Tis the season!!! What's that you ate?

So it is almost Christmas time and I'm excited to welcome some friends coming from America!! They will be here in a week and will stay for about two weeks. I'm pumped for them to come and join in on the work here. The week of Christmas I will be hosting three Christmas parties so be lifting up those who will come and here The Story and conversations that will happen.

So this past week I took part in eating something that I swore I'd never do. (Dog lovers you may want to skip this paragraph 8^)) I went out to eat with some friends on Tuesday night to a Korean BBQ place and my friends ordered our meal. We had beef, pork and tofu cooking on our small grill and another dish that was placed in front of me. This dish had meat, egg, rice and other vegetables in it. As I began to mix it all together and take a bite my friend said this is dog meat, yes that's what I typed, dog meat. All I could think about was my previous pet dogs, but I continued to eat. I don't think I will be eating this kind of dish anymore, hopefully.

Language study is continuing to go well. I finished week 3 today and am still not talking. It's great!! I am improving a lot in my listening skills and my tutor is absolutely amazing. I have never felt so encouraged by someone before. When I can't seem to point to where the word is that she is saying she tells me "I wont tell you but I think you can get it." And when I do get it she tells me "very good, so smart." This helps a lot with not getting frustrated and keeps me motivated.

Today I went on a little adventure to a park here in my city with a friend named Dan Dan. We met at campus and took the bus and along the way she told me different facts about our city which was neat to learn. When we arrived at the park I was blown away at how big it was. We had a good hike up the mountain and when we reached the top we could see the whole city. It was so beautiful and cool looking to get to look over our whole city. We had so many good conversations and I'm definitely excited about our new friendship.

That's all I have for now. Below are some pic's from the park. (sorry no pic's of the dog)

View from kitchen window

Office View

Park entrance

 Gazebo

Made it t the top

Dan Dan and I

About to climb to the top

to get on roof. Way too many 

stairs inside

View from the roof

Our city and the river 

Monkey's (There's a zoo)

Fighting over chip bag

Big furry tractor (bear)

Frozen lake

The Weather Outside is Frightful!!

It's been a while since my last post on here and I apologize for that. Not a whole lot has been going on here. This past week I started a new language curriculum with a  new tutor which I like very much. She is a sister and is so encouraging. The first 100 hrs of my training I am not allowed to speak, just listen. We go through about 25 to 30 vocabulary words a day using tangible objects like toys or drawing pictures. This is right up my alley of learning. She never tells me the answer and no english is spoken which is good for me because it forces me not to speak english. I think this is going to go very well and she will be able to work with me for the 2 years I'm hear. Father definitely answered that Pr-yer. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I had a small dinner with some friends from my team and my tutor. We had chicken, sweet potato casserole, home made crescent roles and some mixed vegetables. It was very good and on Saturday we will have a big get together with all the foreigners in our city and have a big meal which, I'm pumped about. I've been doing a lot of painting and decorating my apartment. A few weekends ago I had about 6 friends over at my apartment and we watched the movie Soul Surfer. After I was able to share about Father's strength and how we can do anything through Him. They seemed to really understand and it was going through their mind. I am really excited about these new friends and it's been good getting to know them. I will start studying with my tutor soon from the book so she can grow more. She is like minded but wants to study deeper in His word which I am very excited about. The temperature is dropping fast here. The high has been about 28 degrees and will be getting lower soon. In December we will hit the negatives which usually hits -20, uhhhhm cold much?  N-e-who well I gotta get going now. I'll try and post again soon, I am thankful for all the pr-yers being lifted up.

Blessings and Hope you all had a  happy Thanksgiving!!!

My tutor and I

New painting

More pic's

These are some pic's of my apartment and over by the River. Enjoy

People usually hang out and play 

games in the afternoon time.

Friendship Bridge

Neighbors

Kite flying

Lots of fishing

Friends

Friendship bridge to our neighbors

My couch

Lil chair

My desk

My bedroom

The closet

Table and kitchen (front door entrance)

The living room

My table and wall art painted 

by Katie Denten

My new wall art that I painted

All the tree's of the field will clap their hands

Three weeks have gone by since I arrived here and all is going really good. The week went by kind of fast. Monday night I went to dinner with my tutor and we had some good conversations about Father. She likes hearing stories but is pretty set on confucianism which basically is all about doing good things and staying devoted to family and to the culture. Seeds have been planted and now I get to see how He will make it grow. Tuesday and Wednesday I was pretty much locked in my apartment sick which was not really fun. Today I had class at 8 this morning and finished at 10:35 a.m. then headed to meet some friends from English corner. They took me around town and showed me some cool stores and hen we went to eat lunch at a hot pot place, which was really good. This place was different than any hot pot I've had before. We sat down at this bar and in front of you was a small pot and a conveyor belt goes around the place with all kinds of food on it and you grab and put it in the boiling water. After lunch we headed to my apartment and hung out a bit. All in all it was a pretty good week besides the sick part of it. I am excited to finally start making some friends that I can hang out with and learn where some good places to eat are. The video of my apartment tour would not download properly. So not sure if I will be putting it on here. It said it had infinity hours to upload and I am too impatient to wait so I'll just post the pic's. Below are some pic's of my University campus which is very pretty in the fall. Well that is all I have for now, Later!

On campus close to my class.

Love Fall here!!

And the leaves are falling... Here comes winter

The soccer field 

It was a pretty foggy day

Hot pot time. All the food is 

on a conveyor belt and you

grab and put it in your pot.

My little pot. 

Let the language begin!!!

Monday I started my first class for language and I have to say my brain feels very overworked. My class meets Mon, Tues and Thurs from 1:30-4:05 PM and on Wed and Fri from 8:30-10:35 AM. I meet one on one with a tutor and the first few days were a bit overwhelming but that was to be expected. Slowly but surely I am catching on to certain phrases and have been using them on my outings. Wednesday as I got out of the cab to go meet my tutor I said goodbye to the driver but realized after he was laughing at me that I said I'm sorry instead. I got a good laugh out of it and headed on to class. The word for goodbye is zaijian and the word for I'm sorry is duibuqi (minus the tones). Thursday and Friday was way better and I am learning to be patient through all the toughness. When I pass people on the street who try and talk to me I get a little frustrated because I want to communicate back to them but I know He is faithful and the barrier will soon break and his name will be glorified. My apartment is finally coming along. My couch was delivered for the third time yesterday (Saturday) and looks really nice. My team has been completely amazing and have been so encouraging. We are like a little family, they invite me over just about everyday to have dinner which has been nice and I get sent home with the leftovers!!! All in all life here is getting to be pretty normal and My relationship with my tutor is growing. I've been able to share with her and she seems to be open to talking about Father. I am sorry I haven't been posting much on here. Hopefully I will be able to repot on here a lot through the week and give you snippets of my days. I have a video I will try and upload on here which is a video tour of my apartment. I should have pictures soon that I can post on here so you all can see what the city looks like. It's a small city with high buildings. Well that is all I have for you now!!! Zaijian!!!

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow

A week has gone by since I left training. One week and I will be heading across the world and my stomach is in knots. This past week has been filled with so many amazing surprises both from others and also from me. Two of my close friends came to my hometown to see me and I ended up following them back to Mississippi to speak at my school about my next two years journey. Along the way I was able to make a few stops and surprise a few friends which one slapped me 3 times, kind of hurt a little. 8^) My time in Mississippi was such a blessing and I feel so completely loved in a big way. Sunday night my ch-ch family threw me a surprise party which I was definitely shocked by. At the end we had a time or pr-yer and I can't tell you how good it was to be lifted up like that. My Father has blessed me greatly.

On Monday I went to my school and got to see everyone and share in a classroom about j-man. I spoke for an hour, which was shocking but it happened. That night I had the great opportunity to share with the Campus Link wor-hip about my calling to do this for the next two years and what I will be doing. Another surprise came when a lot of friends came to hear what the Father is doing, it was so so so good to see them. After I spoke I was asked if I could be pr-yed over and it was such an overwhelming feeling (in a good way.) Talk about an emotional night, His love was so heavy that night through everyone there. My heart is filled with so much thankfulness to Him, I am nothing and and my Father is using me for something so big, and all I want is to be obedient to Him. He will make things grow on this journey, not only in me but i those I will come in contact with.

Tuesday I went to Priority Lunch on campus and got to see everyone before I left. As I was eating my chicken sandwich My BSU director asked me to come on stage. My ch-ch leader was there as well and they had a gift they wanted to give me to help me with language learning. He pulled out an Ipad and all the accessories for it and I literally felt like I was going to faint. I was shocked!! They also raised money to purchase one of the top notch dictionaries for my device that will be extremely helpful. Father has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams with such a great family. I have been completely overwhelmed this week by so much and all I can think to do is to praise my Father. Being able to travel around this week has been such an incredible journey of blessings and being able to see close friends before I go.

My heart is feeling so much right now, so many emotions are flowing through me right now and will continue up until the 6th. I need Him right now to be close by and to not let me stray but to keep me going forward, to be so much more hungry for His word.

"O L-rd, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O L-rd. You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Ps. 139:1-6

Psalm 46

This is a song by Jenny and Tyler called Psalm 46. I was listening to it this morning and wanted to share the lyrics. You guys should look them up, you wont regret it. Love their music!

Psalm 46

Music and Lyrics: Copyright 2010 Tyler Somers (BMI), Jennifer Somers (BMI), One Eyed Cat Music (BMI) 
the LORD is my refuge and strength
therefore i will not be afraid
though the mountains give way
and fall into the sea
He will come and rescue me

the LORD comes to me at break of day
He reaches down to guide me in His ways
though the oceans roar
in this dark and stormy sea
He will come and rescue me

halleluYah, He is with me
halleluYah, we cannot be moved
halleluYah, He is with me
halleluYah, i rest secure

be still and know that He is God
He will be exalted over all
come and behold His strength and majesty
yet He will come and rescue me

halleluYah, He is with me
halleluYah, we cannot be moved
halleluYah, He is with me
halleluYah, i rest secure