Talent Night!

So I was so tired last night i couldn’t even start my blog post, I just fell asleep quickly and soundly. So I woke up a little earlier so that I stil remember all the happenings from yesterday. These days are getting longer, but even more rewarding because of it. Here is a great video of the students singing and performing sign language to “I could sing of your love forever”:

Yesterday morning as the CO team we were in charge of the morning assembly and morning activities. During the morning assembly a biblical moral value is introduced and then a skit, musical, or anything is shown to represent the value. This is just one way to present the principles of Bible without going out and saying it. We presented the word Courage. Steve presented our definition of courage which was:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear

So we challenged the students to go out and challenge something and find something more important to look towards than fear itself. We also discovered, through our skit, that humor doesn’t always translate. When we finished with a pretty humours joke at the end I could here thousands of crickets and that just made me laugh even more. But it was a successful morning of assembly and leading the students in some games.

Right now I feel like I have bonded so much with my students. I am really starting to get to know them on a more personal level and just developing great love for them. Yesterday one of my students asked me a question, and it really touched me. She asked me: “When you go back to America, will you still remember me?” And my response to that question was “Of course” followed by a hug. I didn’t really know what was happening with my students, i know they enjoy playing with me and whatnot. But that single question almost made my time over here worth it, I know that I have impacted Kitty’s life. Even if I am just a white guy that came over and loved on her for two weeks. But hopefully she has seen Jesus’ love through me and one day she and they all come to know the Lord of the Universe.

Teaching was fine yesterday morning, I taught about body parts and then realized there are a lot of body parts, so we had to cut down on them. They sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and just loved that. So all week we in our class we have been talking about the talent show that was happening on Sunday night. We presented the idea to our class and immediately there was much response with talent they had. So we spent the second teaching block practicing and getting costumes ready for the show. In the end we had 4 talent acts:

1. Then entire class singing “Old Mcdonald had a farm” but we changed it to “In Bazhong School they had a farm”, this one went over really well and got the show started off on a great foot
2. Little 8 year old Apple Performing a Latin Dance to Nobody by the wonder girls, this might have been the most cheered for act of the entire act…she was GOOD!!
3. Jimmy, Ada, Cissy, Tom, Alice, and Kitty singing and me playing the guitar for Country Road by John Denver. They sang this in English, pretty cool moment.
4. David performing a flute solo. Also very good.

Also seeing all the other classes performing was really cool. It was a really fun night and the kids love performing in from of all the people.

Another awesome thing happened yesterday. I got a Chinese Name!!! So at the beginning of the camp I asked my translator to give me a chinese name and she said that would be fun. So finally yesterday she came up to me after class and said she chose a name for me. My new Chinese name is “Jian Xi”. Jian means simple or easy and Xi means clean. But when you put them together it means “Pure”. It was also touching to me and I pray that this will allow me to open spiritual conversation with her by just asking her why she chose this name for me. Then bring Jesus into the picture. Just be praying for whenever I have that conversation. But here is a picture of me writing my Chinese name, I’m pretty happy with it.

In Him,

Chris

Church on a Saturday?!?

Today there was no teaching, it was a day of spiritual renewal and rest. The normal teaching day resumes tomorrow.

This morning was a very special morning for me. There were only 10 of us that got to attend church because of all the restrictions that are being imposed, and since people in the town talk it wouldn’t look good for 30 new foreigners to attend a church the same week foreigners are in town for an English camp. But I persuaded Mark and Steve to let me be one of the ones to go, and I am soooooo happy to have been chosen and given the opportunity to experience what the church service looks like in China. The rest of the group went to Jim’s house and had worship, a devotional time a also some sharing what God is doing time.

Church was an incredibly cool experience. When the van pulled up I was shocked but also found it rather awe inspiring to find a building with a bold proclamation of Christ on the front in the middle of Bazhong. When I think of China I do not think of Christianity or church, but the church is alive and well with recognized churches by the government being allowed.

When we first arrived the service already started and very full (around 100 people I’d say) and of course they saved us seats right in the front. While walking to our seats I noticed a familiar hymn that they were singing, it was “washed in the blood of the Lamb” but they were singing in Chinese.  It was comforting to hear a song that I knew and sang while growing up right here in a Chinese church while walking towards our seats. After we got to our seats an English speaking guy named Peter prayed and then the choir came up for some special music. It was just so amazing to hear him pray in Chinese and then speak the same thing in English. Peter then stepped down and sat between me and another guy.

Pastor Wu then began speaking. She was speaking on Psalm 42:1-2:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?

As she begun speaking Peter began translating the phrases that he could into English and sharing it with Lane and me. This was where the language barrier was most noticeable, because with hymns I could hum or sing along because I knew it but listening to the message all I could do was read the passage to myself. But because of Peter I could get a sense of what pastor Wu was talking about. Since Peter couldn’t translate everything he just summarized what he could, but there were common phrases that he repeated over and over, which I think really summarize maybe what the church is about:

• “God is our power”
• “Thirst for the living God”
• “We are weak, but God’s grace is tremendous”
• “Invite people to come to our living God”
• “Jesus Christ is steadfast love”

She also mentioned that just because we looked different, had different skin color and were from different places we are still the same. We love the same God and will end up in Heaven praising God as one. This is such a powerful message and made come to a more complete understanding of the universality of Christ and his love for all people.

To end the service we all spent some time individually with God, then took Communion as an entire church of believers, and then spent time is a corporate prayer. The taking of communion provided the link that we needed to become friends, Christ. After the service we got to mingle with the members of the church, well…it was more I would shake their hand and then just listen to them talk a lot and just smile back; even though I couldn’t understand I could feel through looking into their eyes just how much they loved Jesus and that they were happy to see us and have that instantaneous bond.

Church was the most exciting and memorable part of the day. There was supposed to be a concert by Jared and our own Mark Siefert, but an amazing thunderstorm blew in and it got cancelled. So some more time was spent walking around downtown, getting greeting by all the local or anybody who knows the word “hello”, and then more time as a team planning stuff for tomorrow’s camp activities.

Tomorrow will return to normal and we only have 4 more days of teaching including tomorrow, time is just flying back. Just be in prayer for the Bazhong church and their ministries, they are building a new church because they have outgrown their current one (that is soooo exciting) and for opportunities to share no matter how minute they might be.

In Him,

Chris

Refreshing Day!

So today was a pretty great day. Teaching is getting much better now that a routine is being developed and we are learning the kids, their tendencies, and just how best to accomodate the different level of English speakers in my class. I have been having them ask each other questions and letting the other students answer their question. I think it is important to let them talk with each other because I will not always be here to help and talk so the sooner they start speaking English in their group of friends or even every once in awhile it will help them tremendously. The picture to the left is of my small group of girls who I meet with every day and teach. They are Candy, Ada, and Cissy. Their English is about the medium in my class, so they know enough to speak and repeat and (hopefully) understand what I am trying to teach them.

Today they learned about animals in the morning, including the sounds that they make, and then sports in the afternoon. We have got them singing “Old McDonald has a farm” in order to have some fun and just practice the animals. It was so great to hear them singing it, also the pig sounds completely different in Chinese. We say the pig goes ‘oink’ but in Chinese it goes something like ‘gruump’, a very throaty disgusting sound. Just something interesting I’d though I’d share. So teaching was good and then the real fun and refreshing day really begun after we got done teaching.

Tonight was our first of two open nights as a CO team while we are here. We decided to make the most of it and see some of the city, experience Chinese-Western food and then take advantage of the local services provided at a greatly reduced cost. An off night is something that we all REALLY needed. We were beginning to get very tired, sick, and just needed some time away to spend discussing our experiences and just fellowshipping as a small team. I will get to that part later, but first just about the food. We went to the only restaurant in town that serves pizza because we thought it would be fun to experience something completely different and then see how it compared to our real food. So we went and had our own little private room with a Majong table, two couches, a table, and a couple chairs. It was a nice cozy room where we would spend the next 5 hours eating and talking. We got a mix of pizza, hamburgers, sandwitches, and ‘United States fries hot’. These were all good but probably my favorite thing that I got was the Chocolate Milkshake…YUM!! (pictured on the left) It was nothing like a real milkshake, basically it was some kind of soy milk mixed with something chocolate that was relatively cold. But it was delicious because they don’t have chocolate here that I have seen. It hit the sweet part of my brain and was just so good, even though my description made it sound pretty disgusting.

After a great dinner we sat around and just talked about how everything was going for the first time. It really is great to see that God is working and opening opportunities to share even with these restricted guidelines imposed. Some classes used the story of the prodigal son yesterday to teach and it seemed to get the kids actively involved and interested so there was some opportunity to explain to them more. Some kids have even read the story before, not really sure if it was in a Bible or somewhere else, but all these are allowing openings to start conversations. Another example is Andy’s class, they decided their team name was going to be ‘Soul’ so this will hopefully allow conversations to begin about what they think the soul is and why then we can offer to explain what we think and why. God is definitely working here at this camp.

After dinner and the team meeting we went and walked around the downtown of Bazhong. It is such a cool city and the Chinese culture is so focused on the group that all the time people just hang out in the streets and are always walking around. It is one thing that I’ve really begun to notice how much time I and just our American culture like to be hidden away and spend so much time alone; when having relationships is so much more important. It is truly a cultural difference that I want to adopt and really appreciate. So saying that, there were tons of people walking around selling things and just out and about. Here is the same temple place that was pictures in the day in one of my earlier posts:

This night off was well needed and hearing about what God is doing with the teaching teams and children is just fantastic. Keep all of us in your prayers and just keep praying for opportunities to arrise where we can open conversations and share what we believe.

I am so excited about tomorrow, a few of us get to go experience a church service in one of the registered churches here in Bazhong. I will def be describing my experiences tomorrow. I can’t wait!

In Him,

Chris

So much fun!

Today was a really really good day. Our lessons for the children involved colors and clothes this morning. The kids are becoming more active and us as teachers are getting better at working as a team and understanding the different teaching styles of each teacher. From talking to all the teachers, it seems like all the kids are really enjoying the classes and feel like they are helping with their students English. So classes are going very well for everybody. In teaching colors I got to introduce my students to the game of Twister. I was the only one out of my entire class to ever play twister, even the translator and other teachers. The children loved it, even though their arms and legs had a hard time reaching from colored dot to dot. The days are still very long, but it seems to be becoming a routine, even after two days, teaching is getting easier and just more comfortable each and every day. I just hope that I am really helping my students learn English, because this will impact them SO much in life but at the same time just showing them Christ’s love through my interactions with them. We taught them ‘Chris loves the little children’ today, we are not allowed to use the name Jesus, so I love all the children in the world, red and yellow black and white, and they are all precious in my sight It was funny but using things like this can hopefully help them realize that God does love them…even without any kind of implicit declaration.

I am really getting to know the kids and enjoy having random conversations with student’s over lunch. Today I sat down by myself and then a boy came and sat beside me. I had a great conversation with Zoe about where he is from, why he wants to learn English, and just other random things that I could think that he would understand. He was full and left and then Sunny and Emily came and sat beside me and right off the bat was that ‘I have beautiful eyes’ and then asked if I had a wife or girlfriend. I have also been told that I have beautiful skin. I know that is a complement from them because very white skin is very desirable, but here in America white is kinda looked down upon. So if it’s beautiful to the Chinese then Im like casper the friendly ghost haha. But of course, I just say thank you and complement them back.

For dinner tonight we went to a Sichuan restaurant and man was it good. The food here is EXCELLENT! I love Chinese food and this puts any kind of Chinese food in the states to shame, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to eat it again because I’ve had the genuine stuff. Vegetables are the main dish and meat is just used for flavoring so I just feel so great eating so many fresh vegetables and fruit for desert. I am truly going to miss the food. Will definitely change the way I eat in the states (at least for a little bit, until i get very lazy).

After dinner the most fun thing on the trip happened: DANCE PARTY!!!!! Just to set it up a bit, here is the principal of Bazhong Middle School showing his dance moves.

We all had so much fun. I am normally not the dancing type, but I’ve found to just let go and dance, and it felt great! We taught the students how to line dance, the Macarena, the electric slide, YMCA, and others while they taught us some Chinese dances and of course performed the Michael Jackson songs very well. It was so hot and I think I drank about 10 water bottles but it was so much fun. Below is a picture taken when I was dancing with Allison from the Arizona team. I know its kind of disgusting…but it wasn’t raining or anything at all, haha.

I know Baptist supposedly ‘dont dance’ (haha) but I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. The kids loved seeing our dances and it was great to see their cultural dances.

So now that my day has been recounted, some serious prayer requests need to be addressed. I feel like we are being attacked by the Devil as a full team and then the CO team also.

1. The government stepping in and setting some very strict guidelines but a little damper on sharing but then also we are probably not going to get to experience a traditional Chinese church on Sunday and with these long days there has not been much time for team devotionals and worship, so sometimes the well feels a little empty; we just desire to be fed.
2. Sickness. I have just been getting over a tiny cold but now it seems that Natalie and Bri have a sore throat and are experiencing the same symptoms that felt about 2 days ago. Chris W’s stomach is not handing something very well. Steve has a staff infection on his foot and has been taking some medicine for that. So as a team 4 out of 11 are not feeling very good. So just pray for God’s healing hand on our entire team.
3. Strength. We are running on 14 hour days and after doing that for only 2 days people are getting a little sluggish physically. Pray for strength and a refreshed body.
4. For God’s Will to be done. That we wouldn’t get caught up in our own desires but let God work in his perfect timing and trust that.

Like I mentioned yesterday, thank you for reading and praying for our team.

In Him,

Chris

God is awesome!

I just want to start off this post and say that God is amazing. I was sharing my blog with the rest of the group tonight and was reminiscing on what we’ve all gone through so far and it is just amazing to see the answered prayer that God has provided already even just after the first day of teaching. If you look back at the first post that I made, there are specifically 4 prayer requests that I made from the beginning. Team unity, safe travels, strength during the day, and opportunity for sharing Christ with our kids. Our team is amazing, never have I felt so comfortable around a group of strangers than I have with this one. It really feels like we are one big family. Basically we have a mom and a bunch of guy kids, sooo much fun. But seriously, the friendships being developed are so great and the team is really clicking and meshing well. We are in China safe and sound, that is half of that prayer request being answered, now we just have to make it back safely. And strength, the days are very long, from 7:30AM – 9:00PM at the school with a 1.5 hour break after lunch. There is not very much time to sightsee or even just have any downtime, but God is just providing the strength. We just only finished the first day of teaching, so maybe I should wait on this one, but I know there have been times when I felt like I couldn’t carry one, but I have even despite developing a small cold yesterday.

Opportunity to share…this is one that we will need LOTS of prayer on right now. Today we found out that the government somehow found out that there are some ‘religious’ people on our trip. They think we are just here for teaching English, and while that is our primary goal it will not give these children what they really need for eternity. So there will be more officials at school and more scrutiny put on us. This doesn’t pose that big of a problem because will not get into any trouble or anything, but it means that we have to set up some more strict rules. Like, we are no longer allowed to pray on campus, there is no way they can stop us from praying in our minds for our students, but there should be no outward sign. So a big prayer request is that this will not hamper the opportunities that we have. I know that God’s Will will be done no matter what happens, so just pray that the opportunities will still present themselves by showing Christ’s love and kindness to our students by loving and caring on them like Christ did with the children.

As far as how I am feeling, I no longer have a sore throat but am sniffly and a little congested. I hope and pray that I will return to my 150% self soon but I am still pouring as much love into my kids as I can.

Bazhong is a beautiful city. It is deep in the heart of China and it just amazes me at the beauty that can be seen in every day life that most of us just ignore because it is so common. I have really begun to embrace the culture, love the people, and see that God needs to be brought to all of them.

Today was the first day of teaching…and it was AMAZING! I had doubts about teaching the lowest kids, but they are the most precious kids that I have ever seen. They are between the ages of 8-12 and know almost know no English to being able to keep a pretty good conversation. This was really surprising and since I taught the first lesson this morning we ended up playing the name game for quite a while, because they were so good with their English. Having such a diverse level of English poses some problems, but we have worked around it by breaking it up into smaller groups of about equal speaking ability. That seems to work pretty well today at least.

Today we blew right through the family words and how to ask some general questions. The children are so eager to learn and when I’m talking to them get about 3 inches from my face and just stare at me with wide eyes and bushy tails. We started off this morning as “Anita’s Team” but they eventually decided on “TEAM SUPER CATS!!!”, which is a very fitting name for this class. Here is a typical Chinese picture of our class, then I made them do a funny one, which they LOVED!!

I hope these give you an idea of my class and how things have been going so far. I know that I have heard from two different people that they are really enjoying my blog and I encourage you to leave any comments that you may have. They are so encouraging to me and the rest of the team. Earlier tonight I went and read the comments on the ‘official’ blog that we are keeping between the whole team, and it is just so encouraging to know that people are reading it and praying for the specific things that are mentioned. Thank you readers.  Here is a link to the team blog in case you don’t have it or are tired of hearing about me rambling on and on :p

Galations 2:20,

Chris

Tad under the weather!

Today I have some bad news, I’m not feeling super excellent. I woke up with a sore throat and have been downing Vitamin C and airborne and just drinking lots of water. I really hope that it is just from being in a new place and keeping the room pretty cold and that it doesn’t lead to anything else. So I’ve been drugging up and can hopefully make it through the blog post before my NyQuil takes effect. But I am certainly not letting that stop me from making the best and giving my all to these kids.

Today was the first day that we actually got to spend time with them. Half went and began the screening process to determine what level of English the students are at and the other half played outside with them, like a normal camp would. I was on the lucky half that I got to play with the kids, and there is something so universal about playing and laughing. I didn’t understand much that they students said during the games but just by playing and laughing with them I felt like I knew what they were saying and it was ‘We’re having SOOOO much fun!!’

And I already met my camp buddy, his name is Forest and he is so excited to learn english. He has gone around and introduced himself to all the counselors and I had the pleasure of having lunch with him. We had a great conversation and I was really impressed with how much English he knew and understand. (He will obviously not be in my class though haha) But I will def get the chance to talk to him a lot more. It really seems like the kids are super excited to have us here and the attitude towards learning a language is much different than that in the states. They are learning to get ahead and make something of themselves. I am getting excited for the first day of teaching tomorrow.

During our afternoon break Steve, Natalie, and me went and explored Bazhong by taxi and foot. It was a great hour and a half. I know it scares me to say this…but I really could see myself living in a place like this. There is something about the city and people and culture that is just drawing me in. While exploring a guy came running up to us and was screaming ‘Hello’, his name was Tom and was a University student in Chengdu. We talked to him for awhile and it was just a really great afternoon.

Tonight we had a scavenger hunt around the campus and my team came in 3rd place. W00t w00t!! Tomorrow will be the first day of teaching and I am in charge of the first lesson. I am a little nervous but I really shouldn’t and just have to be flexable. It will be much better tomorrow when we really see how much, or really how little, English my students know. Here is a picture of my team below. Anita and her son Justin are from Canada, Erin is my translator and of course me:

I have just few prayer requests:

• Health, I’m not sure why/where or if it’s just tiredness but that my throat won’t hurt and that my energy and health will return to normal veeeerrrrryyyy soon.
• Students, that they will be attentive and eager to learn from us. Also for God to open their hear and ears for our actions and words to permeate them.

In Him,

Chris

The Fun Begins!

We have finally reached our final destination of the trip, Bazhong. This is the city where I will be spending the next 2 weeks teaching English camps. It is a very small city, by China standards, in the Sichuan province of about 350,000 people, with the prefecture containing around 4 million people. My first impression is that I love this city. It is great to be not in a tourist city or town, but to be deep in the heart of China and see what real life is like, see how most of the people live and work and embrace their culture like you can’t in Beijing.

There are a total of 8 foreigner/westerns living in Bazhong, which contain 2 families of Christians who are working with the local registered church. After the grueling 8 hour bus ride through the most beautiful mountains, waterfalls, and farmland in China we arrived. Having two buses of 35ish white people pulling into town is quite the sight. Jim, a member of one of the families living here, said that he will still walk into a store and the owner will mention that he is the first foreigner that has ever been in his store. People were watching in awe as we pulled in; when we arrived at the hotel they even had a banner up welcoming us. As I’ve been processing this weird feeling I have come to the conclusion that: “It is weird to be considered a foreigner”. But it also makes me realize the impact that I could have on these people’s life. I could be one of the few or only westerner/Christian that they run into in their life, even though there is a huge language barrier (like I can only say ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, and ‘goodbye’) just a smile or helping hand could really make a difference. So I just ask for open eyes and an open heart

This is a view from our hotel room. It is pretty much what China looks like, lots of tall buildings and construction everywhere.

After we had dinner we went and took a tour of the Bazhong Middle School (High School in the states) where we will be teaching. The school itself holds 5,000 students and provides dorms for them. It looks like a small community college. It has 2 cafeterias, and admin building, and two different teaching facilities of what looked like 6ish stories each. Below is a picture of the admission building; it is a pretty nice looking school.

So overall it was a really good day, God is working inside me and just providing the encouragement through teammates during casual conversation (thanks Natalie) and even during comments on my blog by family and His Word! I am looking forward to the first day with students tomorrow. So like the title of my post: “Let the fun begin!!!!”

In Him,

Chris

P.S. As I was about to finish writing this Blog the song Praise and Adore You by Wavorly came on my Pandora and I just think the lyrics are so pertinent to our group as to not forget really why we are here besides teaching English, the chorus says:

I praise and adore you.
Lay it all down before you.
In every way you’re beautiful.
From my heart.
I praise and adore you.
Made the world beautiful.
And i cannot sit and deny you created life.
And some live without it.

I think it really puts into perspective what we are doing here. But then it’s that last sentence that just makes me think: “And some live without it”. Those people are all around us, most everybody we come into contact here is living without Him. It is not good enough just to love God and know that He is God and Creator, but we are called to declare his name to the nations. Goodnight!