For me, a word that would describe recent days as well as coming weeks, would be, “busy”. Let me try and fill you in.
Last Saturday I was able to go to the engagement ceremony for one of my teachers. A traditional Chinese wedding has two parts, the engagement ceremony, and the wedding ceremony. The engagement ceremony is a chance for the groom to meet the bride’s family, as well as for exchanging rings, and several other proceedings. The ceremony was held at Sophia’s parents’ house, it started about 10, and lasted till noon. At noon all of the guests (about 35 of them) headed to a restaurant for a formal dinner. I would guess that about 500 people showed up for the two and a half hour meal. It was a neat experience, I’m glad I was able to go.
Sunday I went to church in Taichung with Daniel, Mai, Christina, and Joel, as we have been doing for about 6 months now. On this particular Sunday we arrived a little early to go over the “Written in Red,” the song we were singing for the service.
After church we went over to the Brenneman’s house for lunch and games. Carl and Amber invited us over for Christmas dinner a couple months ago, and then we were able to spend the afternoon with them again last Sunday. We had a great time. Carl teaches at an American high school in Taichung; our church meets in one of the buildings on the campus.
Tuesday night my team went to dinner with several of our friends from the area. We had a really good time, and ate some good food too. Wednesday held several new experiences as well. First, we visited Zhong Hsing Jr. High School. Joel, Isaac, Christina, Mai, and I will each be teaching a class there starting April 6th. We went yesterday to meet our classes and take a walk around the school. Teaching in Jr. High is not something I have done a lot of, and while it presents a lot of challenges, I am expecting good things from this opportunity. We are starting this kind of as an experiment. If it goes well the amount of teaching will probably be expanded next semester, so please pray for us as we start at Jr. High.
We rushed off from Zhong Hsing into Nantou, where we were ushered into a conference room at Zhonghua Telecom Company. Zhonghua Telecom was presenting all 10 of the Nantou teachers with some gifts to say thank you for working here. It was really nice of them.
Ok, so that was earlier this week. Let me tell you what is coming up… In the course of the next 2 or 3 weeks we have 2 teacher conferences, one in Taichung County, and one in Nantou County, several visits from friends on various weekends, we start teaching at the Jr. High, and we have to keep up with all of our normal classes, as well as with teachers and friends who would like to do things with us.
Needless to say, we are pretty busy. I don’t think any of us would complain about all the experiences we are able to enjoy, but I know everyone would ask for your prayers. Please pray for strength and endurance for the teachers here, for good health (some of us aren’t feeling well again), and above all, pray that our lives would truly reflect Christ and His character to our students and teachers.
For who is God, save the Lord? Or who is a rock save our God? (Ps. 18:31)
From Ying Pan,
Chase Hiebsch
