Dear Family and Friends,

It’s Tuesday already and He has given us a great start!  The team He brought together is wonderful—I am so thankful for them.  They have jumped in and are excited about the opportunities before us.

We had a good afternoon activity time yesterday—all kinds of sports with Dale, Bob and Johnny, crafts with Lindsay, Louise and Andy—making E—ster baskets for our lesson Thursday when we will have an egg hunt, music with Nancy (beginning to learn Michael W. Smith’s “Friends” to sing at closing ceremony). dance with Jordan, Anna, and Staci (“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”—lots of fun!), English Corner with Becky, Robin, Brandi, Kayla, Kyle and Kat (“Getting to Know You”).

Today is “Chr—tmas in July” so we’ve got caroling and Christmas trees going on this morning and of course the beginning of His plan for mankind with the true story.  Thank you for your thoughts about this. It’s really a foundational lesson.

We are looking forward to adding Tracey and Bailey to the group but learned that their flight was delayed in Raleigh so will be coming tomorrow rather than today—boy, does that sound familiar?  At that time Woody and another student who attended TCS will also be coming with Tracey and Bailey.  Chris will be coming in tonight from Beijing.

Tonight we will have our first evening activity—it is a class activity in which the class will get together and do crazy games, watch a DVD, have snacks, etc. to develop real class unity. 

As far as the transportation, we have mainly used taxis to get back and forth from the hotel to the school.  This sounds expensive but keep in mind that one trip from the hotel to school costs about 7 yuan—about $1.00—which means that’s about 25 cents per person! I guess our hosts felt it much cheaper than renting a bus that everyone must go on—probably more convenient too so that the whole bus doesn’t have to wait for one person. The public buses have been a bit difficult to work with as they are often overcrowded and don’t seem to come around as often as we thought.

For your thought times, here is a breakdown of our teachers. 

Class 1 (10-11 year olds) - Staci, Kyle, Brandi

Class 2 (11-12 year olds) - Kayla, Anna (and Bailey when he arrives)

Class 3 (12-13 year olds) - Kat, Lindsay, and Andy

Class 4 (13-14 year olds) - Bob, Johnny, and Jordan

Class 5 (14-15 year olds) - Dale and Louise

Class 6 (15-18 year olds) -  Nancy, Robin (and Tracey when she arrives)

We also have several teachers from this school observing in classes—they like to see our methods and different (fun?) ways of doing things!  I hope also that the messages they receive will be seeds planted!

Again, thank you for your support and thoughts.  More tomorrow . . .

Love,

Becky