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.