It is the last day of January already! This first month has just flown by. I am sitting in my room at my host family's house, the Xu's. Today is my third day with this family and it is all going quite well. The family has a 10-year-old girl named Jessi (her Chinese name is 文儿文儿). She reminds me a lot of Brielle, the girl I nanny for back at home. Jessi is very smart and I think her English is better than she thinks it is. She can read and understand, but I think understanding oral English is where she needs the most help. I feel that this is the case with my Chinese. The family wants me to spend a little time with her everyday and just talk with her and teach her some new English words. This is good for me too because I feel like it reinforces my Chinese a lot. The Xu's have also helped me by giving me a shopping card with a certain dollar amount on it so that I can buy things for myself that I need like food and other personal things. I think I am going to have a great four months ahead of me. This family is very generous and has a nice house, so I think I am going to get by just fine! :)
Yesterday I got the chance to visit the Haidian Christian church. Carol is really nice. She sings on the worship team just like I do! Her health is not that good, however, so I am praying that God gives her healing and strength. I also met a young couple names Larry and Cinia. It turns out that they don't live very far from my host family, so I hope that I can connect more with them. They have already invited me over to their home for dinner after Chinese New Year, so I am excited for that. Larry is really interested in spreading the Gospel to more overseas Chinese. He recently took a trip to the U.S. and came to the Seattle area. He met with a pastor from a church called New Life in Silverdale. It is exciting to see how the Lord is using people from all over the world to work together to spread His Word and His love. I really feel that Haidian church will make a great home church for the time that I am here. I also heard about a Thurday night Bible study for college students, so I think I will check that out too.
So far so good! I will be going to Hainan (the HAWAII of China!!) and Tianjin 天津 with the mother and daughter for the Chinese New Year. It should be a good experience. I am really excited to be able to spend this huge holiday in China. I'll keep you posted on any new developments! :)
Chinese Word of the Day
Fei 沸 ： to boil
Verse of the Day:
2 Corinthians 8:11
"Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means."
