A Rant.

Sometimes it bothers me when people say “So and so has such a GOOD testimony”. I know that they are referring to the dramatic way that God invaded someone’s life and changed it. And yes, people who were deeply entrenched in obvious, physical sin make for a great dramatic testimony. Don’t get me wrong; I am NOT knocking people who have experiences like this. I love hearing them; they inspire me and fill me with a deep awe at what our Father can do!

But at the same time, it annoys and saddens me because I feel like it cheapens other stories. Stories like mine. My story of salvation is very simple. It is probably much like many others. I was in church since I was born. I did all the good girl things. However, it was not a relationship. Then one day God opened my eyes and heart to Him! I came to know Christ as a child of 12.

Sin is sin. It doesn’t matter what type of sin it is; it all condemns us to hell and separates us from God.

Did I sleep around? No. Did I curse? No. Did I drink? No.

But I did lie, fight with my parents and brother and steal. I had pride issues. I struggle with not feeling good enough.

This sin, even though it is not evident outwardly as other sins are is still enough to condemn me to hell. But Christ saved me.

I remember the first time I ever told my testimony in its entirety. It was at Beach Project after Beach Olympics. My team leader shared his with me and then asked me to share mine. I was so ashamed. His story was one of the ones I referred to earlier. Dramatic and incredible. A story that makes you just want to praise God! I felt like my story was so boring and blah next to his. After shyly sharing mine with him, I was astonished to hear him say “That is so cool!” I was like “Really? Were you listening?” Then he said something that has stuck with me for the past 4 years. He said “Yes! Don’t you see? You were doing fine. Nothing was really wrong with your life. But you recognized your need for a Savior. You could have gone the rest of your life believing that you were ok because you were a good person, but you didn’t. God showed you that you needed him”

 I was blown away! My story is AWESOME!!! God’s grace is the same no matter the sin. I could have gone for years and years without realizing my need to God’s grace, but he revealed it to me while I was young. I have had so many incredible opportunities to see what God can do in and thorough me.

I firmly believe that it takes all kinds of people to make up any body, especially God’s church. I can minister to a different kind of people because of my story. I am not a dramatic person. I am not bold, charismatic, or prone to large gestures. But I love Jesus as much as the person who is all of those things.

So basically this rant is boiling down to this one simple statement: Every person’s story of salvation is GREAT and INCREDIBLE because God’s grace is GREAT and INCREDIBLE.

Things I miss

I don’t miss much about America. Most things that I really want, I can fine. Costco sells Goldfish and bagels along with candy. I can make my own desserts. Carrefore carries most of the things I need to cook with. There is Starbucks, McDonalds and Subway. But there are some distinct pleasures that I can not duplicate.

Things I miss about America/ the south.

1. Sweet Tea – They sell a sweet black tea here, but it just isn’t the same as the hummingbird food that I can make out of Lipton tea bags.
2. Powerade Slushies from Sonic – nothing can match these.
3. Driving a car/ singing in a car – scooters are nice and convenient, but I miss being able to jam out without people hearing me.
4. I miss being able to watch TV shows when they actually air, instead of having to wait until the come online or on itunes.
5. I miss having a couch.
6. I miss worship music that is in English.
7. Chik-fil-a – I only thought I missed this yummy goodness while I was in Thomasville and Livingston. At least then it was only a short drive away. Mark my words, one of the first things I will eat once back in America will be a #1 Combo (Chicken sandwich with waffle fries) with Barbeque sauce.
8. Ground beef – difficult to find here
9. I miss blending in. Seriously people stare at me all the time.
10. Holiday themed items – Although I one of the first to complain about Halloween, Christmas and Valentines décor and like items being displayed far too early, it was one of the things that got you in the mood for the holiday. Nada here… No fun, creepy Halloween masks and costumes. No Christmas decorations and candy… No insipid, gaudy hearts hanging everywhere demanding “BE MINE!!” So sad.
11. I miss people who actually obey traffic laws.
12. I miss being able to find clothes that are normal. Everything here looks like it belongs to a five year old: in size and in the fact that it is covered in bows and glitter and cartoons.

Funny...most of this is food. I did not put people on here, because that is obvious that I miss people.

Life as I know it

Well my dear friends. It has been a while since I last updated. It is mainly because life is becoming normal to me. Going to the grocery store is no longer an adventure; it is just like going to the grocery store in America, except I can’t read anything.

Two weekends ago, I went to Zhoushen (No clue if that is spelled correctly.) on an outreach trip with my small group. We went to a Presbyterian church that is there to create relationships with the church members. We had worship time and Kevin shared his testimony. We also had English teaching time where the foreigners led a small group discussion time about God and his attributes. My group was really cool, but some of the teenagers didn’t speak any English. I did have an assistant who translated for them when needed.

After the initial outreach, we went and toured the church and the surrounding area. They took us to a cool suspension bridge, which was a lot of fun. We went back to the church and ate dinner which was DELICIOUS!! I played some games with the kids that they taught me and made buddies with a little girl named Amy! She is really cool and has pretty good English.

One of the coolest things to me is how universal love and laughter are! At dinner I was sitting with some women who didn’t understand much of what I said, and I definitely couldn’t understand them! But we sat there and laughed together. I have no idea what was so funny, but their laughter was so contagious! Sometimes you just need to laugh and this was one of those days!

School continues to be good and frustrating. I really enjoy the high school. The Jr. High is touch and go. It mainly boils down to my co-teachers. My high school co-teachers are EXCELLENT! I love them. They are fun and helpful and tell me exactly what I do right and wrong. Now the Jr. High teachers are more ambivalent. When I ask what they want me to teach, I am told, “Whatever you want.” So I try to come up with a fun lesson plan that involves teaching the months of the year only to be told, “No, you need to follow the book.” But I thought I could do whatever I want. “Yes, In the book, you can do whatever you want.” “OK. Can I teach this?” “No… teach grammar.” Just a tad confusing. And then they don’t do a lot of translating so the kids are left listening to me with blank looks on their faces cause they don’t understand what I am saying. But I am learning what they want and what I have to do.

My English Conversation Club is also hard because the kids in it are so quiet. They don’t talk back at all and are VERY shy. They don’t even talk to my co-teacher when she asks questions in Chinese… Both Sunny and I are almost at a loss at what to do with this class.

Most of the kids are delightful. They are really fascinated by me and they are so nice. Today is Teacher’s Day and every class has told me Happy Teacher’s Day and has given me cards and apples and candy. In America, I wouldn’t eat the candy or apple because I would be afraid it would be poisoned. Here, it is a nice gesture.