What's Up, Goofballs?: Day 8 ~ Thursday 8/3 ~ School

Ryan and I are having a wonderful time in China and love being here. We are so thankful that our health is great, our bodies strong, and our spirits are soaring. For us to be “together” yet so independent of one another on this trip has been a great blessing to each of our hearts and to us together. It’s fun to check in with one another regularly but yet have lots of space to be with others around us – “loose apron springs” I call it.

Ryan is still trying to figure out how to bring home a Chinese Chef… Since he and Drew both have girlfriends, he was thinking that perhaps he could arrange a marriage for Trey and that 12 might be old enough in China. After really wondering if that would work, he approached Tyson to see if he’d be interested in an arranged marriage if they could find the right chef to invite to our casa to join our family. I’m not sure where they’ve progressed to in that discussion, but it does appear to be ongoing.

As I type this, it is rest time between teaching class in the morning and leading activities in the afternoon.

This morning, we first took a major portrait of all the students and teachers ... here's a bootleg version on my camera right before the teachers were added to the scene:

After pictures in the beating hot sun (which I am convinced is the real Chinese Water Torture :~), both Ryan’s class and my class were taught the story of The Prodigal (Lost) Son during first period and we went to music class the second period.

With our co-teachers, we acted out the of the Lost Son, then taught our students the vocabulary and sentence structures, then several groups of three volunteered to act out the drama.

Carey, our British co-teacher explained the background and meaning of this Bible story...

How most of us go away in pursuit of our own dreams and adventures until we are destitute, and how God welcomes us home with outstretched loving arms, feast, and celebration if we do come home to him. Carey noted how many people in Britain think the bible is rubbish. He used an analogy of electricity and how although we don’t see the stuff runningwith faith that it does that we turn on the light switch. He said as a scientist, you must use the right instrument to look for what you seek ~ a microscope for a small organism, a telescope for a distant object, a radio for radio waves ~ and that for those who don’t perceive God, the problem is often the instrument which they seek to find him. He also noted that just as with a play where you understand and watch the actors, you know that there is a producer, even though you don’t see him on stage. He wrapped up by saying that there are many theories and beliefs in life that explain a lot of things … but that why we are here, our purpose, and our destiny are the type of questions which require a different type of basis of understanding and belief. I typed all that out here because it was such a blessing to hear all of it. I can’t wait to post a picture (I still haven’t been able to swing that with the Chinese internet connection) of the classroom today. What a great day!

After Carey's explanation, Samual came to the front of the class and fantastically re-told the story without any prompts and April, Hilary & Crystal did a final dramatization ... Hilary was fabulous as the Prodigal Son! The kids also gave Ryan a good swarming before we headed to music class with the band :~)

Before music class, we were able to put a fresh dressing on Dennis’ wound again and sat together as the band taught us about themselves, their instruments, making music, and styles. I learned so much music stuff myself, which added an extra dimension of greatness (along with the air conditioning in the music room ~ the only place we’ve had “cool” at the school all week!)

But the greatest thing about music, is the relationships that are formed and the message of love and salvation that is shared ~ it is simply an awesome piece of English Summer Camp.