Retreat!

Thanks so much for your pra@yer for the students these past couple weekends. Aside from eating snails at every meal and getting very little sleep, everything went really well. The students reported that they learned a lot about making the most of every opportunity, and always doing things to the best of their ability because they know they are not working for man but for the Father. I think they really enjoyed getting away from the city and school and other distractions and to be able to focus on the father for a whole weekend. Here's some pics from the weekend...

What's up

Just a few snapshots of life lately...

KTV (kereoke) a favorite pastime among students.

Fun China Observation: If someone is physically capable of singing they will do so unabashedly in front of a large group of people regardless of actual talent.
Example: This week a girl asked me if I liked Nora Jones, then broke into song for an entire verse and chorus.

Nothing says party like 80's love ballads and Michael Jackson

This particular venue provided complimentary morracas and an automatic applause button.

"Ba He" literally translated - pull river

A rather plump student informed us "I am very good at this game because.. (looked down at his stomach - and back at us)... you know.

FYI Just Because...

• Mike been hanging out with a couple of buddies. One guy is named Brian, his friend always pronounces it Brain.
• On this lovely spring day we rode our bike home in sleet. I never thought I'd be jealous of Iowa weather.
• The next two weekends we'll hold retreats for local brothers and sisters. Please pr@y that relationships with the father would deepen, that all the details would come together, that the speakers would speak clearly and that we would have tons of energy and awesome Chinese language skills. Thanks!
  

Poor Tinker

Funny story... So my parents cat died. That's not the funny part. They opted to have the vet take care of the remains. So my dad goes in there and the vet gives him two options. A group cremation OR for an added cost (don't know how much) you can choose an individual cremation, where the ashes are then collected and put in a lovely urn and returned to you. Just because you love your pet doesn't mean you should display him/her on the living room coffee table. That's just rediculous.

This particular model costs $129.95
and is "designed for a loved one weighing up to 229 pounds"

LAMEgagement

My brother is going to get married in one month and it has me thinking about engagement. After Mike and I got married this is what we decided about relationship status.

Married - the best
Single
Dating
Engaged - the worst

Engagement is such an unnatural state. Longest five months of my life. At that point your completely invested in someone emotionally, financially and spiritually etc, but you can't be invested physically and you don't get to live together which is really inconvenient. Seriously who thought of engagement? I read that the average American couple is engaged for 17 months - I understand that the average American couple isn't necessarily "playin by the rules" but still that's crazy. I think that if you know someone is "the one" you should probably just marry them as fast as you can.

Here's a link about the origins of engagement if your bored... it's on Wikipedia so it must be true... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement

And what's a blog post without pics.

the eastons

the ritzman's

Firefox decoration

Kinda fun if you use Firefox as your web browser and want to give it a little pizzaz...

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/gallery/All/Popular

Warning: It's easy to get carried away. Sorta like when little kids are making an art project and they just keep adding more and more glitter and glue. They know it looks terrible, but they're having fun and they just can't help themselves.

eggs and rockband

Sharon and Tom Rich. I have always wanted to have a house like theirs. I don't suppose there's anything particularly special about this house. Sure it's comfortable and well decorated but it's just a regular one story tan house with a big basement located on the outskirts of Clermont Iowa. (Then again, I guess when you live in a town that's only like three square blocks, most of the houses are located on the outskirts of town.) What makes the Rich house special is that it's doors are always open. It's the kind of place where you feel at home the minute you walk through the doors, and everyone belongs. Parents can feel good about sending their teenagers to a place like that. The soda fridge in the garage is always stalked, and it's the kind of place where you can stay up late talking with friends and you don't feel like and imposition.

My parents also did a great job modeling this concept for me. They always welcomed our friends warmly. So when my brother's tall friend decided to do a handstand and put his foot through our basement ceiling they chose to laugh because they knew that the relationships that were build under their roof (and through it apparently) were way more important than the cost of repairs.

So what made me think of all this? Tonight a couple of friends came to my house for spaghetti, sugar cookie making, Easter egg decorating, and rock band. It was pretty much the awesomest party ever. I am pretty close with one of the girls I went to her house during Spring Festival. In China it is common to refer to a close friend as your sister or brother, so her father told me that she can be my little sister. When she came my house tonight she told me that she feels really comfortable in our home because she is like my little sister.

Mike and I have always wanted to have a house with open doors. We want to make visitors feel like family. We want our house to be the kind of place where you can help yourself to the fridge or invite yourself over without feeling awkward or intrusive. I Thes. 2:8 talks about being delighted to share not only the Good News, but our lives as well. It seems like inviting people into your home is a part of that.

March

Hmmm... March started off nice and calm. No classes, plenty of time, and then the students came back and everything hit the fan - but not in a bad way. Many of the students that we got connected with during Christmas left to go home for spring festival shortly after we met them, which means that our last few weeks we've had our hands full reconnecting. Also we've been planning some events and making some goals for this semester. I feel like we're on the verge of a lot of good things we just have to wait and see how the father is going to put it all together.

Our vision for this city is to start a group in each college, trade school and university in this city. We want every student in this city to hear the good news and to face the decision of weather or not they will follow The Truth. Please remember us in pr@yer as we kick off the new term.