I want to hide in you…So I can disappear and love is all there is to see coming out of me, and you become clear as I disappear. Bebo Norman: DisappearDear friends,
The past few weeks have been busy with the daily life of living and teaching in China. It is difficult to believe that we have been in China for almost 8 months, and that we will be home in less than 2 months! Each week is full of English classes and English clubs, lesson planning and summer planning and wedding planning, marathon training, dinners with kids, lunches with kids, meetings with kids, sports with kids, movies with kids, and going to the orphanage with kids. All of it keeps us on our toes! I’ll just pick out a few events for your reading pleasure:
Mark Ashbaugh’s visit (April 3-5): Mark came to visit us from Qinhuangdao (3+ hours by train) and brought a lot of encouragement and humor to the team! Mark joined us for dinner with kids, some serious ‘thinking,’ and a rousing game of Sucketash. We were sad to see him leave again on Saturday morning, but glad for the joy he brought to our team even for a short time!
Couples Night (April 10): 5 couples made Couples Night a great success! Brad & I, Peter & Shannon, Forrest & Vivian, Allie & Allen, and Bruno & Vivian enjoyed a lot of great food, and great questions about life.
Outdoor Games: The weather this week was warm (70-85 degrees F) and beautiful so we did a lot of games outdoors. I took my classes outside to play “Signs” as we studied American body language. Brad and Peter played basketball and soccer with the guys, and Shannon and I taught Frisbee to the girls and some children who joined us. Vivian and Bruno came to the orphanage with us, where the nannies took the children outside to play in the sunshine. Brad and I strolled around the campus after dark, eating ice cream and talking about life.
The Great Bicycle Adventure (April 19): Peter had a problem. He had a bicycle in Beijing, but was now living in Langfang. Trains and taxis discourage the transportation of large items like a bicycle, so after some speculation, Peter decided to ride his bicycle from Beijing to Langfang (usually 1 hour by train). After checking out the route and borrowing a helmet, Peter safely traveled 4.5 hours yesterday morning to bring his bicycle to his new home!
Wedding Dress Shopping (April 19): Shannon also had a problem. She is getting married in August and needed a wedding dress. Not wanting to wait until the last minute for this important item, Shannon had scouted out dresses on the Internet, and her twin sister Emily was going to fittings in the U.S. to try on dresses. Shannon didn’t want to miss out on this exciting experience herself, so Lily Zhang and I joined her for a day of wedding dress shopping at Beijing’s Camera City (of all places!) After a 90 minute trip to the store, we spent 2 hours looking at every shape and style of dress, and Shannon tried on her favorites. We decided to take a break for lunch to reevaluate. After some serious contemplation of the various styles and choices, we did some serious ‘thinking.’ Then we went back into the store to look one last time. On a rack we’d overlooked earlier, we found Shannon’s wedding dress. As she spun in front of the mirror, we all agreed that it was exactly what she was looking for in a gown! The girls measured Shannon and took notes on a few adjustments, and then Shannon made the down payment on the dress, which she will be able to pick up in one month. In addition to the blessing of finding her gown, it was far more affordable then any comparable gown in the U.S!
Gift Giving: We have been so blessed by the love and generosity of our friends lately! Every e-mail or snail mail encourages us with your thoughtfulness. Our Chinese friends are also so generous, often giving us much out of the little that they have. Joseph gives us American television shows and movies (on his thumb drive), Danial brought us chestnuts from her hometown, and Cassie brought us a small goldfish! Tony and Lily give us so much of their time and welcome us into their home, allowing us to sleep on their foldaway bed whenever we visit, feeding us delicious meals, and showing us around Beijing. The warmth and generosity of the Chinese people is something I hope that I can imitate for the rest of my life.
It might be easy to believe that we are too busy for rest here in China, but we’ve found that the opposite is actually true. We live very full days, but we also fall into bed early with exhaustion from our life abundant. Our daily mornings spent in quiet reflection, and our Sundays spent in rest and refreshment are nourishing to our souls. In such a close living and working atmosphere, we grow together, intentionally sharing life and love with one another and with our students. We are daily reminded that in order to bring clarity…we must disappear. In order to reveal…we must be concealed.
Thank you so much for supporting us in our work here, for loving us from the other side of the planet. We look forward with joy to seeing you again soon, so that we can tell you in so much more detail the wonders witnessed and the lessons learned during our time in China.
Disappearing,
Jessie and Brad
On a day like this I want to crawl beneath a rock, a million miles from the world, the noise, the commotion that never seems to stop.
And on a day like this I want to run away from the routine, run away from the daily grind that can suck the life right out of me. I only know of one place I can run to.
I don't want to care about earthly things, be caught up in all the lies that trick my eyes. They say it's all about me, I'm so tired of it being about me.
I want to hide in you…So I can disappear and love is all there is to see coming out of me, and you become clear as I disappear. Bebo Norman: Disappear
