I know that time is short when emails begin to come daily from our administrators in China. This week started with, “Hope all is well with you and your family. July is around the corner and it is time to meet our great American friends. How excited we feel about your upcoming visit. By now we need to get lots of details settled down.”
Oh, yes, lots of details to get settled down! Less than three weeks till departure and the list and piles are beginning to grow.
1. Suitcases out – check
2. Pharmacy run done – check
3. Curriculum at press – check
4. Money deposited – check
5. Emails flying in from team members with questions – check
In the final days before departure, I take time to savor the early summer in the Midwest, knowing that the heat of Asia will soon be overwhelming. But comfort is not what teaching in China is all about. People are the reason.
I look back to the weeks we were in China in the spring and the scores of meals and coffee dates we had with students and professors. The fun and laughter in our tiny apartment over simple games like Pit and Uno. The deep conversations about the struggles of life, and about knowing Jesus personally to navigate those struggles. Who cares about comfort?
China is all about connections and people. This week also brought an email from an American friend, the friend of a friend. A quick visit to his office in early April was packed with ideas and connecting him to people we know while he connected us to others that he knows. Now he writes, “You introduced me to your professor friend via e-mail and we met one evening last month to have dinner. About a week later he took me and my son to visit your university. My son filled out an application, was tested, and accepted for a semester of language study next year. We found the people there delightful. I had been working for over a month to find a place for language study that was suitable and affordable and had no success. God used the friend of a friend of a friend to lead us to the perfect spot.”
As we prepare for another summer program in China, may God build all the connections of friends to friends that He can, for His Kingdom, leading all we meet to “the perfect spot” of knowing Jesus as Lord.
Oh, yes, lots of details to get settled down! Less than three weeks till departure and the list and piles are beginning to grow.
1. Suitcases out – check
2. Pharmacy run done – check
3. Curriculum at press – check
4. Money deposited – check
5. Emails flying in from team members with questions – check
In the final days before departure, I take time to savor the early summer in the Midwest, knowing that the heat of Asia will soon be overwhelming. But comfort is not what teaching in China is all about. People are the reason.
I look back to the weeks we were in China in the spring and the scores of meals and coffee dates we had with students and professors. The fun and laughter in our tiny apartment over simple games like Pit and Uno. The deep conversations about the struggles of life, and about knowing Jesus personally to navigate those struggles. Who cares about comfort?
China is all about connections and people. This week also brought an email from an American friend, the friend of a friend. A quick visit to his office in early April was packed with ideas and connecting him to people we know while he connected us to others that he knows. Now he writes, “You introduced me to your professor friend via e-mail and we met one evening last month to have dinner. About a week later he took me and my son to visit your university. My son filled out an application, was tested, and accepted for a semester of language study next year. We found the people there delightful. I had been working for over a month to find a place for language study that was suitable and affordable and had no success. God used the friend of a friend of a friend to lead us to the perfect spot.”
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