, the experienced FoC teachers were both generous and understanding, and they were able to lend me money for the rest of my trip.

David arrived late that night. Apparently he made it to our hostel with some difficulty. He was ripped off by the taxi driver who brought him there, and he knew he was being cheated, but since he had crutches and couldn't walk terribly far, he had no real choice in the matter. This surprises me, to be honest, because generally speaking the Chinese are kind to foreigners, and it has to be very shameful for them to mistreat a cripple like that. Then again, it comes as no surprise because I believe evil fills the hearts of all people naturally, and greed is certainly a motivating force. When he got to our hostel, it was very wet because it had been a rainy day, and he slipped while hobbling up the stairs. We might have helped, but we did not know he was there because his phone was dead.

The following day was the day of our river cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. It was also David's birthday. The Koerbers bought a bottle of brandy to turn it into a sort of booze cruise, but none of us had more than we could handle. Mostly, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery. There were mountains everywhere, and the river itself was very beautiful. It was a bit cold, but even that was tolerable. We saw the famous view shown on back of the 20 RMB bill (for those of you who don't know RMB is Chinese currency). We also made two new friends from Switzerland. They traveled with us for most of the day. The seven of us Wuhan FoCers went back to our hostel in the afternoon and celebrated with a birthday cake we had bought for David. It was a particularly funny cake of a macho man's chest going down to his underwear; we thought it might be the perfect thing to help David on such a dismal trip for him, although he always has been one to keep in good spirits regardless of the circumstances. Later that night we went out to an Irish pub for a drink, and then we went hit up a club for a couple hours. I am decidedly a better fit for the bar scene than the club crowd, but I got right in there and tried whatever dance moves that I could. Being a foreigner does give me instant celebrity status here in China, and I made full use of it. I must have danced with whatever crazy ideas I could come up with for three hours or so, right along with my other FoC friends. David danced even longer than I did, which was quite an impressive feat for someone with only one good foot! He danced on crutches or hopped along until the early morning.

The next day was kind of just a filler day. The whole group was short on money, and we were cold. We checked out of our hostel at the last possible minute because our rooms had heat. Then we convinced them to let us stick around the hostel for the rest of the day. We got lunch for four RMB (that's a little over 50 cents) and returned to the hostel, where we watched, to the great dismay of some of the men, the musical film Les Miserables. That night we went to the train station and boarded the train back to Wuhan. We arrived the following morning, which is yesterday now for me.

I apologize once again for my lengthy post, but this time I feel I have a legitimate excuse; not only am I reporting on three weeks, but a lot of interesting things happened over those three weeks. Now I just have to get ready for next semester. That will give me plenty to do for the time being.

Thanks to those of you who are still reading! It's hard for me to believe that my year in China is over half-done already; only about four more months to go, and I will be back home in the States (at least for the summer). I miss you all, and you are in my thoughts and pr@yers. Please pr@y also for me, that I may faithfully dispatch the office that has been entrusted to me. Pr@y also for the brothers and sisters in China, especially that our G0d would raise up for them leaders who are willing and able to carry out His work.

Peace be with you.

Thailand Itinerary

Grace and peace to you all in the name of our L0rd and S@vior J*s-s Chr+st!

As I write this post, I admit that I have not been all that busy over the last few weeks, and I've made almost nothing of my downtime. In Ivy's words, I've spent the last two weeks or so "full-time dating." On the bright side, I've gotten to know her a lot better, but there's not a whole lot that is worthy of a blog post.

Last Monday I performed for the other teachers in my school. To celebrate Chinese New Year, there were several different skits and many teachers from the whole school attended. I had a solo for the song "You Raise Me Up," and I was joined in the chorus by Ivy and a number of my female co-workers (most of whom I had not met before we started rehearsing). My timing was off for the performance, but I have done worse. Mostly the teachers were just impressed with the English, which is really what it was all about. Ivy took pictures, but unfortunately she lost her camera, so I will not be able to put them on this post.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: my itinerary for my upcoming vacation. I will spend the next three weeks in Thailand, Hong Kong, Guilin (a city in China), and traveling between them. I'm excited and hope to take lots of pictures. I have a total of almost two months off for Chinese New Year, and I'm taking full advantage of them.


Trip Part 1-Northern Thailand!

January 30th: Take a train to HK after school. Overnight train.

January 31st. Arrive in Hong Kong in the morning. Flight to Phuket (Thailand) at 8:25PM. Arrive at 10:55PM, overnight in Phuket at the Canal Resort.

February 1st: Catch flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai at 10:35AM, arrive at 12:30PM and travel to Cave Lodge

February 2nd: Full Day Adventure Caving or Easier cave tour

February 3rd: Full day Hill Tribe Trek

February 4th: One Day Khong River Trip to Susa Waterfalls kayaking.

February 5th: Travel back to Chiang Mai in morning. Afternoon with WELS M*ssion family? Catch 9:45PM flight back to Phuket! Arrive in Phuket 11:50PM. Overnight in the Canal Resort (343 Baht).

Trip Part 2-Southern Thailand!

February 6th: Sleep in, travel to Phuket town, catch short boat ride to Koh Phi Phi Don. Relax on
beach.

February 7th: Beach, sea kayaking?

February 8th: Beachhhhhh oh yeaaaaaahhh!

February 9th: Travel to Koh Lanta via short boat ride. Stay at Kantiang Bay! Elephant Trek? Relax on
Beach.

February 10th: Beach, massage, relaxation, beer. Rent motorbike to explore island?

February 11th: Beach, massage, relaxation, beer, relaxation, more beer, snorkeling?

February 12th: Travel to Phuket from Lanta via boat-3 hours. Go to airport, catch 3:40PM flight to
HK. Arrive in HK in the evening at 7:55pm.


Trip Part 3-FOC Retreat Hong Kong, Guilin!

February 13th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 14th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 15th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 16th: FOC Retreat in Hong Kong

February 17th: Travel by train to Guilin, explore, overnight in hostel!

February 18th: 1 Day cruise on the Li River to Yangshuo. Stay overnight at En Attendant Godot Youth Hostel in Yangshuo.

February 19th: Explore Yangshuo, bike ride through the countryside along the mountains? David's birthday!

February 20th: Back to Guilin, catch train to Wuhan!

Those are my plans for the next few weeks! Now I will shamelessly add a plug for why you should come to visit me in Wuhan. I've prepared a top 11 list:
1. Try authentic Chinese food! I'm not talking about the American stuff in the restaurants, either.
2. Practice your chopstick skills.
3. See beautiful Chinese scenery, like East Lake or giant piles of rubble.
4. Throw your trash away...off the roof! This is one of David's favorite activities, and I thoroughly enjoy it as well.
5. Meet the friendly Chinese people! They make Americans feel like superstars here.
6. Experience a new culture. Chinese culture is a little different from American culture, obviously.
7. Play Frogger in real life! Crossing the street here in China is just like playing the game, except you only ever have one life. I apologize to all of you who do not understand this reference. Ask your children!
8. Lose weight! In the past five months, I've lost over 50 pounds. I really think that I should be a poster boy for FoC! (I've lost weight, found a girlfriend, sowed the seed, etc.)
9. Breathe the clean Wuhan air. We don't have any pollution in Wuhan...ever...maybe...I wish...

10. Meet the beautiful Miss Ivy. She's really a wonderful woman, and I think you should all meet her some day. At least, I'm particularly fond of her.
11. See the work we do here in China. We are making friends for eternity. The people here are coming to know the one thing needful, and that makes all the differences.

And there you have it. Come visit me!

I will be traveling for a while, so I likely won't post here again until I return from my trip. I would like to give a shout out now to those February birthdays coming up. But first, my grandmother turns 87 this week, so happy birthday, Grandma! Birthday wishes also to Corey, Elijah, and Cara. I wish you all His blessings over the next year.

Your pr@yers are appreciated. Continue to pray for me and my work. Pr@y also for the Chinese chrch, that He would continue to raise up Chinese people who are willing and able to lead their own chrches, and that the Word would continue to spread and grow in the heart of China.

Greetings to all. I love you all and miss you much. I'm half-way through my stay in China now. I hope to see those of you in America in 5 months or so!

The grace of our L0rd J*s-s Chr+st, the love of G0d our Father, and the fellowship of the H0ly Sp+r+t be with you all.

The Sichuan Sizzle

Grace and peace are yours in richest measure from G0d our Father through our L0rd and S@vi0r J*s-s Chr*st!

Instead of an apology, this time I would like to begin my post with a thankyou. Thanks to all of you who still care enough about my life to be reading my blog, even though in my mind my posts must be rather long and dull. With that, I once again have a lot to talk about this time, as always, so I'll get started and end my silly preamble. ;)

The last time I posted in my blog was Chr*stmas time, and a lot has happened since then. 2013 has rolled in, and we are none the worse for it. Apparently, the Mayans were wrong about the end of the world. This comes as no surprise to us, though. Personally, I think they probably just got bored. They had already calculated a calendar for thousands of years in the future; why keep going? After all, thousands of years later, we are perfectly capable of finishing it for what we need to.

I for my part celebrated the new year on the road. I wasn't even awake when it came. I knew that I had an early morning the following morning, and there really wasn't anything for me to do. I was on vacation. School gave me a week off for the holiday, and I spent it traveling to Sichuan province with my co-teacher Ivy. She took me there because it was her childhood home, and she knew that I like spicy food. They eat very spicy food in Sichuan, so I enjoyed what they gave me. We also went to the more remote parts of the province, where foreigners almost never go. I was something of a spectacle there. I literally heard the Chinese word waiguoren--foreigner--every new place I went. It was something like being a celebrity, not that I particularly care for such things. Nevertheless, as the honored guest of the many people I was privileged to visit with Ivy, they prepared more meat than usual and gave me special treatment. I appreciate all that they did for me. They were certainly very hospitable. I ate my fill and then some. Don't worry, Mom. Even though they live a very modest/meager life, I was well provided for.

I met some of Ivy's relatives, as that was where her family has come from for generations. I met her grandmother (who is 90 years old and still in excellent health!) as well as some of her aunts and uncles. We went there for the wedding of one of her childhood friends, though, and that was at least enjoyable. I met the bride and groom about 2 days before the wedding in the small city of Zigong (with population of only about 1 million or so, making it small in China). I was not the main feature of the wedding, fortunately, but I did make some waves. Specifically, one young man came up to me and asked me if I remembered him. When I responded that I did not, he proceeded to tell me that he was my cab driver from that morning and that he was very happy to know me (a Chinglish way of saying that he was pleased to meet me/make my acquaintance). He continued to speak to me for about the next 5 or 10 minutes, using, I suppose, all of the English that he could muster. Whenever he didn't know what to say next, he came back to his stock phrases: "I am very happy!" "Are you happy?" "I am so happy!" This experience is descriptive of my entire time in China. The people are delighted to meet foreigners, especially Americans.

On our way back, Ivy and I also stopped in Chongqing, one of China's major cities. We stopped there to meet with some important people. The son of her father's master (trust me, I'm trying to put this as succinctly as possible) is now an official of some sort in the government, and relationships are very important in China. Because she is connected to these people, she could in theory find a better job some day. In other words, Ivy has the right connections in China. Anyhow, this young man and his family also welcomed me (because, by being connected to Ivy, in Chinese culture that also means that I am connected to them). They prepared a meal for me and treated me with the greatest hospitality, giving beyond generosity (although they had more than the poor country people to begin with). Still, it was an enjoyable experience and a memorable night for me. Mom and Dad, this man also said that he hopes to come to America to travel in the summer, and he mentioned that he might stop at our house. Be warned! I have no idea whether or not this will actually come to pass, but don't say I didn't tell you.

We returned to Wuhan that Thursday, and after having supper together, I headed back to my apartment, but not before asking Ivy to marry me! Okay, just kidding. I didn't ask her to marry me; you can stop your heart attacks now. In all seriousness, though, I did ask her out, to which she responded that she wanted some time to think about it. I figured that meant no, but the next morning she surprised me by sending her answer in a text message. She said that we could try it out, and we've been dating for almost two weeks now. (In fact, she's sitting next to me while I type these words.) That, for all of you back home, is probably the biggest news to hear about me in this post.

However, I believe I have even greater news. Two of our friends here in central Wuchang (the part of Wuhan that I live in) joined G0d's family last week through the washing of water with the Word. I was privileged to wash one of my good friends, and my roommate David washed the other. I have chosen to leave their names out of this post to protect them, as it could be dangerous if we were discovered. This is a wonderful experience for me, but more importantly, it shows that the work we are doing here is not without effect. His Word is truly accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it, and I rejoice that we have added a brother and a sister to the family. Please join me in pr@ying for them, that He would give them strength to stand up in times of trouble and remind them daily of this wonderful blessing they have in b@ptism.

School is finished for the semester now, and in two weeks, I will be leaving for a vacation to Thailand and Hong Kong. I look forward to this refreshing time, too, but I suppose I need to prepare for the next semester's classes as well. Additionally, as the only p@st-r candidate in Wuhan besides our actual shepherd, I have been chosen to teach CSI (Chr*st*@n Studies Institute) classes to His people here in Wuhan in the spring semester. This, of course, will be beneficial to me in my m*n*stry some day, and it reminds me that the time is fast approaching when I must decide whether or not I will return to China next year. There are now less than two months to go before I need to make a decision. This choice is all the more difficult for me because I know I am choosing between two good and wonderful things. Please pr@y for me, that He would lead me to the greater decision for building up His Ch-rch.

I would also like to give a shout out here to my brother Ben, who celebrated his 19th birthday between this and my last post. I hope to add one more blog post before I leave for Thailand (as I will not be writing anything after that until I return), but if I don't, I'll also add here that my sister Carrie and my grandma will both be celebrating birthdays later this month. If there's anyone else I should add, I'm sorry, but I either forgot you or don't consider you a part of my immediate family!

The grace of our L0rd J*s-s Chr*s+ be with your sp*rit.

Happy Holidays!

Grace and peace to you from G0d our Father and our L0rd and S@vi0r J*s-s Chr*s+!

I will once again begin this post with an apology as I have been very unfaithful in maintaining my blog. Let it suffice to say that I have had very little spare time that went unfilled over the past month or so; consequently, my blog has been seemingly neglected. As it is, I don't believe I've posted since before Thanksgiving, so I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful first and foremost for the true meaning of Chr*stm@s, and I would ask you to join with me and the Ch_rch in China in celebrating this wonderful festival. Marvel with me at the mir@culous mystery: that manger means matchless mercy for mankind, as by G0d's grace He has granted us the greatest gift of all. He sent His  Son to save s*nners, of whom I am the worst. Here in China, we celebrated the holiday with our Chinese friends at a special party on Saturday. It was lots of fun. I got to meet new people, see old friends, and sing some songs. More importantly, we shared the Reason for the season with almost 200 friends, all of whom are in some way or another connected with our work here.

Secondly, I also have been bl*ssed to share this story, the history of the first Xmas with many s0uls who have never heard of it before in China. I am continually in awe of the fact that I have been counted worthy of sharing this g0sp*l, even I, who have been nothing but evil since conception. Still, I know that it is not I who am worthy, but the Lamb who makes me worthy. This provides me great comfort, even while I am far away.

Third, I am thankful for my dear family, who have been supporting me from afar. Mom and Dad, thanks for raising me the way you did. I wouldn't be the man I am today, and I wouldn't be His man today, if you had not provided for me in all the wonderful ways that you did. Cindy, Chris, Carrie--you have all been wonderful older siblings for me (and here in China, I suppose I had better make a distinction between elder and younger siblings). Thanks for being role models throughout the years, for encouraging me when I needed it, and for providing your wisdom when I am not so wise. Ben, I am proud of the man you are becoming. It's been an honor to be your brother. Remember even when you struggle that He is with you. Corey, Cara, Dan--thanks for being such wonderful additions to our family. Aurora, Elijah, Gabriel--thanks for providing our family with so much joy. I suppose I could add Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, but then I would be writing a long time. I love you all very deeply, and I miss you here in China.

Fourth, I am thankful for my friends. Whether my friends at home in the States or here in China, I am thankful for all the people that He has placed in my life. I'm glad that we could meet each other and spur each other on as the Day approaches. I also appreciate the many friendships that I have. Thanks for the good times, and I look forward to more in the future.

Next, I am thankful for my students. I am thankful for both those who come to study the Word and those who study English at my schools. They provide my life with a purpose for the moment. I love them all, and I have been privileged to share with them the story of the first Chr*stm@s here over the last couple weeks. Even in the classroom, I have shared the Luke 2 account, sowing the seed and trusting that He will take care of the rest.

Finally, I am thankful for you, dear reader. I suppose you probably belong to one of the groups above, but those of you who know me understand that I am not simply flattering you; I simply wish to take this opportunity to thank you personally for all that you have done for me. You are a bl*ssing in my life, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

I suppose there are many other details that I could share with you about my life in China. My co-teacher, Ivy, has started an English corner at our college. Essentially, an English corner is an event where the students come together to practice their English a little more freely outside of a classroom setting. Our first night, Ivy and I were joined by my roommate David and Jess Gierach, another FoC teacher from the center of Wuhan.  It seems, however, that I was the star of the show. Many of my students joined us, and they were excited to meet my other American friends and ask me all sorts of questions about my life. I got to share a little bit about what I believe.

The first English corner was such a success (I think we had about 200 students talking to three foreigners and one Chinese teacher) that we decided to repeat it. This time, however, I was the only foreigner who was able to attend, and due to final exams there were far fewer students there. Ivy and I organized some activities, namely an icebreaker, speed-dating (which was an utter failure because after a couple minutes virtually all the girls tried to "speed date" me), and the game telephone. I hope we can organize more events like this in the future, because it gives me an opportunity to answer questions about what I believe and why I believe it.

That is, I suppose, a summary of my adventures thus far. I suppose I could write a post twice this long and tell you about my adventures car-shopping with my friend Liang Jun, or about our Thanksgiving parties,or about how I survived Doomsday, or about what I got for Christmas, or about my romantic interests in China (a hot topic, I know). Or I could leave that for those who are interested. If you wish to contact me, you know how to find me. If you're interested, I'll tell you. Here I have detailed the important things. I'm still enjoying my China life, and I am very bl*ssed to be here now.

I have had a wonderful day this Chr*stmas Day, and I wish all of you similarly a very bl*ssed Chr*stmas!

Halloween, Hong Kong, and Hangzhou

Grace and peace to all of you back home!

I should start this post with an apology. I have been rather busy, and as a result I have neglected my blog. This, of course, has a few direct consequences: 1) you have not heard about my exploits much over the last three weeks, and 2) this post will be rather lengthy as I try to pack in all the information from the last few weeks. My apologies, and with that, I hope to jump into this post.

The last week of October was a wonderful time for me. I got to teach my students all about Halloween, and as they had few previous conceptions of the day, their idea of Halloween in the United States is based almost entirely on what I said in class. I also bought candy for my lucky students at Luo Jia College (my students at Wuhan City Vocational College weren't so fortunate--their classes got cancelled that week, so I didn't give them any candy). After all, I figure, what college student wouldn't love to have a piece of candy during class? They were mostly hard candy's similar to Werther's (the caramels), except that they were a Chinese brand and came in various flavors--caramel, milk, coffee, strawberry, raspberry, and mixed berry. I also got a sort of fake Chinese Starbursts, but my students ate them all before I got a chance to try them. They must have been good.

In class, I got to explain the holiday, and I figured that it would be even better reinforced by "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." We didn't get through the whole thing in my class because we simply had too many things to talk about, and I wanted to make sure they understood Halloween in American culture, and I wanted to answer the questions of any curious questions. Still, watching the video made planning my class a little easier.

That Friday, we had a party in Hankou (one of the districts in Wuhan) to celebrate Stephanie Humann's birthday. It was apparently a big day for birthdays, because it was my sister Cindy's birthday too--happy birthday again, Cindy! :) --as well as Brian Gephart's father's birthday. We threw a big party and invited all our Chinese friends to come join us for karaoke, but a costume was a requirement. I spent a while brainstorming for a great costume idea, and I must warn you that this costume may not be safe for small children. My roommate David gave me the suggestion that I should dress like a mental patient, and I manipulated it a bit, but I still looked like someone/something that came out of a psych ward. In fact, it was so scary that between Stephanie's apartment and KTV (where we sing karaoke), I scared a few people to the point that one lady actually jumped when she saw me. Of course, this was probably compounded by the fact that I remained committed to my character during our one-block walk to KTV.

The following week was a short week at school because I had to cancel my classes for my students at Luo Jia College because I needed to change my visa over to a business visa so that I can stay for the remainder of the year. At the time, my visa only allowed me to stay as a tourist for 90 days, and that time would nearly be up. To that end, I traveled to Hong Kong, although not before testing my less fortunate students at Wuhan City Vocational College. I now have the privilege of telling all of you that testing Chinese students is no pleasurable experience for me; it becomes quickly apparent which students take notes, which ones aren't listening in class, and which ones only occasionally attend my class. Many of their tests were less than desirable.

I went to Hong Kong with fellow FoCers Stephanie Humann and Lisa Nickle. My roommate David was also supposed to come along with us, but his school did not fill out his paperwork in time, so he had to cancel his train ticket. We took a soft sleeper (which is the most expensive kind of seat) train to Shenzhen on the border of Hong Kong. We found that what formerly had been David's bed was filled again with a young French woman named Faha (or something like that) who is studying Chinese here in Wuhan at one of the universities in the area. She got to be part of our group for the night and half the morning, and it was interesting to see another person from a Western culture.

We experienced a lot of Western culture in Hong Kong, however, as the city has a heavy British influence to this day and enjoys many freedoms that the rest of China does not have. We went to the U.S. Consulate, with a lot of help from the natives, who often spoke perfect English, and we discovered there that we actually needed to go to the Chinese Embassy, so we took a taxi there. We filled out our paperwork with some difficulty, and then we went for lunch.

That night we met with Katie Huebner, who graciously allowed us to stay at her apartment during the duration of our stay. She is a fellow Lakeside alumn; even though she is a few years older than I, it was still nice to have someone who can relate to those things. I met many wonderful people in Hong Kong, inluding, but not limited to: 1) Ruby, a young woman who apparently studied at MLC (although I never met her there) and has now moved to the United States where she will live with a young man who is a student at WLS and was an RA at MLC during the time that I was there. 2) Stanley Chan, a WLC grad who is also a student at ALS (and for those of you who don't know, this will be my standard abbreviation for Asia L-ther@n S*min@ry). He was just a joy to talk to, partly because his English, which is perfect, is filled with all sorts of Midwesternisms that just made me laugh. I had a wonderful time in Hong Kong, and I am glad that I will be returning there in the spring (late February) for the FoC retreat, because I was unable to see all the wonderful sites there. What I saw was still excellent. We climbed a peak and saw the city at night, we explored the history museum there, and we did some authentic Hong Kong shopping.

We returned home to Wuhan early Sunday morning. Karl Gurgel was a guest speaker at our Sunday gathering, and he also came to teach at the ALS satellite that was meeting in Wuhan last week. I was glad that I was able to attend one class; the Chinese shepherd candidates and I went through the background and first chapter of the g0sp-l according to Luke under the instruction of Professor Gurgel. It was a wonderfull experience to be able to study with future Chinese shepherds (two of whom are from Wuhan), not to mention that I love being a student.

Then this last weekend, I went with a few other FoC teachers to Hangzhou, China's paradise city. The weather there was a little warmer than Wuhan, but the city was so much cleaner. Both Hong Kong and Hangzhou gave me hope that I might be able to breathe unpolluted air again someday. About 10 of us from Wuhan went there for the marathon, a few to watch but most to run. We were signed up as a team. We ran about 7 kilometers at varying speeds. My roommate David was the only serious teacher among the group, so he came in with a good time (running about 6 minute miles). I ran with my co-teacher, a young Chinese woman named Ivy. We ran around some beautiful scenery, apparently including the most romantic lake in all of China. Hangzhou's West Lake is absolutely gorgeous, although not as big as Wuhan's East Lake. I wasn't able to take any pictures, though, because I was seriously running (unlike some of the Chinese people who stopped, walked, took pictures, and shouted out "foreigner!" in Chinese at whatever point they wanted). I believe among us Wuhaners, Ivy and I took second and third place, respectively. Jess Gierach and Nicole Lehman, my co-workers from central Wuchang (one of the districts of Wuhan) came in after us, rounded out by Kelsey Steffens and Sarah (Sternemann) Koerber. Other FoCers ran in different races, including Hannah Schmiege and Nathan King, both from Hangzhou, who ran the full marathon. I was rather impressed. We made quite a day out of it.

But the thing that gave me the most joy over the weekend was not the race, but the warship. We all got together Saturday night, and there were so many of us we could hardly fit into the apartment. In fact, I was practically sitting on Mike Luedtke's lap (he is a former FoC teacher-turned student who is studying in Beijing). We belted out the pr@ise of our King in a way I haven't heard in a long time. It was a beautiful thing. We talked a little about those who have entered the Kingdom before us and the second coming. It was very encouraging.

Dragonwell Tea

Of course, we also had our fair share of fun with our brothers and sisters in Hangzhou as well. The men went to the tea fields while the women went wedding dress shopping. We went to Decathlon, a store that sells all sorts of sports equipment. Among other things, I bought a 70-liter hiking backpack for around $75 U.S. dollars. It's great, and it will be incredibly useful to me when I travel again. We sang some karaoke. A number of them went out to the bar, but it was already late and I had a race the next day, so I opted not to go. Some got to go repelling from the roof of an apartment, but the cops showed up and stopped us just before my turn came. (We'll have to do it again in some other place where people aren't so concerned about it.) I got to attend a Chinese club where it became obvious that my Chinese is very minimal, but I hope that I can continue to learn more. I am taking classes once a week, and maybe we can start up a similar Chinese club in Wuhan.

All too soon, the weekend drew to a close, and it was time for us to leave. And these are, of course just the highlights. I'm sure I can share more pictures with anyone interested once I get back to the states, and maybe I can post more on facebook. Overall, though, I think it was a wonderful experience, and I've come back to Wuhan refreshed for my work here.

Once again, I apologize for my long posts. I suppose that is just the way I write: when I have time, including whatever seems important to me at the time, and rather wordy. Please accept my sincere apologies--unless you prefer to reject them!

China is a wonderful place, and if you're still reading this, I would encourage you to come visit some time. (We have a spare bedroom!)

Love and pr@yers to all who are far away. I miss you all more than you know. May He keep you in His tender care now and always.