changes...

So, I have now been in China for 4 months.  January has brought a lot of changes with it.  Normally during the session I will have a class and my main role will be as a class facilitator.  This session I am instead working on planning for Mandarin TIP.  Next month is the spring festival, or Chinese New Year.  Because of this we cannot have a normal session with teachers so we are going to have a session in which the facilitators lean Chinese!  Because of my teaching and lesson planning past I was asked if I would be willing to help plan the lesson plans for this new TIP session and of course I agreed.  This has been challenging because I do not know the subject matter that I am writing lessons about, but also very exciting as I am so excited to learn more Chinese and be able to communicate better in this country.  This is also a lot of work but thankfully I have some really awesome people helping me and it has been really fun! 

This also gives me a different role with the students.  In the evenings we are assigned one night to do dorm visits.  We use this time to build relationships with the students and share our stories.  This session I have gotten to know one student in particular that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to if I was teaching my own class.   We have had several discussions and the other evening after dinner she told me that she has more questions and wants to know more about God.  To this I gladly responded yes and am very excited to talk to her a lot more next week! 

Toward the beginning of the month 2 of our teammates left.  Laura and Peter retuned to America to prepare for their upcoming wedding and find out where God would continue to take them on their journey of life.  Because Laura moved out it left Syrena without a roommate.  Syrena and I have become very good friends and decided to move in with each other in order to make more room for others.  So once we have our room organized and decorated I’ll be sure to post pictures of it! 

Finally, God has really been teaching me to be content in each moment.  There is so much that He has given to me and so often we hurry through life and miss the little things that are sometimes the most important.  The times when I have felt the most alone, the most homesick have also been the times where I know that God is the closest to me.  I know I have said it before, and I will say it again, but God has blessed me so much and has been so faithful to me here.  It hasn’t always been easy, just as it is not promised to always be easy.  None the less we are called to follow God, and do all that we can to further His Kingdom, so I will press on and do my part, I will do all that I can do.

Ps- check out more pictures from my trip to Harbin and the Christmas break! http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/WallsCitiesIceTigersAndMapleTwist#

Also check out my picasa site…I finally posted pictures from the December session! http://picasaweb.google.com/a.b.twarek/DecemberSession

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