July 9, 2009
I’m absolutely loving my time here in China! I went to bed last night at 9pm and woke up at 5am. Yes, I woke up at 5am! For those of you that don’t know my sleep habits, getting up at 5 am is unheard of, but I am completely rested! It is amazing how much God has provided for us here! I have been praying for opportunities to grow in my faith and God has provided time for me to start off my day right in His Word and praise Him for what He has provided! I am following a Beth Moore study on the fruits of the Spirit while I am here and today my study covered being crucified in Christ. Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Today’s study was really eye opening. I went through passages over what Christ endured for us and how to live a crucified life. It was powerful! My roommate, Melissa and I shared with each other what God has been revealing to us and it was just awesome to share with each other about the joy God has been pouring into us and praise Him for all He has provided for us. I can’t even start to tell you how much God has provided here. Through our devotional yesterday we were able to see how God has blessed us with this time in quarantine to rest and prepare spiritually for the upcoming weeks. We were told that Monday and Tuesday are going to be pretty chaotic! The second half of our team gets in this afternoon, but we can’t see them or interact with them until next Wednesday so the five of us who are already here will take on their classes on Monday and Tuesday. Instead of having 15 kids we will have 30, but we will have two T.A.’S (teaching assistants/translators) instead of one to help us out. It will be really important that we start out serious and not smile for at least the first two hours to establish discipline in the class. Please pray for me for this because I have a hard time not smiling and trying to be serious and I will need prayer for getting respect from the kids. It’s 8am here right now and we are getting ready to head over for breakfast and our devotional so I am going to go get ready! Thank you for all your prayers! It has been such a joy to share this awesome experience with you!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God! It is He, who made us, and we are His, we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name! For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100