My friend just showed me a picture of one of the girls who had been killed in her country. She was a recent college graduate of the US. She was a journalist. She was killed. My friend knew her. They are from the same country, one of the few women to go on to be educated at the collegiate level.
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We took the students and scholars fruit picking today. Unfortunately, we left three of them behind because they were waiting for us at the wrong location. I never made it to much fruit picking. One of the girls was in tears in my car, I don't blame her. She's a sister, but has so many questions and struggles. Afterwards I went over to another group of the girls' apartment for lunch. During the meal, the three of them asked me to teach them how to use their oven. This is their second or third year here, and they have had a pie in the freezer since January because they are afraid they'll blow something up, like they see in the movies, if they try to use the oven. Tonight's Bible study was interesting. It was on Luke 18:9-17 Here are some of the comments from the students and scholars who were in my group. Tax collector Even the tax collector can do this (pray), so anyone can do it. It's about attitude, not content. He already knows who you are so don't try to hide. It's about self-recognition. Remember what you have, God gives you. Jesus and the children. The tax collector is similar to a party member. You can have a right relationship with God in your soul, but in life you have to be in a difficult job. (Paraphrase. This stemmed from a longer discussion into which I don't have time to go. I assumed to be a Christian I must be a model like the Pharisee, but then I leared I was wrong. It's about believing. God says only a few get into heaven, so is it a simple or hard thing? It's about receiving or rejecting. Do we need to make an effort? Answer from another person: As we see the growth of a child. They don't grow all at once; it's like a plant absorbing the sunlight. I added a temporary 30 hour a week job in the international office at the university to my already existing job with ISI. (I dropped my hours so with ISI these few months to make it doable.) A lot of it is what I've been doing with ISI already, but because it means more involvement with office work, and prepping for the new students and scholars prior and upon their arrival. This means less time for smaller things that I used to keep up with, like blogging. :(
Highlights of August and the beginning of September... 1. Being a part of the spiritual birth of one of our visitors from China. She was here for only 3 weeks but from the very beginning she was very interested in our discussions. She didn't think she could follow Jesus, because she isn't all the way entirely sure God even made the world. Yet she really did want to believe and to have her life transformed. We encouraged her, if she wanted to, to take that step, and the rest would fall into place. She prayed over our dinner table, asking for forgiveness and new life. So wonderful! 2. A Mslm student. She's sparkles, the kind of person who comes up to you and asks how you are doing. To use the cliche term, "her smile brightens my day." She's from an area of China where most people are part of a minority group, and Islam is their traditional belief/background. She's not the first student to come from this area, but she is the first one with whom I have felt a close connection. I am thankful for my time in China, or I wouldn't have even known a thing about this culture within a culture. 3. R. I won't give away his name, because he'd probably be embarrassed. The first night he arrived he helped me move some of the girls into the dorms. Afterwards, while we waited for his host family to arrive, he told me about his growing up years in one of the most industrial areas of China. "My parents worked all the time and weren't home a lot," he said with a strong accent. "Did you feel lonely growing up?' I asked, stretching to see if he'd put forth his heart a little. "Yes," he said. The next day when I saw him he waved and said hello from across the room. 4. The students all stayed in host families! The longest we had to put up a student in the dorms was 3 nights. Although no stay was perfect, many families expressed that they enjoyed the time with their students as well. (A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO LIFTED UP THIS ENDEAVOR!) 5. The visiting scholars. It would take far too long to explain all the things I have done with these 12 adult teachers from China who are here to observe various classes. I have already grown attached to those that arrived two weeks ago. The two that arrived on Friday barely speak English. It is more difficult to become acquainted with them, but they are amiable as well. I delight in being able to take them to the bank, move them into their host families, take them out to dinner, get their phone plans set up, and listen to the comments of those who choose to come to the Saturday night Bible study at our home. Only one of them, and his family, is related in Christ. 6. Our first Friday night gathering. I was so stretched in realizing I had so few leaders that were truly committed to meeting with me prior to our kickoff dinner/event. It was, however, powerful to once again see God draw all the pieces together from one of the visiting scholars wives helping me shop for the materials to make Chinese dumplings to a core group of students staying an extra hour to make sure everything was cleaned up. I don't know how much of an impact the short Bible verse we read that night made on anyone, but I would hope that they saw His love through the dinner, games, and songs that were provided. 7. August 15. That night that the new students began arriving from China should have been happy. But that was also the night one of my roommates found out that her brother was killed by the Taliban. |
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