Wednesday, July 15, 2009

China sessions begin...

Dear Family and Friends,
It is the middle of the second week of the session. It has been a very enjoyable time here with the students! I feel like I have shared a lot about what I am doing here so I would just let to take time to explain in this post about a club I am facilitating. It is called the Relationship Club and it is one hour each day for three days. All clubs only last three days because of the amount of students. In our club yesterday I taught the students about the 5 Love Languages. They really enjoyed it! They filled out the survey to discover their love language and, not surprisingly, everyone in the room had their strongest love language as Acts of Service! 16 people scored this one. The next highest was Quality Time. 8 people had this one. The only other love language that scored the highest for anyone was Physical Touch. Only one person had this one! We discussed the results afterwards and came up with some cultural explanations for why acts of service and quality seem the norm (this was for men and women alike). It was great to be able to share a Christian authors perspective on love with them.
Another club of interest (that I am not involved in) is the Bible Club. This club is invitation only – meaning the facilitators have to invite the students. I can tell you more about this in person when I return, but there are seven students in the club right now (one of them is from our class). This is exciting because I believe there will be many more in the club by the end of the session (Bible Club is the only club that lasts the entire session). I say this because while some students are more open about their faith, others are not, so it may take time for them to feel safe here. And, of course, there is always a chance of our father working here in the lives of those who don’t know him.
TIP does a great job of incorporating the good news into every activity they can. For instance, there is a Holiday Club where the students spend a day learning about Christmas and another day learning about Easter! In our class, Ray begins each day with his Proverb of the Day, and has the students discuss what the verse(s) mean.
There is so many other good things going on here for the students and for the teacher as well. It is a great place to be surrounded by brothers and sisters who walk the same walk. I am growing in my faith daily it seems and while there are always setbacks, I am learning so much and I am so thankful to be here. I wouldn’t be here without you and I remind myself this often as I am here because He sent me through you. Thank you.
Love,
Jeremy J

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