People Stories - a teacher & a tutor

A teacher

Recently G blessed one of our families. In late spring a teaching opportunity came up for the wife. Believing that G had brought this opportunity into their lives, they followed in obedience to the L and pursued getting the appropriate visa to teach. That eventually required them to live outside this country all summer, enduring various trials and challenges. It became a very difficult summer for them but in the end, G allowed them to obtain their visas. Just last week her school informed her that beginning this November the government would require many teachers to have five years of teaching experience before they could teach in China. She had four years of experience. Because she now has her visa (and thus visas for the family), she was grandfathered into the law. By the end of this year, she will meet the required five years of experience. However, if they had waited to pursue this teaching opportunity, even one semester, she likely would never have gotten the job nor their visas. Sometimes we don’t know why G allows trials into our lives; sometimes He graciously gives us a glimpse of His purposes. It’s like the tapestry seen from below – a tangled mess of knots and threads.  But on the top side, Heaven’s side, it’s a beautiful, woven picture. Rejoice with them and with us.

A tutor

Since Mark is not attending formal language classes this year, we decided to hire a private tutor so he can keep up with his Chinese. Can you imagine that he wants to talk?? Anyway, we discovered that one of our favorite teachers from last year no longer taught classes but would tutor privately. She tutors some of our good friends, and we knew her and she knew us so we thought it might be a good fit. So we get together once a week for about three hours. We have a great time with her – talking, reviewing, laughing, joking, reminiscing, and sharing. It’s fun to not only see progress in language but also watch a friendship develop. We get to review and solidify words and concepts she taught us last year and use those things in many different combinations. We even get to use Chinese words, concepts, and traditions and connect them to the Truth. Our friends have also developed a friendship with her and her husband so they all have discussed the Truth at various times. Remember us on Thursdays that we would not only learn but also have wisdom on how best to live out the Truth.