It has been an exciting month here, and I’d like to share a few highlights with you:
Most recently, we have been celebrating National Day and Mid-Autumn day here. National Day is always around the first of October and Mid-Autumn day fell pretty close to National Day this year.
Mid Autumn Day
Mid-Autumn day is when the moon is supposed to be the brightest, and it is traditionally a day here when (extended) families get together and share a meal. There are also a few fun legends behind this holiday. Below are some pictures from a performance of these legends at my language school…
National Day
The National Day holiday is actually a week-long holiday for the students and many government workers. This weekend is the conclusion of the week off, and it has been a busy one. Time off for the students meant that they had more free time this week and we were able to plan some special activities with them. Some of the activities around the city included teams taking students to share the Gospel in underprivileged neighborhoods and going to help with workers’ children at an elementary school for impoverished working class families. As for me, on Monday I helped out with an evangelistic event for college freshmen. The campus that I worked with divided into three groups at three different locations. Altogether, I estimate that there were 60 or so students involved in the activities that day. Our time was designed to be a day to play, but also to give a couple of seminar type talks to help the freshmen in adjusting to college life (I taught the seminar on how to study English; I also later taught them how to play ultimate frisbee). During lunch, a third year Christian student shared her testimony with the group. The other students listened closely, and I believe that at least a couple of students made decisions for Christ that day. Here are some pictures from that time…
Camping
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I went camping with a group of about 26 Christian students from the same campus as the Monday activity. We had a very fun time of fellowship, and during a devotional on Wednesday morning, Matt challenged the students to form discipleship groups for fellowship and doing evangelism together. Matt made it clear that the decision to join on of these groups was a commitment and would involve sacrifice, especially of the students’ time. Twenty-four of the twenty six indicated that they would like to participate in these groups. I found myself reflecting on last year’s camping trip during Matt’s talk. The challenge last year was to start a weekly fellowship meeting on their campus. To see how far the Lord has brought them in the past 12 months made me sit in awe of how great He is. Now they have a thriving fellowship group on that campus and are seeking Him to take them to the next level in that. Below are some pictures from the trip…
We’re getting well into the semester now, and everything has been great so far. Everyone is in class, learning to get around, and making new friends. Although I am pretty accustomed to living here now, this month has still been a month of discovery and exploration for me—this time in the area of relationships and job duties. Since I am working with the new folks now, I’ve been trying to figure out their schedules, personalities, and things that will specifically help each one of them thrive here. I’ve also been working on figuring out a plan for my own continued language study and development.
For the new folks, I am facilitating a monthly training session where we talk about several books/articles that they are assigned to read each month. The topics range from team dynamics to cross-cultural min., and provide some valuable insights into how to live here well. That time is also kind of like a debriefing time for them too, and we talk about how they are doing. I was very encouraged by their openness in sharing their thoughts and feelings on how things were going in their teams and individual ministries. Besides that time, I have started a study hall that meets twice a month for them to come and learn spiritual language that they do not have the opportunity to study in class. The first session met last week, and we studied John 3:16 together.
Even all of this is just a small snapshot from the past month. The Lord is doing amazing things here, and I am excited to get to be here to watch. I covet your continued prayers for me and the ministry here.
In Him,
Brian
