The End

We are writing this in Detroit, waiting on our next connecting flight. We’ll be in Chattanooga in 7 hours! Yesterday, we said ‘goodbye’ to China. We remember being sad when we left home in August. That is nothing compared to the feeling we have now. When we left America, we knew we’d be coming back and that we’d see our family and friends again. Leaving China, we don’t know if we’ll go back, or if we’ll see our ‘family’ and friends from there again. It was very hard to say goodbye to them all. Our last week in classes the students did ‘goodbye’ speeches to us and their classmates. They talked about what they enjoyed in the class, and something they want us to remember about them. A lot of them were very sweet, and almost brought us to tears in class. We had been planning to do something with all the students at the end of the semester. We thought we’d have a party for each class, but it was too busy to schedule because of their finals (they even take tests on Saturday and Sunday). So, we just decided to have a party for them all on one day. We made it like a ‘come and go’ party between 3 and 8pm. We ended up having over 150 students into our apartment throughout the day! We really didn’t expect that good of a turn out. We expected like 50 at the most. But they all wanted to come and give us gifts and tell us goodbye. We bought tons of snacks and made some homemade cookies for them. But, like I said we didn’t expect that many, so the cookies were gone by 4:30! But, they loved them while they lasted!! Also, during our last week, we were able to hang out with most of our closest Chinese friends. We managed to hold back tears, until our last night. It started when we went to one of our favorite restaurants, that we call the ‘Muslim Restaurant’ (because it’s owned by Muslims). The workers have become some of our really good friends....even though they don’t speak any English. We just communicate with our broken Chinese, gestures, and charades. Sometimes they just sit us while we’re eating and don’t say anything, they just like being around us. We went to tell them goodbye late Sunday night, and one of them started crying. So....of course that got us going!!! After saying our last minute goodbyes, we stayed up late doing last minute packing and cleaning. Since then, it’s pretty much been a blur since we haven’t really slept much. Now, we’re just experiencing sensory overload! All we see is white people...everywhere!! And we can understand everything they’re saying!! And we just finished eating some Chips & Queso at Chilli’s.....yum!!!! Now, we’re super excited about seeing some family and friends here in a few hours!
Overall, this year has been amazing! We have grown so much during our time away, both spiritually and as a couple. We’ll admit...we had our share of ’what in the world are we doing here?’ moments. J And some times we were tired of rice, crowds, buses, and pollution. But looking back, we’re very glad we went and feel like God worked through us. We now feel like we’re leaving our home, to go to this strange land, called America. A place where the only real crowd is present at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving (which really is nothing!), a place with normal toilets, tacos, hotdogs, and where babies wear diapers. We can’t believe that this journey is over for us, but we’re ready to start whatever God has in store for us. Thanks for keeping up with us and tagging along in our journey. Your thoughts, prayers, support, and encouraging words were really appreciated!
See you soon!

Flashes Before Your Eyes

Wow! We can't believe we're leaving China in a week. It has gone by soooo fast! About a year ago, we had a going away party with our small group at Nick & Leslie Foster's house. Many tears were shed that day. At the end of the party, we were all sitting in a circle talking. Our small group was talking about what they'd miss about us, and we were expressing how much we'd miss them. Then, Josh Oakley says to us, "A year from now, you're going to be sitting with a group of Chinese, and they will be sharing these same thoughts, about how much they'll miss you, and how much you'll miss them." Well, that came true, this past Thursday night. We had a group of christian students over to the apartment for a kind of going away party. We have had this group over a few times to sing, pray, read, and just fellowship with each other. We shared with each other how sad we were that we were leaving but how happy we were to be able to meet with them and study together. For the past few weeks, we have been really making an effort to introduce those who we have been studying with, with the already established, strong student christian group who meets at our school. This past Thursday Ricky & Kerry, two students who we have spent a lot of time with, came to the apartment. Ricky & Thomas have studied a lot, and talk often, but on Thursday night Ricky had an opportunity to meet these Chinese student Christians, It was a great opportunity for him to ask questions, pray,read,and fellowship in an environment where there was no language barrier. It was encouraging to hear the students exchange contact info with Ricky & Kerry. The Christian group informed us that they will continue to reach out and include them in their activities.

As we have mentioned before, from time to time in class we present to them a proverb or parable for them to read and discuss. This past week we introduced the story of The Prodigal Son. After reading the story to them, we had them share with us what they thought. Most of the classes had mixed feelings about the story, some students thought it was a good example of a fathers love, while others were angry that the father forgave the son so quickly. After we had them share with us what there feelings were, we then took it a step further. We broke the students up into groups of 3. We then assigned them each a role (Father,younger son or older son). The students then had to write about their feelings if they were this person in the story. They then discussed those feelings with each other and then with the class. After that part of the activity, the majority of the students then saw the story as one of unconditional love and forgiveness. For homework each student had to share this story with 3 other people.

Ricky, Jaguar & Black are three students who Thomas has gotten really close to over this past year. These 3 students are all seniors, and graduated a few weeks ago. Much like some American seniors, they all wanted to celebrate with doing something wild and crazy together. They came up with the idea of bungee jumping, after I had shown them a video online of the worlds highest bungee jump. So 2 weeks ago, Thomas, Ricky, Jaguar & Black travel down to an amusement park called Hangzhou Paradise to celebrate graduation by all bungee jumping. I have to say that I was more nervous than I actually thought I would be. I think most of it stemmed from the fact that the guy giving me instructions on how to fasten the harness, and what to hold on to, was speaking only Chinese, and I was getting it second hand through lose translation. But as I sit here and write this blog, I have to say Im glad that I did it with the guys, however im not sure I would do it again.

For those of you who don't know China, they like to make sure they go out all when they are on center stage for the world to see. The 2010 World Expo(aka Worlds Fair) is being held in Shanghai this year, and they expect over 75 million people to visit during the 6 month event. That is over 416,000 people per day. Last Tuesday & Wednesday Callie and I traveled to the Expo with 2 students (Mike & Aileen)along with about 415,998 other Chinese people:) We were able to visit over 30 different countries, and have a taste of some Mexican, Argentine & Italian food. Although we were exhausted after 2 days of walking non - stop, we had a great time hanging out with Mike & Aileen, and getting to experience the EXPO.

That was a quick wrap up of the past few weeks. This next week im sure will be tough, as we start to pack up and say our goodbyes. According to timerit.com we have 7days 10hours & 41minutes till we leave China. See you soon!!

The Beginning of the End

Sorry it's been so long since our last blog! We've been super busy these past few weeks. For those of you who read this, and don't already know, we have decided to come home at the end of this school year, and not stay in China for an additional year. We thought the decision whether to come to China or not was hard, but this decision has been much harder than we anticipated. We absolutely LOVE China, so that’s what is really making it hard. The people here are just amazing, we love the work, and we’re surprisingly really enjoying the food! Also, it feels great when all your work and effort is all for ‘upward’ purposes. But after much 'yarp'ing.....so much we had bruised knees :), we felt that coming back to America is our next move in life. We have mixed emotions about coming home. We're excited to see all our friends and family, and sad about leaving our new friends here. We're also preping ourselves for that 'reverse culture shock'. We have a feeling we're going to be weirdo's when we come back......so bare with us for a while. :)
Since the end is near, we've really been trying to make the most of our time here. Following up on leads, and spending as much time as we can with our students. So, we'll sum up what we've been doing this past week:

Last Sunday, we met with Jane. Jane is a student at our school, but not one of our students. Jane is a student of another foreign teacher here. She had emailed him asking if he would teach B*ib*le stories to their class. He knows that we are C’s, so he told her about us, and that we know a lot of those stories. So, Callie met her for dinner one night. Within five minutes of the conversation, she said, “I love the B*ible!!” From that short dinner conversation, a few studies have started! She seems really interested, and has a great heart! She has even talked to some friends about the Book, and says that one friend is interested and may join in next week.

Monday we hung out with Ricky almost all day. If you've read our previous blogs, you know that Ricky is one of our closest students (Thomas' good buddy). He's expressed interest in what we believe and wants to learn more about what it means. For a while, him and Thomas were having frequent meetings and good talks. Then, Ricky had to take a job, for an internship. He was working 12 hours a day/6 days a week. He barely had time to meet with Thomas anymore. So, we were a little bummed about that. We thought he'd be doing this internship until his graduation, at the end of this term. But, after answered pra*yers, Ricky has been able to take a break from his job, until the end of this term. So, now he's got tons of free time! Since then, Thomas has been able to see Ricky almost everyday. This past Monday, he spent the day with us. We had some really good talks with him.

Tuesday, Callie went to lunch with one of our students named Cherry. Previously, she told us that she's taking a class about the B*ble. Aparrently it's a class that English majors take at our school, and it's to help them to learn Western Culture. So, at lunch, she told Callie that they just finished learning about Moses. And she really likes the stories. She explained the story, in detail. It was pretty cool how much she remembered. Later, Callie went with her to her dorm room. Cherry gave her the grand tour of the 1 room that 4 girls share. They all have a big desk, and a small bed on top. The girls had it decorated really cute! One thing that is different about Chinese dorms, compared to American, is that they have no heat or air conditioning. So, you can imagine during those cold winter months, how cold it must be for them. They aren't allowed to have space heaters or electric blankets. It's crazy how much we Americans take thing for granted!

Wednesday is always the day for English Corner. English Corner is a time for all the foreigners and English speaking students to come to chat. It's 2 hours. We sit in small groups and just talk about anything we want to. This week, the students noticed Callie's necklace, which is a fish with a cross inside. They asked what it meant.....so that lead into some good conversations. Later they asked some questions about our marriage, and why we are so much different than Americans they see on tv. That lead into some more good conversations.
Wednesday nights are our designated LOST nights. As most of you know, we are obsessed with tv show, Lost. Lost is in it's final few episodes. The finale is on May 23, so we'll watch it on the 24th. That will be a very sad day for us! So we ask for your pra*yers ahead of time. :)

Thursday we had some our students from last semester over to watch 'Fireproof'. Some of them had come over on previous occasions. One of those occasions we made them brownies. So, we had a request to make brownies that night. Also, the one who requested them, wanted to come over early to learn how to make them. Her name is Sigrid. Sigrid is a Japanese major. So, she invited her Japanese teacher, our friend also, over to learn how to make brownies too. Let's just say they about died when Callie told them how much sugar to put in. :) After we mixed the batter, we showed them how we love to stick our fingers in the bowl to taste the batter! After the brownies were fixed, the rest of the group showed up, about 8 of them. We watched Fireproof, luckily the DVD we got has Chinese subtitles. They loved the movie! They thought it was so romantic. After the movie, we had some discussion questions for them. Some very good questions and conversations came from that; about unconditional love, forgiveness, faith, temptations, etc.

Friday, our American friends Bethany and Daniel had a program at their school. Like our first program, they had to sing a song. They were a little more prepared/musically talented than us. So, we thought we'd go and cheer them on!

Saturday we had an 'American' night with some of our students. We took them to a little pizza restaurant near our school, then went to see a movie. We saw 'How to Train Your Dragon' in 3D. Students typically don't go to the movies here. (Even though there is a theater next to our school) They don't see the point in spending money, when they can just watch it on the internet for free. But these students were ready for a change. Some of them had never seen a movie in 3D. They loved it! It's really fun watching movies with the Chinese. They 'ooohhh' and 'aaahhhh' about everything. They had a great time.

Sunday is typically our time to have our 'meeting' with our small group in our town. But this week, we had a big group meeting. Some of the downtown folks joined us. We had a great time of singing and yarp ing with each other.
Sunday night, Thomas went bowling and to dinner with some of his guy students/friends. Ricky, Jag, and Black. It was the first time any of them had ever been bowling, and not surprising...they all scored under 50. After we bowled a few games, we then went and ate at a very popular Chinese restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Grandma's Kitchen, but Ive never eaten duck neck in my grandma's kitchen. They told me that I should have a try since I was in China, and I may never get a chance to when I get home. So when the duck was brought to us, before I could say anything they laid the neck on my plate, and proceeded to watch me until I tried it. I have to admit that it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but I don't think I will be trading it in for tacos any time soon.

This coming week we plan to show the movie 'Fireproof' to our classes. Please yarp for this, that good thoughts/questions will come from it. Also, yarp that we make the most of every moment that we're here and recognize opportunities, since it is the beginning of the end of our time in China.
Sorry this blog has been so long. We just wanted to take some time to update you on what's been happening. These last weeks will probably continue to be busy, but we'll try to update you as much as we can.

Further Instructions

Last semester in class, we frequently wrote some B*ibli*cal proverbs and parables on the board, and asked the students to write and talk about what they mean. This semester we started a using different approach. We introduced a new method last week. We give them a 'wise saying' and they have to re-write it in their own words, and write how the can apply it to their lives. Then, for homework, they must talk to 3 people outside of class about the 'wise saying', so they can "practice" their English outside of class. We have about 240 students. If they talk to 3 people about the 'wise saying', that's 720 people who are hearing something from the Good Book, who otherwise may have never heard the story/proverb. Last weeks 'wise saying' was Prov12:25 "Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up."(MSG) When they wrote about how they could apply it to their lives, many of them said things like: "I will try not worry as much" "I will encourage my friends when they are down" "I will be a better listener" "I will try to be more optimistic, and encourage others to be". They shared these statements with their groups. Then we taught them the word 'accountable/accountability'. I told them, 'Now that you have told your friends that I will...., now you can hold each other accountable'. With the remaining class time, we had each group write a short play about this proverb, then perform it in front of class. We were really impressed! Most of the plays were about someone's boyfriend or girlfriend breaking up with them, and their friends encouraging them; or someone failed an exam, and their friends offered encouraging words. Their plays really showed us that the understood the proverb.
I also want to share about another assignment we did recently. In one of our classes, we were talking about the differences between Chinese and American families. We found out that Chinese families are not very affectionate with one another and they don't tell each other 'I love you'. Obviously this is very different from our culture. We tell everyone we love them, and we hug everyone! So, in that class, I asked them,"What would your mom do if you hugged her and told her you love her?" We had many responses like: "She would think I did something very bad", "She would wonder what is wrong with me." So, I gave that class an optional extra credit assignment. They had to call their mom, tell her "I love you", and email me her response. Here are some of the emails I got:

dear Callie:
Happy to write to you .I have called my mother.at first I regarded to my family,but when I told her I had some words to tell her along with saying "I LOVE YOU",there was a big silence.By following,she smiled and told me that she loved me too,and displayed to my father.She hoped me to learn well.
yours sincerely
Shelly

My mum said:"What?Why you say so suprising words?"
Steven

Dear Callie,
Last week I called my mother,and said I have something to tell her.Then I said"I love you"to my mother.After hearing those words ,my mother laughed loudly,and she said"I love you,too"to me.Then she told me when she heard I want to say something to her,she think I have made a boy friend,and I want to tell her this thing.Then I laughed. Yours, Cathy

Dear Callie,
I am Bingo.Is everything going well ? I am so glad that I have the chance writing to you !
I remembered to call my mother and say "I love you , mom !" to her . To my surprise , she said " I love you , too ! I love you !" She is very happy . And she talk with me in a soft voice . It is so surprising ! I cannot believe my ears ! I felt that something has changed between my mother and I .
Thank you for give me a chance to say " I love you !" to my mom ! Best wishes to you , my dear teacher! Yours , Bingo

Dear Callie:
Today I said Mother I love you to my Mom.She is very pleasured to hear this.Besides smailing to me,she said that she has cooked a delicious dinner for me. I am so happy.
-------Olyher

Dear teacher:
I am Tim.I called to my mother this weekend.At first I find it very hard to say that to my mother. Then I encourage myself again and again .At last I said"I love you,mum". My mother keep silent for a while .Then she said"
Did you make trouble in school ?Why did you say that suddenly?"
Finanly,I explain to my mother about this thing.She smiled and said"taking care of yourself is loving me"
name:Tim

White Rabbit

This past week we got to celebrate Easter with our Chinese friends! It was definitely an unforgettable Easter. It started last Tuesday, in class. We decided since it was the week before Easter, we would tell them all about the holiday in class. We started with some of the current customs (dying eggs, the Easter Bunny, candy, etc.) Then, we explained the 'real' meaning of Easter and what it represents. We told them to story of JC, His crucifixion and resurrection (new vocabulary words for them). It was the first time that most of the kids had heard the story!
We decided to plan an Easter party for Friday night, where we'd invite some students to dye Easter eggs. Then realized, it'd be a little difficult to dye them. So, we decided they could decorate Ping-Pong balls! (Which are very easy to come by in China, if you didn't know) So Thomas went to retrieve 100 ping-pong balls for our Easter Party on Friday night. We had about 20 students over that night, along with a few of our American friends. We had a blast! We also got to talk a little more in depth about the Easter story!
So, on Easter Sunday, we had our Easter Ball Hunt. We had about 25 show up for it, with about 25 more people in the park watching us, trying to figure out what in the world we were doing. :) We hid the balls, and they found them. Then we played a few relay games, and then hunted balls again! They had a ball!!! (pun intended) It was one boy's birthday that day, and that night we got an email from him saying that this was the best birthday he's ever had! :)
This was definitely an Easter that we won't forget! We're so thankful we were able to celebrate it here, and be able to teach the true meaning to people who have never heard it!

The Greater Good

Thought we would share with you a quick story that illustrates how the work in Xiasha, both past and present, is alive and working for the greater good. Yang Yang is one of our students, and for the past several months, has told us about a group of Christ*ians that meet on our campus to study together. This past Thursday Yang Yang asked if we would be willing to come with him on Thursday night to the meeting. Once we got there and met everyone(about 17), they informed us that they meet 3 times a week to study the Bi*ble, pr*ay for each other and different things going on, and to sing. However this night they told us that they were going to be practicing for a skit/play that they were going to be performing in front of other chur*ches on Sunday. We quickly let them know that it was ok that we didn't understand what was being said, and they didn't have to translate, but that it was just a blessing to be there with them. And so they began jabbering away in Chinese, and getting people into place, while Callie & I sat in the back of the classroom watching and listening. Some students were making props and others were reading the Bib*le to make sure they were getting all of the details. One thing that we noticed though, was that each time they went to actually practice the play, there was nothing being spoken, but rather just acting. Later we would find come to find out they were doing what is called a "Dumb Show"(boy did I feel dumb). Now Ive read the story of The Prodigal Son a hundred times, and know it front to back and side to side. But after watching the Chinese act it out, and how they interpreted each scene, I have to say that I have never had a view like that of the parable until then. It was truly a blessing to be there and fellowship with them...

Now after that was over, Callie & I had intended on heading back home and grabbing dinner along the way. The group then asked if we wanted to join them for dinner. The next 20 or so minutes were some of the best times I have had in China to date. We walked and talked around our campus and sang songs in Chinese(Amazing Grace, Qing Qing Ting,etc), and just talked about the Kingdom and the work that is being done in Xiasha. They informed us that there is 18 University/colleges in Xiasha, and that as far as they know each school has a group that meets on Sundays to worship. And this next Sunday, all of the school groups were meeting together to perform skits/sing and worship together.

The students we met on Thursday have a passion for God & spreading the Good News, they also informed us that on weekends they GO FISHING, and will go from door to door asking the students if they would like to know more about being a Christ*ian.
Callie & I went into Thursday night thinking...Yeah we will go and maybe we can be an encouragement to them. It turns our that they were a HUGE encouragement to us, and just made 1 Corinthians 15:58 that much more clear.

Pilot - Part 1

Tonight, we started a new outreach for some students. Me (Callie) and our friend Bethany (who lives down the street from us), are huge LOST fans! We were brainstorming different ideas on how to reach certain students outside of class. If you're a LOST fan, you may know that the show has many B.ibl.ical references. So, we thought it'd be a good idea to have some students over to our apartment to watch some LOST, then have a discussion. In our discussion, we plan to include some verses from the Good Book that relate to the show, and discuss certain life topics.
So, we had some difficulties deciding which students to ask to come. Of course we couldn't invite them all, because our apartment doesn't hold 250 people! Bethany and I hinted at it last week to some of our English major classes. Basically saying, "If anyone is interested in practicing English outside of class, please send me an email, and we'll let you know the details." Well, that didn't go over well, we had NO responses. Then we tried again the next week....NO responses. So, Bethany had class this morning and basically said, "If anyone wants to get together tonight to practice your English, please let me know." About 15 students raised their hands, but they weren't for sure if they could make it or not.
So, at 6:00 this evening, we went to meet the students to walk over to our apartment. First, about 4 showed up. We thought, "Ok, 4 is a good group, maybe we can get more next week". The 4 told us that there were more on the way. Well, there ended up being 25 that showed up! So, we had 25 students, in our tiny apartment, all crowded around our tiny TV, watching LOST tonight!!! Bethany and I were just looking at each other and laughing the whole night. A couple weeks ago, we were struggling to find students who were interested....now we have 25!
We watched the Pilot episode tonight. Basically it's about a plane crashing on an island, and how all the survivors were all working together to help save each other. So, our discussion was about helping others. We told them the very famous 'quote', "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you." We asked the questions like: "What does this quote mean to you? How does it feel when someone helps you? How does it feel when you help someone?" They really seemed to like the discussion, and told us about their Volunteer group at school, and the things they do. They thought about some other ways they could help people in their daily life.
I think most of them plan to come back next week, and a few of our students may join in. I just can't help but laugh at this whole situation! Organizing things in China is just not the same! :)