Shenyang!!

The view from the treehouse at our campsite!!

            Hey all — it’s back to the grind, man… and again, Dad has proven himself to be so f@ithful! So basically, remember how I said that many kids at this camp would be C? Well, um, it was very true when they said that this was basically a C youth camp, and that it would be much more explicit than what we expected. They have a kid come up on stage and yarp for dinner. They use J’s name very freely and explicitly. We can yarp before classes start — it is quite literally almost like a retreat or something. And I honestly still am a little confused as to the nature of the camp, but from what I’ve gathered, I think at the very least, almost everyone’s parents are C even if the kids are not. Most of my kids are very intentional about their f@ith although they still came with the hope of being able to improve their English, especially their pronunciation.

            Anyhow, onto how it’s actually been for me the past day or two. I actually woke up really discouraged, and I realized that I have felt this way every time a new camp started. As I realized this, I was listening to Will Reagan & United Pursuit’s Endless Years album, and the lyrics, “break down strongholds of the Enemy” came up, and I just knew then and there that this feeling of discouragement was not my own nor was it from Dad and that it was very much so a sp1r1tual attack. At each camp, I have felt discouraged going in, yet I have no reason to feel so, because Dad has shown himself to be so f@ithful each time — he has always filled me with the strength to go through, and by the time classes started, I was filled with peace and joy, and it was just a great way to start the day — to be able to rejoice in the constancy that is our Dad.

Herher… so I definitely didn’t finish my post when I wrote that up there. That was after day 1 of teaching, and we’re now in the middle of day 4 of teaching, mip mip… so I’ll skip the details of day 1 to day 4 and just skip to today. Basically, all you have to know is that I really love my kids/all the kids here and Dad is super good! He’s definitely been humbling me through the f@ith of my kids too. So even though today isn’t actually our last full day of camp, we had foot washing today instead of tomorrow, because the camp we’re at actually has their own afternoon activity planned for the last day, but it was definitely still a huge blessing in more ways than one.  

For example, in one of my teammate’s classes, one of the kids (10 y.o.) is actually leaving this afternoon. He is not C — or at least he does not fully understand what it means to be C — and if foot washing was on the last day, he would not have had the opportunity to experience the love Ar (teacher) and JC have for him! There was also another baby in another teacher’s Ad class! What was really cool about this baby is that his family is actually culturally musl1m, and Ad made sure that he understood the gravity of the decision he was making. She made sure that he understood that by accepting JC, he was rejecting his family’s beliefs — even though it doesn’t mean he respects his family or their beliefs any less, it does mean he is rejecting it. We haven’t even had our full team meeting yet, so I’m sure that Dad moved even more than I know now.

As for my own experience, it was really amazing. I know I said in one of my posts that the highlight was my last foot washing when a student from my first camp came back to the second camp and told me that those eight days at the first camp were going to stick with her the rest of her life, but I think this just might top that. So four out of the six kids in my class actually came to this same camp last year, so they knew what was coming when we had the basin and towel in hand, but still when I read the Book and explained why I wanted to do this for them, already, two of those four that came last year were crying. And by the time I finished explaining why I wanted to wash their feet, nearly all of them were at the very least starting to tear up. When I washed my first student’s feet, it was game over — everyone was full out crying, even my co-teacher. As I continued to wash each student’s feet, a couple of my students became very distressed because I was kneeling as I washed their feet. They would come back during each student’s foot washing and make a comment about how I couldn’t continue kneeling as I washed their feet — they thought it was just too much, and at that moment, I knew I had to keep kneeling to show that I really cared for them. Eventually, they brought a seat cushion for my knees, and I was just so touched by how touched they were and how real these emotions were.

 Then during tutorial… my class’ only non-member (16 y.o.) became a new baby!! Now let me tell you about this kid — he’s kind of your typical bad boy. He was the one who probably caused the most trouble the first couple of days, especially with the girls, who kept saying that he was bothering them, and he… just caused problems haha. He grew up in a divorced family, living with his mother with monthly visits from his father, and he found out about 3-4 months ago that his mom had started going to Dad’s house, but has never gone himself. So during our first tutorial, I got to ask him where he was in terms of f@ith. He said he was seeking and interested, but he didn’t believe, but today was just such a blessing! Firstly during the foot washing, I started talking to him, and the message I wanted to convey to him was that I know that even though we’re not getting paid to teach them English in China and we’re actually paying money out of our own pocket, it is worth it enough just to let him know that JC loves him — that all those other things he may seek in his life for comfort (computer games, cigarettes, alcohol, academic success, etc.) will not ultimately satisfy. I also said it might be hard to understand all of this because maybe he doesn't think he’s ever experienced Dad’s love before — and at that point he said, “No, I feel” and I was just so touched. I later got to share the lepsog with him and yarp the s1nner’s yarp with (in my broken Chinese PTL for getting me through that haha), and yeah… it was great!

I realize now that I may have rushed it a little fast in terms of asking him if he wanted to accept JC (I think I explained it pretty thoroughly, but I still think in retrospect that I should have given him more time to think over it), which is another reason why having the foot washing being the second to last day is a blessing in disguise, so I’m going to make sure to have a good follow-up with him tomorrow to really make sure he knows what he’s choosing to believe in.

But basically, foot washing was so great. It was a huge blessing. J I’ll post pr requests and pictures added onto this post later, but for now, I just want to get an update out!!!

1) Pr for understanding in C (new baby) and two of my other kids who don’t feel very secure in their f@ith.
~ new stuffs ~
2) Pr for the other kids from the camp — that they would learn to walk with Dad in genuine f@ith.
3) Pr for our camp tomorrow!! Dad opened a new door for us, and we have a two-day camp starting tomorrow, so pr that although the time is theoretically short that we would still be able to dive into loving these kids wholeheartedly. We will be teaching in partners, so please pr that we will be communicating well with one another and that we will be able to love each other even as we spend even more time together.

And here are some other pictures from the past week at the camp!

and then we rode them!

We got to draw horses...

My lovely class after the masquerade ball/dance party (which was bombbb) on the last night of camp!
From left to right: Top: Harry, Lee, Me, Cindy, Lisa, Hannah (co-teacher)
Bottom: Calvin, Dominic

One of the sunrise photos I took on the morning of the closing ceremony — the skies were clear and we got to
literally see the sun rise from the outskirts of the horizon. It was absolutely beautiful...