China! The sequel

Dear Family,
Because of limited internet access here, I cannot always use Yahoo.com or facebook.com. The government has blocked these websites from their people. However, one computer that belongs to one of the staff has international internet access on it. It is rare we get the chance to use this computer. I have since set up a G-mail account: jerbarden@gmail.com. Please write me here. Please refer to the guidelines before writing to me. If you do not know what the guidelines are, please contact Pastor Darrell from CMA or Pastor Curt from NorthBay, my mom or dad, or Kjrstin. They can let you know what the appropriate email messages should be.
It is our fourth day of quarantine, meaning on the 30th we will finally be free to roam the campus! This is exciting because the campus has many shops, restaurants, and, hopefully, places to access the internet! Even if the internet in wifi café’s is local I can at least access my gmail.com account. I was told that we may get wireless here soon. It may seem odd that we don’t have wifi here. Let me tell you why this is.
A week before I arrived on campus, Teach Overseas emailed us and told us that the TIP (Total Immersion Program) group would be moving to a new campus. This has good and bad ramifications. Bad because living conditions here are much different than the original campus. The other campus had much cozier rooms each with their own showers and bathrooms. The other campus was much larger. The campus here is smaller, but is located in a much better place – much closer to shops, restaurants, and site-seeing. The other campus was located fifteen miles from anything; a very isolated place. I would trade comfortable living for a place that is blocks from places to go, things to see and do.
Due to the recent change of campuses, TIP is still in the process of moving. In fact, the day our quarantine ends, we are going to the original campus to help TIP move everything. We do not have much here due to the timing of the TIP campus moving, our arrival, and the gov’s forced quarantine. This is also why there is no internet set up here. I should be thankful we have at least one line of internet access that someone is borrowing to us (I don’t know much about it other than only one computer is allowed on at a time).
Pray that God provides us all with His strength to make it until the 30th.
Pray that everyone here can maintain a godly love for one another while we are forced in such close proximity with each other.
Pray that I personally will handle the living arrangements and lack of communication with everyone home.
Pray for one of our teachers who is in the hospital recovering from the flu. He was pulled off the plane when he landed in Beijing – the gov is not taking any chances with the swine flu. This teacher will be going home after his hospital stay. Pray that no one else here gets sick before quarantine ends!
Love and miss you all, Jeremy

China!

Dear Family,
You may be wondering why I haven’t posted anything since I have entered Beijing. Sadly, China has blocked the website that hosts my blog. Since I cannot access my blog, I have had a family member post this to my blog via their computer in the States. I cannot say much about being in China yet other than tell you about the food because we have been in quarantine since the 23rd which is when I arrived. Due to the government taking swine flu precautions, we are not allowed to leave our campus building for the first seven days of our stay. While we do have a small patio where we eat our meals, we are not allowed beyond that patio outside. We are also not allowed contact with people outside our group other than the staff members who were here when we arrived. This confinement hasn’t been a problem, but I am writing this on my second complete day here, so I can imagine it could start to get difficult in a few days. Please pray this doesn’t happen.
Our building is big, but we are only allowed to go in part of it. There are two hallways which house all of our dorm rooms, our one classroom, kitchen, bathrooms, and girls showers. The patio is at one end of the hallway and the guys shower building is attached to it. It is modest living to be sure. Cement concrete floors layered with dust even in our rooms. Each room has two beds, two small desks, two stools, and one shelving unit. Praise God we have AC in our room! I am rooming with another teacher named Michael.
Everyone here is amazing to get along with and spending these days quarantined has forced us to get to know each other whether we wanted to or not! There are about 30 teachers here and four staff members who have been doing a great job helping us get settled in. There are also about six teachers who have done summer trips with Teach Overseas before. They have been assisting the staff with our training, which has been fairly intense – intense in the sense that we don’t have a lot of time in between training sessions. I have learned a lot already and we don’t start teaching until July 7th!
Our students will join us on July 7th and graduation is July 28th. Most if not all of the students will be teachers of the English language from schools all over China. They will already have a knowledge of the language so they come to better their English speaking. The staff tells us that these Chinese teachers are always very excited to be taught by English speaking foreigners and are very appreciative of the help. When they come to our campus we will divide them into groups based on how well they can speak English.
So much to write, so little time! I will write again as soon as I can. I hope this letter finds you all well. If you wish to contact me, write me at jerbarden@yahoo.com. I’d love some encouragement!
Love,
Jeremy

Visited my Aunt and Uncle (my dads sister) in Southern Wisconsin today. They live in the house where my dad grew up. I am now in Chicago with my mom and Grace. Grace got an employee discount on a Holiday Inn right near the airport. There is a shuttle to the airport in the morning. My flight leaves at 6:30 am. Ill write more tomorrow. Im tired, but really really excited!

Love
jeremy

Leaving Soon!

HELLO!

I am leaving in 3 days for Beijing! Please pray for my flight...its going to be very long! Here's the details:

I am leaving this Saturday for Stacy, MN to spend some time with Kjrstin and her family. From here I go to Crystal, MN to my parents house where I will spend the night. My mom, Grace, and I are leaving early Sunday for Chicago. We are staying overnight in a hotel near the OHare Airport. My first flight leaves Monday morning at 6am. I will probably need to be at the airport around 4:30am. My first stop is in LA. I have a five hour wait between flights there. I will be meeting Henry, who has been our main liason with Teach Overseas, at the airport. It will be nice to have company in between as I am taking these flights alone! From LA I fly to Korea. There is a short wait there and I fly to Beijing. I am expected to land around 8pm on Tuesday. Pray that this journey will not leave me in too rough of a mindset! The last flight is with 2 other teachers so pray that I will get to meet them possibly in Korea. I am excited about being in Beijing...not so much for the flight over!

I have exceeded my need for finances! Thank you to everyone who supported me. I appreciate all you have done. Please keep me in prayer! Please email me as well! I would love to hear from you!

For now,
Jeremy

Free fundraising thermometer

Welcome to my Beijing Blog!

I leave for Beijing in 13 days!! I am getting very excited to go. I am also nervous, so please keep me in prayer!

As you should all know by now I must raise $4200 to go on this trip. Well......I am at $3648!!
This leaves $552 left to raise. Praise God! It has been a wonderful journey of support raising. I want to thank everyone for their help with ideas and thank everyone for their prayers. The support has literally been overwhelming. This $3648 has come from only 50 people! That, to me, is amazing. If you haven't had a chance to give yet, don't worry, because there is no deadline for giving. You can still give while I am in Beijing and when I am home again. However, I am praying and believing God will provide the remaining balance before I leave for China.

I am thankful for everyone who supported me going on this trip. You showed your trust in God through believing that I was doing the right thing. Thank you for this. It means everything to me!

Please pray for the following things regarding the trip:
Safe travels (I am traveling alone)
I am still waiting for my visa (pray it comes this week)
Safety for myself and the rest of the team while we are there
Opportunities to share our faith

Thanks for praying!
Love
Jere

If you are interested in giving, please see older posts for details. Thanks!