It's Saturday night, which means the week is officially over; at least for us Americans. The Chinese count Monday as the first day of the week, but that's beside the point. We've had a busy, great week here in Jingzhou.
On Sunday morning we enjoyed some great time worshipping with several of our Chinese brothers and sisters and then in the afternoon we met with some foreigners. Every Sunday afternoon we get together to worship in English, talk "shop", and eat Western food. It's a good, relaxing time to unwind from our otherwise all Chinese week.
Monday evening Lisa and Caleb attended a ladies' meeting. It's a cool time for the gals to meet together, learn more about the Father, and get more experience serving in the meetings. Seth, Lisa's dad, and I went walking to a public square just outside of our school. Even though it was Monday night, there were several hundred people out dancing and taking in the night life. Lisa's dad commented that every night in Jingzhou is like a carnival - people dancing, music playing, and Seth eating popcorn.
On Tuesday we invited 12 of our campus' more mature brothers and sisters to come to our house for lunch. We expected 6 or 7 to come, but 11 of them said they were coming. Then Tuesday at lunchtime, the 12th person who never replied was the first to walk in the door! Lisa and several people cooked lunch for all of us. During lunch we all shared some personal stories and then after lunch we spent a few minutes reading some of the Good Book. After that we broke up into small groups and talked to the Father for a while. We hope to do this every Tuesday lunch. Our goal is to challenge the more mature folks during this time and help them to grow closer together - but in a casual, lunch-ish kind of way. We think challenging people to reach high standards (like the Son's) and having strong relationships with other Chinese believers are two of the best things we can do to ensure their continued faithfulness. That night I attended English Corner where we talked mostly about our school's insane reaction to swine flu. In the middle though, I did have a conversation with one student about the Good Book and the Father. We love stumbling across these kind of opportunities!
Tuesday night we planned to clean the house before the arrival of 3 American friends who used to live in Changsha. The cleaning got put on hold though, when they showed up in the afternoon! For 1 1/2 days the 7 of us stayed in our 2 bedroom apartment, but we had lots of fun. Two bedrooms really doesn't stretch as far as it could when Seth is hogging one bedroom for himself! It was encouraging to see some of our friends who have been back in America for awhile. My personal highlight was riding bikes across a rickety, iron bridge and then wandering around Jingzhou farmland until we stumbled into the next small town. I was fairly lost, but as usual, Kyle Carter's sense of direction saved the day. We saw the gang off Thursday morning at the bus stop and then that night I attended a Spread the Good News meeting here on campus.
Friday morning I finished teaching my English classes for the week. Each week I have a famous quote for everybody to talk about and this week it was the Good Book's "Love your enemies..." I got to hear lots of students' opinions about the quote and I also got to give 10 minute mini-sermons to every class. After I got out of class, our foreign co-workers from this campus came to our house for lunch. I think Lisa, Seth, Caleb, and I rode bikes & scooters that evening, but to be honest, it's kind of a blur.
On Saturday we rested. Actually, we rode a boat in the park, cleaned our house, went to the supermarket, talked to our neighbors, and hung out with our sister Ya Li. But it felt a lot like rest.
Thanks for your continued prayers! Have a blessed week!
Posted by daleeatsrice at September 20, 2009 12:04 AM