Jeanna

East Asia

August 23, 2007

Hey everyone!!!

I hope you all are doing well. I miss you! These past two and a half weeks have felt really long. We went to Beijing for a few days and it was really fun. Joanna and I went with our supervisor LouJean, her nephew and our good friend Jonny, and a former faculty member here named SueChan (who’s old apartment we are now living in). It was a fast trip. We saw a lot of things really quickly, which made it anything but restful! The Great Wall was by far my favorite however. It was amazing to see in person! Something about it just put me in awe of our Father, I just can’t explain it. It was definitely worth the trip.

Joanna’s dad got to join us in Beijing and then he flew back to school with us and stayed a couple of days. It was great seeing him; we just wish he could have stayed longer! We showed him all around the campus and took him to a few of our favorite places around the town, it was really good.

After Joanna’s dad left we crashed for about 2 days straight. We just laid in bed feeling completely spent after a really long month of teaching, English House and then the trip to Beijing. I don’t remember a time when I felt so completely exhausted! It was good to just rest and talk to each other and about what we’ve learned so far and our hopes for the upcoming months. I’m still yarping about what I see for the months ahead. I just keep asking Dad to amaze me, to do greater things in and through me than I can even imagine. I know that He will be faithful to answer that yarp, He is already doing that!

Although the rest has been nice these past couple of weeks, it has also brought along with it a feeling of boredom and lack of purpose. We have felt like we are not accomplishing much. We had become used to being busy from morning till night and now we don’t know what to do with ourselves from day to day. We have begun our schoolwork, which is obviously good, but we miss people. The summer volunteers have all left and now it is just Joanna and I on campus. This has also made me feel a little homesick, which I figured would happen about this time when everyone would leave and we would still be here. Fortunately it hasn’t been too bad, I don’t long to be home, I actually have just been craving a lot of food and the company of certain people. Dad has been good however and is renewing my sense of purpose more and more each day, reminding me of why I am here.

We have also met a few more people and have begun hanging out with them. I have also been developing a closer friendship with one of my former students! We went to a karaoke place with him as well as a whole group of people (including another student and a few faculty members). Karaoke is extremely popular in many different parts of Asia and the students here love it. This was our first time going since we’ve been here and it was a blast! We had a great time and it is great for bonding with the students. It’s just rather unfortunate for them to have to listen to me sing for hours on end! Singing is not a talent of mine…but it’s okay because it just makes it more fun!

We are not sure yet when we will begin teaching again. We are considering the option of teaching in two different places this Fall. Please yarp for us as we make this decision because we are not sure what we should do. We are concerned about how much time teaching in two different places would take and if we would be able to get everything done we need to for school. Also ask Dad to work in our hearts and daily give us love for the students as we try to reach them. Ask that we would be servants to them and willing to make sacrifices no matter what the cost to ourselves. Thank you so much!

Jeanna